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Post by mlh01 on Apr 21, 2023 23:16:56 GMT -5
Wade. I respect many of your posts. You USED to have a passion for Senior hockey. I also find some of your posts complete garbage, Your most recent post fits that billing - complete garbage.
Comparing eras is ridiculous. Yes 10 years ago, the Southeast Prairie, Bentley and Dundas teams were much stronger. Everyone agrees. However the teams from 10 years previous to that were also much stronger. Go back to the 80’s and look at some of Donnie’s teams. Take the 1986 Brantford team. They had Stan Johnathan, Stan Weir, Rocky Saginiuk, Free Boimstruck to name a few. Former NHL goalie Don Edwards, etc. They were stacked and would annihilate the Bentleys and McCoys from 10 years ago.
What I’m getting at is ….times change. Players now make millions and fewer are wanting to risk injury to play hockey after retirement.
I was at the game tonight. The arena was packed to the rafters. The beer line took 20 minutes to grab a pint. Dundas meets Clarenville tomorrow.
Why not give credit to Donnie for resurrecting Senior hockey after Covid. Whining about 10 years ago is juvenile.
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 20, 2023 22:41:42 GMT -5
I feel this is a new beginning for Senior hockey. All fakes not decided til final minutes. Great competition.
Even though we still have a few games left, I already can’t wait for next year.
Too early to declare. But after watching these games, and the excitement, I feel Senior hockey is on the comeback.
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 20, 2023 22:38:26 GMT -5
Has been a very competitive Allan Cup. All 4 teams pretty much dead even.
Clarenville 2-0-1 - 8 pts Dundas 1-1-1 - 4 pts Hamilton 1-2 - 3 pts Innisfail 1-2 - 3 pts
Hamilton goes to semi with their win over Innisfail.
Tonight’s game to decide first went to OT. Clarenville was outplayed and outshot but goalie stole the show in 5-4 OT win
Hamilton has lays Dundas in semi. Hopefully the Dundas barn is full with 2 local teams.
Clarenville awaits the winner for the Allan Cup championship
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 15, 2023 16:39:34 GMT -5
You likely need Ontario cable to login
Clarenville is offering streaming package for $25. Go to their website
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 3, 2023 21:08:22 GMT -5
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 3, 2023 14:37:56 GMT -5
Yes games will be streamed. Watch for details
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Post by mlh01 on Apr 2, 2023 12:15:50 GMT -5
Wade, I feel you are misinterpreting what Don is saying and how he feels.
First off, your opinion is to can the Allan Cup. Don’s opinion is to continue awarding the oldest trophy in hockey. Many small towns have terrific memories of winning this Cup. Back to the glory days, right up to both your team, Bentley, and my town, Dundas, winning and hosting the trophy.
Don is not saying to turn it into a AA trophy. He never said that. He is saying they started classifying teams many decades ago. He is saying if you are AA and can compete with AAA teams, which would be proven in Provincial play downs, then why the hell not let AA teams compete.
What I struggle with is why you continually do not want to see top teams competing. Many, or most AA and A Senior trans have a mix of a few pros but mostly lower level Jr B or C players with a smattering of CIS.
There are now 32 NHL teams. Canadians over the last 3 decades flock to Europe for pro hockey. Minor Pro like the AHL and ECHL have expanded. Thus there are literally 1000’s of ex pros wanting to play….why not offer an avenue for these top players to play together on one team
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 31, 2023 10:49:08 GMT -5
What a great interview. Definitely Donnie being Donnie. He actually is the “Don Cherry of Senior Hockey”
He is almost single handedly trying to save the Allan Cup.
I hadn’t listened to this yet but everything he is saying makes perfect sense.
1) The Allan Cup should be open to all AA and AAA teams.
2) Costs to travel each year to the Cup should be taken from a “pot”. His figure of $1000 per team seems low. I’ve always thought min $5 grand per team in Canada. Every Rep hockey player in Canada approaches, and most exceed, paying $5,000 per PLAYER just to play minor hockey AAA. No reason each team in Canada can’t put $5,000 into a pot. Then qualifying teams don’t have to foot a $40-50 Grand bill just to get to the host town
3) Social media. Don mentions he is not tech savvy. Well that is evident throughout Senior hockey. They need to do a much better job on social media to help raise awareness. One of the best in Canada is the new Western Ontario Super Hockey League. Where they do lack in talent, they definitely don’t lack in social media. You can’t go on Twitter without seeing their updates. If they can step up the player requirements (limiting the # of high caliber players means at the moment they could not compete for the Allan Cup. My point is the other teams and leagues in Canada could learn from this league. More media always means more butts on seats !
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 30, 2023 21:40:58 GMT -5
Is Clarenville confirmed? From looking at this article on the Allan Cup Hockey league website it is not a definite yet. Look at the section at the end of the article
Yes like I said a few days ago. Clarenville is confirmed. Extremely happy they are back. Hearing next year will be open to all AA and AAA teams. If approved, this will bring Allan Cup back to the forefront of Senior hockey. Will open it up to every province again.
