CIHA KI-LO Jerseys reveal part 2: OMJHA


Next is the OMJHA to show off. With the league now at 14 teams, only six 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.

Now for two new teams joining the OMJHA

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.

Next post: CIHA KI-LO Jerseys reveal part 3: WCLH

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 an excellent reason to be excited for this year, 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 winning 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 nine 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 one 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 eight 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 five games. The Buffalos won 3 while the Owls won only one 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 seven 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 turned 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.


Next Post: 1981 WCLH Playoffs

Last edited by AJHFTW (12/10/2022 9:15 pm)

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 ten games on the road, including being both the Neon and the Hornets' first opponents for their inaugural season opener, both of them the Admirals won along with six more wins to make their first ten games 8-1-1 then came to their first five 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 two 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 the 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 four 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 three 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 ten 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 three 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.

Next Post: 1980-81 OMJHA Playoffs

Last edited by AJHFTW (3/05/2023 7:48 pm)

1980-81 AQHL Season

After two seasons of being second place in the Atlantic division, the New Glasgow Highlanders finally hit the top of the division after making a solid 2nd half of the season, including staying unbeaten in the last 10 games of the season 8-0-2. “It was our goal to take 1st place in our division. Now our new goal is to win the Bronz Cup.” Highlanders head coach Doug Reid said at the league press conference in Moncton.

The Moncton Bears made some improvements, just enough to finish 2nd place, thanks to goalie Seth Taylor winning 20 out of 35 games didn’t get any shutouts, but many can see him making more wins down the road and could give this team a chance to go deep into the playoffs.

After playing in Membertou, the Warriors are back at the newly upgraded Warrior Arena. Fans got to finally see the rising of the 1979 Bronz Cup banner to start the season, they did alright, but the last 10 games were ugly for them, with a 2-6-2 to even losing the head-to-head season series to the Moncton Bears. “We need to get our “A” game going if not, we will be out in the first round in a heartbeat,” said Warriors head coach Lenny Copeland.

The Portland Clippers have once again finished 4th in the division, led by overage Frank Logan, who has been a great leader in the locker room. There will likely be some young players who can step up to the plate next season. For now, they are focusing on the playoffs and hoping to go all the way.

Rounding off the Atlantic division is the Manchester Americans finished 5th after being last place in their first two seasons, while the Fredericton Vikings may get a win more than the Americans, but the Vikings got three losses more to finish last place.

The Verdun Knights took both the Quebec Division and the league despite its 7 points less than last season, but they kept themselves ahead of everyone, including keeping the Highlanders from hitting the 80 points mark on the last game of the season, winning it in a dominating fashion 4-1.

For the third season in a row, the Sherbrooke Loups finished 2nd in the Quebec division. Josh Winter led the team with s 33 goals, and 89 points played a factor in their success. The biggest impact made for the Loups was rookie goalie Lenny Tardif winning 25 out of 40 games with a rookie league record of 18 shutouts. “What a great first year for us at our new Arena, with many broken records. What better way to cap it all is winning both the Bronz Cup and the Valor Cup.”  Allen Poulette Jr said after the team’s last game of the season.

After their first three years, the Shawinigan Voltages are heading to the playoffs after winning 25 games along with 4 ties to make the total of 54 points to make it happen. Team captain Vincent Leroux was on a roll for the Vols until he got called up by the Saskatchewan Pro hockey club midway into the season. After that news, the team put the “C” on Christian Gaudreau. He adapted to the role well in his second season, as his playmaker style boosted the team. They need to finish 3rd place and enter the playoffs 7th seed overall.

After missing the playoffs for two straight years, the Drummondville Les Rouges' 32 points were just enough to make it to the playoffs with most of the roster very young players, but they are hungry for wins, but many believe that if they enter the playoffs without the same fire that they got themselves in they will be out of the playoffs very early.

The Laval Tigers ended their season poorly, as they will miss the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row by finishing 5th. The once mighty Titans were on the top of the league but had just hit rock bottom. To make matters worse for the team, they lost their GM Leon Rheaume as he accepted a GM deal with the Quebec City Pro Hockey Club, “it’s a sad day for us, but I wish him the best as we will find ourselves a new GM that can build this team back to the top once again” Titans co-owner Lance Chouinard said.


Next Post: 1981 AQHL Playoffs

Last edited by AJHFTW (3/05/2023 7:56 pm)

Hi everyone, just a quick post, as some can't see any of my pictures from my last three posts, I kinda try to use Google Photos over Imgur but looks like it didn't work on this site, so I fix it up with Imgur everyone should see the images from my last three posts now.
My apologies for the image issues, and thanks for the feedback.