EOJHL Regular Season Underway

[KL14]

Money is part of it

You talk money and it seems OJC must have a lot of it....two complete set of uniforms, including pants and helmets...I am not sure if Junior A teams even have this !

You need to give OJC credit for great fund raising. Each of the sweater boards hanging in their rink has a sponsor's name attached to it, and their game program must have 20 to 30 companies listed. You cannot fault a team that gets out in the Community and taps the local businesses for support.

However, all of the teams in the Metro dominated the Valley this year and I can't imagine that all of teams have the money that it seems the OJC has. It must be, as suggested, the player pool, and because of the player pool I think, on average, the Metro teams carry players that are older to fill their roster.

Renfrew and Arnprior both carried 4 16 year olds this year, as well as Stittsville, Perth I think had two or maybe three. The Valley teams also had a number of 17 year olds as well.

When I looked at the OJC line up the other night, they carry no 16 year olds, and I think only 2 or 3 17 year olds...most of the line up is made up of 19 and 20 year olds. I am not sure how the other Metro teams break down on demographics (Gatineau for sure is an older team due the rules about junior hockey in Quebec). I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with carrying an older team as it is all within the rules. Several of the CCHL teams, like Nepean, have the same philosophy. go with players that are older and you will always win.

 

[Jeff077]

Money...and sheer player pool size. Rural teams just really can't compete. Schools like Carleton/UofOttawa/Algonquin just strengthen that number.

Player pool size is key even as far as minor hockey programs and protected areas.
Teams like Ottawa and Ottawa West would easily be able to protect 12 graduating midgets that are playing either AAA or AA, and as you mention schools in very close proximity to them.
Gatineau gets the majority of the top Outaouis players, and Clarence is so well run they are just good every year. Metcalfe is the lone exception do to their location and now compete with Casselman for players in that area.
Rural teams like Perth, Renfrew, Shawville, the majority of their protected lists would be Midget B Rep with the odd AA or AAA player added on. They have to get to the FA areas like Kanata and Nepean and get the 16, 17 old players and hope they stick around for a few years so that they can remain competetive.
Stittsville on the other hand should be the power in the Valley and should be similar to the Metro teams, but they have been so poorly run and mismanaged for so long they struggle to make the playoffs.

 

[TheLastShift]

General Question: At what age is a player eligible to play Junior B hockey?

 

[Jeff077]

General Question: At what age is a player eligible to play Junior B hockey?

16, each team has two 16 year old cards they can use or they can trade for more and sign up to 4.

 

[Oldschool]

I think having no grade 13 anymore means kids are leaving the valley a year early. that doesn't help either. But the bigger "owners "pool to me is the big key. There always seems to be a well funded owner that wants to win as an owner of a hockey team. What ever the reason for the domination ??? but it's working.

 

[TheLastShift]

delete

 

[KL14]

The rule changed this year where an AP can only play 10 games for a Junior team. There is no more "after January 15" rule. Once the AP player's home team schedule is completed (including playoffs and tournaments) then the AP player can play out the remainder of the season with the Junior club (if the Junior club wants them).

 

[keon1967]

definitely teams in the rideau-st.lawrence that can compete/and or win,and players will travel from the city to play for them.i think it has as much to do with how you run your organization,and how players are treated.that said there are perks to having an ottawa area team,absolutely.the fan support in a lot of the rural areas is pretty great overall,and that helps hockey teams.

 

[HawksFanForever]

There are perks for play for the Winchester Hawks as they take great care of their players and two of their players are now playing in the OHL and QMJHL who would be Nevin Guy and Weager who plays for the Halifax Mosseheads.There are allot of scouts that are coming to the arena as well.I seen a post about how many fans one team was getting.Winchester was getting over 800 fans every playoff games two seasons ago and just last season was getting over 700.During the season they were getting over 300 almost every game.

 

[HawksFanForever]

You can carry 4 Sixteen year old cards and can play two of them and Winchester plays 16 year olds every year and started the season this year with 3

 

[KL14]

You can carry 4 Sixteen year old cards and can play two of them and Winchester plays 16 year olds every year and started the season this year with 3

You can carry four and play all four which is great for development purposes.

 

[hurricane11]

Thank you for the info. Now what is the rule for kids playing Minor Midget Rep B, AA, or AAA? How many games are they allowed to play with a Jr. B team in a season. Is it up to 5 until their Midget season is over and then as many as possible?

