1980-81 OMJHA Season

 

Fans of the defending Smyth Cup Champions, the Barrie Admirals, had to wait for the home opener as Barrie played their first 10 games on the road, including being both the Neon and the Hornets' first opponent for their inaugural season opener, both of them the Admirals won along with 6 more wins to make their first 10 games 8-1-1 then came to their first 5 home games played without a loss (3-0-2) everything was going go until last 15 games of the season where they had a hard time with 4-8-3 to finish 1st in the Hero Division.

The Oshawa Diamonds have announced a new name for next season. They will call themselves the “Oshawa Gem” and show the new logo, but the jerseys will be the same for the time being. The news may not sit well with many fans, but their 10-game winning streak changed many minds after that. They kept on winning good games here and there to finish with the same record as the Barrie Admirals, but the reason why they finished 2nd is that they lost the head-to-head series, but they showed grand results and gave Prime Motors a good reason to own the team.

Burlington Metros performed very well, led by captain Matthew Walton the Metros finished 3rd place in the Hero division, but this season is overshadowed by an ongoing war between team owner John Lewis and OMJHA President Tom Van Ryan, where John is still wanting answers on why his team and others are losing money in a bad way some said there were some meetings got heated between the two every time when Tom talked about financial issues. “It got ugly pretty fast; I’m just hoping things get settled soon if not, we might have long-term trust issues,” Barrie Admirals owner Luke Ashton said after the owners' meeting.

After many drafts picks, to front office changes, the results for the Oakville Oaks show great improvements, the gamble of naming Keith Dunn the teams captain worked wonders as he finished 3rd as the top scorer in the league and helped the Oaks finish 4th and headed to the playoffs after missing it for 2 years.

The Micmacs did some moves in hopes of turning it around, but it did not happen as for the 6th year in a row, they missed the playoffs by finishing 5th, followed by the newcomer team Toronto Hornets, who won just enough to pass the 30 points mark and enough to take 6th. The dead last of the Hero division title goes to the Kitchener Generals after losing their top stars and bad trades along the way to finish 7th.

The Waterloo Maroons became the top team in league with a 43-6-1 record; the biggest accomplishment the team ever did was winning their first 25 games in a row. They would lose to end a winning streak but would start a new one along the way with a 15-game winning streak. They would lose the last 4 games. Another accomplishment made by the Maroons was Larry Arsenal, who broke a record for the most assists in a season with 85 in a season with a career total of 220, Larry became the first player to pass the 200 assists within 3 seasons, and he got two more seasons to go.

Ron Green became a grand leader in the locker room, and it shows on the ice as he led the O’s to a 72-points 2nd place finish, one of the best in team history. The team and the city brought the good news that during the off-season, the Orangeville Arena is getting more seats added to the numbers from 2000 to 3000. With Waterloo hosting the 1981 Valor Cup tournament, the O’s is planning on doing more upgrades to the arena in hopes of being the host for the 1984 Valor Cup tournament.

The Peterborough Braves struggled throughout this season, but they won 8 of the last 10 games to sit in 3rd place in the Steel division. Losing 28 games didn’t sit well with head coach Rick Pine “we didn’t play well this season; we need to find a spark. If not come playoffs, we will have an early exit very quick,” Rick said during a press conference four days before they played their first playoff appearance in team history.

The Kitchener Legionnaires and the Toronto Neon shared the 4th place spot in the league as the season ended. Both got 38 points, but the Legionnaires got 1 win more than the Neon, so the Legionnaires are going to the playoffs while the Neon will not but on their last game of the season at home, the fans gave them a standing ovation after their first season.

 The Buffalo Bees made some improvements, but they got a long way to go. GM Ryan Byron Jr. believes that the first 3 picks at the 1981 draft could give them a chance to get over the big hump. Lastly, the Owen Sound Arrowbirds took a big dip from being in the top 5 overall last year to hitting rock bottom last place overall, it totally shows that the trade they did with Buffalo pretty much came back and bit them in the butt in a bad way they are hoping that their three 2nd round draft picks could turn them a round for the better.

1981 WCLH Playoffs

 

The matchups look promising to many fans, as it could be an even series. Once again, it's an international style like last season. The top seed from the west Lethbridge Cougars takes on 4th seed east Brandon Buffalos, 2nd seed west Abbotsford Forest Kings is ready to defend their Jade Trophy title as their opponent for round one is 3rd seed east is the Portage la Prairie Magic, 1st seed east Kenora Pioneers are hoping to get themselves to the next round, but they have to go through 4th seed west Moose Jaw Wings. Lastly, it's the battle of 1st timers as 2nd seed east Swift Current Battalion takes on 3rd seed west Billings Trains, which many would see who will get their first playoff series win.

