Hockey fans in Schreiber—and throughout the Superior International Junior Hockey League—got a big Christmas present when the league announced the Diesels would not fold after all following a late-developing sale to a local ownership group.
The SIJHL spent much of last week scrambling to amend its schedule and reconsider current season points totals after former Diesels’ owner Bill MacLaurin had announced the team would fold after flagging support.
“Its tremendous news in both regards,” SIJHL chairman Ron Whitehead said over the weekend.
“One in that the league, of course, does not want to lose any of its members, and secondly to have some local ownership speaks well for the longevity of the situation.”
The group, headed by Tom Quinton and Mario Veneziano, is composed of “about eight to 10 people from Terrace Bay, Schreiber, and area,” noted Whitehead, and was granted “some concessions or favours from city council” to keep the club afloat.
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres were to play their first game of 2008 in Schreiber on Jan. 4.
While Whitehead insisted very little will change, three Diesels’ games, including the one versus the Sabres, will be postponed “to give [the new ownership group] time to get their act together and get organized.”
The other two postponed games were scheduled against the Thunder Bay Bulldogs.
While those two most likely will get bumped to the end of the regular season, Whitehead hoped Schreiber “could perhaps squeeze” the one versus the Sabres in between other series during the season.
Schreiber’s first game following the sale will be Friday, Jan. 11 when they host the Marathon Renegades.
The Sabres next play a two-game series against the Bulldogs on Jan. 5-6 in Thunder Bay.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
