Owen Sound Greys


The Owen Sound Greys were a series of junior ice hockey teams based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Mid-Western division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The original Greys, in their early years, won the 1924 and 1927 Memorial Cups as Dominion Junior Hockey Champions. The Greys were controversially moved to Brampton, Ontario, in the summer of 2012 after years of financial trouble.
The Greys had survived in three different forms over the years. The Original Greys lasted from 1913 until 1977, winning two Memorial Cups and folding in the ashes of the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League. The Intermediate Greys lasted from 1978 until 1982 to obtain the Hardy Cup, they departed with the fall of the Major Intermediate A Hockey League. The final team was the Modern Greys, which began in 1973 as a Junior D club and worked its way up to winning the Ontario Junior A Hockey League Championship in 1987. From 1987 until 2012 the Greys played in the Mid-Western League/Conference of OHA Junior B until being relocated to Brampton and ending a 99-year era of Greys hockey in Owen Sound in 2012.

History

The farm team (1973–1983)

The Salvagemen had been formed in 1973 as a Junior C team. Initially they were members of the Northern Junior D Hockey League but were separated from that group come playoff time. Owen Sound endured a five-week layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of what was called the "Super C" playoffs. The "Super C" Champion would be awarded the George S. Dudley Trophy. The Salvagemen finally met the Woodstock Navy-Vets but were swept 4–0.
The next season saw the Salvagemen in a true Junior C group, the Central Junior C Hockey League. They finished sixth and last in the regular season, then began the Super C playoffs, which appear to have been established for teams with larger population bases. Owen Sound was in an eight-game round-robin with London and the Brantford Gunners; the Salvagemen and the Gunners advanced. Owen Sound met Woodstock in the final once again but fared no better, falling in four straight.
When the Junior B Greys jumped to Junior A, the Salvagemen took their place in the Mid-Ontario Junior B league but couldn't pick up where the Greys had left off. They finished sixth in 1975–76 and were swept by Orillia in the first playoff round. They placed fifth and out of the playoffs the next year. A name change to the Kings didn't help, as they again wound up fifth and on the sidelines in 1977–78. The Mid-Ontario loop was wound down at this time and the Kings were placed in the Midwestern Junior B Hockey League. The other four teams went to the new Central league.
The Owen Sound Kings changed names again in 1980, becoming the Owen Sound Rutherford Mercurys, known simply as the Mercurys. This lasted until 1983.

The Greys return (1983–1987)

The Mercurys organization merged with that of the Greys in 1983, leaving one top-level hockey team in Owen Sound for the first time in 15 years. The new entity retained the name "Greys" and played two more seasons in the Midwestern league.
The Greys made another move out of Junior B, stepping up to the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 1985. They affiliated with the Guelph Platers of the Ontario Hockey League and performed very well in their new surroundings, finishing in third place in their first season and topping the standings in their second. They also won the Frank L. Buckland Trophy as playoff champions in 1986–87, their first title since 1974–75, and advanced to the all-Ontario championship against the Nickel Centre Power Trains of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The OHA and NOJHL had been meeting annually since 1978–79 to determine the winner of the Dudley Hewitt Cup and the provincial representative for the Centennial Cup national Tier II Junior A championship. Every year previously, the OHA champion had prevailed. But Nickel Centre ended the streak, upsetting the Greys 4–2 in a best-of-seven series.
The OJHL folded after the season; for the second time in a decade, Owen Sound was left hanging by the collapse of its Tier II Junior A league. This time, though, the Greys were able to return to the Junior B level.

Back in "B" (1987–2012)

