Sutherland Cup Format Not To Change

With a year of change in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL), including most notably, the exodus of the Golden Horseshoe Conference, which voted to leave the league, questions were raised about the current Sutherland Cup format.

While the Golden Horseshoe is now an league independent of the GOJHL, it does remain as part of the Ontario Hockey Association, and will therefore still participate, at least for this season, in the annual Sutherland Cup, which serves as the Junior B championship.

Last season saw a format featuring the winner of each GOJHL conference receive a berth to the Sutherland Cup, with a fourth “wild card” entry receiving a spot based on their playoff winning percentage.

This season, the winners of the GOJHL’s Western Conference, and Midwestern Conference, along with the champion of the Golden Horseshoe league, will again vie for the Sutherland Cup, with the fourth entrant being selected based on playoff percentages.

As the Sutherland Cup is an OHA sanctioned event, the governing body made no move to alter the format, as teams within the Golden Horseshoe remain members in good standing of the OHA.

Moving forward, a new format may be sought in future seasons, similar to what happened in December when current GOJHL members voted to keep the Golden Horseshoe out of their all-star and top prospects events.

Last season, the Chatham Maroons fell in the Western Conference final, and narrowly missed out on the wild card position.