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 4th east Brandon Buffalos

In the first two games of the series, the Cougars won both in a blowout way until the Buffalos took game three, followed by game four overtime win, but in game five, the Cougars blew the Buffalos away with a 5-1 victory, then the Cougars shut the Buffalos out from scoring any goals to win both game six and the series 3-0, meaning that the Lethbridge Cougars are moving on to the 2nd round.

 

2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. 3rd east Portage la Prairie Magic

In game one, the Magic had a 1-0 lead throughout the game until the Forest Kings Ryan Wedgewood scored to tie the game with 1:09 left in the game; then, headed into overtime, and Jack Lazar scored the overtime winner for the Forest Kings, after that the Forest Kings kept on the gas petal as they went on winning the last three games to sweep the Magic in four games and advance to the 2nd round.

1st east Kenora Pioneers vs. 4th west Moose Jaw Wings

The Pioneers may have won the series in five games, but they had to win it the hard way. In 4 of the 5 games, the Wings had the lead for most of the games. "We can't play like this; if we don't play the right game, we are done for," Kenora Pioneers coach Chuck Patton said during a post-practice press conference. 

2nd east Swift Current Battalion vs. 3rd west Billings Trains

Both teams were willing to do anything to win their first series, and both went back and forth all the way to game seven at Swift Current. With 0:30 left in the third period, Denny Holbrook scored the tie-breaker as the Swift Current Battalion won and headed to the 2nd round for the first time since 1960 when they won the Jade Trophy championship as North Battleford Crusaders.

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 2nd east Swift Current Battalion

The Cougars took the first two games, but the Battalion took the next two games to even the series. In the last two games of the series were all Cougars as Jack Burk scored five goals within those previous two games to lead the Cougars to a series win in six games and advance to the Jade Trophy championship for the first time since 1976.

1st east Kenora Pioneers vs. 2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings

Last year was for the Jade Trophy championship; now, this year, the winner of this series will go to this year's Jade Trophy championship. This series was a back-and-forth; four of those games were blowouts. In game seven were goals galore until the end of the third period tie at 5-5. After two overtimes, there still nothing was what everyone thought that the Pioneers forward Keith Zachary scored the overtime winner, but the referees called it off as the replay shows that he scored 0.2 seconds too late, 12:07 into the third overtime Forest Kings Ryan Wedgewood got a chance to ended with a breakaway and scored the winner as the Abbotsford Forest Kings win the series and headed to the Jade Trophy championship for the 2nd year in a row with a 6-5 3OT win.

WCLH Jade Trophy Finals

1st west Lethbridge Cougars vs. 2nd west Abbotsford Forest Kings

One team is the defending Jade Trophy champion, and the other hoping to make its anniversary season more special. In game one, the Cougars took a big 3-1 win thanks to rookie Karl Fuhr and his 2 goals and 3 points. In game two, Jack Lazar made 3 points, one containing a goal that was a winner as the Forest Kings even the series with a 3-2 overtime win. The Forest Kings had a big 3-1 lead in game three, but in the third period Karl Fuhr scored 2 key goals to tie the game, and Wes Roy scored the game-winner 4-3 to take the series lead. Game four was tight as ever as the score after the first period was 1-1, and it was like that until the second overtime as Karl Fuhr scored the O/T winner. It was back and forth between the two in game five as 1:24 left in the third period in a 3-3 tie game. Ed Bram had an open net to score for the Forest Kings to keep their season alive, but the Cougars goalie Shawn Hoff who had been ups and downs with the team, made one of greatest save of all time; thanks to that, Jack Burk took the advantage and took the pack, made some moves and pass it to Karl Fuhr and he scored the tie-breaker as the clock hit zero the game is over, and the Lethbridge Cougars win game five 4-3 winning the series 4 games to 1 and took home their 8th Jade Trophy title in team's WCLH history and headed to Waterloo, Ontario for the 1981 Valor Cup tournament.

1980-81 WCLH Season

 

The Lethbridge Cougars are celebrating a milestone 75th anniversary. To celebrate this season, the team lifted banners of retired numbers worn by some Cougars greats, including Cliff Burns and his number 25, up to the rafters. On their home opener, they took the win in a big way over the Saskatoon Cats 8-2. After their home opener, they kept on the gas as they won 36 of 50 games to finished 1st in the west and the league.