15 yr olds its 5 games
16 yr olds its 10 games
17 yr olds its unlimited till January 10th then only 5 after

 

[ottawafan66]

There are perks for play for the Winchester Hawks as they take great care of their players and two of their players are now playing in the OHL and QMJHL who would be Nevin Guy and Weager who plays for the Halifax Mosseheads.There are allot of scouts that are coming to the arena as well.I seen a post about how many fans one team was getting.Winchester was getting over 800 fans every playoff games two seasons ago and just last season was getting over 700.During the season they were getting over 300 almost every game.

Stop claiming that the Hawks had anything to do with Weager going to the Q. It was due to his great season in Nepean that he was signed. Nevin Guy, absolutely.

 

[KL14]

15 yr olds its 5 games
16 yr olds its 10 games
17 yr olds its unlimited till January 10th then only 5 after

Great info, but where does one go to find this stuff...it seems to change all the time.

 

[HawksFanForever]

So you are saying the year he spent with the Hawks as a 16 year old had nothing to do with his progression

 

[Ottawa Guy]

So you are saying the year he spent with the Hawks as a 16 year old had nothing to do with his progression

Of course it helped him but you made it out like he went straight to the Q from the Hawks, there is no doubt that his year with the Raiders was more important. It is great that Guy made the jump straight to the 67 s but based upon what I have seen he probably needed a year of seasoning in the CCHL first, if Ottawa was not a last place team he would have got it.

 

[HawksFanForever]

More important,I get a kick out of people who do not want to give Winchester Hawks any credit at all and just for a kicker there are two players in the NHL that played a year for the Hawks.The year he played for Winchester was very very important as Napean sent him down to work on his defense and other area of his game.

 

[HawksFanForever]

Big win for Athens last night and it looks like the injuries have caught up to Casselman.It is very hard to win this Championship and not have many players go down to injuries.

 

[KL14]

I think there are several 16 year olds in the OHL that probably could have used a year at the Junior A level and they probably could have stayed closer to home to do it. Going from Minor Midget AAA to the OHL is an unbelievable jump and I would argue less than 30% of the 16 year olds making the jump were really ready.

It raises the question again as to whether they should be moving 16 year olds to junior but this debate seems to have been beaten to death. Most of the 16 year olds were competitive at the junior b level, less but a few good ones in CCHL, but very very few at the Major Junior level.

 

[ottawafan66]

More important,I get a kick out of people who do not want to give Winchester Hawks any credit at all and just for a kicker there are two players in the NHL that played a year for the Hawks.The year he played for Winchester was very very important as Napean sent him down to work on his defense and other area of his game.

I don't think anyone said that the Hawks get NO credit. Obviously they had something to do with his development. It's just that you tend to insinuate that he went right to the Q from Junior B. Nepean should get way more credit for his making Major Junior.

 

[HawksFanForever]

Then you are reading so much more into what I said.Winchester Hawks has been a great place for 16 year olds and have carried many of them.The post that stated about 16 year old's I totally agree that they are being pushed to hard up through the different levels of hockey.It is very difficult for 16 year old's to compete at the JR B level as well as they are playing against allot of 20 and 21 year old young men which have been playing JR B hockey for 4 to 5 years and know how to hit and take a hit.

 

[keon1967]

Well I said Casselman would come out of this Division and I believe they will beat Athens in 6 and go on to play Ottawa in the finals.I have seen Ottawa play and they have a good team and also they have lot's of offense and are very well coached but as you guys said do not count renfrew out just yet.I do not see Athens beating Casselman as they just have too much fire power and experience on the team this year.

interesting

 

[keon1967]

Big win for Athens last night and it looks like the injuries have caught up to Casselman.It is very hard to win this Championship and not have many players go down to injuries.

interesting change of heart.all teams have injuries this time of year.or at least aches and pains.

 

[HawksFanForever]

But some have more than others and we all know that you have to have depth and play through them.

 

[hawxfan]

interesting

You can put a fork in Renfrew...just lost 4 straight to OJC. The 4th games tonight was probably the best of the four Renfrew played. The top two lines of OJC are in full flight and the third and fourth lines are contributing as well. This will be a great match up with the winner of the Rideau St. Lawrence Division. Hopefully the stands will be packed at all the games as the action has been fast and furious. The line brawl in game 3 sparked interest in this series and even had the guys on team 1200 talking Jr. B....thats what the league needs, more press and fill the stands.