Red Devils Captain Signs With Arrows, Will Miss Series

Wallaceburg Red Devils captain Joel Shepley had a tough decision to make. Stay with his hometown team, who are entrenched in a playoff battle with the Windsor Clippers, or chase his dream with the Junior A Six Nations Arrows.

In the end, Shepley made the tough decision, and signed with the Arrows, where he will finish out the season, leaving the Red Devils in the midst of their opening round OLA Junior B playoff series.

“The decision to leave was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” says Shepley about signing with the Arrows, which guaranteed he’d have to leave the Red Devils in the middle of their playoff run.

“A lot of those guys are my childhood best friends so it made it that much harder. All the boys were pretty understanding but I made the decision to sign with the Arrows at the deadline months ago.”

Shepley will join fellow Wallaceburg resident Jordan Durston with the Arrows, who was ineligible for the Red Devils playoff push due to playing a higher percentage of games with Six Nations. Shepley has played 10 games already this season with the Arrows, collecting an assist for the first place team.

Despite leaving the Red Devils, Shepley is confident his former team can make a long run.

“I’m very confident that the Devils can close out round one Saturday and make a deep run the rest of the playoffs,” said last year’s OLA Junior B defensive MVP. “I wish them the best of luck and I’ll be cheering for them every game.”