The Abbotsford Forest Kings opened their home game with the rising of the 1980 Jade Trophy banner and the CIHA Valor Cup banner. As fans have a good reason to be excited for this year as both Ed Bram and Luke White will play their final season before they will be eligible for the 1981 Pro Hockey Draft. Both combine 78 points to help the Forest Kings stay in the top 2 in the west division.

The Billings Trains took a mid-season gamble by trading their last 4 round picks (2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th) to the Fargo Owls for forward Jack Clarke, and it worked for them as Jack made 23 goals and 56 points, leading the Trains to finished 3rd in the west and making to their 1st playoff in team history.

Moose Jaws took a lot of criticism for wearing white pants to their classic set, so much so that there are talks that both League President James Name and other owners are considering putting a ban on any teams that thinks about wearing white pants down the road. Despite all the white pants fiasco, the Wings took it as fuel as they won 12 of the last 20 games to finished 4th and headed to the playoffs for the 5th year in a row.

Even though Juuso Heinola's scoring improved more than his previous season to even win the league scoring title, it didn't help the Nanaimo Sharks this season as they once were playoffs contenders, now being the tanker, they lost a good number of players during the off-season. In the end, they finished 5th.

The Medicine Hat Hawks had some promising young talent, but they finished the season with only 9 wins landing them in last place in the west.

Kenora Pioneers had a rough start by losing 9 of their first 15 games; after that, they turned it around by winning 16 of the last 20 games to finished 1st in the big east thanks to rookie goalie Luke Hay as he won 10 out of 15 games and letting in just 16 goals and got just 1 shutout.

With the record of 27-20-3, 57 points gave the Swift Current Battalion a 2nd place finish and will go to the playoffs for the first time since 1976 when they were the North Battleford Crusaders.

Last season the Portage la Prairie Magic had a magical 4th place finish, led by Matthew Atlas and rookie Zachary Natyshak with a combined total of 46 goals and 97 points, giving them a 3rd place finish with 24 wins, 19 losses, 7 ties, and 55 points. Zachary Natyshak was a big surprise in the WCLH as the top rookie, many critics believed that he would not even be in the top 10, but as the season ended, Zachary won the rookie of the year award and caught many eyes of many pro hockey scouts.

The 1980-81 season would be what many fans believe to be the last shot for the Brandon Buffalos, with 8 players on their roster overaged. If they failed to do so, they would have to rebuild the team painfully; possibly, the only team that is keeping them from clinching 4th place is the Fargo Owls. Both were neck and neck until the final 5 games. The Buffalos won 3 while the Owls won only 1 game; as the season ended, the Buffalos took 4th place and headed to the playoffs, for the Owls finished 5th, meaning the first time in team history that they missed the playoffs.

The 1980-81 season was not so friendly for the Saskatoon Cats as they finished last overall with winning just 7 games, 3 wins less than their 1960-61 season (pre-CIHA era) 5 years before Stan Jones handed the ownership to his son Rick which he went on and turn the team around. Things are about to get more difficult for the Cats as Edward Gore resigns as head coach after 16 years with the club; the team will name a new head coach after the off-season.

CIHA Jerseys reveal

Many fans at the Valor Star Tournament in Ottawa saw new uniform sets for all teams, including two new teams in the OMJHA, all made by KI-LO. Some got new jerseys design, while a few just got logo updates to have brand-new logos. Only 13 teams carried their current design over to the KI-LO jersey system.

The AQHL was the first league to showcase the sets; Laval, New Glasgow, and Shawinigan sets are still the same and have no plans for any changes to their jerseys until further notice.

Cape Breton Warriors

For the first time in the team's history, the home and road jerseys have the same design; the road is the same, while on the home jersey, the sleeve numbers are now white with orange trim.

Drummondville Les Rouges

The Les Rouges went back in time as their set is based on their glory days in the old Quebec Junior Hockey League. On this set are simple stripes with oversized cuffs; the TV numbers sit on the shoulders because the stripes take the whole arms.

Fredericton Vikings

Their uniforms are still the same, but their updated logo became the talk. The Viking helmet on the home is purple with orange "V" and white "F" as the horns are white. On the road, the helmet is white with an orange "V," and the "F" is silver.

Manchester Americans

The stripes on the arms are thinner, just enough for the TV numbers to move from the shoulders to the arms.

Moncton Bears

The Bears showed off their updated logo, replacing the pentagon around the paw with a nameplate that says "BEARS" with thick trims around the logo. They also add a logo (minus the nameplate and wide trims) on the shoulders.

Portland Clippers

The arms, hem and socks got thick stripes and thin trim stripes. The logo gains a trim around it. The numbers on both now got two trims around it.

