There's a new game in town, Hamilton.
With news that the American Hockey League will be shipping out of Hamilton to St. John's Newfoundland and the Ontario Hockey League's Belleville Bulls will be moving in, we take a look at some of the major differences between the two leagues.
It has, after all, been a while since Hamilton last had an OHL team — the Dukes of Hamilton, which moved to Guelph in 1991.
The team will keep the Bulldogs name, logo and location, but they will no longer be affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens, or any NHL team for that matter, when they turn into a junior team at the beginning of next season.
What is the OHL?
The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) is a development league for players aged 16 to 20-years-old. It is one of three leagues in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), which is comprised of the OHL, the Western Hockey League (WHL) and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Players are eligible to be drafted at 15 years old.
The winners of each league, as well as a team from the host city, fight for the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Why is Hamilton losing its AHL team?
There is a bit of musical chairs happening in minor pro-hockey. NHL's Winnipeg Jets will relocating their AHL farm team from St. John's, N.L., back to Winnipeg. Hamilton, an affiliate to the Montreal Canadiens, will move into vacant spot in St. John's. And finally, the OHL's Bellville Bulls move into Hamilton. Bellville is left without a team in the shuffle after hosting the Bulls and the OHL for 34 years.
Where does the OHL play?
There are 20 teams that play a 68-game regular season in the OHL, with several teams in the Greater Hamilton Area, including teams in London, St. Catharines, Kitchener, Guelph, Kingston and Mississauga. All the teams are in Ontario, with teams as far west as Windsor, east in Ottawa and north in Sault Ste. Marie.
Do they get paid?
The players do get paid a small sum (the oldest players receive up to $470 per month, according to Yahoo Sports), and billet with local homes, who also receive money to cover their housing and food costs. The players attempted to form a CHL Players Union in 2012, which failed, and more recently a class action lawsuit was filed against the league alleging teams paid their players below minimum wage, which has yet to be proven in court.
How is it different from the AHL?
The major difference between the leagues is players in the OHL have yet to be drafted by National Hockey League (NHL) teams, while players in the American Hockey League belong to a farm system of an NHL club and could have been drafted, or signed as free agents. In Hamilton's case, the Bulldogs were a part of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens farm system.
AHL players are paid a minimum $42,375 and have to be 18-years-old to play. OHL players can be as old as 20-years-old. This season's oldest players were born in 1989.
There are also no European goalies in the OHL, while no such restrictions exist in the AHL. The CHL (including the OHL) moved to ban "import goalies" recently, and the last eligible imports were selected in the 2013 OHL draft.
When are the games?
The majority of the OHL schedule is between Thursday and Sunday so that the players can continue their studies in high school while playing. Some games are televised nationally, featured on Rogers Sportsnet on Friday nights.
How do you feel about the AHL leaving Hamilton and the Bulldogs becoming an OHL team?
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