OHA president says cooperation key to SIJHL’s future

The president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) said Sunday a willingness for the SIJHL’s full-time franchises to work together is vital for the league’s long-term survival.
Brent Ladds expressed confidence that the league, which just completed its second year of existence, can continue to develop into a viable unit as long as the more affluent teams are willing to lend a hand to those on less stable financial footing.
“Teams in any league are dependent on each other to survive,” said Ladds, who was in Fort Frances for the Dudley Hewitt Cup Central Canada Junior “A” hockey championship this past week.
“The SIJHL has to examine where its shortcomings are, and approach them in a way that’s good for the league. Situations like Borderland (Thunder) picking up Nipigon’s (Feathermen Hawks) hotel and food costs when Nipigon came here the first weekend of the season shows a strong cooperative effort. The team proved it’s not just concerned with their own backyard.”
More teams joining the league would offer such spinoff benefits as a more varied schedule that would possibly draw more fans at rinks across the SIJHL and increase team revenues.
League officials put forth the idea during last week that expansion may be in the offing, possibly involving a team based out of the Iron Range, whose Yellow Jackets were part-time participants in the league in its inaugural season.
But Ladds cautioned against unnecessarily putting more eggs in the same damaged basket.
“Expansion should be an option only if it doesn’t cause financial hardship and come at the cost of competitive balance,” he warned. “You can’t expand just for the sake of expanding.”
Ladds spoke positively about the Dudley Hewitt Cup returning to a three-league competition after last year’s controversy, which saw the Ontario Provincial Junior “A” Hockey League pull itself out of the running after reportedly being upset with the fledgling SIJHL being granted what the OPJHL considered premature entrance into the Dudley Hewitt Cup field.
“It’s important to understand that the problem was not directly related to the SIJHL,” explained Ladds. “It was a matter of trying to figure out the logistics of determining a winner in time to make the deadline for qualifying for the Royal Bank Cup (national championship).
“We want to continue to maintain academics as the key component of what we do, so that the players can eventually qualify for NCAA scholarships. With an eight-week playoff schedule, like in the OPJHL, you’ve got teams playing every second night. Figuring out a formula for a schedule that would do minimum damage on the academic side of things was a consideration. We just wanted to make sure we knew whether we needed to give the SIJHL time to grow and be able to implement the academic standards we require.”
Ladds outlined the OHA’s immediate goals center around corporate involvement to aid in strengthening the association’s financial base, as well as more development of its officiating staff.
“We can’t get complacent about it,” said Ladds in regards to its officiating situation. “We always have to work on increasing the pool of people we have to select officials from. There’s no long line-up at the door of guys wanting to do it.
“One group we’re targeting on to help in that regard is overage junior players,” he added. “They’re big guys, they can skate, and certainly NHL officials are getting better starting salaries than they used to. It’s a good career.” Implementation of the two-referee system such as the one used in the NHL is not a consideration at this point, though.
“Newmarket uses it in their pre-season Showcase tournament, and it certainly has some benefits to it,” noted Ladds. “But we couldn’t afford it financially.”
As for the efforts of Fort Frances put forth in hosting the Dudley Hewitt Cup, Ladds was duly impressed with the reception given to the visiting legions of players, coaches and league officials.
“When you bring an event to a community this size, it brings some identity to the area, and the people embrace it,” said Ladds. “In the larger communities, the feeling of excitement gets lost competing against other events.
“They got a great crowd here for the final (Saturday), even with their team not being in it,” he added. “In terms of hospitality and friendliness, everyone in our group was mentioning about how everyone here was smiling and saying hello. The reception made the players feel at ease.
“We even took a tour of the (Abitibi-Consolidated) mill. I think it’s important to have an educational component with everything you do, so that the event is not just about hockey.”