Lakeshore Canadiens

The Lakeshore Canadiens are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Belle River, Ontario. They play in the Provincial Junior Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association and Hockey Canada. The Canadiens are four-time Clarence Schmalz Cup Winners as Provincial Junior C Champions. The team was known as the Belle River Canadiens from 1978 until 2014.

History


From 1985 until 2001, the Canadiens were one of the most feared teams in all of Ontario Junior "C" hockey. Within those 17 years, the Canadiens won 11 GLJHL Championships and 4 Clarence Schmalz Cups as All-Ontario Junior "C" Champions in 8 trips to the All-Ontario Finals.After 9 years The Canadiens once again won the Great Lakes Junior "C" Title in 2010 defeating the Wallaceburg Lakers in 4 Games, In the Schmalz Cup Semi-Finals they defeated the Grimsby Peach Kings 4 Games to 1 to advance to their first Ontario Final in 9 Years. The Canadiens then Lost the Schmalz Cup in 6 Games to the Alliston Hornets.In 2011 The Canadiens won their 2nd Consecutive Great Lakes title, They once again faced the Grimsby Peach Kings in the Ontario Semi Finals. Grimsby would win the series 4 games to 1.

The Belle River Canadiens have won 13 Great Lakes Junior C League Championships, they are 2nd to the Essex 73's who have won 18. Essex and Belle River have also won the most Ontario Championships, Essex with 6 and the Canadiens with 4.

On June 6, 2014, the team announced it was changing its name to the Lakeshore Canadiens.

The Canadiens moved into the brand new Atlas Tube Centre in the fall of 2014. In their first game at the new Atlas Tube Centre Sebastian Kanally scored the first ever goal 38 seconds into the game as the Canadiens defeated their rivals from Essex by a score of 3–1. The Canadiens would finish 24–13–0–3 in their first full season in their new rink.

The summer of 2016 saw the GLJHL become the Bill Stobbs Division of the new Provincial Junior Hockey League which resulted from the amalgamation of the eight junior "C" hockey leagues in Southern Ontario.

2016-2017 coaching staff

 * General Manager - Mark Seguin
 * Head Coach - Justin Solcz
 * Assistant Coach - Mike Ditty
 * Assistant Coach - Rene Loignon
 * Assistant Coach - Sean Voy
 * Trainer - Kyle Rivest
 * Equipment Manager - Jim Snivley
 * Equipment Manager - Ken Quinlan Jr

Clarence Schmalz Cup appearances

 * 1985: Belle River Canadiens defeated Midland Centennials 4-games-to-1
 * 1990: Orangeville Crushers defeated Belle River Canadiens 4-games-to-3
 * 1992: Belle River Canadiens defeated Stayner Siskins 4-games-to-2
 * 1994: Belle River Canadiens defeated Rockton Real McCoys 4-games-to-none
 * 1995: Belle River Canadiens defeated Bowmanville Eagles 4-games-to-none
 * 1997: Glanbrook Rangers defeated Belle River Canadiens 4-games-to-2
 * 2000: Lakefield Chiefs defeated Belle River Canadiens 4-games-to-2
 * 2001: Chippawa Riverhawks defeated Belle River Canadiens 4-games-to-1
 * 2010: Alliston Hornets defeated Belle River Canadiens 4-games-to-2

Notable alumni

 * Bob Boughner
 * Tie Domi
 * Mike Natyshak
 * Brad Smith
 * D. J. Smith
 * Alek Stojanov
 * Derek Wilkinson
 * Steve Ott