Today in the PJ: West Conference Update

It is hard to believe it was 19 months ago I was looking forward to watching a game in the Mooretown-Lakeshore Stobbs Division final.  A couple weeks ago I travelled to Mooretown and watched a really entertaining PJHL hockey game between Lakeshore and Mooretown. Lakeshore came out on top scoring 2 shorthanded goals which was the difference in a 4-2 win to push their record to 11-0. {now 14-0}

When the PJHL has needed volunteers from the Stobb, s division and the West Conference Lakeshore Manager Mark Seguin and Mooretown Flags GM John Baker are always first to put their name forward to help grow and improve the league. A big tip of the cap to these to gentleman.

Conference manager Mark Hagerman finds that teams are excited to be back in the rink and the crowds are growing bigger than when we left a couple years ago. He finds the difference from top to bottom has been closer than ever before with teams at the bottom competing every night.

Stobbs Division

The same three teams are at the top of the Stobbs division as when we left 19 months ago. Essex has been around the top for a long time. Lakeshore {the former Belle River team} has been up near the for just as long. Mooretown has been near or at the top before but has had a really good team the last three years.

Mark Seguin has been with Lakeshore for the last 18 years as either a coach or Gm or both. Under his watch they have won 5 division titles. You could say he has helped change the top team from Essex to Lakeshore in the power rankings.

Mark likes his teams work ethic and discipline. His head coach Anthony Iaquita        has been with the team for 5 years. Mark feels by Christmas the level of hockey will rise closer to what it was in the past before the pandemic.

Trevor Larue ,Dylan Weston and Jake Nimmo lead the team up front with Parker Jacques chipping in with 18 assists to lead the teams blue-line in scoring.

John Baker is in year 8 with the Mooretown Flags. John likes his team speed and depth they have at all positions. His head coach Mark Davis brings over 30 years of coaching experience to the arena every night.

Greg Hay, Jake Vince and Brodie Conlon {player of Month-October-Stobbs division} lead the team in scoring. Jake is the top scoring defenseman in the PJHL right now with 11 goals and 11 assists.

Essex 73, s is always in the Hunt for a league championship

The 73, s have won 7 all-Ontario championships since the beginning in 1973.They have also been to 20 all-Ontario finals with both being league records.

Matt Smith and Connor Dembinski lead the way up front while Andrew Thoms leads a strong bluelineLondon Knights draft pick .17-year-old goalie Adrian McBride is strong in net for Essex.

Essex Gm Mike Pailey is in his 3rd year as GM. He says he has a young team with a solid work ethic and a great room. He also likes that he has 7 kids form Essex on this young team. Like many other people I talk to around the league it is more competitive against all teams every night than it was before the Pandemic.

 

Yeck Division

Exeter IS at the top again with Dorchester, MT. Brydges, Thamesford and North Middlesex closing in on the top spot. Lucan and Port Stanley look like they will get more wins this year and this should help make it a competitive division come playoffs.

Exeter Hawks Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Dalrymple has a new coaching staff this year. Tyler McNaughton has moved up to head coach and has added Mark Livermore and Brent Nairn{Brent’s dad was long time Junior coach Jack Nairn} to his coaching staff.

Jeff went from having 18 kids returning to having 6 come back after the Pandemic. He is proud of the fact that he has 7 Exeter kids on this good team which helps with the fan base.

Sam Dupuis and Jaedon French lead the way in scoring up front with Myles Carlson and Zach Otto heading up a strong blue line. Nathan Young has been really solid in net to help them get into their first place spot. Jeff thinks the playoffs are going to a lot closer this year with so many competitive teams.

Dorchester is lead up front by a really good hometown player in Jacob Marche who has 11 goals and 10 assists. Josh Short from London has 9 goals and 9 assists to help lead the way for the Dolphins.

Dorchester GM and Head coach Mark Steele has an older team because of the Pandemic this year. Mark feels the league is closer this year. Mark likes the depth at forward he has and he believes they are really strong in net. Both Liam McCarthy and Jackson Mailloux give them a chance to will every night.

This is Marks 5th year as head coach of the Dolphins and 15th in the league.

It should be an exciting race for the top spots this year in the Yeck Division.

 

Doug Kennedy-PJHL