The team has remained in the Midwestern league ever since, by far its longest continuous stretch in any one circuit, but have only had middling success. One of the most disappointing seasons was 1992–93 when the Greys put together a powerful lineup that finished second in the standings, the first time they had ever placed so high in the Midwest. They were led by league scoring champion Bob McAskill, who had 36 goals, 69 assists and 105 points, but failed to advance beyond the semifinal playoff round.
It wasn't until 1995–96 that the Greys finally advanced to a final series. They finished a lowly sixth but eliminated the Kitchener Dutchmen in overtime of the seventh and deciding game of their semifinal series. They met the powerful Stratford Cullitons in the final and lost 4–1.
Owen Sound could not build on that success and it wasn't until 1999–2000 that the Greys returned to the playoff final. Coincidentally, it also marked the return of an Owen Sound player to the top of the league scoring parade, as Ryan Dudgeon put up 59 goals and 104 points to tie Mike Carter of the Cambridge Winterhawks. The Greys reeled off series wins over Kitchener and Stratford—marking the first time the Cullitons had been swept from the playoffs since 1983—but fell short against Cambridge, losing 4–2. The Winterhawks did not lose again that year, rolling to their first Sutherland Cup championship.
This time the Greys were able to use a final appearance as a bit of a stepping stone. In 2000-01 they earned a first-place finish for the first time since 1987 and blew past the Guelph Dominators in the quarter-finals, earning a rematch with Cambridge. The Winterhawks had finished four places and 17 points behind the Greys. That didn't stop them from dumping Owen Sound 4-2, a bitter disappointment for the favoured Greys.
They had to wait five years for their next final appearance, which they earned in 2004–05 despite finishing fifth in the 10-team league. Surprisingly, they were considered the favourite in the final as their opponents, the Listowel Cyclones, had only finished seventh, 12 points behind Owen Sound. Again, that didn't matter as Listowel rolled to a 4-2 series win and a berth in the Sutherland Cup final. In a sad coincidence, the sixth and final game had been played on March 28, 2005—the anniversary of the Greys' two Memorial Cup wins.
Since then, there's been little for Greys fans to cheer about. The team finished ninth out of 10 teams in 2005–06 and missed the Junior B playoffs for the first time since 1978–79. It appears Owen Sound will be on the sidelines again this spring as the club is headed for a finish of ninth and last. Its record as of January 11, 2007, was 3–27–2–1.
The Owen Sound Sun Times newspaper reported on January 11, 2007, that leading scorer Greg Virgo has been traded to Cambridge and teammate Mark England has been sent to Stratford. General manager Kevin Emke said both players had reportedly asked to be dealt to playoff-bound clubs, requests that had caused friction in the dressing room. Team captain Sean Dinsmore was also on the way out, reportedly bound for the Collingwood Blues.

Part-time in Port Elgin (2000–2006)

Sporting a good contingent of players from the Port Elgin area, the Greys decided to stage a handful of home games at the new Saugeen Shores Community Complex in that town during the 1999–2000 season. The games were very well attended, with average crowds of about 800 people, far more than were coming to games at the Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound.
Starting with the 2000–01 season, the Greys played half of their home games at "The Plex," as the building became known. The team's name was also changed, first to the Owen Sound-Saugeen Greys in 2000 and then to the Owen Sound-Saugeen Shores Greys in 2001.
As the number of Port Elgin-based players dwindled, so did attendance. The Greys decided in 2006 to abandon Port Elgin and return to Owen Sound on a full-time basis. The name was also changed back to the traditional Owen Sound Greys. Since the Greys had such a rough time in the past seasons they decided to take a year off for the 2009–10 season

2009–10 season

The Greys folded their team for the 2009–10 season, citing financial restructuring.

2010–11 season

After a year hiatus, the Greys returned with a short bench and started the rebuilding process. Not much hope of a competitive season was ever tossed Owen Sound's way. But what makes the return a success isn't the season record—it was the lack of a mass exodus of players at the Christmas Break. Players bought into the rebuilding process and stuck it out which earned a tremendous amount of respect from around the league and left the Greys in a good position with a solid nucleus to build on for next season.

2011–12 season

After a much better season performance-wise, it was announced that the Greys franchise had been awarded to David Arseneaut, the team's major sponsor, by the OHA despite the team being community owned. On April 25, 2012, the OHA announced its approval of Arseneault's plan to relocate the team to Brampton, Ontario. This ends the long tradition of OHA Junior hockey in Owen Sound one season shy of what would be its centennial.

Season-by-season record

The current franchise (1973–present)

Playoffs

  • 1986 Lost semi-final
  • 1987 ''Won league, lost OHA Buckland Cup''

    The original franchise

History

The Greys had gone through numerous incarnations and leagues in the nearly 100 years since they were founded, although their initial history was cut short due to World War I. The team reformed after the end of the war and immediately came to prominence, winning the local playoff title in 1920 and thumping the Toronto champion 14-0. A year later, the Greys advanced to the Northern Hockey League playoff final.
Many early members of the team had attended Victoria Public School in Owen Sound, where principal Henry Kelso had established a very strong school hockey program. Two of those Victoria graduates were forward Melville "Butch" Keeling, who later went on to star with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, and goaltender Hedley Smith. In the fall of 1923 they earned places in the Greys lineup; soon they and their team would also earn a permanent place in the history of Canadian hockey.