Listowel Cyclones

The Listowel Cyclones are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Listowel, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Mid-Western division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.

History
The Listowel Cyclones were named after famous local professional hockey player Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.

Founded in 1972, the team started out in the Central Junior C Hockey League, but moved up to Midwestern "B" in 1979. The team had horrible results in the 80s, sometimes going for months without a single victory. The 90s were decent to the Cyclones, but by 1999 the team fell into some bad years. The Cyclones had their coming out party in 2005 though, winning the league championship for the first time in history to earn the right to compete for the Sutherland Cup, another team first.

Despite never truly being a contender, the team has had moments of greatness and weakness. On one hand, the Cyclones hold the record for the worst defeat in Mid-Western "B" history: a 23-3 loss to the Waterloo Siskins on December 11, 1983. On the other hand, the team came out of nowhere to win the league title in 2005. Another record they set that year, as the 7th seed in the playoffs, was the lowest entry seed in league history to win the championship. Listowel came in third in the Sutherland Cup Round Robin, losing out to the Chatham Maroons and the eventual champion Thorold Blackhawks.

The Modern Years
After a franchise best of 33 wins in 2015–2016 (this record was broken the following year in the 2016-2017 season), the Listowel Cyclones were swept 4–0 by the 6th seed Waterloo Siskins in the GOJHL playoffs. Waterloo went on to upset the Kitchener Dutchmen in the second round but lost in the final of the Cherrey Cup to the Stratford Cullitons.

The 2016–2017 roster was composed of several returning players and OHL training camps invitees including Jackob Lee (11th round, Guelph Storm), Holdyn Lansink (12th round, Erie Otters), Brock Baier (10th round, Windsor Spitfires), Chet Phillips (4th round, Saginaw Spirit), Brendan Cederberg (11th round, Peterborough Petes) and Ben Derrough (Owen Sound Attack). The key losses for the team this year is last year's starting goalie Tyler Fassl and their leading scorer from last year Jamie Huber. Tyler Fassl has moved on to the OJHL's Trenton Goldenhawks, defensemen Kade Landry is now with the OHL's Barrie Colts, Jordan Caskenette is with Walkerton Hawks (Jr.C), defensemen Scott Pederson is now playing in the CIS for Laurentian University and 2015-2016 leading scorer Jamie Huber has moved on to the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL. Other notable losses from the 2015-2016 team that were key players in Listowel's record winning season include Tim Nauta, Ben Shelley, Ray McFalls, Corey Flemington and Austin Huizenga. The 2016–2017 team co-captains are veteran locals Caleb Warren and Blake Nichol. The team will also have alternating away and home assistant captains. The alternate captains this year include Riley Robertson, Keaton Willis, Brady Anderson and Holdyn Lansink. Midway through the season, the team added former Cyclone Ben VanOotegham from the Pembroke Lumberkings of the CCHL. VanOotegham previously played for the Listowel Cyclones in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. Halfway through the 2016-2017 GOJHL season the Cyclones were in 1st place in the Midwestern division and look to break last year's franchise win record with a 20–2–2 start. On December 8, 2016, last year's leading scorer Jamie Huber returned from the BCHL to rejoin the team in their record setting season. Along with Huber, the Cyclones added more offensive power by welcoming 3 year OHL veteran and Exeter native Cullen Mercer to the line up on Jan 7th, 2017.

Season records
On February 12, 2017 the Listowel Cyclones broke their franchise single season wins record with a convincing 34th win over the Elmira Sugar Kings (6-3) and reclaimed sole possession of 1st place in the midwestern conference of the GOJHL. They previously set the single season franchise record last year with 33 wins. What has turned out to be a season of firsts, on February 23rd, 2017, the Listowel Cyclones defeated the Cambridge Winterhawks 4–0 and are the first Jr. B Listowel Cyclone team in 38 years and franchise history to clinch 1st place in the midwestern conference of the GOJHL

2017 Cherrey Cup
The Cyclones began the 2017 playoffs by facing the 8th seed the Brantford 99ers in the conference quarterfinals and defeated the 99ers with 4 straight wins to win the series 4–0. In the next round the Cyclones faced off against the Waterloo Siskins. This series was especially sentimental for cyclone players who were part of the team last year that was swept in heart breaking fashion (4–0). The Cyclones won the first 2 games in convincing fashion, 6–0 and 7–1. The Cyclones won game #3 3–2 in overtime with Jamie Huber scoring the overtime winner. [16] On March 22nd, 2017 the Cyclones defeated the Siskins 6–2 in Waterloo, completing the sweep and won some redemption after last year's sweep in Waterloo on March 9th, 2016. The game was marked by Cullen Mercer scoring 4 goals in eight minutes in the second period. [17] CTV news Kitchener referred to Mercer as the "one man cyclone" after his 4 goal performance. The Listowel Cyclones advanced to the Cherrey Cup finals for the first time since 2011. [18]

After losing the first two games of the series to the Elmira Sugar Kings (3–2 OT and 3–2), the Listowel Cyclones rallied back to win 4 straight games and win the Cherrey Cup on April 9, 2017. This was the franchise's second Cherrey Cup win, the other being in 2004–05.

2017 Sutherland Cup
The Listowel Cyclones began the Sutherland Cup semi-finals as the 1st ranked team and faced the Western Conference champions London Nationals. On Friday April 21, 2017, the London Nationals defeated the Listowel Cyclones 3–2 in game 5 in a heart breaking overtime win, defeating the Cyclones 4–1 in the series. Although it wasn't the ideal result of the season there is a lot to be proud of including a midwestern conference 1st place finish (first in team history), a Cherrey cup championship (only 2nd championship in 37 years) and several players from this years team can return next year.

2017-18 Season
For the third year in a row the franchise single season win record was eclipsed with 43 wins besting 2016-17's 40. The team finished second in the overall standings. They swept Guelph, beat Waterloo in 7 games, and swept Elmira to win the Midwest Conference playoffs. The team would beat London in 6 games and then sweep Calendonia to win the Sutherland Cup for the first time.

Championships

 * Cherrey Cup Champions 2017
 * Cherrey Cup Champions Mid-Western "B" League Champions 2005
 * Midwestern Conference Regular Season Champions 2016-17, 2017-18
 * Sutherland Cup Champions 2018

Notable alumni

 * Jeff Bloemberg
 * Dwayne Hay
 * Jason Brooks
 * Nick Spaling
 * Scott Cherrey