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Niagara IceDogs
The Niagara IceDogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was originally known as the Mississauga IceDogs and founded in 1996. The team was relocated to St. Catharines and played its inaugural season in the Niagara region during the 2007–08 OHL season after nine seasons in Mississauga. In 2022, the team was acquired by majority owner Darren DeDobbelaer and minority owner Wayne Gretzky.
The Mississauga IceDogs inaugural season began in 1998–99, and the team struggled, winning only 4 of 68 games. In their first three seasons, the IceDogs won a total of 16 games, in 204 games played. Don Cherry had co-founded the team and coached the team for a season. In 2002 alongside the three other partners they sold all ownership to venture capitalist Joel Albin. The nine season tenure in Mississauga saw the IceDogs finish with a .301 win percentage in 612 regular season games and win one Central Division and Eastern Conference Championship.[citation needed]
On July 12, 2006, Eugene Melnyk, who owned the Toronto St. Michael's Majors, bought the Mississauga IceDogs. After the 2006–07 season, Melnyk sold the IceDogs, and moved the Majors to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. The team approached the City of St. Catharines about moving the team into Jack Gatecliff Arena. St. Catharines City Council voted on a leasing arrangement on April 23, 2007, which passed. The OHL Board of Governors approved the deal on June 5, 2007.
The Niagara IceDogs spent their first seven seasons in St. Catharines in the Jack Gatecliff arena. In six of the seven years at the Jack Gatecliff arena, the IceDogs led the OHL as the best attended team based on capacity percentage. During this time, the IceDogs qualified for the playoffs in every year, making it to the Eastern Conference finals twice. The IceDogs most successful year was in 2011–12 when they won both the Emms Trophy and Bobby Orr Trophy as Central Division and Eastern Conference Champions. They would ultimately fall in the finals, however, to the London Knights in five games. While playing at the Jack Gatecliff arena, Niagara's line-ups featured a number of eventual high NHL draft picks and NHL alumni. First round draft picks included Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Visentin, Ryan Strome, Dougie Hamilton and Brendan Perlini. Other notable players to play for the IceDogs at the Jack Gatecliff are Stefan Legein, Luca Caputi, Andrew Agozzino, Brett Ritchie, Jamie Oleksiak, Freddie Hamilton and Andrew Shaw, who was the first Niagara IceDogs alumnus to win the Stanley Cup.[citation needed]
The IceDogs entered a new era when they relocated to the brand new Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. On October 16, 2014, the IceDogs won their first game at the Meridian Centre by a score of 7–4 against the visiting Belleville Bulls. The first goal at the new Meridian Centre was scored by Mikkel Aagaard from Denmark. While the arena's initial season saw the IceDogs go down in five games in the second round to the eventual Memorial Cup champions Oshawa Generals, the organization went all in during the 2015–16 season. While adding key veteran acquisitions as the season went on, including star goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, a second round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, the IceDogs once again battled their way to the OHL Finals. Niagara went on to face the London Knights, a rematch of the 2012 OHL Finals, but once again came up short, losing the series in four games. With the organization facing a rebuild after a disappointing finish to the season, the IceDogs parted ways with head coach and general manager Marty Williamson, commencing a new era for the organization after six seasons that featured two conference championships, one division championship, and six consecutive years of playoffs.[citation needed]
The next season saw the IceDogs go into rebuild mode, with younger key future players beginning to make the jump, like Akil Thomas, as most of the vets had moved on, aged out, or had been traded around the trade deadline for picks and prospects. They made the playoffs that year, and lost to the Peterborough Petes in the first round in 4 games. The 2017–2018 season saw them become more competitive, and around the trade deadline added some depth pieces to ensure they could be more competitive than last season's playoffs. They beat the Oshawa Generals in the first round in 5 games, and then faced off against a very good Hamilton Bulldogs team. Despite taking 3 games to overtime, they lost in 5 games.[citation needed]
The 2018–2019 season saw the team go all in. Along with the returning vets from last season, they acquired the likes of (eventual CHL Leading Scorer and Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy recipient) Jason Robertson, Jack Studnicka, and depth pieces like Ivan Lodnia, Jason Paquette, and Matt Brassard. The team also saw the rise of sophomore forward Philip Tomasino. The team would finish first in the OHL Central division, winning the Emms Trophy. In the playoffs, they beat the North Bay Battalion in 5 games. In the second round, they faced the Oshawa Generals. Despite going up 2–0, they proceeded to lose 4 straight ending their season. Stephen Dhillon became the winningest goalie in IceDogs history, setting a franchise record for wins in a season (38), and total wins for his time as an IceDog (98). The IceDogs finished the season with the most goals scored in the league, and in franchise history (326).[citation needed]
In March 2019, the OHL fined the IceDogs $250,000 and two first round draft picks for giving secret side deals to players to pay them above the OHL maximum allowed in the Standard Player Agreement. This was reduced via settlement to $150,000, its 2021 first round draft pick, and an admission that the IceDogs violated the league's player recruitment rules. The OHL had launched an investigation into the IceDogs after receiving complaints from a former player that $40,000 of orally agreed upon payments were not made by the team. Led by Toronto law firm, Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, the report confirmed that the IceDogs made rulebreaking deals to two players and likely had more secret deals with its European players.
