Notre Dame Hounds

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Notre Dame Hounds

League	SJHL
Division	SHERWOOD
Founded	Unknown
Arena	Duncan McNeill Arena
Location	Wilcox
Team Colors	Red and White
Head Coach	Mike Vandenburghe

The Notre Dame Hounds are a Tier-II Junior "A" team based out of Wilcox, Saskatchewan. They play out of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Hounds also had a Junior "B" team that played out of the South Saskatchewan Junior B Hockey League, but the team folded after the 2005-06 Season. The team plays their homes games in Duncan McNeill Arena which has a seating capacity of 1,200. The team colors are red and white.

1 History
2 Season-by-Season Standings
3 Notable Alumni
4 See also

[edit] History

The Hounds first came to the SJHL, in recent history anyways, in 1970. The team only kept afloat until until 1976, when after a dismal season left the SJHL. Not much is known about the franchise between 1976 and 1987. It is known that they operated as a Midget "AAA" Minor Hockey team until 1987 and lost the final of the Canadian Midget Championship, the Air Canada Cup, to the Quebec seed in the tournament. In 1987, the Hounds came straight into Tier II Junior "A" from Midget hockey and took the league by storm. The team came out of the regular season with a series of tight victories, but enough of them to earn them a birth in the playoffs. The Hounds, operating well as a unit which had stayed mostly intact for 3 seasons, found little trouble winning the SJHL Championship. Their only real competition was the Yorkton Terriers who took them to Game 6. The Hounds moved on to the Anavet Cup to face the Winnipeg South Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Hounds easily swept the series in 4 games. They then moved on to face the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the Abbott Cup. At first, the Hounds were out matched. They went down early, being led in the series 3-games-to-1. They stormed back in Game 5 to win 7-2 and then won Game 6. In Game 7 with a slender 3-2 lead, future NHLer Curtis Joseph took control and closed the door. The Game 7 victory earned the team a birth into the Centennial Cup.[1] In the first game, the Hounds played the Halifax Lions of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League, defeating them 6-5. In the second game, they played the Thunder Bay Flyers of the United States Hockey League, the result was a 9-7 win. The next game was a nail-biter. The Hounds took on the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Junior A Hockey League and lost in triple overtime by a score of 4-3. The Semi-final placed them again against the Lumber Kings, but this time they were ready to win and took in 7-3. This set up a Final between the Hounds and the Lions. After 2 periods, the Hounds found themselves down 2-1. They tied it up early, and then late in the game, on a feeder from Future NHLer Rod Brind'Amour, future gold medal winning hero of the 1990 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Dwayne Norris scored the game winner. Brind'Amour won awards for being the Top Scorer, Most Valuable Player, and Top Centre, while another Future NHLer Joby Messier won Top Defenseman.[2] [3]

From the 1987-88 Championship team, 19 player graduated to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Hockey Program, and some, like Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph, Joby Messier, Dwayne Norris, Jason Herter, and Scott Pellerin, made it all the way to the National Hockey League.[4]

Since 1995, the Hounds have never failed to make the SJHL playoffs, but have yet to win their second league title.

[edit] Season-by-Season Standings

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	P	Results	Playoffs
1970-71	35	3	32	0	-	102	251	6	7th SJHL
1971-72	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	SJHL
1972-73	48	18	30	0	-	255	327	16	5th SJHL South
1973-74	50	19	29	2	-	207	244	40	5th SJHL South
1974-75	57	20	36	1	-	256	332	41	5th SJHL South
1975-76	58	7	50	1	-	131	390	15	6th SJHL South

1987-88	60	53	5	2	-	321	160	108	1st SJHL	Won League, Won Anavet Cup, Won Centennial Cup
1988-89	64	44	16	4	-	338	223	92	1st SJHL
1989-90	68	24	43	1	-	253	331	49	6th SJHL South	DNQ
1990-91	68	31	34	3	-	265	266	65	4th SJHL North	Lost Quarter-final
1991-92	64	32	24	8	-	259	251	72	5th SJHL South	DNQ
1992-93	64	25	31	8	-	266	259	58	5th SJHL South	DNQ
1993-94	68	25	36	7	-	277	280	57	5th SJHL South	Lost Quarter-final
1994-95	64	24	36	4	-	270	275	52	7th SJHL South	DNQ
1995-96	64	18	37	9	-	215	264	45	5th SJHL South	Lost Quarter-final
1996-97	64	29	35	0	-	223	264	58	3rd SJHL South	Lost Quarter-final
1997-98	64	27	31	6	-	205	203	60	4th SJHL South	Lost Quarter-final
1998-99	66	40	20	6	-	228	179	86	3rd SJHL South	Lost Semi-final
1999-00	60	23	28	9	-	150	181	55	4th SJHL South	Lost Quarter-final
2000-01	62	23	34	4	1	173	228	51	4th SJHL Sherwood	Lost Quarter-final
2001-02	64	38	16	7	3	245	166	86	1st SJHL	Lost Semi-final
2002-03	60	31	19	6	4	203	186	72	1st SJHL Sherwood	Lost Quarter-final
2003-04	60	25	26	6	3	202	193	59	2rd SJHL Sherwood	Lost Quarter-final
2004-05	55	31	17	7	0	185	138	69	3rd SJHL Sherwood	Lost Quarter-final
2005-06	55	31	17	5	2	192	162	69	2nd SJHL Sherwood	Lost Semi-final