WHAT IS THE OHF CHAMPIONSHIP?

The Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) Minor Hockey Championships is a 3-day event bringing together all OHF branch champions at the U18AA level. The Championships take place at the end of every hockey season in the month of April.

The Kitchener Jr Rangers U18AA team is pleased to host the 2023 U18AA Championship on April 21-23, 2023. Our goal is to create a lasting lifetime experience for the players, their families, friends, and all hockey fans who will be in attendance and we need your help! OHF host city announcement here - https://www.ohf.on.ca/news/2022/2023-all-ontario-regional-and-ohf-championships-host-approved

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Additional Event Information

Activa Sportsplex - 135 Lennox Lewis Way, Kitchener Ontario will host all tournament games.

Friday, April 21 – Sunday, April 23

Exposure to over 1,000 guests and attendees throughout the weekend!

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Host Team Hockey Association: https://kitchenerminorhockey.com/

Host Team Website: https://kitchenerminorhockey.com/Teams/9017/

About this year’s host team

The 2022/23 Kitchener Jr Rangers U18 ‘AA’ team has had a successful season thus far.

To start the season, The Jr Rangers came out firing on all cylinders where they went 11-1-1. During that time, the blue and red made their way to Cleveland, Ohio, and played in the Rock ‘N Roll Cup. In this tournament, they competed against multiple teams with 2004/2005 born players. Being younger did not make a difference for the proud and determined group of 2005/06 born players. The Jr Rangers were crowned Champions and made their way back to Canada. Not only were they victorious, they also bonded off the ice by attending an AHL game together, cheered on a ‘Pool’ tournament, and became the number one fans of ‘Fireball Phil!” This was a tournament that was full of laughs, karaoke, and more laughs....and of course memories.

In December, the Jr Rangers attended Halton Hills and competed in the Best of the Best Tournament. In this tourney, the boys played their hearts out and never gave up. In game three, the Rangers were down two, late in the game. The team was well aware that in order to stay alive, they needed a “W.” The boys capitalized and scored two quick goals. Then with 7 seconds remaining, the unthinkable happened! KJR was awarded a penalty shot!! The pressure did not faze our strong Ranger and he buried a beauty goal and secured the victory. More importantly, kept the Rangers alive. The boys eventually made it to the semi-finals where the Rangers scored two late goals to tie the game and force the game into overtime. In OT, the heroics continued! The Rangers played 8 overtime periods and it came down to the game being determined with 1 on 1 battle. The Rangers emptied the tank and gave it absolutely everything they had and came out winners to give them a chance to win another Championship. Unfortunately, this one was not meant to be and they lost in the finals. Regardless, it was an amazing weekend with plenty of excitement and timely goals. This tournament provided the boys with the

mindfulness that the game isn’t over until it’s over!

To kick off 2023, this team of determined young men went to Barrie and played in the Glen Bellerby Tournament. At this tourney, the boys played great hockey and as always, had phenomenal goaltending. The Jr Rangers entertained themselves at the ‘lively’ Fern Resort between games where they grew closer together as a team. It was another great weekend with tough competition. The Rangers lost 3-2 in the finals to a strong Toronto Shamrock team. The boys battled hard all weekend and returned home more determined than ever.

There is no doubt that this team is close and shares a special bond. The more time they spend together, the better they do. The Jr Rangers are a combined 13-4-3 in tournaments this season.

As a host, the goal is to always go in the front door. The Rangers aim to finish strong and place as high as they can in the regular season. The mission is to win the super-competitive Alliance. From there, the Ranger’s goal is to continue their amazing Tournament play and end the season as OHF Champions.