Sherbrooke Loups

The Loups introduced their new logo with the team playing in a brand-new arena. A circle logo with a wolf paw and a moon with the letter "S" on it. The jersey design is the same, but the stripe on the arms is now straight.

Trois-Rivieres Titans

The Titans add a small "T" on top of the big "T" logo to represent their 1976-77 CIHA Valor Cup championship. The home jersey has three thick stripes with two thin strips together, while the road has just two stripes and no sign of white whatsoever.

Verdun Knights

The home and road jerseys have the same stripes design, but it has no yokes, the collars have only one colour, and both maroon and gold on the stripes switched roles.

Next is the OMJHA to show off. With the league now at 14 teams, only 6 teams (Barrie, Legionnaires, Oakville, Orangeville, Owen Sound and Waterloo) kept their set the same while the rest showed off their new look.

Buffalo Bees

The stripes on the arms and hem are a little thinner, the TV numbers are moved from the shoulders to the sleeves, and the primary logo has a thick trim around it.

Burlington Metros

Burlington showed off their new logo featuring a building behind the "METROS" wordmark. One tower got two hockey sticks, and the other got numbers (2,3 and 6) that are a nod to the first 3 stars Patrick William (2,) Chris Petersons (3,) and Joe Tilburg (6), who were part of the back-to-back Smyth Cup run and the trio went on to a so-far successful run in the pros. The jersey designs got no yokes and added grey to the stripes. The numbers changed to a different font with a trim and a drop shadow trim to go with it.

Kitchener Generals

Both Jerseys got a cuff stripe along with a stripe on the socks. The road jersey no longer got a white yoke, but the collar is now white.

Milton Micmacs

The logo had thick trim around it with red and gold only, and it would switch roles on both home and road. The home jersey is the same, but the numbers no longer got trimmed around it. The road has no sign of white whatsoever. The pants just got two thin gold stripes.

Oshawa Diamonds

The arms, hem, and socks on home would have three stripes, just like the road jersey.

Peterborough Braves

The Braves set got simple stripes on the arms, hem, and socks. The numbers and the nameplate are blue with red trim, while on the road, the nameplate is gold with red trim, and the numbers are red with gold trim. The road jersey got a red yoke and gold collar; as for the home jersey, no sign of colour on the yoke, but the collar is blue.

Toronto Hornets

The logo is based on a front grill from Hornet Motors' top-selling car, the "Shark," but it is hockey sticks instead of shark fins on top of the grill. The jersey colours are classy navy blue, silver, and gold.

Toronto Neon

The big "N" with neon colours around it as trim is the team's logo. On the home, it got a big black stripe with thin neon colours inside the stripe. The road jersey's neon colours (including white) stripes are thicker. The most out of the box on this jersey are the colours for the numbers; on the one arm, the numbers are neon green, the other arm is neon pink, and the number on the back is neon yellow.

 

Finally, at the WCLH, many show off their new looks except for Billings, Kenora, Portage la Prairie, and Swift Current, who choose to carry their current design over to KI-LO.

Abbotsford Forest Kings

The 1980 Valor Cup champions had changed their look not too much. The stripes changed on both home and road, the current logo gained a trim so fans can see it better, the pants are now black, and finally, on the road, numbers are black with white and gold trims, unlike their previous road was white with black and gold trims.

Brandon Buffalos

The Buffalos introduce their new logo, and the helmets are now white for both home and road. The jerseys got a thick stripe and two thin trims on the arms, the hem, and the socks.

Fargo Owls

The Fargo Owls were among many that made the most significant change to their look. Black is nowhere to be seen. The brown is darker, and the orange is slightly brighter. The new logo is a giant "F" with the name and an owl sitting inside of it. The Jersey design is still the same but just brown and orange, the pants are brown with orange stripes, and the helmets are orange.

Lethbridge Cougars

For only the 1980-81 season, the Cougars will wear special jerseys for this occasion as part of the 75th anniversary. The home jersey, the team, paid homage to their first-ever season in 1905 with the word "Cougars" across the number "75" under it. The road jersey is based on their first season as part of the WCLH, but instead of the wordmark, it is the team's current logo, with the numbers being silver.

 Medicine Hat Hawks

The Hawks got a simple change as the arms, hem, and socks got two stripes; the rest is still the same.

Moose Jaw Wings

The jerseys are still the same, but the helmets are now white, and the one thing that everyone is talking about is the pants are now white with red and blue stripes; there are many questions about the move, and even James Name is not a big fan of white pants and hopes that it will change very soon.

