Minor hockey North Stars set to shine bright as new association gets name

Two local minor hockey associations have officially merged.

Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association and Erie North Shore Minor Hockey have combined and will now be known as the Lake Erie North Stars.

Executive members and coaches have already got a jump start on next year’s season and are in the midst of holding tryouts and playing a few exhibition games with nearby centres. Registration of the new North Stars is expected to be over 900.

“We are absolutely thrilled in what we have. Everyone is excited about the new brand. We’ve got a lot of experience,” said AMHA president Wes Ewer.

Ewer will join Erie North Shore president Gary Toupin as co-president for the first year of the North Stars.

“It (amalgamating) went better than most amalgamations. They are usually difficult because you need two-thirds of the vote. No one really gave anything up,” said Toubin.

Coaches have already been selected for the travel teams and it’s an experienced group.

Jared Mailloux will lead the U8 team along with Richard Wilton, Amherstburg Junior C Admirals co-owner Matt Fox, Bret Olsen and former pro hockey player Matt McCready.

Zack Percy who coached the U16 Sun County Panthers will be behind the bench of the U10 team, and Leamington Junior A Flyers co-owner Jason Melo is the U9 coach, Mark Bondy, U11, Nick Dupuis U13, Alex Dunmore U14, former Amherstburg Admirals’ standout Max Clifford U15, Curtis Rodrigues U16,  Derek Monroe U18 and Dennis Emerson U21. Emerson took the Amherstburg Stars to the OMHA championship tournament after winning the Bluewater League.

“We are trying to build something. A lot of those guys are very talented and they all want to give back,” said Toupin.

The primary reason for merging the two organizations was to be more competitive.

“At the end of the day, I think there are more wins for the teams,” said Ewer.

Toupin added that local league teams will also become stronger and that a questionnaire will be put together to see what centre they want to play out of – Kingsville, Harrow or Amherstburg.

“It’s about putting kids onto a team where they can compete. Before we would get 15 out for a tryout, and now we are already getting 40 out.”

Around 650 votes were cast for the naming of the new group with the second choice being the Hawks. At one time Amherstburg minor teams, and even the Jr. C Vikings were called North Stars and the new high school in town is called North Star. The Hawks were the team name of the former Harrow High School.

Ewer said the new team colours and logo will be revealed in the next week.

“It is a surprise and people will look forward to it.”

The Lake Erie North Stars will play out of four rinks – the two at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg, Harrow and Kingsville.

Minor hockey North Stars set to shine bright as new association gets name

By Fred Groves