Two USHL joining the OHL

[Jawk]

Burlington is in the process of approving a new development in the west end of their city, with the QEW right beside it, and they plan to include an OHL sized building.

 

[three dog night]

New home for Brampton or an expansion team

Burlington is in the process of approving a new development in the west end of their city, with the QEW right beside it, and they plan to include an OHL sized building.n

 

[OMG67]

Burlington is in the process of approving a new development in the west end of their city, with the QEW right beside it, and they plan to include an OHL sized building.

Burlington would be interesting but would Hamilton fans go to Burlington and vacate their support for Brantford? I think they would need that to happen. I am not sure Oakville would be enough of a catchment to work. Thoughts?

 

[SSMHoundsFan]

Burlington would be interesting but would Hamilton fans go to Burlington and vacate their support for Brantford? I think they would need that to happen. I am not sure Oakville would be enough of a catchment to work. Thoughts?

Are Hamilton fans actually going to Brantford to watch games?

I could see Burlington working, Mike Farwell commented that he thinks Burlington, Chatham, Cornwall and Belleville should all be welcomed into the fray with an expansion team

 

[OMG67]

Are Hamilton fans actually going to Brantford to watch games?

I could see Burlington working, Mike Farwell commented that he thinks Burlington, Chatham, Cornwall and Belleville should all be welcomed into the fray with an expansion team

I do think many Bulldog fans followed them to Brantford. It is not like Brantford is a long drive. Assuming you are not driving form downtown Hamilton and you are closer to Ancaster, I think you are looking at a 30 minute drive.

Brantford fans can comment though.

One of Belleville or Cornwall needs to join the league to keep five teams east of Toronto for a divisional alignment that makes sense.

 

[Helvigster]

Burlington would be interesting but would Hamilton fans go to Burlington and vacate their support for Brantford? I think they would need that to happen. I am not sure Oakville would be enough of a catchment to work. Thoughts?

I think as long as Andlauer owns the team and there's still remnants of people in the organization from the Hamilton years still working in Brantford, the fans in Hamilton will likely still support the Bulldogs. I severely doubt that many people here would drop their allegiance to go and cheer for a Burlington-based OHL team, especially if the rumours of OVG wanting to land an AHL team to be put in the newly-renovated Hamilton arena are true.

I'm sure Burlington will be able to draw on their own just fine with considerations to their population count. They won't need Hamilton to help with fan support, and they might not need Oakville either.

 

[Jawk]

New home for Brampton or an expansion team

The only issue is from start to finish the entire project is expected to take 10 years. So the question is, will the arena be in phase 1? Or later in the timeline.

Burlington would be interesting but would Hamilton fans go to Burlington and vacate their support for Brantford? I think they would need that to happen. I am not sure Oakville would be enough of a catchment to work. Thoughts?

I'd continue to go to Brantford. I'm not sure what other hardcover would do. I expect Brantford may lose some of the Hamilton people when Hamilton gets an AHL team.

FYI, Hamilton Bulldogs season holders was <1000. I'm not even sure how many went to Brantford. Maybe 500 at absolute most.

Are Hamilton fans actually going to Brantford to watch games?

I could see Burlington working, Mike Farwell commented that he thinks Burlington, Chatham, Cornwall and Belleville should all be welcomed into the fray with an expansion team

I have had seasons since 17/18. I made the move to Brantford, for the original 3 year commitment, and will be staying there.

 

[dogs777]

Are Hamilton fans actually going to Brantford to watch games?

I could see Burlington working, Mike Farwell commented that he thinks Burlington, Chatham, Cornwall and Belleville should all be welcomed into the fray with an expansion team

Take Belleville out of this conversation because Brampton will be there before the expansion

 

[Fischhaber]

As a Saginaw fan I don't like the idea of an "American" division. What I like about the OHL is that we're integrated into the ONTARIO hockey league and if we played the majority of our games against the American teams I think it would segregate us.

For years and years many of us have felt that the league officiated us differently because we were a new US team. Over the past few years it's finally felt different (like we belong) and of course now that we had Hache play for a year, we'll get every call because well...Papa Hache

My fear is that we'd go back to feeling like an outsider and that the league would become Ontario-centric despite the addition of the American teams. I love being a part of this league and it was awesome to be able to show off our town and hockey fandom during the Memorial Cup...for the first time I feel like we're a legit part of this league and separating us into an American division may be a step backward.

