Mike Galati, now GM and head coach of the OJHL’s Markham Royals, has fond memories of playing for a starry team in Bramalea. (Photo by Andy Corneau / OJHL Images)

The OJHL’s Ron Valentine continues his look back at some of the best teams in league history.

BY RON VALENTINE

The Bramalea Blues finished first in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League’s MacKenzie Division in 1996-97 for the second season in a row. The next two campaigns would see them in second spot before the club started a downward trend, which saw them finally merge with the Brampton Capitals following the 2009-10 season.

But in that 1996-97 campaign, the Blues finished three points ahead of Brampton (76 to 73). The rest of the division was comprised of the Mississauga Chargers, St. Michael's Buzzers, Streetsville Derbys and Vaughan Vipers.

After the Blues topped the Capitals 4-2 in the playoffs they lost a tough series in seven against the Milton Merchants who went on to top the Newmarket 87's in the final. At the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Milton was bested in five by the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats. It was the first of six years in a row at the DHC for the Sudbury club. 

Centre KYLE AMYOTTE, in his sophomore campaign, led the way in points with 85, including 36 goals. He was the leading scorer in the history of the franchise with 361 regular season points including 158 goals over four seasons. After his final Junior campaign, Kyle embarked on a career in the British league. 

Right winger JOHN NAIL posted a 60-point season including 22 goals before playing for four years at Michigan State University. Forward JOE GOODENOW also had 60 and he also spent four seasons at Michigan State, a year behind Nail.

Rounding out the top five pointgetters were defenceman SCOTT CRAWFORD, who came over in an early season trade from Brampton. He had 50 points and played the next season for U of Michigan and then transferred to Niagara University where he was team captain and left winger SCOTT SWEITZER who garnered 44 points from just 36 contests. He followed that up with a 113-point season with the GHL's Thorold Blackhawks before attending York University.

There were some other major contributors lower down the list...Woodbridge's ROB OROFIAMMA (32 points) would get a scholarship to RIT. Centre CHRIS AISHFORD (31) joined the team halfway through their season after spending two and a half years with the St. Mike's Buzzers before moving on to Clarkson University. 

ADAM HALL, 23 points, was a rookie on the club and after four seasons at Michigan State he played in the NHL for Nashville, New York Rangers, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Philadelphia posting a total of 156 points. 

MIKE GALATI had 11 points in 16 games and is currently the Head Coach of the Markham Royals. He also held that position with the Pickering Panthers and Hamilton Red Wings.

MIKE DANTON and SHELDON KEEFE started the season as Blues then they were both sent to the Quinte Hawks. Danton moved up to the OHL with Sarnia, the Toronto St. Michael's Majors  (where he was captain) and, after graduating from the OHL's Barrie Colts, played in the NHL for New Jersey and St. Louis. Keefe, in his final Junior season after also playing for St. Mike's, captained the Colts and then spent three NHL seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning before moving into the coaching ranks as bench boss for the CCHL's Pembroke Lumber Kings, OHLs Soo Greyhounds, the AHL's Toronto Marlies and now, of course, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Keeping the opposition forwards honest was the duty of blueliners COLIN YOUNG, who would attend Northern Michigan University where he was captain in his final year and SEAN CATION, who spent most of the season as a Quinte Hawk, and who would later play for St. Thomas University in Fredericton NB.

Former Parry Sound Shamrock Ryan Knox had 60 points, including 25 goals, that season. He’d have a six-year professional career following four seasons at Lake Superior State.

It was the rookie season for another defenceman, Burlington native MICHAEL SCHUTTE, who would later play for his hometown Cougars before going to the University of Maine which he followed up with a long career in the AHL and Europe. And there was former Georgetown Raider DAVID D'AMMIZIO who collected 27 points and 120 PIM and would later suit up with Ryerson in Toronto. 

The No. 1 goalkeeper was BOBBY DACOSTA who followed up a  1995-96 season where he finished second overall in the league with a 2.88 GAA with a third place spot and  2.76 GAA. Bobby would move on to York University. He was ably backed up by MICHAEL BEDNARZ.

Behind the bench was LINDSAY HOFFORD who would move on to be Head Coach for the OHL's London Knights and the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. He has worked in a number of roles with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes organizations.

Royals' Coach and GM Galati talks about that impressive season: "We played at the Victoria Park arena (where a big fire broke out in 2016) and for games against our close rivals, the Capitals especially, you had to arrive early on a Friday night to get a seat. There was a bar up top and at that time smoking was allowed in the arena. The 'atmosphere' got us rolling, but the real reason we did so well was because of Coach Hofford. We had a bunch of good young hockey players but we were all moulded into a real team by Lindsay. He was my favourite coach and the best I had in my career. He was a mentor and a motivator. Looking back, I can see that he was far ahead of his time. He told me when I got into coaching myself ‘It's not so much what you teach them it's all about getting them to do what you teach them’.”

"Our games against the Capitals were a battle of wills: Hofford versus Frank Carnevale." (Frank would go on to coach Thornhill, Oakville and Vaughan in the OPJHL as well as the OHL's Owen Sound Attack and Bad Nauheim in Germany before becoming the Director of Player Personnel for the Barrie Colts). We won out but it was always a battle."

"Amyotte was a highly skilled player, at around 5-foot-7 he played a foot taller and I remember he had this long stick that seemed taller than he was! He could shoot the puck as hard as anyone. We would end up playing together in England and where he played for seven seasons. It was a preferred route for many players to take because there was no new language to learn and the arenas were smaller; overall it was fun to be there and it was like playing hockey in North America but you didn't have to contend with Olympic-sized ice surfaces! Being a small player like Kyle made it a real longshot at that time that you would end up in the NHL". 

"Hall was a rookie on the team but you could already tell that he was going places, he was a big guy even then and he played the game hard but he had the skill to go with it. Danton (Jefferson) and Keefe were tough kids who could really skate, I arrived after they had left as I was recovering from a major car accident but I did get to skate with them and they were both strong and tough.”

"There were several opposition players in our division who had very high penalty minutes. MIKE MCDOUGALL was our designated tough guy (he got a 191 PIM) but Coach Hofford always preached 'team toughness' and no-one got pushed around. I remember some 'interesting' warmups, especially against the Capitals, there were, at that time, no linesmen on the ice before the game got underway!"

"The team was very deep so the coach could use four lines and our 'D' was top-notch and in the net DaCosta was a great teammate who kept  everyone loose with his goofy antics, but he could really play. Talking about this group brings back fond memories for me. I really enjoyed playing for Lindsay Hofford, a coach who had the knack for getting the best out of everyone."