GOJHL announces realignment
The Golden Horseshoe is no more.
The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) announced Tuesday realignment will take place for the 2024-25 season.
Starting in September, the GOJHL will play as two yet unnamed conferences. Since 2007 the GOJHL had been made up of three conferences, West, Midwest and Golden Horseshoe.
The GOJHL will play a 50-game schedule, with the top eight teams in each conference earning a spot in the playoffs.
“Realignment is something that the GOJHL has been looking at for the past few seasons, going to two conferences makes the regular season significantly more important and it also eliminates the three team round-robin that was in place for the last three seasons,” interim commissioner Tim Simmons said.
The names of the two conferences and details on the schedule will be released in the coming weeks.
The former Golden Horseshoe Conference lineup of Welland, St. Catharines, Port Colborne, Pelham, Hamilton, Fort Erie and Caledonia will be augmented with the addition of Ayr, Brantford, Caledon and Cambridge.
Chatham, Elmira, Kitchener-Waterloo, Komoka, Lasalle, Listowell, London, Sarnia, St. Marys, St. Thomas, Stratford and Strathory will comprise the other conference.
Fort Erie general manager/coach Nik Passero is in favour of the realignment.
“This is great for our league,” Passero said. “I think it brings a legitimacy to our regular season and broadens the viewership of our league.
“I am looking forward to welcoming Ayr, Cambridge, Caledon and Brantford to our home and kicking this season off.”
St. Catharines director of hockey operations/head coach Tyler Bielby also gave the shuffle a thumbs up.
“This is great for the league and is a step in the right direction,” Bielby said. “There are so many storied franchises in our province and this change gives us the opportunity to see and work with these franchises more often. In addition, I believe the fans will really enjoy seeing some different teams role into St. Catharines. The change provides more exposure for our players, and most importantly, it expands the competitive landscape.”
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