After reading post today about Niagara and Owen Sound switching division why is the OHL not realign division to make more economic sense l
Why is the OHL stalling on realignment
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OMG67
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With unbalanced scheduling, does it matter?
Owen Sound has close rivals with Guelph and Kitchener.
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
Because it's not necessary. This has been brought up over and over again. Someone has posted a chart with the mileage and the current alignment is the best option.
OMG67
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And with there being rivalry games, the schedule becomes unbalanced but works from a proximity perspective which is just fine.
Ottawa will play Gatineau twice this year in a home and home. They reduce two games against Sudbury which allows Sudbury to play two extra out of conference games against SOO. They also play one extra game against Peterborough (7) and one less game against Hamilton (5). Helps keep the longer trips to a minimum.
As long as the OHL continues to inject rivalry games and maintain the unbalanced schedule, travel is not an issue.
OMG67
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The unbalanced schedule for Erie gives them 6 games against Niagara and 4 games against Mississauga instead of just the normal 2 out of conference games. They also hit OS back to back on the road to eliminate one trip there this season.
That reduces the number of games they play other teams that are further away.
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
Exactly, and there are examples like this all over the league. I believe Owen Sound and Erie play 4 times, The Attack pick up extra games against Barrie, London only plays Guelph 6 times but gets extra games against Sarnia.
Accommodations are made based on travel. It's really a non-issue in the grand scheme of things
You could probably find it in one of the many threads created on the subject
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
Realignment Idea Proposal!
A writer for our site, Dana has some realignment ideas. Check them out. I know this discussion gets opened up every two years but I kind of like this one. I know some will find some flaws. Happy to engage is some friendly discussion! The OHL Realignment
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Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
Re-structuring the league
I am sure us fans talk about this a lot on our own boards but I want to hear everyone’s opinion on this matter. Personally as a Ranger I currently hate how the league is structured. The west is by far a more competitive conference than the east year in and year out. Than when you look at...
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DCruickshank
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ohloutsider
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North Bay started the season with back to back in the Soo. I think it’s great when they do that.
We love having the Attack fans in Erie especially when you brought a bus precovid. Great fans who love to talk hockey.
AttackSound
Junior Hockey Fan Since Birth
I don't think realignment really will happen. If that was the case I think it would've happened ages ago.
I understand the fact of geographical alignments would maybe make sense in theory but with all the infinite combinations of realignments that could be someone would be upset. At the end of the day what the divisional alignments are now are really the only way the OHL could realistically keep somewhat of a happy league.
The only way I would ever see realignment would be if the OHL was considering expansion of teams and even still you'd have to balance the expansion teams in either conference say one in each. But then that gets into a whole other side of scheduling issues and other areas that the OHL would have to figure out like number of games, road schedules etc.
Beyond relocation of a current team to a place to a old location like Cornwall or Toronto or Plymouth or Detroit. I really couldn't see the OHL look at any major changes.
As for the idea of "Stalling" I'd have to say stalling for what? to change maybe 3-4 teams schedules around? To benefit maybe one teams travel schedule over another? The only way will ever see realignment of teams is through expansion. Expansion of both conferences by at least 1 team in each. Until that happens this is as good as the divisional and conference alignments will ever be.
I understand the fact of geographical alignments would maybe make sense in theory but with all the infinite combinations of realignments that could be someone would be upset. At the end of the day what the divisional alignments are now are really the only way the OHL could realistically keep somewhat of a happy league.
The only way I would ever see realignment would be if the OHL was considering expansion of teams and even still you'd have to balance the expansion teams in either conference say one in each. But then that gets into a whole other side of scheduling issues and other areas that the OHL would have to figure out like number of games, road schedules etc.
Beyond relocation of a current team to a place to a old location like Cornwall or Toronto or Plymouth or Detroit. I really couldn't see the OHL look at any major changes.
As for the idea of "Stalling" I'd have to say stalling for what? to change maybe 3-4 teams schedules around? To benefit maybe one teams travel schedule over another? The only way will ever see realignment of teams is through expansion. Expansion of both conferences by at least 1 team in each. Until that happens this is as good as the divisional and conference alignments will ever be.
I don't think the OHL will look to realign the divisions, but I wonder if it would be considered with the arena situation in Hamilton.
If the Bulldogs plan to play out of Brantford for the next two seasons, is the added travel distance for the East division teams enough to warrant a change?
I know its not a whole lot farther Hamilton to Brantford, but would switching places with Mississauga not make some sense from a travel perspective?
If the Bulldogs plan to play out of Brantford for the next two seasons, is the added travel distance for the East division teams enough to warrant a change?
I know its not a whole lot farther Hamilton to Brantford, but would switching places with Mississauga not make some sense from a travel perspective?
