NOJHL adds on
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is back in Elliot Lake without having really left it.
In a 5-1 vote on Monday, Elliot Lake City Council approved the creation of a non-profit NOJHL franchise effective the upcoming 2014-2015 season.
The vote was based on a proposal where the City of Elliot Lake will spend $100,000 on an NOJHL team and pay upfront operating costs.
According to the proposal, the money will be paid back to the City of Elliot Lake over a seven-to-eight year period through sponsorships and partnerships.
The team will be run by volunteers, who will hire a coach and general manager.
Elliot Lake Bobcats were part of the NOJHL for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons before owner Ryan Leonard received league approval to relocate to Cochrane for the 2014-2015 campaign.
The NOJHL will hold its Annual General Meeting in Sault Ste. Marie on the June 20 weekend.
with files from Rocco Frangione of 94.1 Moose-FM Radio
This is good for the true hockey fan of Elliott Lake. Very happy for the fan’s of Elliott Lake but 100 grand wow that is alot of money for a junior hockey team.
Not that much when you understand the details.
Thanks for this News RR!
Now the Team needs a name (Vikings? or Bobcats?) and a Coach and of course the G.M. to recruit players here. I think that Mayor Hamilton or Bobby Alexander should be the G.M. both former NOHA players.
Great news for a great town. This is due to the hard work of the commissioner and the city council . Those of you who constantly attack mazzucca should be applauding his efforts now. If Espanola can have a successful hockey organization then elliot lake with more population should be able to succeed as well. I think that if the Espanola franchise put as much effort into improving the nojhl as opposed to forming a new league then perhaps the addition of a few teams could have set up divisions where you only play the teams that are distant perhaps a couple times a year to save on travel costs. There was a novel thought. Again just my opinion.
Why would you begrudge Espanola wanting to start something new? There is no lack of effort from those who operate and work for the Rivermen! We will continue to due what we due in the CIHL just as we did in the NoJHL.
So don’t stand up for yourself is what you are saying. Let the tyrant spend spend spend. I am sure if the commissioner would have had all(and i mean) all the teams in thought when he made decisions things would have went smoother.
Hockey critic, I think you might have some details missing in your basic analysis of what has transpired this past season with the Espanola team. Are you forgetting the over the top, heavy handed indefinite suspension that the Mazzuca imposed on Tim Clayden? What that when Clayden was supposed to be working hard at improving the NOJHL? Give me a break!
Good luck to the new Bobcats franchise.. my only thought is that if it never worked in Elliot Lake before, what has changed? they need to bring in a quality hockey person and produce a winner or else all efforts will be for naught.
So pumped to see the Town I grew up in is back in the NOJHL fold ! very pleased right now, So lets call them the Vikings now ! I person can hope right.
So on average you will now spend $200,000.00 – $300,000.00 per season to run an NOHL team. Happy to EL get a team back but I would not want my town to run a team,I really don’t think the money will be recovered but thats politics. Will this make people come out now that they own the team. I don’t think the commissioner did as much work as his inside man did. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me comes into play here.
Good Luck to Elliot Lake but they will have to make a profit of $15,000 a year just to pay back the $100,000 grand over 7 years. Can you say “MISSION IMPOSSIBLE”?
what the town is basically doing is fronting the money to have the team in Elliot Lake with the hopes of getting it back over an eight year period meaning that a team which will obviously be cash-strapped based on previous teams, will have to pay in excess of $10,000 annually back to the city.. I see trouble ahead..
I don’t get how the City of Elliot Lake can even afford a team given the minimal fan support.
They average about 100-150 fans a game..possibly making as much as $2000 a game not counting concessions. That isn’t profit though, they still have to pay employees and what not that run the event, plus the energy costs to run the arena, and the travel costs to travel to the far reaches of the North. They will have to travel to Cochrane, Mattawa, Kirkland Lake, Abitibi etc. The cost of gas and lodgings alone will cut severely into their ability to pay back the City of Elliot Lake.
In a year or two, if the fan support doesn’t improve, it’ll all be for not unfortunately.
I admire the volunteers for trying to run this team..but its going to be hard to find a willing GM and coach to come run things for a start-up franchise like this.
If the city owns the team wouldn’t that mean there would be no ice costs which is a huge burden for many NOJHL and Junior hockey teams across Canada.
Its a municipal election year…..the Elliot Lake Junior Hockey deal has politics written all over it…..IMHO.
