South Muskoka Shield The South Muskoka Shield are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Gravenhurst , Ontario . They are members of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League . History . The Shield are a community - based team with a number of corporate sponsors helping the team to be a viable club . Based on the attendance at the home opener and since , this club has been successful from a fan support standpoint . Gravenhurst is a proud hockey town that is rich in hockey history . The Shield follow in the tradition of the Gravenhurst Indians and the Gravenhurst Cubs who played out of the Georgian Mid - Ontario Junior C Hockey League from 1980 until 1987 and 1994 until 2000 respectively . The Shield also draw their fan support from other centres in the area , such as Bracebridge , Port Carling , Bala , Washago and Orillia . The first game in the Shield ' s history was on September 9 , 2006 against the Deseronto Thunder in Deseronto , Ontario . The end result was a not - so - glorious 8 - 1 loss . While Frank Agostino started their first - ever exhibition game in net , it was 16 - year - old Steve Brown from Port Carling , ON who played the club ' s first ever competitive game wearing number 30 . Midway through the third and final period , the Shield used its first ever import , when 18 year old Briton Nick Rowe took over from Brown in net . The scorer of the Shield ' s first goal was scored by Dustin Curran and at the time he was wearing number 77 when he scored it . Their first home game took place on September 15 , 2006 against the eventual league , playoff and national champion Bradford Rattlers . The result was a 10 - 1 blowout loss . The Shield ' s first win came on October 13 , 2006 against the struggling Toronto Canada Moose . The final score of the game was 9 - 6 . On November 21 , 2006 , Shield left winger and captain Garrett Hamel was heavily injured in a head - on collision . He was flown to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto , Ontario and required surgery to repair his broken talus , knee cap , femur , radius , pinky finger , and a shattered pelvis . The next game , on November 22 against the Nipissing Alouettes , was cancelled out of respect of the Hanmer , Ontario native . After extensive rehab , Garrett rejoined the team in November 2008 . On January 11 , 2009 Garrett returned to the ice against the Nipissing Alouettes and scored a goal in a 9 - 5 victory for the Shield . The Shield finished their inaugural season in dead last with a 4 - 34 - 0 - 4 record . Seventh place out of seven teams , the Shield were forced to face the fourth - place Deseronto Thunder in the league quarter - final . In game one , the Thunder blew out the Shield 7 - 1 , but in game two the Shield showed a different side to their game . The close back and forth game went all the way to overtime where the Thunder again came out victorious 5 - 4 . Game three saw the Shield on a mission early , leading after the first period 3 - 1 and the second 5 - 3 . In the third , the Shield fell apart and the Thunder outscored them in the third 6 - 1 . The game was called early due to violence breaking out at the game with both the Shield bench and the crowd involved ; final score 9 - 6 Thunder . Game four was redemptive for the Shield , pushing the game into another overtime showdown . Again the Shield lost , 5 - 4 in overtime , to complete the four - game sweep for the Deseronto Thunder . On January 3 , 2008 , the Shield hosted the Moscow Selects All - star team in an exhibition game . The Selects won the game by a score of 5 - 1 . This was the fifth game of seven that the Moscow team played against different GMJHL clubs . The 2007 - 08 season saw a vastly improved South Muskoka Shield take the ice . At times , the Shield were ranked amongst the top of the GMJHL , but faltered slightly late in the season to drop to a record of 19 wins , 18 losses , and 5 losses in overtime . The Shield had the best season - to - season record improvement of any of the seven clubs that also participated in the 2006 - 07 season . The Shield elected to take a bye in the first round of the playoffs , and found themselves in the quarter - finals with the defending champions Bradford Rattlers . The Shield , who managed to be one of the few teams to defeat the Rattlers over the course of the last two seasons , fought a tough series . They kept each game rather tight , but ended up being eliminated 4 - games - to - 1 . On December 29 , 2008 , the South Muskoka Shield played an exhibition game against Kazakhstan ' s Torpedo UST - Kamenogorsk Under - 18 squad . The Shield won the game 5 - 4 despite a late rally by the Torpedo . The Shield finished the 2008 - 09 season with a record of 38 wins , 4 losses , and 1 overtime loss , to finish first in the entire league and win the John Klinck Award . < br clear = " all " >