Villanova Knights

The Villanova Knights are a Tier II junior 'A' team based in North York, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League. The team is an affiliate of St. Thomas of Villanova College in King City, Ontario.

Henry Carr
The Villanova Knights lineage traces back to the Henry Carr Crusaders. Like the Toronto St. Michael's Majors and St. Michael's Buzzers, the Crusaders were a secondary school based Junior hockey team. The team's affiliation was with the Father Henry Carr Secondary School of the Toronto Catholic District School Board. In 1980 they took their high school team and joined the Metro Junior "B" Hockey League, where they played until 1991, even after the league left the Ontario Hockey Association in 1989. The team was famous for its first undefeated Metro season in 1983 (34-0-2), when they won the All-Ontario Jr. B Championship, the Sutherland Cup. After five rounds of playoffs, what it took to win the Sutherland Cup, the Crusaders had accumulated 54 wins, 2 losses, 2 ties, and 2 losses in overtime in 60 regulation games.

In 1991, when the Metro league declared itself Tier II Junior "A", they transferred the franchise to the Weston Dukes. Henry Carr still fields a team to this day, but again at the High School Hockey level.

Thornhill
In 1993 the Weston Dukes folded and their franchise was moved to Thornhill and became the Thornhill Islanders. In 1997 they were renamed the Thornhill Rattlers until 2004, when they again assumed the Thunderbirds name.

After playing in multiple leagues, for many years, even competing for the 2001 Royal Bank Cup. In Summer 2006, the players of the team started to get let go or traded for cash to any interested team. The team has been for sale for the better part of six months, but with no serious offers.

Villanova College Knights
In 2007 local businessman David Arsenault (Governor/Owner) along with St. Thomas of Villanova College revived the team bringing it back into the OPJHL under the Villanova College name.

The Villanova Knights were announced officially on May 15, 2007. The team will be in the same vein as the St. Michael's Buzzers or Henry Carr Crusaders, a Junior hockey team sponsored by a Catholic high school. The school is based in King City, Ontario, but the team will be playing their home games at York University's Canlan Ice Gardens.

The original Orangeville Flyers were disbanded by the league in spring 2011. On April 14, 2011, ten days after the Flyers folded, the OJHL and the Villanova Knights announced that they were moving to Orangeville under the name Orangeville Flyers.

Sutherland Cup appearances

 * 1983: Henry Carr Crusaders defeated Stratford Cullitons 4-games-to-none

Notable alumni

 * Bob Essensa
 * Patrick Flatley
 * Manny Legace
 * Steve Moore
 * Dominic Moore
 * Jeff O'Neill
 * Raffi Torres
 * Mike York