Conference Central General manager Jay Purden Founded 1982 Color Red, Black, Silver, White | Division Doherty City Ayr, Ontario Affiliate Cambridge Winter Hawks | |
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League Provincial Junior Hockey League Home arena North Dumfries Community Complex Colors Red, Black, Silver, White Arena North Dumfries Community Complex | ||
Ayr centennials winning the schmalz cup
The Ayr Centennials are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Ayr, Ontario. They play in the Provincial Junior Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association.
Contents
Jackson white of ayr centennials junior c hockey
History
The Ayr Centennials were founded in 1982 as members of the Southern Junior D Hockey League.
In 1988, the Southern League merged with the Western Junior D Hockey League. In 1991, the Junior D rank was vacated and the league was replaced with the OHA Junior Development League. This league lasted up until 2006 when it was vacated and the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League was created.
The Centennials had success in the Southern League but failed to win any league titles.
In the bloated Western League and Development League, the Centennials did exceptionally well but still failed to make a dent. In fact, despite finishing in the top ten teams of the league ten times in nineteen years, the Centennials never made the superleague's final once.
In the early-2000s, the Centennials lost their touch for winning. In the last year of the OHAJDL, they had their worst season ever, winning only 2 games in 36 tries and finishing dead last. But since joining the SOJHL in 2006, the Centennials have improved every season. In 2006-07 they finished 17th with 6 wins. In 2008-09 they finished 15th with 11 wins. In 2008-09 they really came together and had their best season in years, winning 18 games and finishing 7th. In 2009-10 the Centennials continued to improve with a 21-11-4 record, solidifying 3rd overall in the SOJHL.
In the summer of 2010, the Bauer conference dissolved, leaving Thamesford, Ayr, Tavistock, Port Stanley and Wellesley to disperse into the remaining McConnell and Yeck Conferences. The 2010-11 season saw the Centennials best season since 1983-84. Finishing 4th overall in the SOJHL, the Centennials were the McConnell Conference Champions and advanced to the OHA Cup versus Thamesford, eventually losing in 4 games.
In 2011-12 the Centennials finished 4th in the McConnell Conference and 7th overall in the SOJHL, and lost to the eventual OHA Cup Finalists, The Hagersville Hawks, in 5 games of the second round of playoffs.
In the summer of 2012, the Centennials and the SOJHL were promoted to Junior C to compete for the Schmalz Cup. On March 12, 2013, the Centennials won the first ever SOJHL Jr. C championship with a 4-game-sweep over the Lambeth Lancers.
In the Spring of 2013, the Centennials were moved over to the Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League in a major realignment. They were realigned again weeks after and ended up in the Midwestern Junior C Hockey League. Just three seasons removed from their jump to Junior C, the team won their first Schmalz Cup in 2016 by sweeping the Empire B Junior C Hockey League champion Port Hope Panthers in four games on the shoulders of starting goalie, Mitch Figueiredo.
For the 2016-17 season the eight Junior "C" hockey leagues in Sourhern Ontario amalgamated into one league, the Provincial Junior Hockey League. The Midwestern League were placed in the Central Conference and re-branded the Pat Doherty division.