Who will be the next Norwich Merchants?

I played Junior hockey. I played in parts of 7 seasons, from the time I was 14, until I was 21. Players were paid. It was common place. Everyone knew it was happening. We got gas money and other travel expenses, we got food allowances, “education” funds, and sometimes we just got money handed to us with no reason attached.

Earlier this month, when the Norwich Merchants, a Junior C team only hours down the road were handed a huge penalty ($25,000 fine, roster freeze for the rest of the season, no import players until 2015-2016, and a membership review following this season) by the OHA, for breaking the Ontario Hockey Association’s player compensation rules, it sent shock waves through the Junior hockey world.

It’s funny though, it didn’t suprise me. I played for the Woodstock Navy Vets in my final years of Junior hockey, and our rival was the Norwich Merchants. At the time, to my knowledge, multiple players on that roster were being “compensated” significant amounts, one from what he told me, was getting $9,000 per season to play. That’s $250 per game for the 36 game season.

Based on the OHA rules, he must have been eating a lot and driving a long way for that kind of money, or staying in a hotel each night, because he wasn’t a student at the time, so the education funds did not apply.

So how many Junior hockey teams are breaking the rules? The OHA sets these restrictions for a variety of reasons, one I would assume is to keep parity in leagues between the wealthy and low budget teams, as well as to keep athletes NCAA eligible.

The fact is, almost every high profile player I knew growing up playing Junior was being compensated, but it was almost always labelled gas money. I’m not sure of the circumstances that occured in Norwich, but I also can’t imagine they are the only team in Ontario that could be penalized for the exact same infraction.

On top of the severe penalties imposed on the Merchants, three members of their staff were suspended for the remainder of the season, with a possible suspension reaching to 2015.

And that is the problem. Executives and coaches should be the one’s stopping this. If a 19-year-old hockey player is offered close to $10,000 to play Junior C or Junior B, it likely won’t take long for an answer of yes, particularly if they’re away at school, without their parents to guide them.

After year’s of claiming they didn’t pay players, although anyone who played in the league knew players were receiving between $5-10 thousand per season to play in Norwich, the truth has finally come out. Unfortunately for that storied Junior franchise, their name has been tarnished, although I would guess that they are not the only team in Ontario guilty of over compensating players.

The only thing I wonder is, who will be the next Norwich Merchants? Will it be a local team, or will the magnifying glass stay away from our local leagues? With one team exposed, the next Norwich Merchants situation is waiting to be uncovered…so who will it be?

Let the games begin.