How can everyone miss out on this player but a 5-year old league? He was Elmira College’s best player and was named First Team ECAC West and Co-Regular Season Scoring Champion as a sophomore. Darcy Vaillancourt’s path to college hockey at traditionally strong Division 3 School is unusual one.
Vaillancourt’s .44 power play goals per game were the best in NCAA Division III Hockey.
How did he end up at Elmira College? In 2006-07, he played for the OJHL’s Kingston Voyageurs and put-up 11 pts in 43 Games, the following year, for unknown reasons, he went to the Greater Metro Hockey League. He finished the regular season atop the Lakers’ stats sheet with 40 goals and 59 assists for Innisfil Lakers. Elmira College may have found the steal of the century with a player from an unknown pay-to-play league that left a more established league.
The Greater Metro Hockey League was labeled outlaw league by Hockey Canada but that hasn’t stopped the league from sending players to college, major junior, and the pros. Hockey Canada banned players from this league; any player that moved into GMHL, they were suspended by Hockey Canada for a year, in addition to the season they played. A year later all that changed with a recent federal ruling, which effectively does away with the “outlaw” designation. The Federal Competition Bureau looked at the Hockey Canada sanctions, and decided they were unfair. As a result of the Bureau’s ruling, players can now play for another league for a season and return to Hockey Canada the following season without penalty.
The league’s web site is impressive and seems to be updated on a regular basis heading into season number five. Our favorite part about this league is the “Inside the GMHL” with the league’s administrators featured in a very impressive television broadcast once a week. We suggest every junior hockey league and team check out their weekly show. The league administrators also contribute weekly on the league’s message board, answering questions and giving updates on the league. Imagine Mark Frankenfeld contributing on AmericanJuniorHockey.com when he announces the new batch of expansion teams each year? That would be priceless.
Although the league isn’t without a few hiccups. The league could use all original logos, teams have folded mid-season, and the league held their showcase with only 10 of the 12 teams in Northern Ontario, 7 hours away from Toronto; Elliot Lake, Ontario during Thanksgiving weekend for American families.
Our suggestion to the league is to give the players more exposure to college scouts and hold the showcase in September. Hockey doesn’t start till October and scouts have a lot more free time during this time. Also, Elliot Lake is too far for college scouts to travel too, why not hold the showcase in Niagara Falls or Toronto?
We wonder why the GMHL hasn’t played any of the UJHL/NJHL or IJHL teams. We suggest the teams in this league participate in some of the showcase tournaments being held in the states annually. It’s easier to gauge the skill level of a player in a league with more college commitments.
One of the more impressive things we have noticed is the players of this league playing on NCAA Division III teams and it’s been on-going practice for the league. Bradford Rattlers with the help of some of the better players in the league will take on Oswego State in Oswego and Elliot Lake Bobcats will travel to Buffalo to play Buffalo State. Why is this league so much smarter than the other junior leagues? We wish every team in this league would play NCAA Division III or ACHA teams to give the league and its players more exposure.
If one player gets recruited by either of the schools, it’s worth the travel. Although, few months ago on AmericanCollegeHockey.com we jumped all over Mercyhurst College ACHA for playing the Jamestown Jets and we were right at the time. You don’t have to be a member of USAHockey to play USAHockey teams, just a waiver, neither team obtained the waiver. In less than the week, the USA Hockey issue could be out of the way and we could be talking about AAU.
The league seems to only being promoting NCAA commitments but they’re not alone and the league could follow our Alumni list suggestion we gave a week ago. We at americanjuniorhockey.com patiently wait the arrival of the all-Russian team participating in the GMHL known as Shelburne Red Wings.
A league without import restrictions taking advantage of the global footprint with all-Russian team; how successful will this team be and could we see this in AAU? Shelburne Red Wings will be owned by Russian businessman named Igor Vasilyev who approached the owners with the idea of a Russian-only team who owns a BMW and Land Rover dealership in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Bradford Rattlers charge each player $10,000 for eight practices (often twice a day) and three games a week in a 42-game season. The average fee among the league’s teams is closer to $3,000 per player according the article, Meet Canada's first all-Russian hockey team.
The last suggestion for the league and its players is to take advantage of the A-List. The A-List will be the key to helping these players gain maximum exposure.
The upcoming week should be interesting week – junior hockey landscape should be changed forever.