Nanaimo Sharks

The logo is updated by replacing the "HC" with the letter "N" on the background behind the "SHARKS" wordmark. Simple straight stripes on the arms, hem, and socks. The colours are the same, but the black is dropped for now.

Saskatoon Cats

The biggest questions made by many about the Cats rebrand is the logo, which is a smiling cat missing some teeth and a big black eye, the secondary logo is the same, but the face is replaced with the letter "S." The KI-LO jersey design group got their work cut out, but Trevor the head design team got an idea. The arms and the hem got two stripes and in between the stripes are checkerboards.

1980 Valor Star Tournament

 1980 Valor Star Tournament (Ottawa, ON) (Arena: Ottawa Civic Forum)

Many fans got a treat; during the round-robin, many fans not only got the chance to watch all four teams showcase talents but also got a tour at the Ottawa Royal Banquet Hall as they witnessed a hall of jerseys, but they were not just jerseys; they were KI-LO jerseys that all three leagues are going to wear for the 1980-81 season.

Team CIHA had some strong offence, but the lack of defence hurt them as they won only one out of six games. “We didn’t do well at this tournament. We are a young group that hasn’t clicked on the defence side of the game; in the end, we had a great experience in this tournament, and everyone is going to keep an eye on these young guns closer than ever.” Team CIHA coach Leon Cowern said at the round-robin post-interview.

Team WCLH and Team AQHL battled back and forth to finish 2nd place. WCLH suffered a heartbreaking loss to AQHL (2-1) in the first game against each other. Their second game against each other was a controversial 3-3 tie game where the WCLH had a lead but one call by the referee that gave the AQHL the penalty shot instead of a power play with 1:19 left in the third period. Both got the same record of 2-3-1, but Team AQHL took second place while Team WCLH finished third place.

Team OMJHA top the tournament with a perfect 6-0-0 record with their top stars in their roster, forwards scoring goals, defence keeping the opponents from getting to the net, and the goalies were brick walls as 4 of their six wins were shutouts. Team OMJHA is determined to win it all in Ottawa.

In the semi-finals, Team OMJHA shut out Team CIHA for the third time in the tournament; unlike the last two matchups were blowouts (8-0, 10-0), they scored only two goals, but they were enough as Team OMJHA moved on to the finals with the score of 2-0. Team AQHL and Team WCLH battled back and forth to a 4-4 tie game going into overtime. With 5:33 left in overtime, Team WCLH Matthew Atlas scored the overtime winner as Team WCLH beat Team AQHL 5-4. In the finals, it was all Team OMJHA as they kept on the offence all over Team WCLH; as the clock hit zero, Team OMJHA celebrated with a 5-1 win and was named the Valor Star champions.

1980 Off-season part 2: News

New CIHA President Randy Howard had been checking out all three league drafts this year, and he saw some numbers of players from Europe being drafted. He may consider putting together an import draft, but the numbers are not big enough. But if more Europe players are being drafted next year, then Randy and the trio presidents would be in a meeting about creating the import draft.

With new uniforms made by the KI-LO, all three Presidents announced that teams will have to wear white jerseys in their home games and dark uniforms for road games. The only teams that did not sit well with them were the Lethbridge Cougars, who wore their green jerseys at 90% of all their home and road games, and the Saskatoon Cats were at 90% of both home and road games in white. 

After rumours turned into real news, James Name announced that two new teams would be added to the WCLH. The two teams are from B.C., one from Chilliwack and the other from Surrey. Both got arenas to play in, and the owners successfully put together a staff. The only thing left for them is the expansion draft which will happen after the 1980-81 season; after that, both teams will be ready for the 1981-82 season.

The 1980-81 season marks the Lethbridge Cougars' 75th anniversary. Once started as an amateur pro club in the early 1900s until 1939, the team lost half of the roster to WW2. To keep the team afloat, they brought in some young players younger than 18. In 1946 WW2 ended, but the amateur pro league they were part of the ceased operation. They decided to change their status as a junior club with nowhere else to go and a roster full of under 18-year-old players. They played different junior leagues until, in 1950, they found a league to stay put known as the WCLH. One year into the WCLH, the Cougars won their first Jade Trophy by beating the league's first champions, the Edmonton Bulldogs; after that, they won four more titles before the league joined with 2 other leagues to form the CIHA. In 1975 the Cougars won their first Valor Cup championship. They will wear unique uniforms just for the 1980-81 season. After that, they will go back to their regular set.

