THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Kings are partially pulling out of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
The Kings organization on Thursday announced it plans to merge its U16 and U18 teams to form a more competitive U18 team in the GTHL, while removing its U16 and U13 entries in the southern Ontario League.
The U15 team will also continue to play in the GTHL.
The Kings cited increased costs and a concern about the competitiveness of their teams in the Toronto area.
The four Kings teams combined for a 24-103-17 record in 2023-24.
According to a post on the official Kings website, the strategic moves were made as a way to respond to changing circumstances.
“The Kings are actively working to address concerns regarding costs and perceived competitiveness raised by the hockey community and are committed to fostering a positive and supportive environment for its players, families and hockey community members,” the post reads in part.
The organization plans to hold a U18 identification camp from June 1 to June 4, inviting all U16 and U18 players to take part.
As part of the move, Hockey Northwestern Ontario will also be applying for special dispensation from Hockey Canada to allow the organization to run a U16 HNO Branch team to take part in the OHL Cup in 2024-25.
The U13 withdrawal was done to put a better focus on player development.
“The Thunder Bay Kings value and prioritize player development and continue to improve its programming for all ages. Player families can expect consistent on-ice and off-ice training and development. This will include more than 110 hours of on-ice development and team practice and a minimum of 90 hours of off-ice development, including dryland, fitness testing, individual goal development and video review,” the post continues.
The Kings program was founded in 1989, driven by the efforts of the late Jim Johnson. The midget team won national championships in 1994-95 and 1996-97, and sent several players to the National Hockey League, including Eric, Marc and Jordan Staal, Patrick Sharp and Alex Auld. Johnson’s son Ryan, who went on to play 701 games in the NHL, also played for the Kings.
Kings teams have played in the GTHL, the North American Hockey League and the Lakehead Junior Hockey League.
The organization is not ruling out a future return to the GTHL for all of its teams, but will be seeking feedback before any decision is made on league play plans. Everything is on the table at this point.
“Over the next six months, the Thunder Bay Kings will be reaching out via survey to existing and potential player families (born 2015 and older) to better understand the balance of cost, development, competitiveness and exposure," the post said.
“The results will assist the Kings to determine appropriate age groups for teams as well as league play to provide the best development opportunity possible for players."