Hawks_96 how well do you think that would go over with all the other user groups having to take up the slack. I talked to some people from EL yesterday and they had no clue it went through. Actually all except for one thought it was a crazy idea. Do you honestly think that the crowds will magically appear and if they do for how long. I talked to a couple of business people and they said no way are they going to sponsor the team so there goes the plan of eventually recovering the cost. I just think that when this blows up there will be a lot of unhappy people. Well crazy bell lady will like it 🙂
The city of Elliot Lake doesn’t own the team it is community based . the city is starting the team up and turning over the operation to a group of volunteers, like in Blind River and Abitibi. There will be ice costs and other expenses plus the deal to pay the seed money back… it is going to be interesting.
Well it does not seem to be supported by the majority of the community which is ok but no matter what level of JR hockey it would be nice for every community to have a team. This will be a failing venture unfortunately.
Happy for the Fans of Elliot Lake and Best of Luck to them and there Team.
Hi there “RR” I am hoping to read more about the new Mattawa Black Hawks and I am hoopeful that you will be providing News about this new team.
I enjoy your many articles on the many Teams & Leagues that you write about and I hope to read about the new Mattawa team here on your Site. There is little to no media coverage regarding the new Mattawa Black Hawks and there are many of us who are fans in this area who we hope your site will provide this for us.
Thank you Good Sir.
We have a Hockey Pool going on in which we pick the date that the Mattawa Blackhawks fold. This team will not last as long as DB is in charge IMHO.
If Elliot Lake can find a real hockey person to act as both GM/COACH in the $65,000-$70,000 or so range (acting in both capacities) they have a chance at success with the right person otherwise a losing team will not succeed there…However the best of luck to our friends in Elliot Lake….The community deserves a franchise to entertain the folks in the region…
Even Elliot Lake councillors have their doubts about this deal and weather it makes sense. read the story in the Elliot Lake Standard.
Who own de bobcats?
Agree timminsflash but a Coach is all that is required Manager’s position can be filled by someone on the executive . There must be someone in Every town that can Coach a hockey team…for a lot less
Andy 1..I respect your point of view however I beg to difer with your thinking regarding the running of a Junior A hockey program. The Managerial position is crucial in the recruitement process so important to the program. Not anyone can be successful at it…The coaching position of course is so important as well in the recruitement process and also in the development,retention and reputation of the program..The required credentials have to be earned and learned throughout years of self development and hockey experience…These are professional skills not given to all as in any other endeavour…So..you can have a hockey program limited to local folks involvement or have the opportunity to find the right person or persons to run the program and aspire to very competitive hockey and ensure that the development process leads to bigger and better things for the young players all looking for advancement…If a franchise can attain this level the difference in salary paid out for the right person or persons is easily attained in additional monies received from a successful hockey program…and the local patrons are blessed with an excellent brand of product on the ice…Either you have a full time program or fail with a volunteer system at the Junior A Level…Thanks for hearing me out…
Timmins flash Let’s not forget that the NOJHL is a Tier 2 Junior league and not the best one at that. Anyone worth what you say they would be in Major hockey, my experience in life is that your employer always pays you what he thinks your worth so if B L thinks their man is worth that much (like you say) then they will pay him that much. No Manager or Coach in the NOJHL league has shown me that they are in the Super Star category .
hello again Andy…Isn’t is always difficult to be recognized as what you call a “super star” when he or she or they do exist within our mists?…..In my humble opinion we do have a few within the NOJHL and they as others started within minor systems and earned their way upwards because of their hard work,dedication and accumulated knowledge of and passion for the game . Their journey will continue onwards and one day perhaps the NOJHL will be recognized for having been the stepping stone for one or others of our present or future coaching “super stars” making it to the BIG SHOW …Again Andy, I believe any player sacrificing to play at the junior A Level for the opportunity to play at a higher level beyond the junior age deserves the chance to have the coaching expertise required to enable the player to achieve his or her goals. This coaching of course can be locally available but quite often when coaching is the secondary employment the coach cannot be expected to maintain his skills and training required of the coaching duties especially in today’s expectations of the coaching endeavour…Andy,I believe that we cannot expect hockey people to work for nothing and a salary in the $30,000 range for each full time position ie GM and Coach is a livelihood at best…”If we pay peanuts…we get monkees”.
So Andy…all we are doing here is discussing different philosophies and I find it interesting and I do appreciate my discussions with you..Contrary to many other bloggers we are always respectful of each other’s opinion….
I don’t really know the average salaries paid to Junior Manager/Coaches at all levels so I will end this by going back to my previous statement and that the Owners will pay the Coach or Manager what they believe he is worth.