Newmarket Hurricanes The Newmarket Hurricanes are a Junior " A " ice hockey team from Newmarket , Ontario , Canada . They are a part of the Ontario Junior Hockey League . History . In 1972 , the Seneca Flyers became a part of the OPJHL . In 1975 , they bought out the Newmarket Redmen of the Mid - Ontario Junior B Hockey League and moved to become the Newmarket Flyers . The Redmen dated back to the 1950s and were at one point a top level Junior " C " team . Although the official story is that the Hurricanes got their start in the late 1980s as the Newmarket 87 ' s , the franchise that spawned this team existed long before it . In 1986 , the Newmarket Flyers folded . The OHA Junior " A " league was on rocky footing in the late 1980s and was no longer cost efficient for most member teams . Sensing the demise of the league , the Flyers went on hiatus . The league folded in 1987 , their last champions happened to be the longtime Junior " B " team : Owen Sound Greys . As more Junior A teams had folded from the OHA - A , the more Junior " B " teams came in to fill the void . As the league ran almost completely out of original Junior " A " teams , the league decided it would be best to fold . The result was a mass expansion of local Junior " B " leagues — filling with both still - active teams and teams that had folded due to problems in the OHA - A . Newmarket pulled its franchise back together and joined the Central Junior " B " Hockey League as the 87 ' s . After 1997 , the 87 ' s became the Hurricanes . The 87 ' s never did very well as a member of the Central " B " , but no team exactly stacked up well to the powerhouse Barrie Colts who most notably pulled off an undefeated season in 1992 - 93 . After the formation of the Ontario Provincial Junior " A " league in 1993 , things started clicking for the franchise . They have never ranked less than 10th in a 37 team league , with 3 first place finishes in the regular season . They have also pulled off three seasons with less than 10 losses in the OPJHL . Their best season was the 1995 - 96 season , after the Colts expanded into the Ontario Hockey League . The 87 ' s finished in third place , won the Buckland Cup as league champions , and then took the Dudley Hewitt Cup as Central Canadian Junior " A " Champions . At the inaugural Royal Bank Cup in 1996 at Melfort , Saskatchewan , the 87 ' s finished off in the round robin in second place with a 2 - 2 record . They defeated the BCHL ' s Vernon Vipers 7 - 5 in their first game . They then took out the SJHL ' s Yorkton Terriers 5 - 2 . Everything was looking great , but the 87 ' s soon fell apart . In the third game , the 87 ' s were up against the only other undefeated team — the host , the SJHL ' s Melfort Mustangs . The Mustangs deflated the high - flying 87 ' s with an 11 - 3 blow - out . Melfort finished perfect in the round robin , but the 87 ' s were embarrassed again by the MJAHL ' s Moncton Beavers , 4 - 3 . The embarrassment was not due to the score , but due to the Beavers standing as the only winless team left in the round robin until this point . The Moncton victory still left them eliminated from the tournament . Also , due to a tie breaker the 87 ' s were still in second place . They ended up playing the Vipers again in the semi - final and lost by an uninspired score of 7 - 4 . The Vipers knocked off the undefeated Mustangs 2 - 0 in the final . In the 2005 - 06 season , the Hurricanes were excellent . They finished 7th overall in the league and 2nd place in the North Division with 32 wins . The Canes opened the playoffs with a 4 games to 1 series victory of the inconsistent Huntsville - Muskoka Otters . The Canes ran into tho a brick wall the next round , the division semi - final , when they ran into a Stouffville Spirit squad that was firing on all cylinders . The Spirit won the series in 6 games , beat the Aurora Tigers for the division title in 6 games , beat the Oakville Blades in 7 games in the Buckland Cup semi - final , but were out - lasted by the defending champion St . Michael ' s Buzzers 4 games to 2 in the league final . On June 28 , 2008 the Newmarket Hurricanes lost a key part of their team . Player KJ died as a passenger in a single car rollover . Ramolla was 5th for scoring during the 2007 - 2008 season and was set to return for the 2008 - 2009 season . The driver of the car , Ryan Burkholder , former captain of the Hurricanes survived the crash with minor injuries . Newmarket hosted the 2008 Dudley Hewitt Cup , losing to the OJHL Champion Oakville Blades in the Final . . Season - by - Season results . Playoffs . Original OPJHL OJHL Years Newmarket Redmen . The Newmarket Redmen and Newmarket Smoke Rings were different names of a Canadian junior hockey franchise that won four Clarence Schmalz Cup s as Ontario Hockey Association Junior C champions . Based in Newmarket , Ontario , alongside rival Aurora Tigers , the ( Smoke Rings or Smokies ) spent their time in the Suburban Junior C Group . They changed their name to the Redmen in 1960 when the team accepted promotion to the Metro Junior B Hockey League . Formed in 1955 as a Junior C team in the Suburban Junior C Group , the Smoke Rings would win provincial titles in three of their first four seasons ( 1956 , 1958 , and 1959 ) . From 1961 to 1970 , the Redmen played in the newly formed Suburban Junior C Hockey League . In 1970 , after winning a fourth provincial title , the team became a founding member of the Mid - Ontario Junior B Hockey League . After five seasons at Junior B , the Newmarket Redmen merged with the Seneca Flyers to form the Junior A Newmarket Flyers .