Yes to North Bay, no to Soo


By
May 11, 2017

There will be no minor midget team from Sault Ste. Marie added to the Great North Midget Hockey League but a second entry from North Bay has been accepted effective the 2017-2018 season.

HockeyNewsNorth.com has confirmed that the Great North loop has voted in a minor midget team from North Bay that will join the existing major midget Trappers.

At the same time, the Great North said no to a request from Sault Major Hockey Association officials to ice a minor midget team in addition to its existing major midget entry.

The addition of a minor midget entry from North Bay will increase the membership in the Great North to eight teams.

Effective the 2017-2018 season, the Great North league will operate with major midget and minor midget teams from both North Bay and Sudbury as well as single entries from the Soo, Kapuskasing, New Liskeard and Timmins.

The new minor midget team from North Bay will play a limited schedule of 24 regular-season games within the Great North league and not qualify for the playoffs. The North Bay minor midgets will be coached by Mike Stockfish.


What you think about “Yes to North Bay, no to Soo”

  1. This is a disgrace. The GNMHL should be ashamed of themselves for not accepting teams. Its supposed to be about the players and their development

  2. It is time for Sault Major to admit they have messed up hockey in SSM… it gets worse the younger it gets. No Atom Minor team this year, most likely none next year either.

  3. Soo Major should be ashamed of the mess they’ve made. They need to be completely re-organized.

  4. Once again. A complete joke and the GNMHL knows it. It’s too bad politics once again play into it. Believe me, I have inside knowledge and the Doi is getting completely screwed. It amazes me how some people can try to pretend they are doing a service for the kids like making a decision such as this. It completely boggles your mind

    1. What’s your inside knowledge, Ryan? Why not share it and share your name with us as well? Just asking, Ryan. Any one can mouth off without giving their full name.

  5. Why does the minor aaa midget league have to play in the gnmhl league ? They can have a team here play in the soo major midget league and then enter into the so called show case tournaments .

    1. The minor kids aren’t going to benefit playing in the sault major league. They played in that league last year. The whole point of AAA hockey is so kids can develop at a higher level and be scout. The GNMHL is taking that away from kids that work so hard just to get to that point.

  6. This is really sad that a group of people who never seen those kids play were allow to make such an important decision about their future. I would like to know how GNMHL came to the decision the minor kids wouldn’t be competitive or the difference between them and Sudbury 01’s. The sault team against stronger competitors put up similar numbers to Sudbury 01’s at that age.

    I’m willing to bet the sault team not only can win games in the GNMHL but would have had more kids selected in the OHL draft if they were given the same chances as the Sudbury 01’s. This is truly sad that this bull is allowed to happen.

  7. It’s very difficult to conclude the 2002 AAA team would be competitive in the GNMHL this coming season. For starters they’ve not been competitive in the North at their own age group for the past three seasons. Playing in the GNMHL this season would mean playing against AAA teams and players 1 and 2 years older (Bigger, Stronger, Heavier) not a recipe for success.

    PeeWee Major AAA – 5 Wins, 23 losses, 2 ties
    Bantam Minor AAA – 1 Win, 23 Losses
    Bantam Major AAA – 11 Wins, 16 Losses, 1 Tie
    Combined 3 Year Total of 17 Wins, 62 Losses & 3 Ties.
    This past year doesn’t truly represent an improvement. They played 7 games against a very bad Timmins team.

    All GNMHL executives have been watching the 2002 team. They’re correct when they say they won’t be competitive.

    Sadly, locally our Rep program is in shambles. We’re the laughing stock of Ontario.

    This season:
    Atom Minor AA – No team
    Atom Major AA – Decent team and will compete.
    PeeWee Minor AAA – Weak and won’t be competitive
    PeeWee Major AAA – Went boom over coaching selection. Will be very weak.
    Bantam Minor AAA – Going Boom over coaching selection.
    Bantam Major AAA – Going Boom over coaching selection.
    Midget Minor AAA – No team, not able to ice a competitive team.

    Sault Major, as others have indicated it’s time for you to go boom. You’ve ruined Rep hockey in SSM with your thoughtless decisions. Have a look around, you’ve embarrassed our youth, our parents, the hockey community and Sault Ste. Marie.

    See these links for other comments.
    https://www.hockeynewsnorth.com/ohl/top-pick-porco-spirit/#more-19637
    https://www.hockeynewsnorth.com/aaa/sault-major-names-8-coaches/

    Shame on you Sault Major, SHAME SHAME DOUBLE SHAME

    1. Your right Anthony

      The part of my brain that handles common sense clearly wasn’t working. I’m embarrass that I made such a dumb comment. All I seen was another group of Sault kids getting screwed over. What I should have said was GNMHL down graded the sault kids as prospects turning them down for the league. They should have just had a minor league like every other region. I believe the soo will be icing a minor midget team. There just not in a league.

  8. We need to develop kids with good coaches, extra training on and off ice and try to go on 4-5 good tournaments a year especially at this age group we need minor midget back in Sault ste marie. Honestly with good coaches we can develop kids there is definitely talent in the Sault.

  9. Stacey bang on, there’s a ton of good hockey people in SSM. For some reason they apply for coaching positions and never get a look. I’ve copied the below from an early post. It sums things up well.

    “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” “Sault Major you continue to follow the path defined above.”

    Its sad, very sad. The current coaches PeeWee Major AAA through Bantam Major AAA need to be changed. They all operate poor programs. The frustrating thing is that Sault Major refuses to listen to their customer base. They give a rats ass about the players, the parents and the product they put on the ice. The bantam AAA teams philosophy is …Give me your cash, shut up and stay away. Every wonder where all the cash goes? Team budgets of approx. $120,000 + unknown unreported sponsor dollars.

    Fix it Sault Major! Shame Shame Double Shame on You.

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