How good is the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL)?

In my recent blog regarding junior league classifications, I mentioned that classifying a Canadian junior league as Junior B may signify to some its inferiority in quality to Canadian Junior A hockey, and that this is not necessarily true. The best illustration of that statement is the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL). The GOJHL is a junior B league comprising 24 teams (23 in Ontario, and 1 in Buffalo), and divided into three eight-team conferences – Golden Horseshoe, Midwestern, and Western. The GOJHL is routinely ranked as the top junior B league in Canada by very knowledgeable sources such as the Junior Hockey News (see thejuniorhockeynews.com/rating-the-junior-hockey-leagues-2019-edition-top-twenty-leagues-at-all-levels/). As if to prove my point, this ranking rates the GOJHL above three junior A Canadian leagues – the OJHL, the CCHL, and the NOJHL (to be fair, the BCHL and AJHL are junior A leagues ranked higher than the GOJHL in the same poll).

The credibility of the ranking above is bolstered by the fact that the GOJHL is the place where Ontario Hockey League (OHL) clubs primarily choose to have their draft picks play prior to them being deemed ready to receive regular shifts at the major junior level. In fact, several OHL clubs take advantage of GOJHL teams being located in their respective towns to move their players back and forth between teams (the Sarnia Sting / Legionnaires and London Knights / Nationals come to mind). This is not to say that these players face an OHL or bust situation. The alumni page of the league’s website shows that GOJHL players have contributed to the success of programs competing at the NCAA (American college), CIS (Canadian college), European professional, and NHL levels. 

My personal experience with the GOJHL has been a very positive one. In my inaugural season as a general manager of the Port Huron Fighting Falcons of the NAHL, we drafted a forward named Kody Polin. Kody played a key role in the Falcons’ run to the national championship semifinals the next season. At the time he was drafted, Kody was a top-six forward of the GOJHL’s Leamington Flyers. Also, Novi (MI) High School forward Evan Dixon, who was invited to the Falcons’ final camp in 2011, was the leading scorer for the GOJHL’s Sarnia Legionnaires in 2011-2012. Evan went on to play college and professional hockey, and has spent the past two seasons as the assistant coach for Dubuque in the USHL. I have continued to work with Sarnia over the years, and routinely send players their way for potential roster additions.  

To sum it up, this often overlooked league provides a great place for a player’s development and future.