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Niagara IceDogs
The Niagara IceDogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was originally known as the Mississauga IceDogs and founded in 1996. The team was relocated to St. Catharines and played its inaugural season in the Niagara region during the 2007–08 OHL season after nine seasons in Mississauga. In 2022, the team was acquired by majority owner Darren DeDobbelaer and minority owner Wayne Gretzky.
The Mississauga IceDogs inaugural season began in 1998–99, and the team struggled, winning only 4 of 68 games. In their first three seasons, the IceDogs won a total of 16 games, in 204 games played. Don Cherry had co-founded the team and coached the team for a season. In 2002 alongside the three other partners they sold all ownership to venture capitalist Joel Albin. The nine season tenure in Mississauga saw the IceDogs finish with a .301 win percentage in 612 regular season games and win one Central Division and Eastern Conference Championship.[citation needed]
On July 12, 2006, Eugene Melnyk, who owned the Toronto St. Michael's Majors, bought the Mississauga IceDogs. After the 2006–07 season, Melnyk sold the IceDogs, and moved the Majors to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. The team approached the City of St. Catharines about moving the team into Jack Gatecliff Arena. St. Catharines City Council voted on a leasing arrangement on April 23, 2007, which passed. The OHL Board of Governors approved the deal on June 5, 2007.
The Niagara IceDogs spent their first seven seasons in St. Catharines in the Jack Gatecliff arena. In six of the seven years at the Jack Gatecliff arena, the IceDogs led the OHL as the best attended team based on capacity percentage. During this time, the IceDogs qualified for the playoffs in every year, making it to the Eastern Conference finals twice. The IceDogs most successful year was in 2011–12 when they won both the Emms Trophy and Bobby Orr Trophy as Central Division and Eastern Conference Champions. They would ultimately fall in the finals, however, to the London Knights in five games. While playing at the Jack Gatecliff arena, Niagara's line-ups featured a number of eventual high NHL draft picks and NHL alumni. First round draft picks included Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Visentin, Ryan Strome, Dougie Hamilton and Brendan Perlini. Other notable players to play for the IceDogs at the Jack Gatecliff are Stefan Legein, Luca Caputi, Andrew Agozzino, Brett Ritchie, Jamie Oleksiak, Freddie Hamilton and Andrew Shaw, who was the first Niagara IceDogs alumnus to win the Stanley Cup.[citation needed]
The IceDogs entered a new era when they relocated to the brand new Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. On October 16, 2014, the IceDogs won their first game at the Meridian Centre by a score of 7–4 against the visiting Belleville Bulls. The first goal at the new Meridian Centre was scored by Mikkel Aagaard from Denmark. While the arena's initial season saw the IceDogs go down in five games in the second round to the eventual Memorial Cup champions Oshawa Generals, the organization went all in during the 2015–16 season. While adding key veteran acquisitions as the season went on, including star goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, a second round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, the IceDogs once again battled their way to the OHL Finals. Niagara went on to face the London Knights, a rematch of the 2012 OHL Finals, but once again came up short, losing the series in four games. With the organization facing a rebuild after a disappointing finish to the season, the IceDogs parted ways with head coach and general manager Marty Williamson, commencing a new era for the organization after six seasons that featured two conference championships, one division championship, and six consecutive years of playoffs.[citation needed]
The next season saw the IceDogs go into rebuild mode, with younger key future players beginning to make the jump, like Akil Thomas, as most of the vets had moved on, aged out, or had been traded around the trade deadline for picks and prospects. They made the playoffs that year, and lost to the Peterborough Petes in the first round in 4 games. The 2017–2018 season saw them become more competitive, and around the trade deadline added some depth pieces to ensure they could be more competitive than last season's playoffs. They beat the Oshawa Generals in the first round in 5 games, and then faced off against a very good Hamilton Bulldogs team. Despite taking 3 games to overtime, they lost in 5 games.[citation needed]
The 2018–2019 season saw the team go all in. Along with the returning vets from last season, they acquired the likes of (eventual CHL Leading Scorer and Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy recipient) Jason Robertson, Jack Studnicka, and depth pieces like Ivan Lodnia, Jason Paquette, and Matt Brassard. The team also saw the rise of sophomore forward Philip Tomasino. The team would finish first in the OHL Central division, winning the Emms Trophy. In the playoffs, they beat the North Bay Battalion in 5 games. In the second round, they faced the Oshawa Generals. Despite going up 2–0, they proceeded to lose 4 straight ending their season. Stephen Dhillon became the winningest goalie in IceDogs history, setting a franchise record for wins in a season (38), and total wins for his time as an IceDog (98). The IceDogs finished the season with the most goals scored in the league, and in franchise history (326).[citation needed]
In March 2019, the OHL fined the IceDogs $250,000 and two first round draft picks for giving secret side deals to players to pay them above the OHL maximum allowed in the Standard Player Agreement. This was reduced via settlement to $150,000, its 2021 first round draft pick, and an admission that the IceDogs violated the league's player recruitment rules. The OHL had launched an investigation into the IceDogs after receiving complaints from a former player that $40,000 of orally agreed upon payments were not made by the team. Led by Toronto law firm, Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, the report confirmed that the IceDogs made rulebreaking deals to two players and likely had more secret deals with its European players.