A group of people posing for a photo on ice

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Sponsorship Options

1. Tournament Gold sponsor - $5000

2. Tournament Silver Sponsor - $2500

3. Tournament Bronze Sponsor- $1000

4. Change Room Sponsor - $2500

5. Time out Sponsor - $2500

6. Player of the Game Awards Sponsor - $2000

7. Official Game Pucks Sponsor - $2000

8. Participant Cap Sponsor - $1500

9. Team Water Bottle Sponsor - $1500

10. Program Sponsorship - $1000

11. Tournament Friends - $250 (or your choice)

DOWNLOAD SPONSORSHIP PACKAGE INFORMATION HERE

Tournament Contacts

David McKenna, Chair – chair@u18ohf.com

Dave Domjan, Co-Chair – dave@u18ohf.com

Deb Domjan, Sponsorships – deb@u18ohf.com

Shelley Wasylyshyn, Treasurer – dwasyl1636@rogers.com

Jeremy Mervyn, Apparel & Website – mervyn.jeremy2@gmail.com

Shyrille Roeder, Hotel Accommodations – shyrille@gmail.com

Paul Sinclair, Host Team Head Coach – rangers18u@gmail.com

Scott Stevens, OHF Programs and Events – sstevens@ohf.on.ca

Rolland Cyr, GM of KMHA - RollandC@kitchenerminorhockey.com

History of this year’s host city

Kitchener is situated in the Grand River valley, 95 km west-southwest of Toronto. Founded by Bishop Benjamin Eby and settled by German immigrants about 1807, the community was known successively as Sand Hill, Ebytown, and Berlin before being renamed after the British field marshal Lord Kitchener in 1916. It is an important industrial, financial, and distribution centre in one of Canada’s most densely populated areas. Economic activities include meat-packing, brewing and distilling, tanning, furniture making, and the manufacture of textiles, shoes, rubber products, and appliances. Kitchener supports a symphony orchestra, philharmonic choir, little theatre, and art society. The boyhood home of Mackenzie King, former Canadian prime minister, is preserved in Woodside National Historic Park. Some of our most significant landscapes point to our industrial past, predating the arrival of the local railway in the 1850s. Others reflect our historic residential neighbourhoods, some of which were built before the First World War, and others that were constructed right after the Second World War. Kitchener also boasts one of the best-preserved Victorian-era parks in Canada, Victoria Park, designed between 1894-95. Also preserved within Kitchener include nineteenth and early 20th Century cemeteries, golf courses, institutions, pioneer farmsteads and residential estates.

Over 60 NHL players were born in Kitchener and combined they have tallied almost 10,000 points across nearly 20,000 games, of which 7 players had over 500 career points: 7 of those players include Darryl Sittler (1950, 1096 GP, 1121 Pts), Scott Stevens (1964, 1635 GP, 908 Pts), Mark Scheifele (1993, 692 GP, 622 Pts), Milt Schmidt (1918, 776 GP, 575 Pts), Paul Reinhart (1960, 648 GP, 559 Pts), Gary Dornhoefer (1943, 787 GP, 542 Pts), and Brian Bradley (1965, 651 GP, 503 Pts).

Not including those born outside of the city, Kitchener has consistently produced NHL quality players every year since the 1890s. As an example, the following are some additional players from each decade born through end of the 1990s: Harry Meeking (1894, 64 GP, 32 Pts), Lloyd Gross (1905, 52 GP, 15 Pts), Woody Dumart (1916, 774 GP, 430 Pts), Howie Meeker (1924, 346 GP, 185 Pts), Earl Reibel (1930, 409 GP, 245 Pts), Rod Seiling (1944, 979 GP, 331 Pts), Dave Maloney (1956, 657 GP, 317 Pts), Jim Sandlak (1966, 549 GP, 229 Pts), Steven Rice (1971, 329 GP, 125 Pts), Mike Hoffman (1989, 647 GP, 446 Pts), Tanner Pearson (1992, 590 GP, 272 Pts), and most recently 2 new NHL stars in the making are Nicolas Hague and Logan Stanley.

Hockey has always been a big part of our culture in Kitchener. As an example, the Kitchener Greenshirts, founded in 1917, produced many NHL legends such as the Kraut line (center Milt Schmidt, left wing Woody Dumart, and right winger Bobby Bauer). The Kraut line played almost 1,900 NHL games with the Boston Bruins with their careers put on hold during WWII to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force. This trio were one of the most dominant lines of any era, having finished first, second, and third in scoring during the 1939-1940 season, a feat repeated only twice, by the 1944–45 Punch line and the 1949–50 Production Line.

Following in the footsteps of the Kitchener Greenshirts success, Kitchener’s first professional team was the Beavers (1960-1961), and then in 1963, Eugene George and a group of Kitchener businessmen brought the Guelph Royals, a farm team of the NHL’s New York Rangers, to Kitchener and renamed them the Kitchener Rangers Junior “A” Hockey Club (originally inaugurated ahead of the 1947–48 Ontario Hockey Association season as the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters).

The OHL Kitchener Rangers have won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions in 1981, 1982, 2003 and 2008. They have appeared in six Memorial Cups (1981, 1982, 1984, 1990, 2003 and 2008), advancing to the final game of the tournament each of those six years, and they are two-time Memorial Cup champions (1982, 2003). They are one of the most successful Canadian Hockey League teams in terms of alumni with over 180 players and coaches going on to serve in the NHL including Gabriel Landeskog, Jeff Skinner, Radek Faksa, John Gibson, Nazem Kadri, Mike Richards, David Clarkson, Steve Mason, Derek Roy and Peter DeBoer. Five of their alumni have gone on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame: Scott Stevens, Bill Barber, Paul Coffey, Larry Robinson and Al MacInnis. And as another example of their success, the NHL Calder Memorial Trophy, which is handed out to the NHL’s top rookie, was recently won by three former Kitchener Rangers in a four-year span: Steve Mason in 2009, Jeff Skinner in 2011 and Gabriel Landeskog in 2012.