Petrolia Gets Junior C Team, Petrolia Flyers

The Ontario Hockey Association announced this week that the proposed move of the Alvinston Flyers to Petrolia, Ontario will be going forward as members of the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League in 2016-2017.

Petrolia Flyers president and general manager Dennis Meston announced the move this week, which will include maintaining the Flyers name, with the newly announced Petrolia Flyers also utilizing Alvinston’s logo.

“Emotionally this was a very difficult decision to make; all Flyers have fond memories of the times spent in Alvinston, both on the ice and off,” wrote Meston. “From a competitive and business perspective we feel that relocating to Petrolia is necessary to keep pace with the rest of the league. I want to assure everybody that this decision was not taken lightly and was not made in haste.”

“We understood that some of our fans and sponsors would not be happy with this decision but we hope that someday they will understand that to keep the Flyers franchise alive we did what we needed to do,” Meston continued. “We also understand that not everybody in Petrolia will be happy that we are coming, let me assure you that the Flyers will do whatever we can to become a part of your community so that we can all benefit from this endeavour.”

Alvinston joined the Junior hockey ranks in 1988 and finished last season with a 12-22-1-5 record, having never won a Junior C title in their team history.

The Petrolia Flyers will be the first Junior hockey team in Petrolia since the Junior B Petrolia Jets left town in 2008.