I think you'll always have the Greyhounds at least. There is no solution for them other than playing Michigan teams and there are some great rivalries in place. Adding Muskegon to the existing West Division is about the only thing that would make sense. It's ideal travel for every team.

Youngstown only makes sense in the existing Mid-West division. Maybe you can bump Guelph and Owen Sound over to the Central Division in that scenario.

You would think 2 other teams need to be added, which maybe opens the door for Belleville in the East Division. I'm not sure who the other team could be, maybe Cornwall?

West
Soo
Sarnia
Flint
Saginaw
Windsor
Muskegon

Midwest
Erie
Kitchener
Youngstown
London
Brantford
Niagara

East
Ottawa
Kingston
Peterborough
Belleville
Oshawa
Team X

Central
Sudbury
North Bay
Barrie
Owen Sound
Guelph
Brampton

While the East is still a work in progress, depending on the other new teams, travel for everyone in the other 3 divisions would be improved, save for the West, which remains about the same. Most notably, Niagara and Brantford make a lot more sense.

 

[agillarda]

St Catherines to Guelph is 110 km
St Catherines to Kingston is 372 km
I like the idea of a three division league. If London was in new west division with another US team, there could be a 7 team central, still no good answer for the east.

I think Mike Farwell in his video on x had a decent solution for divisions and teams bringing in 2 more teams along with the 2 us ones making a 4 division 24 team league.

 

[EvenSteven]

I think you'll always have the Greyhounds at least. There is no solution for them other than playing Michigan teams and there are some great rivalries in place. Adding Muskegon to the existing West Division is about the only thing that would make sense. It's ideal travel for every team.

Youngstown only makes sense in the existing Mid-West division. Maybe you can bump Guelph and Owen Sound over to the Central Division in that scenario.

You would think 2 other teams need to be added, which maybe opens the door for Belleville in the East Division. I'm not sure who the other team could be, maybe Cornwall?

West
Soo
Sarnia
Flint
Saginaw
Windsor
Muskegon

Midwest
Erie
Kitchener
Youngstown
London
Brantford
Niagara

East
Ottawa
Kingston
Peterborough
Belleville
Oshawa
Team X

Central
Sudbury
North Bay
Barrie
Owen Sound
Guelph
Brampton

While the East is still a work in progress, depending on the other new teams, travel for everyone in the other 3 divisions would be improved, save for the West, which remains about the same. Most notably, Niagara and Brantford make a lot more sense.

I posted the exact same division alignments last Wednesday on the CHL/NCAA thread. I also included some explanations as well.

Great minds think alike?

I think Mike Farwell in his video on x had a decent solution for divisions and teams bringing in 2 more teams along with the 2 us ones making a 4 division 24 team league.

Farwell advocates for a northern division. Any division reassignment that has a northern division does not pass the smell test for me. The Soo has to be in the west.

 

[dogs777]

I think you'll always have the Greyhounds at least. There is no solution for them other than playing Michigan teams and there are some great rivalries in place. Adding Muskegon to the existing West Division is about the only thing that would make sense. It's ideal travel for every team.

Youngstown only makes sense in the existing Mid-West division. Maybe you can bump Guelph and Owen Sound over to the Central Division in that scenario.

You would think 2 other teams need to be added, which maybe opens the door for Belleville in the East Division. I'm not sure who the other team could be, maybe Cornwall?

West
Soo
Sarnia
Flint
Saginaw
Windsor
Muskegon

Midwest
Erie
Kitchener
Youngstown
London
Brantford
Niagara

East
Ottawa
Kingston
Peterborough
Belleville
Oshawa
Team X

Central
Sudbury
North Bay
Barrie
Owen Sound
Guelph
Brampton

While the East is still a work in progress, depending on the other new teams, travel for everyone in the other 3 divisions would be improved, save for the West, which remains about the same. Most notably, Niagara and Brantford make a lot more sense.

Let’s say Cornwall is team X in the east (I think they should get a team after Belleville) who does Brampton turn into cause I don’t see them lasting more than 3-4 years at best

 

[Fischhaber]

I posted the exact same division alignments last Wednesday on the CHL/NCAA thread. I also included some explanations as well.

Great minds think alike?



Farwell advocates for a northern division. Any division reassignment that has a northern division does not pass the smell test for me. The Soo has to be in the west.

