South Shore Lumberjacks

History

Originally known as the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League, the League was founded in 1967 as a Junior "B" level hockey league. Initially an exclusively Nova Scotia hockey league, it included six teams. In 1977, still known as the "Metro Valley", the League entered into the Junior "A" level. The jump to Junior "A" was, in theory, to be a catalyst for the development of the League and a presence on the national stage. 1983 saw expansion; the Moncton Hawks became the League's first non-Nova Scotia team. In 1991, Summerside and Charlottetown of PEI joined the newly dubbed "Maritime Junior A Hockey League". Summerside Western Capitals won the League’s first ever National Title against South Surrey British Columbia Eagles. A tenth team was added for the 2000–2001 season, the Miramichi Timberwolves. At the end of the 2001–02 season, the League approved the transfer of a team to Yarmouth. The "Yarmouth Motormart Mariners" began play in September 2002 and are now the South Shore Lumberjacks biggest rival. In early 2003 the league governors approved expansion into Woodstock, N.B. with the "Woodstock Slammers" beginning play in the 2003–04 season. The League got their second national Championship when the "Halifax Oland Exports" won the 2002 Royal Bank Cup on home ice. In the spring of 2004, the Weeks Hockey Organization bought the club, moved it to New Glasgow and renamed it the "Pictou County Weeks Crushers". On that same day Halifax got a new team as they were granted an expansion franchise, the "Halifax Wolverines". The first of the TWO biggest days in Lumberjacks history happened on April 15, 2008, the owners of the Halifax Wolverines announced their plans to move to Bridgewater. Following a contest to come up with a name for the new team, the franchise was dubbed the "Bridgewater Lumberjacks" and the Lumberjacks were born. In 2014 the League approved to add an expansion team in St. Stephen named the "St. Stephen County Aces". The League has hosted the Royal Bank Cup and Centennial Cup seven times, winning twice. MHL teams have also won seven Fred Page Cups as the Junior "A" Eastern Canadian Champions to earn the right to compete for the Royal Bank Cup.

The second and most important date in Lumberjacks history happened in November 2014 when the MHL League stepped in and took over ownership of the team temporarily. At this point, the team was in serious jeopardy of being dissolved or at best, relocated. The idea of losing their team to another community when the League took over was devastating to the businesses and fans that had come to love the Lumberjacks. Identifying this, Larry Creaser with his passion for both hockey and the South Shore intervened. He recognized the opportunities this team provided for the players and its important place in the broader community. Without hesitation and without a single corporate dollar committed at the time, he gathered an experienced group with a vast knowledge of hockey as well as enthusiastic volunteers to get the Lumberjacks back on the path to success. The "Bridgewater Lumberjacks", now owned and completely financed by Mr. Creaser, was also to be shared with the fans and the local communities. In an effort to achieve this, the team was promptly renamed the "South Shore Jr. A Lumberjacks". In December, the success story began. Players, coaches and staff were immediately given the requisite attention and priority they deserved and it showed as wins on the ice began to increase, player community involvement was highly visible and fans began to flock to the rink once more. Seats at the games soon became the "hottest ticket in town" again, with the last home game of the season selling out to the tune of 1500 + fans. All this happened with talented hockey players, loyal fans and volunteers, sound marketing and promotions choices and strategic hockey operational decisions. These moves have created momentum for the upcoming season and the team has big game day and on ice plans. It’s the place to be on Friday night - watching talented young men work hard at becoming league championship contenders for their committed fans. Although our owner’s devotion to the sport of hockey, his commitment to giving back to this sport and his community are what led him to jump in to rescue the team from certain disastrous outcomes, it is his strong belief that the community should run a community team. It’s the only recipe for success. It’s a community team that requires the residents and businesses of our community to support the Club and have a team to call our own. We can all win and it’s as simple as success on the ice: Preparation, Practice and team Spirit equates to the kind of victory that makes us all so proud. Together, we can write a great story and create our own history. It’s a story where we all hold the pen.

Franchise records

These are franchise records held by previous team rosters. Figures are updated after each completed MHL regular season.