It's official, Gerald Herbco is no longer the owner of the Kitchener Generals; the ownership belongs to Todd Holmes, it took 4 years for Todd to finish the purchase of the team, and with Todd now the team owner, the OMJHA rules go if became the owner of a club that person cannot be GM nor coach of the team with that Todd announced that Tyler Shaw will be the new G.M. of the Kitchener Generals, Tyler used to be assistant G.M. with the Barrie Admirals. The Generals will move forward into the Todd Holmes era without Patrick Herbco as he chose to commit to a pro hockey career as he got drafted by the Ottawa pro hockey club 5th overall.

The Kitchener Generals are not the only team that the ownership changed hands; it was announced that Patrick Tobin has sold the Oshawa Diamonds to Prime Motors, and the President of Prime Motors said in an interview that they are going to rename the team after the 1980-81 season, many fans felt that they should keep the name. Still, at the same time, they understand because Hornet Co. got a vehicle named Diamond.

The day after the OMJHA draft, Franklin Name felt ill after meeting with doctors; he was diagnosed with heart disease. Two days after that, Franklin announced that he was stepping down from his job and named Tom Van Ryan the new President of the OMJHA. Tom is a big-shot lawyer from Toronto who got a good knowledge of the league, but many other owners felt that he is being too distracted over his vision of adding more teams which shows that within two weeks in his job, he said two teams for the 1982-83 season the locations are Brantford and Orillia. Many owners questioned his focus on growing the league than helping teams that had financial problems.

One team that is having financial issues is the Burlington Metros; despite sell-outs, games to even making a profit but for some odd reason, they are losing money which angered the team's owner John Lewis who demands answers on what is going on with the bank company, but Tom Van Ryan told John that everything will be okay and will find answers soon. There are signs that John Lewis could be jumping off the OMJHA wagon and joining the SWOHL; if that happens, it would be a big blow to the league in a bad way.

Paul Name got some good news; he found some businessmen putting some good money into building new arenas for Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda. If things go well, both could start in time for the 1982-83 season. Many questions "what about other cities outside of Quebec?" so far, only one and that one is from Charlottetown P.E.I. the town still got a minor pro hockey team there, but after the 1981-82 season ends, that team will relocate elsewhere, and the town will join the AQHL for the 1983-84 season.

The Sherbrooke Loups office just moved into their brand-new arena named the Arena Commemorative de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke Memorial Arena), with a capacity of 4000. It could add more seats to the arena if they want to. Allen Poulette Jr is happy with the new arena. "Today is a great day; ever since I took over the team from my father, my goal was for this team to get a new arena to be built, and I did just that now with the team is being rebuilt to be the top team in the league we will have a good run in our new arena." Allen Jr. said in an interview with the Sherbrooke Post. The team will also enter their new arena with a new look as the KI-LO jersey deal is required league-wide. The Loups took advantage of it along with other teams across the leagues, as their set will be showcased during the 1980 CIHA Valor Star Tournament.

1980 Off-season part 1: League Drafts and Expansion Draft

 1980 OMJHA Expansion Draft

With the addition of two new teams from the Toronto area, first Chris Warner came on stage and officially named his team the "Neon" after his company. Along with GM Paul McKeegan and head coach Warren Coyle, the trio went down to business and started drafting. Meanwhile, Herb Pickard has named his team the "Hornets" along with naming Rick Van Allen as GM and Gary Clancy, the team's first head coach. The Hornets went to work on building a dynasty.

Toronto Neon

1. Michael Campbell, F (Barrie)

2. Alex Myers, G (Oshawa)

3. Shane Lane, F (Orangeville)

4. Ian Henry, F (Oshawa)

5. Stan Chapman, D (Peterborough)

Toronto Hornets

1. James Colby, D (Barrie)

2. Adam Newhook, F (Waterloo)

3. Will Stell, F (Orangeville)

4. Collin Mitchell, F (Legionnaires)

5. Leo Berezan, D (Generals)

1980 WCLH Draft

GMs, Coaches, and Owners came together to pick the right players in hopes of improving to become champions. As many hockey reporters expected that defence Drew Eastwood from Regina, SK, got picked 1st by the Billings Trains, it is a first for the club to ever draft a defenceman in the first round. After losing two goalies, one from the pro hockey draft and one committed to college, the Hawks select goalie Sam Abbot from Portage la Prairie, MAN. The Hawks would draft another goalie in the 5th round after drafting three defencemen in hopes to improves the defence after a painful losing season. After missing the playoffs for the first time since 1960, the Cats need a rebuild, but unlike other teams that rebuild within 2 years and only last for 2 to 4 years to do it again, this time, the Cats will take time and put the pieces together starting with forward Nathen Faulk from Calgary, AB that could be one of many keys to the Cats chance to get themselves back on top. The surprised draft pick was made was the 1980 Valor Cup champions Abbotsford Forest Kings select forward Jon Hedberg; he lives in Calgary after he and his family moved from Tampere, Finland, to excel in his hockey career, he became the first European player to be drafted in the first round in WCLH history.

