Metro Junior A Hockey League - History - Exodus 1972

Exodus 1972

In 1972 the Metro B league was reshaped substantially when 6 members left to join the new Ontario Provincial Junior A league. Metro members Ajax Steelers, Aurora Tigers, Dixie Beehives, Downsview Bees, North York Rangers, and the Richmond Hill Rams left. A year later the Markham Waxers also left. To make up for the losses, the Metro league took in new members Belleville Bobcats and the Peterborough Lions from the folded Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League, and expanded with the Oshawa Legionaires, Bramalea Blues, Pickering Panthers, and Wexford Warriors. The Etobicoke Selects, Toronto Red Wings, and Markham Royalls joined in 1973. The Kingston Voyageurs entered the league in 1974.

In 1974, the Metro Champion Bramalea Blues defeated the Owen Sound Greys 4-games-to-3 to reach the Sutherland Cup All-Ontario Final. Upon reaching the final, the Blues defeated the Hamilton Red Wings of the Niagara & District Junior B Hockey League in Game 1, only to have a brawl involving the teams, officials, and fans breakout to the point that police were called to break up the incident. Due to the brawl, the Blues withdrew from the final and became the only team in Ontario Hockey Association history to forfeit the Sutherland Cup.

The 1975 season marked the first junior appearance by a 14-year-old "underage" Wayne Gretzky for the Toronto Nationals. In September, Walter Gretzky had Wayne moved to the City of Vaughan to play midget hockey for the Toronto Young Nats instead of playing in his hometown of Brantford, Ontario. In October, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association declared Gretzky and 15-year old Brian Rorabek ineligible because they had established residency too late. Gretzky sued in the Canadian Courts and lost . Because Gretzky could remain in Toronto to play junior (rather than midget hockey), Gretzky tried out for the Junior B team, and made the team. In 28 games, Gretzky scored 27 goals and 33 assists to win Metro Rookie of the Year honours. The next year the team moved to Richmond Hill and became the Seneca Nationals. Gretzky scored 36 goals and 36 assists in 32 games, and then 40 goals and 35 assists in 23 playoff games to lead his team to a Metro Junior "B" Championship. Sadly, the team came up short of a Sutherland Cup victory, as the Nationals were stopped dead in the 1977 All-Ontario Semi-final by the Stratford Cullitons of the Wellington-Waterloo Junior B Hockey League.

The Henry Carr Crusaders, a team sponsored by the Toronto highschool, joined the Junior "B" ranks in 1980. They won league titles in 1983, 1984, and 1987. Their best season came in 1983, where they went undefeated during the regular season, won the Metro, and then went on to win the Sutherland Cup as All-Ontario Junior "B" Champions. That team featured future NHLers Bob Essensa, Paul Cavallini and Victor Posa and NHL draft picks Rob Bryden and Allister Brown. In 1991, Henry Carr Highschool dropped its sponsorship of the team, and as of 2006 were known as the Toronto Thunderbirds.

During the 1986-87, a strange occurrence happened with the team that is now known as the Mississauga Chargers. Then known as the King City Dukes and in their third season in King since moving from Weston, the team moved mid-season to North York and renamed itself the North York Civics. The oddity here is that teams rarely do a complete locational move in the middle of a season. The next year they became the Richmond Hill Dukes and skipped around the Greater Toronto Area for the better part of the next decade trying to find a home.

During the 1988-89 season Kingston's Scott Martin won his second consecutive scoring title and League MVP award. His season totals of 62 goals and 114 points in a mere 42 games came closest to topping the league records set by NHLers Patrick Flatley during the 1980-81 season (137 points for Henry Carr), and Paul Gardner during the 1973-74 season (77 goals and 132 points for St.Mike's).