Those of us who have been watching "our teams" wallow at the bottom of the standings can now take heart that the final battle is close at hand and the honour of the "Worst Team in the OPJAHL" 2007/08 will soon have a new home.
Within weeks a team will join the ranks of the "reeking" such as the 06/07 Brutal Bramalea Blues (5 pts) or the 05/06 Abominable Buffalo Jr Sabres (12 pts).
Tension mounts for the day when we will place the crown of shame on a new colletion of team management, coaches and players who either had no idea what they were getting into or had no business playing this seaon.
Here are this years leaders
Villa Nova 13 pts
Streetsville 15 pts
Seguin 19 pts
Seeing their hopes fading for the unholy grail are Pickering and Collingwood who are mathematically still in the race with 21 pts but can only have a hope if they totally implode and Villa Nova begins an uncharacteristic run for mediocrity.
Seguin has an equally unlikely chance to slam into the concrete floor this year although they made every effort conceivable to do so.
But worry not for we have a race unhockey fans!
The Streetsville Derbys and The Villa Nova Knights are neck and neck up to their necks in the loss column and either one would be a worthy recipient of the Losers Cup. Both teams are "starting over" with VHK reviving the School Team concept whilst the Derbys moved right out of Streetsville to play in Westwood.
While we know that both disasters have the numbers to land on the bottom rung, I put my money on Streetsville to take the much maligned award. With 4 games left Streetsville will play Burlington, Brampton, Georgetown and Oakville which represent 4 out of the top 5 teams in their division! Villa Nova gets to play Collingwood (who they just beat) and Orangeville, two teams that are known to take the occasional night off in a rink.
Tradition is also on Streetsville's side to make the final plunge as the last two champion bottom dwellers were also from the West.
Best of luck to all and just remember that the race for disgrace 08/09 begins on February 14, 2008!
Well I am afraid I will have to give it to Villanova. I do not think they can make up the 2 points. Villanova has only managed to beat 2 teams this year & they just happen to be 3 of the weakest 6 teams in the league. At least they have won 3 of their last 8 games, so they seem to be ready to challenge their weak northern partners.
Having said all that I think the Derbys may actually be the worst at the present time. They definitly deserve the most embarassing organization award. They started off the season with 4 wins in 9 games & have only manged 3 wins in their last 34 games which included a league leading 24 game losing streak. From 45 points last year, has any team ever managed as great of a nose dive in this league as the derbys have. Just so long as the 2 kids are showcased & the phantom points continue all is okay with their leaders.
I was thinking to myself yesterday that I was glad that none of the teams this year are getting truly embarrassed. I think that even the low end teams in the OPJHL this year have done quite well compared to past years....
Huntsville Wildcats 2003-04 0-23-0-0 0.000
Royal York Rangers 1993-94 1-40-1 0.036
Bramalea Blues 2006-07 1-45-1-2 0.051
Huntsville Wildcats 2002-03 2-46-0-1 0.051
Georgetown Raiders 1996-97 3-47-1 0.069
Ajax Axemen 2004-05 2-44-1-2 0.071
North York Rangers 2000-01 2-43-3-1 0.082
Georgetown Raiders 1994-95 3-44-2 0.082
Bramalea Blues 2004-05 4-44-0-1 0.092
Port Hope Clippers 2000-01 4-44-1-0 0.092
These are the ten worst winning percentages in the history of the modern OPJHL. No team this year is even close to these kinds of numbers. I see no point to talking about this year's clubs as if they were embarrassments... really.
I wasn't the one that determined that the league would have standings and rate the teams based on wins and losses etc. Seems like as good as method as any to judge how well or poorly teams are doing.
I don't hear anyone complaining about the psychological damages that constanly praising the winning teams does to the poor kids on the bottom tier of the league.
