History
The Essex 73’s have competed in the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League since the 1973-74 season. In total, the club has won 16 Great Lakes Junior C League Championships and 6 All Ontario Junior C titles. By both measures, they are the most successful team in Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League history. Their 6 Clarence Schmalz Cup (CSC) wins and 11 CSC finals appearances are both Ontario Junior C records.
With Dave Prpich behind the bench the 73’s won four league titles in a row from 1974-75 to 1978-79, including three All Ontario Championships in that span. The 73’s would claim two more Great Lakes League Championships in the 80’s in 1985-86 and 1986-87.
After some struggles in the early to mid 90’s the 73’s got back into winning form taking the title for the first time in ten years in 1997-98 the team won the Great Lakes League Championship by defeating the Wallaceburg Lakers in the league final. Their loss to the Kincardine Bulldogs in the All Ontario semi-finals marked the 73's most successful season in a decade.
In the 2001-02 season General Manager Al Lemay brought aboard Head Coach Tony Piroski who coached the team from 2001-2010. The 73's had great success under Piroski and in his first season the 73’s won the Great Lakes League and the All Ontario Title defeating the Uxbridge Bruins in the finals.
On September 27, 2003 was one of the saddest days in the history of the club, 19 year old forward Glen Ivancic was murdered in Windsor. A banner #25 hanged from the rafters at the Essex Memorial Arena for years before it was given to his parents.
The team reached the All Ontario Junior C Finals five straight seasons (tying an Ontario Junior C Record), defeating the Grimsby Peach Kings in 2005 but losing to the Penetang Kings in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 they faced the offensive powerhouse Alliston Hornets and were defeated in a memorable game 7 overtime loss in Essex. The 2008-2009 season saw the 73's finish with a remarkable 59 wins, 1 overtime loss, 1 regulation loss, and 1 shoot-out loss (including play-offs). The team finished with 31 wins and 0 losses at home in their final season in the historic Essex Memorial Arena. The 73's returned to the finals to face the Alliston Hornets for the second straight year and the 73's fifth consecutive CSC Finals appearance. The 2009 finals saw Essex overwhelmed Alliston on their way to a four game sweep to win the CSC. In nine seasons under Piroski the 73's won 7 Great Lakes League Championships and 3 CSC victories as Ontario Champions.
The 73's re-hired Les Garrod to the team in the 2010-2011 season, the team would finish 2nd place to the Belle River Canadiens and go out in the first round to the Wheatley Sharks in 7 games, it would be the first time in 15 years (1996–97) that the team did not make it out of the First round. Garrod and staff resigned at the end of the season
The 73's brought aboard former Windsor Spitfire Scott Miller for the 2011 season as the clubs General Manager and hired former Lasalle Vipers assistant Gil Langois as the teams Head Coach.
Read more about this topic: Essex 73's Famous quotes containing the word history:“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.” “So in accepting the leading of the sentiments, it is not what we believe concerning the immortality of the soul, or the like, but the universal impulse to believe, that is the material circumstance, and is the principal fact in this history of the globe.” |