MINTO – The Minto 81’s are heading to the national Allan Cup after winning the J.F. Paxton AA Championships again in the Ontario Elite Hockey League (OEHL).
The 81’s downed Ripley in four straight games last month to earn their berth in the Allan Cup, marking the first time an OEHL club will be able to compete for the championship.
The tournament is set for April 20 to 26 in Waterdown and is hosted by the Wentworth Gryphins.
The team includes a lot of local talent, including a number of players from the Listowel Cyclones and Wingham Ironmen.
Coach Ryan Fisk is excited to take the team to the championships and has been prominent in local hockey circles for over 25 years, having grown up in Harriston and played for Junior teams in Mount Forest and Brussels, and played for the Cyclones as a goalie.
He also played in Palmerston for both junior- and senior-level teams before he started coaching.
“I’m pretty excited,” he said “The guys, at the start of the year, said they wanted to get back. Their goal was to get to the tournament.”
Last year, the 81’s took the Paxton trophy, sweeping the Tavistock Royals in four games, ending their year on a high, but, prior to this year, OEHL teams didn’t proceed to the Allan Cup.
Given that the cup is for a AAA league, and the 81’s are from a AA league, there has been some doubt, externally, about how well the team will perform, but Fisk is not buying into it.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the dressing room,” he said.
“There’s a lot of well-coached players, and we have been doubted as the underdog, not giving us much of a chance, but we’re there to show them otherwise.
“At the start of the year, we had graduating players, and spots to fill, and, at this level, the best recruiters you have are the other players,” he said. “Thanks to that, we have great leadership with the players we have in that room, and they all came to play and to win. Everyone is checking their ego at the door and ready to play.”
Fisk says its nice to coach and be part of a group that isn’t interested in personal glory as much as winning as a team.
“It’s not about the ice time or the goals, it’s about playing as a team,” he said.
While the goal is to win, Fisk said he looks forward to proving that the senior hockey in the OEHL is worth watching.
“I’d like to see our team and our league get more exposure,” he said. “It’s good hockey.”
Fisk said the league is cleaner than previous Senior A leagues, and is more about skill than physical play.
Captain Caleb Warren, a former Cyclone, had a similar stance on that, saying he now plays with people who have to get to work the next day, when not long ago he was playing for Junior teams.
“The game has changed,” he said. “There’s a lot of youthful energy in these teams.”
He said there is a pride in changing the calibre and kind of hockey that’s being played in the senior leagues, looking at that focus on skill instead of physical play, and that comes with having a younger squad.
As far as the 81’s go, he might be responsible for that, Warren said, as he has recruited a lot of younger players he has previously shared the ice with.
Having previously played for championship-winning teams, and at university, Warren had a lot of connections to bring players into the fold. He played in the Greater Ontario Hockey League, the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league with Queens University, and has won a number of championships across those experiences.
When he was convinced to come back and play for the 81’s, Warren reached out to friends from every level he had played at and brought them to join.
He is excited for the back-to-back wins the 81’s have earned at the OEHL level, and is looking forward to participating in the historic tournament that is the Allen Cup. He wants to show what Listowel and Minto hockey is all about now, and how it has changed.
It won’t be easy, however, as Warren says there will be a lot of ex-pro players there, however he has faith.
“We’re going to turn a lot of heads,” he said. “We’re going there to win.”
Assistant-Captain Chayse Herrfort, another former Cyclone, echoed those hopes.
“I haven’t looked too much into the rosters of the other teams,” he said.
“We’re expecting good players and good teams, but I’m confident we can compete there as well.”
This is his first year with the club, having last played OUA-level hockey at Wilfrid Laurier University two years ago before taking a year off when he was accepted to chiropractic college.
Some friends playing on the 81’s, however, got him to come back.
He was named assistant captain in his first year, which was an unexpected surprise and an honour, and he looks forward to wearing his jersey with the A in the Allan Cup tournament.
Listowel has a special place in his heart, he said, as he played there from when he was 16 years old.
Like Fisk and Warren, Herrfort said he’s looking forward to the tournament because the team’s goal was to make it to the tournament, and they were able to do so.
“I don’t want to sound cocky, but we have the pieces to make a run at it,” he said.
“Everyone who joined the team this year knew we had talent coming, it was just a matter of putting it together and building that chemistry. I’m surprised at how easily we came together despite many of us not knowing each other before this.”
Blair Butchart, another member of the team who is looking forward to taking the ice at the Allan Cup, told Midwestern Newspapers that being a part of the squad is a family affair for him.
His grandfather, Ron Elliott, was among the first to bring Senior A hockey to the area, being a general manager of the Palmertston/Minto teams, so Butchart is happy to be part of the team and carry on that tradition.
“I remember being six years old and standing at the ice watching the team run on the ice,” he said. “To come back and be a part of that is something special.”
Prior to joining the 81’s, he played for teams across the area including minor hockey in Minto, some time in the GOJHL, the OJHL and playing at Brock University, where he studied sports management before coming home to manage the Hanover Barons.
Butchart said the team is going to put on a show at the tournament, proving that, not only do they have what it takes to be there, but that they have what it takes to win and show everyone the level of hockey being played in the OEHL.
Getting to this level, however, is more than just scoring goals and beating opponents, Butchart said, as it has been an organization-wide effort that resulted in the successful season.
The tournament
The 81’s are up against some stiff competition this year, including the Dundas Real McCoys who took the cup last year.
Minto will be in division two at the tournament and face off against St. John’s Rooftech Capitals on April 21 in the 81’s first game of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Game two for Minto is against the Wentworth Gryphons on April 22.
From there, the second- and third-place teams from each division will face off across division lines in the quarter-finals before the semi-finals will see the winners from the quarter-finals face off against the division-leader from the other division, with the winners facing off on the finals.
The games will be available to stream on CHCH through parrot.tv.
For more information, visit allancuphockey.ca.