Is this minor hockey? Do the last two letters in OPJAHL stand for House League. If so, I stand corrected in my critisizing the bottom dwellers. Last time I looked almost all of these teams are private property with any profits (ie ticket receipts) going into the pockets of the owners. I happily pay, but doesn't mean I have to cheer them on when they fail (that's their parents job).
So unlike my detractors I prefer to expose the truth of bad results rather than allow them to languish in obscurity. Ignorance maybe bliss but ignoring the failures in this game teaches us nothing
I mean...just look at the Leafs on ice performance? Case closed.
I personally think this is a pretty funny thread. Considering the league has 2646242222 teams, and so for a few teams the playoffs are a pipe dream by Nov.1st, I think this gives them something to "play" for.
Are we naive enough to think thread like this don't apply to every hockey league? Do you honestly think the Erie Otters, Kingston Frontenacs and Sudbury Wolves are still battling for the playoffs? right....depending on if you're an optimist or pessimist, you know those three teams are battling for a) not to be considered worst in the league
b) doing their best to lose so they can capture draft position #1.
At least in the OP we don't have the "incentive" to throw the rest of the season.
The Streetsville Derbys score in the dying minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat across the border and beat Buffalo 4-3. One can only guess that the reality of ending up at the bottom of the heap had finally sunken in and they pulled together to evade the title.
But hope still remains with Villa Nova still to play both Collingwood tonight (tue) and then the falling fast Aurora Tigers on Friday.
There is still plenty of room for your bet on the tie that binds so hold on for the final card is yet to be played in the battle for the basement.
Well the Tigers DID lose to the "league worst"-ish Seguin Bruins! Your Tigers might as well pack it in.
To a degree, I understand where this thread was intended to go. After all, for every winner there is a loser and I'm sure it's on everyone's mind late in the season. Could it have been a classier approach? Maybe. But being a Leafs fan it's a real pain in the neck knowing your team is holding up the standings and that you have a greater shot at a first overall draft pick than a playoff spot. This is just the other side of the coin that many hockey fans pretend doesn't exist.
Taking a 3-2 lead in the 3rd Period seemed to bring up the hopes that the Derbys would lock up any mathematical possiblity of Villanova catching them, but 2 goals by Brampton in the last two minutes of the game will keep us waiting at least one more day.
For the final two games the Derbys only need a tieing point but Georgetown is still in the hunt for 2nd place and Oakville knows that throwing the final game is never a good idea even if they have sewn up 1st.
Tonight the focus swings to Aurora where Villanova must win or they will be be destined to the pit of infamy. Anything is still possible as Aurora has clinched 3rd place and could take tonight off then use their final game against Huntsville to warmup for the playoffs.
In a battle worthy of any playoff race the Villanova Knights have captured the rapture and will take home the title of "Worst in OP" There is no shame in being last and since we all learn from our mistakes, hopefully there was an awful lot of learning done in the past season.
The shame here lies with the league itself which has so many teams that the disparity between the best and the worst is so distant that fans and players are cheated before the first puck is dropped.
It's been said so many times that tiering the league would be the right thing to do but the owners just won't do it. To imagine that a league that encompasses 4 million people shouldn't have Jr B or Jr C hockey within it's borders is a joke that is played on the players and fans of hockey. It's a disgrace to organized hockey that should be investigated by Hockey Canada as an impediment to developing the sport in the Nation's most populated area. If they won't do it then the Federal Government should demand answers before they cut one more cheque to our governing body.
So what if it's all been said before, the fact is that nothing is being done about it and if the players and the fans continue to sit on their hands then the disaster created by the greed of the Owners and Administration of the OPJAHL will only fester.
Year after year we endure this farce that discourages fans and cuts the credibility of our sport to the bone. It is time for a revolution in the OP before there are no fans left and every team is the personal plaything of it's ownership with no respect for competition.
craigshaw45 (Login craigshaw45) Registered Members
Re: The Battle for the "Worst in the OPJAHL"
February 9 2008, 4:46 PM
villanova is a new team. next year they will be more competitive.
