Thorold Blackhawks

Thorold Blackhawks
City:	Thorold, Ontario, Canada
League:	Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League
Division:	Golden Horseshoe
Founded:	1963
Home Arena:	Thorold Community Arena
Colors:	Black, Red, and White
Owner(s):	Ralph Sacco Tony Gigliotti
General Manager:	Bryan Kelly
Head Coach:	Bryan Kelly
Franchise history
1963-1975:	Thorold Jaycees
1975-1979:	Thorold Paper Bees
1979-1982:	Thorold Paper C's
1982-1986:	Thorold Golden Eagles
1986-2023:	Thorold Blackhawks
2023-present:	Port Colborne Sailors

The Thorold Blackhawks were a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Pelham, Ontario, Canada. They played 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 consisted 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."

The Thorold Blackhawks were forced to move their home games to the Vale Health and Wellness Centre in Port Colborne for the 2022 playoffs and for the 2022-23 season due to ongoing construction at the Thorold Community Arena. On May 16, 2023 the move was made permanent with the team being renamed the Port Colborne Sailors.

Season-by-season results

Season	GP	W	L	T	OL	GF	GA	P	Results	Playoffs
1963-64	30	5	23	2	-	120	263	12	6th NDJBHL	DNQ
1964-65	30	10	18	2	-	133	201	22	6th NDJBHL	Lost Semi-final
1965-66	30	11	16	3	-	162	220	25	6th NDJBHL	Lost Quarter-final
1966-77	Niagara District Jr. B Statistics Not Available
1977-78	40	11	24	5	-	170	240	27	4th NDJBHL	Lost Semi-final
1978-79	40								5th NDJBHL	DNQ
1979-80	35	17	15	5	-	224	199	37	3rd NJC-E
1980-81	40	26	14	0	-	247	213	52	2nd NJC-E	Lost Quarter-final
1981-82	Niagara-Can-Am Jr. C Statistics Not Available
1982-83	42	13	26	3	-	241	293	29	7th GHJHL
1983-84	42	9	28	5	-	178	252	23	8th GHJHL
1984-85	42	2	39	1	-	150	381	5	8th GHJHL
1985-86	40	19	18	3	-	184	215	41	6th GHJHL
1986-87	42	15	18	9	-	202	233	39	5th GHJHL
1987-88	42	17	21	4	-	209	270	38	5th GHJHL
1988-89	42	25	10	7	-	197	148	57	2nd GHJHL	Lost Final
1989-90	48	31	14	1	2	246	200	65	2nd GHJHL	Lost Final
1990-91	42	26	14	2	0	236	182	54	4th GHJHL
1991-92	42	15	26	1	0	189	219	31	6th GHJHL
1992-93	42	22	16	1	3	239	219	48	4th GHJHL
1993-94	40	25	12	1	2	270	178	53	2nd GHJHL	Lost Final
1994-95	42	19	21	2	1	188	220	41	4th GHJHL
1995-96	42	10	26	3	3	190	235	26	7th GHJHL
1996-97	42	14	22	5	1	181	181	34	6th GHJHL
1997-98	49	26	16	4	3	255	213	59	4th GHJHL
1998-99	47	17	24	5	1	167	180	40	5th GHJHL
1999-00	48	32	13	1	2	237	155	67	1st GHJHL	Lost Final
2000-01	48	31	10	7	0	220	126	69	2nd GHJHL	Won League
2001-02	48	31	12	3	2	216	138	67	3rd GHJHL	Lost Final
2002-03	48	41	4	3	0	282	100	85	1st GHJHL	Won League
2003-04	48	34	7	7	0	179	84	75	2nd GHJHL	Won League
2004-05	48	37	6	5	0	185	85	79	1st GHJHL	Won League, Won Sutherland Cup
2005-06	49	29	18	2	0	192	125	60	3rd GHJHL	Lost Final
2006-07	49	30	16	2	1	226	169	63	4th GHJHL	Lost Semi-final
2007-08	49	30	12	6	1	227	144	67	1st GOJHL-GH	Lost RR Semi-final
2008-09	52	31	18	-	3	217	197	65	3rd GOJHL-GH
2009-10	51	35	12	-	4	211	164	74	3rd GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. SF
2010-11	51	38	11	-	2	251	135	78	2nd GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. Final
2011-12	51	32	17	-	2	197	126	66	3rd GOJHL-GH
2012-13	51	28	19	-	4	192	174	60	5th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. SF
2013-14	49	28	17	-	4	210	185	60	4th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. SF
2014-15	49	14	31	-	4	117	203	32	7th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 1-4 (Falcons)
2015-16	50	21	25	1	3	152	172	46	6th of 8-GH 17th of 26-GOJHL	Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 0-4 (Avalanche)
2016-17	50	11	36	1	2	133	206	25	7th GOJHL-GH	Did not Participate
2017-18	50	20	22	3	5	160	205	48	5th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 0-4 (Canucks)
2018-19	48	20	23	1	4	149	167	45	5th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 2-4 (Panthers)
2019-20	50	26	20	2	2	181	161	56	5th GOJHL-GH	Lost Conf. Quarter-finals 0-4 (Kilty B's)
2020-21	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22	48	15	32	0	1	89	155	31	6th of 8-GH 20th of 25-GOJHL	Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Corvairs)
2022-23	50	24	24	2	0	168	155	50	5th of 8-GH 17th of 25-GOJHL	Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 1-4 (Corvairs)

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

External links

• Blackhawks Webpage