Thorold Blackhawks

The Thorold Blackhawks are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Thorold, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Golden Horseshoe division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

History
The Thorold Jaycees joined the Niagara District Junior B Hockey League in 1963, three seasons after the folding of the Thorold Mountaineers. The Jaycees became the Paper Bees in 1975 and stayed with the league until 1979 when it folded. From 1979 until 1982, the team was known as the Thorold Paper C's and played in the local Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League. In 1982, the Paper C's became the Blackhawks and joined Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League. The Blackhawks stayed members of the GHJHL until 2007 when it merged into the GOJHL.

The team consists of mostly local players between the ages of 16 and 21. The Blackhawks were League Champions in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, the team went on to capture the Sutherland Cup as the best Jr. B team in Ontario. Many players that started their careers in Thorold went on to play in the Ontario Hockey League, American Hockey League, and the National Hockey League. The most notable of these NHLers are Nathan Horton of the Toronto Maple Leafs, John Scott of the San Jose Sharks, Zenon Konopka, Dwayne Roloson and Owen Nolan, retired.

The Blackhawks played the longest game in club history on March 26, 2006 in a quadruple-overtime thriller of game 6 of their GHL Semi-final series against their arch-rival, the St. Catharines Falcons. The Blackhawks moved onto the GHL finals with this victory. The final score of this contest was 2-1 after Steve Zmudcynski beat St. Catharines' netminder Sean Hall with 5:06 left in the 4th overtime period. Zmudczynski was criticized for much of the overtime session for not getting back on defense but was rewarded for doing so when he received a long pass from Steve Chappell that set up the winning marker. The game lasted a little over four and a half hours and ended after midnight. An interesting side note from this game is that if there would have been a game seven it would have been played on March 27, the same day Game 6 ended.

In October 2013, a Facebook Page called ‘Is The Thorold Blackhawks Logo Offensive?' was started, which questioned the use of an aboriginal caricature as the team's logo. The Facebook Page garnered attention from local media and politicians and was brought to the attention of Thorold City Council, but despite the efforts, the logo has yet to be changed by the team.

On August 19, 2017 the City of Thorold, Ontario announced "As of June 1, 2017 the use or display of the current Blackhawk logo for any purpose and in any manner shall be strictly prohibited within the Thorold community arenas."

Sutherland Cup appearances

 * 2001: Elmira Sugar Kings defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-2
 * 2003: Stratford Cullitons defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-3
 * 2004: Stratford Cullitons defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-none
 * 2005: Thorold Blackhawks defeated Chatham Maroons 4-games-to-1

Notable Alumni Players
- Nathan Horton

- Konopka Zenon

- Owen Nolan

- Dwayne Roloson

- John Scott