Friday, July 15, 2011

2011-12 OJHL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

Press Release

The Ontario Junior Hockey League today released its 2011-12 regular season schedule, announced that the Cobourg Cougars will host the 2011 OJHL Governors’ Showcase Weekend and announced a number of changes and new initiatives that will be taking place this season.

The OJHL schedule consists of 662 games, featuring 27 teams playing within their conference (North-West & South-East Conferences) in a division-heavy schedule. Highlights of the schedule include:

Opening night is Friday, September 9, 2011, with four games on the agenda, taking place in Huntsville, Markham, Pickering and St. Michael’s.

The Mississauga Chargers open the newly renovated Port Credit Arena on Saturday, September 10 versus the North York Rangers.

The Cobourg Cougars open the brand-new, state-of-the-art, Cobourg Community Centre on Monday, September 12 vs. the Whitby Fury.

Annual Governors’ Showcase to be held in Cobourg, Ontario from October 15-16, 2011.

The 2011 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge will be played from November 7-13 in Langley, B.C., featuring Team Canada East, led by Whitby Fury head coach Curtis Hodgins.

The regular season ends on Sunday, February 12, 2012 with playoffs beginning that week.

Also, with the reduction to 27 member clubs, the Mississauga Chargers (previously in the West Division) and the Pickering Panthers (previously in the East Division) have been realigned to the South Division beginning this season.

Cobourg Cougars Governor Marc Mercier stated his club’s excitement on moving into a new building and hosting the Governors’ Showcase, “The new ‘Cougars Den’ – a 2000+ seat arena bowl with NHL size ice surface, digital scoreboard, press box and radiant under-floor heating - is an integral part of a new complex designed as a multi-use, multi-generational, cultural, arts, wellness, business, fitness and sports centre with leading edge environmentally-friendly technologies. It is surrounded by an indoor walking/running track, is adjacent to a 400-seat practice arena and even has a mini-stick play area.”

Mercier continued by saying, “We are extremely proud that our club and community have been chosen to host the OJHL’s Governors’ Showcase. The entire organization is extremely busy getting ready for the start of the upcoming season and is excited to be commencing play in its new home at the Cobourg Community Centre. The Governors’ Showcase is all about showcasing the excellent players and staff within our league who are interested in progressing to higher levels of hockey in one convenient spot to scouts from all levels of hockey, junior, college and university, and professional, including the NHL. This year’s Governors’ Showcase will also give us and the great community-oriented hockey fans in Northumberland County an excellent opportunity to showcase our new state-of-the-art home.”



Further to the release of the 2011-12 OJHL schedule, the Board of Governors passed numerous motions at the recent Annual General Meeting that will be put into action moving forward. Some of the notable motions include:

The OJHL will introduce a new “Waiver System” for player movement. This system is designed to keep the league’s best players in the OJHL and all players must be waived through the league before their rights can be traded outside of the OJHL to another competing league.

All General Managers, Coaches and Players will sign an official “OJHL Declaration”, stating their intentions to follow a strict code of conduct.

OJHL to research the possibility of using a three-point scoring system in the standings (will not be in use during 2011-12), where teams would receive:

3 points for a regulation time win
2 points for an overtime or shootout win
1 point for an overtime or shootout loss

Commissioner to form an “Awards Committee” that will decide the year-end award winners.

Seven new league Awards have been created for competition beginning in 2011-12, as follows:

OJHL Top Prospect Award
OJHL Scholastic Player-of-the-Year
OJHL Humanitarian-of-the-Year
OJHL Volunteer-of-the-Year
OJHL Trainer-of-the-Year
OJHL Executive-of-the-Year
OJHL Fan Favourite Award – to be voted on by the fans

It was also announced that the 2010-11 OJHL league-wide average attendance was up 9.5% during the regular season and 41% during the playoffs.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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