Kirkland Lake Gold Miners

The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Manitoulin
Founded in 2003, the Manitoulin Wild had its best seasons early on. By 2005, the team changed its name to the Manitoulin Islanders. They were eventually taken over by former NHLer Reggie Leach and the team started to split its time between Little Current, Ontario and the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve's Arena. Win total dwindles, debts added up, and by 2011 the team was set to move from the Island.

Kirkland Lake
After eight years of futility on Manitoulin Island, the team would either be on the move or fold. In Mid-May 2011, the NOJHL conditionally approved the move of the Manitoulin Islanders to Kirkland Lake, Ontario to become the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils. In their final four seasons in Little Current, the Islanders managed 17 wins in 200 games played.

The Blue Devils moniker is a long used traditional team name in Kirkland Lake, the most notable team to use the name was the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils who defeated the Calgary Stampeders 3-games-to-none to win the 1940 Allan Cup.

On September 9, 2011, the Blue Devils played their first ever home game and regulation game in their history. The Blue Devils dropped a 9-2 decision to the North Bay Trappers. On October 12, 2011, the Blue Devils won their first game since relocation 3-2 in a shootout against the Sudbury Cubs. Two nights later, the Blue Devils scored their first ever home win, 5-4 in a shootout, against the Blind River Beavers.

On January 12, 2012, owner of the team Robert Kasner announced that he was folding the club mid-season. The folding of the team happened right after Kasner was suspended by the league for six months for multiple roster violations. Soon after the folding, the league announced that a new ownership group was to be brought in to run the team and keep hockey going in Kirkland Lake. The new ownership named them the Gold Miners.

In the spring of 2015 the team was selected to host the 2016 Dudley Hewitt Cup.