A local hockey team is switching leagues.
The Leamington Flyers have been approved as a 2023-2024 Ontario Junior Hockey League expansion team, becoming the 23rd OJHL member club to join.
It was announced Wednesday that the Flyers will begin to play in the league next season.
The Flyers were selected through an extensive process led by the OJHL Expansion Committee that consists of members of the OJHL, the Ontario Hockey Association, and the Ontario Hockey Federation.
The Flyers play out of the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre in Leamington and have shown their success within the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League in both attendance and standings over the last number of years.
They recently captured the 2023 Sutherland Cup Championship after winning the Stan Moore Trophy for the best regular season in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League's Western Conference.
Jason Melo, President and Co-Owner of the Leamington Flyers, says this allows the players to have a chance to play at the highest level.
"For those players that, maybe they were drafted in the OHL or for whatever reason they prefer to go the college route, this is the league you want to play in. This is the premier league outside of Major Junior in our country so it means more opportunity for all those players to play at the highest level."
He says they are firm believers of "hometown hockey" and ensuring 16 and 17-year-olds don't need to move to play hockey
"We were constantly, with our players prior to this point, graduating our players to the OJHL, or to other Junior A leagues across Canada, and this allows those players to stay at home, play hockey, and still pursue their goals and aspirations of moving on to professional hockey."
Melo says as the 2023 Sutherland Cup Championship, they couldn't have asked for a better way to leave their current league.
"We're incredibly proud of the team. You know, us as owners, we put certain pieces in play but the players and the existing staff and the organization have done a tremendous job. And this shouldn't take away from that. We are Sutherland Cup champions, we're extremely proud. It just fits. We couldn't have asked for a better way out of the league to exit as champions and move onto the next level."
As they begin preparing for next season, Leamington will be holding an OJHL tryout camp on June 3 and June 4 at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre. More details on the application to try out can be found by clicking here.
Alongside the news that they will be joining the league, Leamington has also kept on general manager, Justin Solcz, and head coach, Dale Mitchell, to lead the club next season.
The club organization was formed in 1954 as an Intermediate team then in 1992 moved to the Junior B level of the Ontario Hockey Association. In 2018, the club was purchased by a group of five local businessmen with hockey ties, one of those men being Melo.