WMHA Releases Statement Regarding The Wallaceburg Lakers

Wallaceburg Minor Hockey Association released a statement on their website regarding the Wallaceburg Lakers potential move to Tilbury.

Below is the statement in its entirety:

It is unfortunate to hear the intentions of the operating group of the Wallaceburg Lakers Junior C hockey club to relocate to Tilbury. This community has an abundance of hockey talent, hockey sense, and a passion for the game. Wallaceburg Minor Hockey Association (WMHA) strives as an organization to use this talent, hockey sense, and passion to develop players on and off the ice.

We are also an organization that strives to fully engage with the community that we are PROUD to be a part of. We do this as volunteer board members, coaches, trainers, managers, players, hockey families and hockey fans. Whether we are from Wallaceburg, Walpole Island, South Lambton, Chatham or any place in between we are proud to be Wallaceburg Lakers!

Despite recent reports outlining the decline in registrations with local minor hockey programs in Chatham-Kent the WMHA boasts an increase in registrations. In addition to regular ice time we offer a unique skills development program for goaltenders and positional players. Years of investing in coaching and skill development has resulted in winning teams. In this season we boast several tournament victories across our divisions, Silver Stick and International Silver Stick Finalists in both PeeWee and Midget divisions and we have 4 teams currently vying for OMHA championships along with 3 teams vying for OWHA championships. This just adds to several tournament championships, 3 Silver Stick Champions, and OWHA Bronze Medalists just last season.

In addition to our success on the ice we are proud of our community involvement having been involved in the local Santa Claus parade, Remembrance Day activities and more. On December 8 we hosted the Play4Brae Charity event with attendance in the thousands for a one-day event raising awareness of, and $30,000 for, Ronald McDonald House Charity and Cystic Fibrosis Canada. We also have the Frank Dymock Tournament coming up later this month that is well recognized as a premier local league tournament that brings in thousands of people to the community over the course of the weekend. This tournament is also one of our direct connections to the proud history of hockey in this community and the passion and dedication of Frank Dymock who is well recognized as a hockey builder in this community.

Again, we feel it’s unfortunate to hear the intentions of the operating group of the Wallaceburg Lakers Junior C hockey club to relocate to Tilbury. There is considerable passion for hockey in this community that we will continue to engage to the best of our abilities – we welcome our Community to the Memorial Arena for our Annual General Meeting on March 7 and we welcome our Community & Hockey Fans to follow our schedule online and be in attendance to cheer on our teams towards league playoffs and OMHA/OWHA playdowns.

LET’S GO LAKERS!