Notre Dame Hounds

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Notre Dame Hounds
League	SJHL
Division	SHERWOOD
Founded	Unknown
Arena	Duncan McNeill Arena
Location	Wilcox
Team Colors	Red and White
Head Coach	Mike Vandenburghe

The Notre Dame Hounds are a Tier-II Junior "A" team based out of Wilcox, Saskatchewan. They play out of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Hounds also had a Junior "B" team that played out of the South Saskatchewan Junior B Hockey League, but the team folded after the 2005-06 Season. The team plays their homes games in Duncan McNeill Arena which has a seating capacity of 1,200. The team colors are red and white.

[edit] History

The Hounds first came to the SJHL in 1970. The team only kept afloat until until 1976, when, after a dismal season, they left the SJHL. Not much is known about the franchise between 1976 and 1987. It is known that they operated as a Midget "AAA" Minor Hockey team until 1987 and lost the final of the Canadian Midget Championship, the Air Canada Cup, to the Quebec seed in the tournament. In 1987, the Hounds came straight into Tier II Junior "A" from Midget hockey and took the league by storm. The team came out of the regular season with a series of tight victories, but enough of them to earn them a birth in the playoffs. The Hounds, operating well as a unit which had stayed mostly intact for 3 seasons, found little trouble winning the SJHL Championship. Their only real competition was the Yorkton Terriers who took them to Game 6. The Hounds moved on to the Anavet Cup to face the Winnipeg South Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Hounds easily swept the series in 4 games. They then moved on to face the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the Abbott Cup. At first, the Hounds were out matched. They went down early, being led in the series 3-games-to-1. They stormed back in Game 5 to win 7-2 and then won Game 6. In Game 7 with a slender 3-2 lead, future NHLer Curtis Joseph took control and closed the door. The Game 7 victory earned the team a birth into the Centennial Cup.[1] In the first game, the Hounds played the Halifax Lions of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League, defeating them 6-5. In the second game, they played the Thunder Bay Flyers of the United States Hockey League, the result was a 9-7 win. The next game was a nail-biter. The Hounds took on the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Junior A Hockey League and lost in triple overtime by a score of 4-3. The Semi-final placed them again against the Lumber Kings, but this time they were ready to win and took in 7-3. This set up a Final between the Hounds and the Lions. After 2 periods, the Hounds found themselves down 2-1. They tied it up early, and then late in the game, on a feeder from future NHLer Rod Brind'Amour, future gold medal winning hero of the 1990 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Dwayne Norris scored the game winner. Brind'Amour won awards for being the Top Scorer, Most Valuable Player, and Top Centre, while another future NHLer Joby Messier won Top Defenseman.[2] [3]

Perhaps the team's best known contribution to the NHL is the Toronto Maple Leafs Hound Line of the 1985-86 season, when Gary Leeman, Wendel Clark and Russ Courtnall played on the same forward line.

From the 1987-88 Championship team, 19 player graduated to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Hockey Program, and some, like Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph, Joby Messier, Dwayne Norris, Jason Herter, and Scott Pellerin, made it all the way to the National Hockey League.[4]

Since 1995, the Hounds have never failed to make the SJHL playoffs, but have yet to win their second league title.

[edit] Season-by-Season Standings

[edit] Notable Alumni

• Rod Brind'Amour
• Jason Herter
• Curtis Joseph
• Joby Messier
• Dwayne Norris
• Scott Pellerin
• Wendel Clark
• Mitch Messier
• Brad Richards
• Scott Daniels
• Joey Fatoma

[edit] See also

• List of ice hockey teams in Saskatchewan
• Athol Murray College of Notre Dame the home of the Notre Dame Hounds

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