Must be true . I agree with everything you said.

 

[Fischhaber]

Let’s say Cornwall is team X in the east (I think they should get a team after Belleville) who does Brampton turn into cause I don’t see them lasting more than 3-4 years at best

Hamilton still makes sense in a proposed central division. It's 4.5 hrs to Sudbury, 4 to North Bay. The rest are pretty close.

 

[EvenSteven]

Hamilton still makes sense in a proposed central division. It's 4.5 hrs to Sudbury, 4 to North Bay. The rest are pretty close.

Or Burlington. They are apparently in the process of building, or soon to start building an OHL sized rink. They’d stay in the same division.

 

[Leviathan899]

Throwing it out there:

Let's say Youngstown and Muskegon join, and I assume Brantford keeps their team while Hamilton gets a new one? That's 23 teams, so add one more (how about another try at a GTA team, but in the suburbs - Markham, Richmond Hill or Newmarket?) and you can do either 4 divisions of 6, or 6 divisions of 4 and really concentrate the travel. How about this:

Conference 1:

Div. 1: Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa, Oshawa
Div. 2: Youngstown, Erie, Niagara, Hamilton
Div. 3: London, Kitchener, Guelph, Windsor

Conference 2:

Div. 1: Muskegon, Flint, Saginaw, Sarnia
Div. 2: Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Barrie
Div. 3: Brantford, Brampton, Markham, Owen Sound

Then, have the schedule be: 8 games v. division rivals (24), 4 games v. conference rivals (32), and 1 game v. non-conference rivals (home/away rotates each year), for 68 games...

As for 4 divisions of 6, maybe this?

Conference 1:

Div. 1: London, Kitchener, Guelph, Niagara, Erie, Youngstown
Div. 2: Brantford, Hamilton, Peterborough, Kingston, Ottawa, Oshawa

Conference 2:

Div. 1: Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Barrie, Owen Sound, Markham
Div. 2: Muskegon, Flint, Saginaw, Sarnia, Windsor, Brampton

Obviously splitting up some GTA teams to reduce the travel advantage they would get over the others (especially Ottawa/Kingston).

Schedule here would be 6 games v. division rivals (30), 4 games v. conference rivals (24), and 14 v. non-conference rivals, allowing each team 2 flex games to complete the home-and-home.

No idea if this makes sense, just feels like geography-wise and rivalry-wise, this would be pretty good. Shouldn't the Soo be in the same division as Sudbury and North Bay?

I don’t think you could ever have a team in Richmond Hill or Markham, there’s no chance it would be supported imo. Would just be another Brampton/mississauga and as far as I’m aware of, there’s no suitable rink in either town. York region itself just seems like a bad idea for the OHL. They can support Oshawa/Brampton/Barrie lol

 

[Kingpin794]

I've said this before but if they wanted to get into west MI with Muskegon, why not add someone like Battle Creek? Can Kellogg arena be used for hockey? Wikipedia says it does ice shows so maybe? Natural rival for Muskegon. If you're going to have a foot print out there, might as well make sure its not an island.

 

[ScoutLife4]

I don’t think you could ever have a team in Richmond Hill or Markham, there’s no chance it would be supported imo. Would just be another Brampton/mississauga and as far as I’m aware of, there’s no suitable rink in either town. York region itself just seems like a bad idea for the OHL. They can support Oshawa/Brampton/Barrie lol

I can't see the OHL ever adding another team to the GTA area either.
If anything I can see Brampton leaving at some point and exiting the area completely.

 

[Otto]

Burlington is in the process of approving a new development in the west end of their city, with the QEW right beside it, and they plan to include an OHL sized building.

My understanding is that the Burlington rink will be located near King Road. While beside the 403, there's no exit there, and I doubt there will ever be one.

That said, once the complex is complete in 10 years, it'll be 30 years late. But better late than never. The city will support a team.

 

[Jawk]

My understanding is that the Burlington rink will be located near King Road. While beside the 403, there's no exit there, and I doubt there will ever be one.

That said, once the complex is complete in 10 years, it'll be 30 years late. But better late than never. The city will support a team.

All of this is correct. I have no idea if the project calls for Highway access off of King rd.

Currently the closest highway access would be Waterdown Rd. Off the 403 or Plains Rd. Off the QEW. There is no service rd. on the south side of the 403 where the site is located.