Norwich Merchants Jr. C

[RocketGirl]

OHA comes down hard on Merchants
By Cory Smith Sentinel-Review

CAMBRIDGE — The Ontario Hockey Association came down hard on the Norwich Merchants Wednesday night, fining the Niagara Junior C team $25,000 while imposing sanctions and suspensions that will impact the club both on and off the ice for the near future.

After lengthy deliberation, the OHA's 16-member board ruled that the Merchants were in violation of rule J25, which permits teams to pay for "protective equipment, sticks and skates, travel expenses and educational expenses and/or room and board if the player is required to relocate to join his team." Anything beyond that is subject to punishment.

The fine is believed to be the largest issued in OHA history. Other sanctions include:

• Norwich's roster is frozen for the remainder of the 2011-12 season;

• Norwich's ability to sign import players has been revoked through the 2014-15 season;

• Directors Tom Wright, Randy Nobbs and Bryan Wise are suspended through the 2014-15 season;

• The team will be required to appear before the OHA Board at the conclusion of the current season for a membership review;

The Merchants have 15 days to appeal the decision to the Ontario Hockey Federation. Team president Ken Gillanders was not immediately available for comment, but he said earlier this month that the team would respect the OHA's decision.

"We feel we acted in good faith when it comes to dealing with the complainant and we feel we're compliant within the OHA guidelines," Gillanders said at the time.

The OHA didn't agree.

"It certainly wasn't an easy position to arrive," president Brent Ladds said. "(The board's) challenge was finding a penalty they felt was appropriate, and the old adage that it's more than justice being served, but it must have been perceived to have been served."


While Ladds was unable to comment specifically on the evidence against Norwich, Gillanders said in a previous interview that the team paid the complainant in the spirit of J25, and that the money was to be put toward education. Ladds said the Merchants' evidence "wasn't detailed to the board's satisfaction."

"If you are compensating them for allowable expenses then they have to be detailed and supported more than they were by Norwich," he added.

The Merchants become the second team found guilty of breaking rule J25.

In December 2005, the OHA suspended Milton IceHawks head coach and general manager George Dupont for the remainder of the season, including playoffs, and the Ontario Junior A Hockey League team was fined $12,000 after it was determined Milton had signed contracts with two players that fell outside of OHA guidelines.

[Chemo]

bout time norwich got caught with their hand in the cookie jar

doubt they will learn their lesson tho