1. Billings – Drew Eastwood, D (Regina, SK)

2. Medicine Hat – Sam Abbot, G (Portage la Prairie, MAN)

3. Saskatoon – Nathen Faulk, F (Calgary, AB)

4. Swift Current – Denny Holbrook, D (Surry, BC.)

5. Moose Jaw – Jason Napier, D (Thunder Bay, ONT)

6. Portage la Prairie – Zachary Natyshak, F (Roseau, MIN)

7. Brandon – Peter York, F (West Fargo, ND.)

8. Lethbridge – Karl Fuhr, F (Winnipeg, MAN)

9. Fargo – David Favell, D (Prince Albert, SK)

10. Nanaimo – Greg Lalonde, G (Fort McMurry, AB)

11. Abbotsford – Jon Hedberg, F (Tampere, FIN)

12. Kenora – Luke Hay, G (Burnaby, B.C.)

1980 OMJHA Draft

In the aftermath of the expansion draft, teams scramble from trading players for draft picks to trading lower draft picks for a 2nd round pick. The Oaks selected an Oakville local forward, Jake Dahl, who tops all-Ontario hockey in scoring with 50 goals and 2nd highest points total of 132, "this kid is going to be big and will lead the Oaks to the top." Oaks head coach Leon Cowern said after drafting Jake. Bees GM Ryan Byron Jr. has been making good moves to get good picks, including trading a top player to the Kitchener Generals for a 1981 1st round pick and trading another top player to Owen Sound for another 1981 1st round draft pick which gives the Bees three 1st round draft picks for next year, for now, they only got one 1st round pick this year. They choose defence Floyd Currie from Hamilton; with that, the Bees are hoping for better goals against the average for the 1980-81 season. North York young gun forward Pat Fogolin is what the Peterborough Braves need to score more goals and hope to get themselves out of the bottom of the standings. The Burlington Metros successfully drafted defence Vic Housley after many OMJHA teams tried to recruit his brothers in the past, but their rival league, the SWOHL, took them.

1. Oakville – Jake Dahl, F (Oakville)

2. Buffalo – Floyd Currie, D (Hamilton)

3. Peterborough – Pat Fogolin, F (North York)

4. Milton –Paul Foote, G (Pickering)

5. Kitchener Legionnaires – Shane Stillman, F (Mississauga)

6. Kitchener Generals – Kevin McVon, F (Brampton)

7. Orangeville – Dave Fortier, D (Scarborough)

8. Owen Sound – Dirk Graves, G (Vaughan)

9. Oshawa – Adam Howell, F (Whitby)

10. Burlington – Vic Housley, D (Etobicoke) 

11. Waterloo – Nick Ross, F (St. Catharines)

12. Barrie – Ty Joly, F (Orillia)

1980 AQHL Draft

The first round was interesting. The first five picks featured top players from Quebec, three picks from Nova Scotia, one from New Brunswick, one from PEI, one from Maine, and one from New Hampshire. Drummondville selected forward Lou Baillargeon from Verdun, QC, who played very well in the Jr.B level; his 60 goals and 109 points are what the Les Rouges need to get back on top. The Laval Tigers got themselves a scoring forward from Levis, QC. Alex Chouinard is the Tigers' pick in the process of a rebuild after losing six players from Pro Hockey drafts to collages; in the next two years, the Tigers will be contenders again. The Shawinigan Voltages take defence Shawn Meighan from Longueuil, QC; his enforcer style could help the Volts get themselves out of the bottom of the standings next season. Moncton Bears lost their goalie Herb Hoy as he committed to McGill University; they need a strong goalie in a big way, and they got one from Waterville, Maine, Seth Taylor, who was supposed to be in the top 3 for this year's draft after winning 26 out of 35 games with 8 shutouts, to even consider to be the first goalie to be drafted but Keith Rice was taken by the Trois-Rivieres Titans.