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 28, 2023 22:43:38 GMT -5
I know the Ontario league is still going, however do we have any early predictions? I’ve been to many Allan Cups. I find the Ontario teams generally have more pro experience and talent. The large size of Ontario dictates this. On paper it’s generally not a contest. Even the “best team” ever (Bentley) lol did not come close to having the same talent as the Ontario teams. But they played tough Western style, team orientated hockey. No prima- donnas like our Ontario teams tended to have. The Generals, therefore, won more than they lost. Will Innisfail bring the same tenacity ?? Newfoundland will likely be a step below but in watching Clarenville in 2-3 games the last few years when I’ve been out on the Rock, they have talent, a decent mix of youth but don’t have the same ex-pro experience. They will be helped by adding 4-5 top players. In the end if you look at rosters, Dundas likely has highest caliber. The issue is the Ontario Senior AAA games at times can be like beer league hockey. Some games with very little body contact. Alberta will bang and Newfoundland will bring heart. In the end I see Dundas Vs Inny in Final. Dundas wins in final is my prediction. *** my pick is asterisked as I’ve only seen 3 of the 4 teams. Haven’t even watched the highlights on you tube that Inny posts. I’ll take a look before the tourney.
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 26, 2023 22:42:03 GMT -5
Hamilton defeats Dundas 6-5 in OT in last game of round Robin.
Wentworth is eliminated
Dundas/Hamilton will play for Robertson Cup.
Both teams advance to Allan Cup
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 25, 2023 15:49:43 GMT -5
Hearing Clarenville is confirmed. Announcements next week.
Ticket packages will only be $100 for all games. On sale next weekend.
Come out and support !!
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 23, 2023 17:10:30 GMT -5
The East - West final has been bandied about for years. But in the end it could, and likely would end up being far most expensive.
Canada is such a large land mass. The two teams who end up in the final could end up having to travel long distances 3 times…rather than the current one long road trip.
For example Powell River,BC plays a team on the East side of Alberta. This encompasses hotel rooms and travel over a weekend. Then if Powell wins and say Southeast in Manitoba wins, that’s another long trip with hotel rooms for contingents of 25-30 people.
East final would also mean plane rides and hotels in either ON, QC or NFLD.
Then under the East West Final unless the best of 7 is all played in one city, would involve the teams both travelling one weekend. Then to the other side of the country the next weekend.
Either way, the real solution is funding. Hockey Canada, Provincial Associations and/or sponsorship is only way to expect all teams to be able to travel. Or have budgets setup at beginning of season for all AAA teams that involves enough fundraising and sponsorship to help avoid the need for last minute scrambles for cash - like Inny and potentially Clarenville are facing now.
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 21, 2023 22:05:12 GMT -5
I understand the concept of a challenge cup and Clarenville being a last-minute addition, but adding players at this stage when all other AAA teams have had their rosters finalized a long time ago doesn't seem right. Actually this is not out of the ordinary. Newfoundland, in all of the modern day era tournaments were granted an exemption. This allowed them to add 4-5 players. They did this during the 2014 Cup here in Dundas. Although….read on. It really wasn’t an exemption under Hockey Canada rules. We also need to put this in perspective. Newfoundland is an island with a population of approx 500,000 people. That is less than the amalgamated city of Hamilton (which includes the 22k who live here in Dundas. The 4 teams in our league have over 15 million people in the small area called the “Golden Horseshoe” to build teams from. Therefore the only way to allow the smaller provinces a fighting chance is to allow pickups. Secondly - we can actually do the same in Ontario. Alberta too ….by adding “AA” AP players. In fact we did it here in Dundas. Seasoned McCoys fans will remember that we added big D MacMillan after his AA season in Southwest Ontario was done. I remember at least two years he joined us for the Cup run. What would happen is the previous years winner would declare “AAA” for the following season in Newfoundland. The rest of the teams in NFLD would play as “AA”. Thus allowing them to pickup AP “AA” players fair and square. Only difference in 2023 is this is such short notice that Clarenville didn’t declare AAA. But let’s be honest. That is just semantics. I will be thrilled if they can pull this off. Looking forward to seeing the Caribous again !!! ** Please feel free to add to my comments above. All are my recollection of how the Allan Cup has run for the last 25 years with regards to NFLD adding pickups.
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Post by mlh01 on Mar 20, 2023 22:45:57 GMT -5
Clarenville, Innisfail, Dundas, and Ontario team. Unless something drastic changes in the next few weeks. Too bad this didn't break earlier. The AESHL and Herder series in Newfoundland could have been cut down to best-of-five series and it might have worked out to have this year's Herder champion participate in the Allan Cup. To be honest, that wouldn’t have mattered. It’s not about the best team entering. It’s about the best organization. I met a few of the Clarenville contingent when they played in the 2014 Allan Cup down here. And have even gone to some games out on the Rock. They are a very very solid Senior A organization. Since the league toned down with fewer ex-pros, and the caliber of players wasn’t as strong, it coincided with fewer sponsors. Covid then reared its ugly head. Then, as you mention it was almost the death of Senior hockey. Add to it, in previous years the winner of the AA league would declare AAA for the following season, and subsequently would have a year to fundraise. So given there is only a month to go, I feel Clarenville is the only team on the Rock who can pull it off. And hopefully they can add 4-5 players to allow them a competitive team to battle Ontario and Alberta.
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