League Appeal Upheld, Tecumseh Denied Team
It appears the Tecumseh Chiefs will not be the tenth team in the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League next season after the OHF ruled on the league appeal this week.
The Chiefs, who had been proceeding with business as usual this week, including hosting a mini-camp which saw 92 prospects attend, were originally granted a franchise earlier this spring, but were unable to defend an appeal from several teams in the league.
According to Mark Seguin, General Manager of the Lakeshore Canadiens, the OHF decided to support the appeal after ruling it was against the league’s constitution.
“I think it speaks for itself, we appealed on the status the OHA didn’t follow the consitution, after hearing our appeal, the OHF ruled in our favour,” said Seguin.
“We had a majority vote against the new franchise, but the OHA overruled that, and the OHF upheld the appeal, reversing the OHA’s decision.”
In Seguin’s opinion, the decision to keep the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League at nine teams is one that will benefit local hockey.
“The league historically has been 9 teams when it’s been sustainable, any time it goes over, one team folds, or drops out,” said Seguin. “It protects the assets and organizations of the league, and lets people know that individual leagues have a choice about how their organizations are run.”
Tecumseh was originally granted a franchise in April.
Stupid decision. GMHL is moving into southern Ontario and many of those players will choose to play there. Yes it’s more money……..but the GMHL also has a better record of moving players to higher levels than does Jr C. One more team would have strengthened the league.