1. Drummondville – Lou Baillargeon, F (Verdun, QC)

2. Laval – Alex Chouinard, F (Levis, QC)

3. Shawinigan – Shawn Meighan, D (Longueuil, QC)

4. Manchester – Roy Messier, F (Sainte-Foy, QC)

5. Fredericton – Dave Messier, F (Sherbrooke, QC)

6. Trois-Rivieres – Keith Rice, G (Oromocto, NB.)

7. Portland – Ron Renaud, D (Truro, N.S.)

8. Moncton – Seth Taylor, G (Waterville, Maine)

9. Sherbrooke – Lenny Tardif, G (Dartmouth, NS.)

10. New Glasgow – Brad Edmundson, D (Windsor, N.S.)

11. Cape Breton – Neil Eaton, F (Cornwall, P.E.I.)

12. Verdun – Mark Klatt, F (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

1980 CIHA Valor Cup tournament

 

Standings:

1. Barrie Admirals

2. Abbotsford Forest Kings

3. Verdun Knights

4. Nanaimo Sharks

Story:

Before the tournament began, all four teams came together at the Nanaimo Hall with the tournament's new rules and announcements. One of the new rules is that the 4th seed team can qualify for the semi-finals if they win 2 games of the now-expanded 6 games. If they cannot, they are eliminated, even if they win just one game, and the first-seed team moves on to the finals. Another announcement was that the Waterloo Maroons would host the 1981 CIHA Valor Cup tournament. The next one was the Valor Star tournament, an All-star event starting this June. Finally, CIHA President Joseph McGeorge announced that after both the Valor Cup and the Valor Star, he is no longer the CIHA President as he will hand that job over to Randy Howard, who is happy to take the role, "It is an honour to take a role to keep an eye on all three leagues, I'm excited to get to work with some of the best minds here at the CIHA."

Round-Robin

The Nanaimo Sharks started the tournament with a 2-1 win over the Barrie Admirals. The Sharks would win one more 4-2 over the Abbotsford Forest Kings. After that, they went on losing the last four games to finished 4th, luckily for them, they got 2 wins which they will play in the semi-finals. The Abbotsford Forest Kings and the Verdun Knights made history by ending their matchup in a 2-2 tie. They would face each other on the last day of the round-robin where Abbotsford beat Verdun in a 4-2 must-win game to go to the semi-finals as both finished with the same record of 2-3-1 with the Forest Kings win, they are placed 2nd while the Knights finished 3rd. The Barrie Admirals lost the tournament opener to the Nanaimo Sharks, but after that, they won the rest, including a 7-1 blowout win over the Sharks to finish 1st place with a 5-1 record.

Semi-Finals

Barrie Admirals vs. Nanaimo Sharks

In the first period, the Admirals were all over Shark's goalie Oscar Williams, 24 shots were made, and Oscar let in 4 goals as the first period ended. The Admirals were pretty much in a comfort zone. As the second period passed, the Sharks scored 2 goals, but the Admirals held on until the second period ended with a 4-2. The Admirals held their ground in the third period in a big way; as the clock turned to 1:34 left, Dylan Bouchard scored one more to complete a hat-trick, and with that, the game was over, and the Admirals are heading to the Valor Cup Championship beating the Sharks 5-2.

Abbotsford Forest Kings vs. Verdun Knights

Right off the gate, the Knights were firing shots from left to right until Josh Lucas finally scored a goal on Forest Kings goalie Frank Ford; the first period came to an end with the Knights on top 1-0. The Forest Kings came back as Ed Bram scored two goals, and the second period came to an end as the score was 2-1 Forest Kings. In the third, the Knights kept on shooting, but Frank Ford was holding his ground; as the clock was ticking away, the Knights pulled their goalie for an extra attacker to tie the game, but it didn't work as Luke White flipped the puck up in the air and slides right to the empty net, after that the third period came to an end and the Forest Kings wins it 3-1 and headed to the 1980 Valor Cup finals.

1980 Valor Cup Finals

Barrie Admirals vs. Abbotsford Forest Kings

Abbotsford had a hard time scoring against Barrie in the round-robin as the Admirals outscored the Forest Kings 9-2. In the first period, the Forest Kings may have finally found a way to outplay the Admirals as forward Jack Lazar, in his second season with the Forest Kings, scored a goal that the Admirals defence did not see it coming it raddle them good, as the first period came to an end with the score of 1-0. The second period was tight between the two teams; midway into the second, another Forest Kings player that the Admirals defence did not expect would be rookie forward Ryan Wedgewood, who sneaked into a breakaway and scored to make it 2-0. Everything fell apart for the Admirals as Ed Bram and Luke White scored two goals, and Barrie scored two goals. Still, it was too late as the horn sounded off to end the game with the score of 6-2, and the Abbotsford Forest Kings are the 1980 CIHA Valor Cup Champions. The Valor Cup MVP, Ed Bram, lifted the cup over his head in front of his teammates as the celebration began.