HockeyPops
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There still seems to be questions concerning the long term viability of a few current OHL cities. Some of those cities are geographically close to the dividing line between east and west (ie. Mississauga, North Bay). Even without expansion happening, potential relocation could throw a wrench into any realignment.
Why would the league even consider realignment while these questions remain?
Why would the league even consider realignment while these questions remain?
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
This...
The league is coming out of a massive financial crush. Realignment isn't going to solve the problem. As stated in other threads the benefits of any geographical Realignment would be minimal. Two things will help the league financially, one is the stabilization of poor attended teams. Be that new ownership or relocation... those troubled franchises need to be corrected first. Then and only then should expansion be considered. Once expansion happens then you're looking at Realignment.
OMG67
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There are four or five problem children in the OHL that no one can do anything about because they are generally far away from their nearest opponent. However, after a 4 hour drive, they are sitting in a pocket of a lot of teams in a short distance. Those teams generally have road trips that string together 3-4 games at a time.
Once SSM hits Saginaw, Flint-Windsor-Sarnia are all within a short distance.
Sudbury and North Bay have each other in moderate close proximity but as soon as they hit Barrie, the GTA area teams open up as well as some of the Mid-West teams. Barrie to Guelph, Owen Sound, Kitchener, Mississauga and Hamilton are all relatively short distances.
Erie has Niagara which isn’t too bad but once they hit Hamilton, they are like North Bay and Sudbury, the mid-West opens up nicely.
Ottawa may have some advantages compared to Sault but they need to push through the GTA once they get through three of four teams in their division (Kingston 2 hours, Peterborough 3.5 and Oshawa 4). North bay and Sudbury are comparable to Oshawa and Mississauga from a time to travel perspective.
In the end, there really isn’t anything meaningful to be done about the outliers. They are in geographically disadvantageous locations. Outside of jamming a square peg into a round hole and forcing expansion or relocation, what can you do? Erie would need a teams in Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo and Akron? SSM, Sudbury and North Bay would not benefit from any expansion. There are no other northern towns that could support a team. Ottawa would benefit from a return of a Belleville team and adding a Cornwall team. None of that is likely.
The reality is, the geography isn’t ideal. But, it is better than the geography in both the WHL and the QMJHL. Val D’or, Gatineau, and Rouyn-Noranda all need to travel through Montreal to access any other teams. The East Cost isn’t a short distance. The WHL doesn’t need to be discussed at all. Their issues are obvious. Each league has wildly unbalanced schedules.
Once SSM hits Saginaw, Flint-Windsor-Sarnia are all within a short distance.
Sudbury and North Bay have each other in moderate close proximity but as soon as they hit Barrie, the GTA area teams open up as well as some of the Mid-West teams. Barrie to Guelph, Owen Sound, Kitchener, Mississauga and Hamilton are all relatively short distances.
Erie has Niagara which isn’t too bad but once they hit Hamilton, they are like North Bay and Sudbury, the mid-West opens up nicely.
Ottawa may have some advantages compared to Sault but they need to push through the GTA once they get through three of four teams in their division (Kingston 2 hours, Peterborough 3.5 and Oshawa 4). North bay and Sudbury are comparable to Oshawa and Mississauga from a time to travel perspective.
In the end, there really isn’t anything meaningful to be done about the outliers. They are in geographically disadvantageous locations. Outside of jamming a square peg into a round hole and forcing expansion or relocation, what can you do? Erie would need a teams in Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo and Akron? SSM, Sudbury and North Bay would not benefit from any expansion. There are no other northern towns that could support a team. Ottawa would benefit from a return of a Belleville team and adding a Cornwall team. None of that is likely.
The reality is, the geography isn’t ideal. But, it is better than the geography in both the WHL and the QMJHL. Val D’or, Gatineau, and Rouyn-Noranda all need to travel through Montreal to access any other teams. The East Cost isn’t a short distance. The WHL doesn’t need to be discussed at all. Their issues are obvious. Each league has wildly unbalanced schedules.
southsideIrish
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I'm just waiting for Thunder Bay to get an OHL team and really make people crazy with the road trips 
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
I could see the other leagues looking at this thread and saying "first world problems."
On the topic of expansion, what may have been 3-5 years away in 2019 is now easily 10+ years away now.
The league currently has about best setup they can for Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa, who already have the worst schedule by far. The teams are already on an unfair playing field and any changes to those divisions are not feasible.
Travel is also bad for Owen Sound and Erie, but realignment for the Central and Midwest just create new problems. I'm not convinced that any positive changes can be made.
OMG67
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I think the league does a great job compromising with the rivalry games and unbalanced schedules.
