Is there really room for yet another 'junior' league?

My buddies and I are thinking of starting up a hockey league.
We can call ourselves anything we want, if we choose, and if we can persuade folks to buy into it. Bully for us.
That pretty much describes the game plan of the Greater Metro Hockey League, which somehow has the audacity to incorporate the term Junior A into its name.
The latter operates, it claims, to develop players for the next levels of hockey. A noble sentiment, to be sure. Oddly, in doing such, it is a program which many see as a detriment to the health of minor hockey.
That’s because in a market already stretched beyond its limits by teams seeking quality players born during the years 1986 to 1990, there already exist far too many teams for the good of junior hockey.
At the Junior A level, or Tier 2 as it is commonly known, there exists 35 teams. Toss in a bunch of Junior B teams in a number of leagues across the province, which, in effect, is the same calibre, and, well, there just are not enough qualified junior hockey players to go around.
So how is it a new hockey program can spring up out of nowhere and call itself Jr. A?
Hockey Canada did not sanction the program so one can suppose it could call itself the NHL, if it chose to do so. Clearly, given that the top junior-aged players are playing elsewhere, it is not of Junior A calibre, as washed down as that level itself may be.
Ironically, it was only at the outset of the 2005-06 season Hockey Canada moved to strengthen minor hockey at the fading midget level. HC did so by vastly reducing the number of so-called under-aged players each team could sign to junior rosters. Teams at the Jr. A level, for instance, are limited to using just two each. Levels below are forbidden to use age-restricted players, leaving them to play at their properly designated age groups.
Then along comes the GMHL, offering a place to play its definition of junior hockey for kids willing to bite at their bait.
Make no mistake. The folks running the GMHL believe they are providing a service to the hockey community.
In a province where junior hockey is already watered down, along comes a league created to provide a ‘junior’ hockey venue for clients of the Bob Russell Hockey Enterprises, a hockey business which “recruits” around the world for its hockey boarding school. In this case, that would be the Bradford Rattlers.
By the way, my buddies and me are thinking of calling ourselves, oh, let’s say, Team Canada. Is that taken?

Comments

[Kevin]

I'm offended by your article. My son has just signed in the GMHL. I have 24 years of hockey dad experience from novice GTHL to provincial Jr.
This league is a god send to those who have dealt with the deception and politics of the Provincial jrs' and mostly the GTHL.
I can only hope the GTHL has some sort of competition in later years so they to can improve as an organization without monopoly.

[Offended and not surprised!]

Maybe one day you'll grow up to be a real journalist working for a real newspaper!

What an arrogant, uninformed, and blatantly kiss-ass article, and a complete insult to hundreds of players and parents who believe in competition and freedom!

[Wow]

Wow;
Guess someone should consult with him on Players before the season starts. He assumes that players can't play just because he says so. Arrogant, at least give a fair opinion by attending games and talking to players and coaches. It has been my experience on the last 30 years that playing Junior A or B Sanctioned or not is not a issue. There are players at both levels that could easily fit on either team.

[GR8DB8]

Cudmore has four (4) GMHL teams in his own backyard and has not taken the time to get his facts straight. Yet this month's issue of Hockey Now (Sept. 30 edition) has a very positive overview of the GMHL teams he ignores. Cudmore is biased and unprofessional. GMHL has offered a viable alternative to OPJHL and several owners are closely watching the evolving success of GMHL. Yes GMHL is non-sanctioned, however this is not a bad thing. GMHL has developed to "right the wrongs" of OPJHL such as: no cut/no trade policy, pay to play, cages for younger players/visors for older players, and most of all a commitment toward PLAYER DEVELOPMENT. GMHL offers 42 games, 4 practices a week, Russia Elite Exhibition Games, All-Star Games(NCAA)and player showcasing to attract NCAA scholorship opportunities. Over 600 players tried to earn a spot on one of the seven GMHL teams. That tells me that over 600 kids were willing to risk whatever it takes to take a chance on the GMHL and yet Cudmore cant take a 10 minute drive to interview one of the GMHL team owners in his own back yard. How pathetic!!!

[Chris Hoecke]

Being a player in the metro junior A hockey league i tend to believe you dont know much about hockey. As an alternate league it is good for other skilled players to have an oportunity considering in the provincial junior A the rosters are outstandlingly large (30-40 players)which more then half barely see the ice. If you had a son playing hockey in junior A and had the choice of him going to metro or provincial considering he was not a top player would you want him playing on a provincail team and seeing maybe 3-4 games or playing everygame at the same skill level? Does this not give him a better chance to improve on what he needs to. In provincial junior A it tends to be make the somewhat better players improve alot and holds back the ones who have just as much or more potential. So this is giving an equal chance to the people who deserve it. Just because a players not the strongest on the team doesn't mean that they can't become the strongest. I'm 17 turning 18 and for you to disrespect what you have so little knowledge about offends me and makes you look like a child and as i said i'm only 17 yet i it looks like i'm more mature then you already. And i truely believe that this league will evolve greatly. It has alot of potential, great players, and coaches who aren't there for the money but to do what they love and help us players succeed and make a living doing what we love.

Proud to be a Richmond Hill Ram.

[Parental observer]

You tell him son.

[Errol]

Wow!

So negative. You would think by the way he speaks that the GMHL owners are out to rip off the public for there money and could careless about the well being of the players. I have never met a group of people (team officials) more committed to the boys well being than the dog eat dog attitude of the established Jr programs. I am a Canadian living and working in Las Vegas where I was proud to send my son half across the continent to experience Jr A hockey. The owners, coaches, staff and community of Gravenhurst have been wonderful to my son and treat him with utmost respect. Your article smacks of an amateur writer trying to stir controversy in an attempt to get noticed in an industry that feeds itself off of negative crap that you have written. Go back to your couch and your 'find a word' book.

[DoorDie]

After having followed the GMHL for over a year, the league is garbage.

[fred faberitz]

both Hc and gmhl have good points the problem is that people calling the GMHL not Junior could only really know if two of the teams played each other. Case in point, as to the quality for you hockey buffs. The Temiscaming team was previously a GMHL team and moved to the NOJHL. They went to this league with 80 % of their existing roster and have played the skyhawks to a standstill in some of their games. The skyhawks are ranked 14 in Canada. This is the only true way to gauge a leauge by facing off the players in the same sheet of ice. The other side of the coin is that HC does not have a monoply and I'm absolutley sure that if those hockey skeptics were to be denied access to other companies in their industry for better employment opportunities they would be yelling foul. So why is it different in hockey?