2008-09 UJHL Season

The 2008-09 UJHL season is the inaugural season of the United Junior Hockey League. The league was originally planning on eight teams based in expected to consist of eight teams. The Delaware Thunder, New Jersey Ice Hoppers, Penn Enforcers, South Jersey Raptors and Wooster Oilers were to transfer from the America East Hockey League and three expansion franchises were to be placed in Findlay, Ohio, Jamestown, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In June 2008, the league announced that the New Jersey Ice Hoppers, South Jersey Raptors and the planned Pittsburgh franchise were no longer expected to compete in the UJHL. The league also announced the addition of the Elmira Jr. Jackals from the Empire Junior Hockey League and that the Delaware Thunder had moved to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania and renamed themselves the Philadelphia Thunder. Near the end of June, Elmira announced that they decided to join the league for the 2009-10 season instead of 2008-09.
In August 2008, the league announced that they would accept four Canadian teams consisting of prep schools and small colleges that fielded junior teams in Quebec. The Harrington Icebreakers, Saint Lawrence Lions, Team Ulysse and Draveurs de Trois-Rivières were originally planning to enter the America East Hockey League until the league went dark over the Summer in 2008.
In February 2009, all four Canadian teams left the league. In March 2009, as the playoffs were begin, three of the remaining five teams left the league as well, leaving only Philadelphia and Wooster.
==Regular Season==
===Final Standings===
 Team GP W L T OTL GF GA P
 North
 Team Ulysse* 24 15 5 4 - 106 92 34
 Saint-Lawrence Lions* 24 15 8 1 - 106 69 31
 Harrington College Icebergs* 24 8 11 5 - 85 86 21
 Draveurs de Trois-Rivières* 24 4 18 2 - 46 100 10
 South
 Jamestown Jets** 46 30 11 5 - 285 215 65
 Findlay Grrrowl** 44 19 19 6 - 194 191 44
 Wooster Oilers 44 18 19 7 - 206 226 43
 Penn Enforcers** 46 11 29 6 - 168 245 28
 Philadelphia Thunder 42 10 30 2 - 137 216 22
(*) denotes teams that left and formed own league. (**) denotes teams that folded.
==All-Star Game==
On October 17, 2008, the UJHL announced that the 2008-2009 All-Star Game would be played at Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena in Jamestown, New York, home of the Jamestown Jets. All-Star weekend lasted from January 16 through 17, with a round robin tournament consisting of the Findlay Grrrowl, Jamestown Jets, Penn Enforcers, Philadelphia Thunder, Saint Lawrence Lions and Wooster Oilers that took place on both days. The showcase was followed by a skills challenge and the all-star game itself. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 11–5 and Dave Grimard of the Saint Lawrence Lions was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Only players whose teams competed in the All-Star Showcase games were chosen to the All-Star Game.
 	Eastern Conference 	Western Conference
Coaches:	Hart Duddy (Wooster Oilers) Jimi Simmons (Philadelphia Thunder) Mike LaBadie (Saint Lawrence Lions)	Dennis Canfield (Jamestown Jets) Paul Contreras (Penn Enforcers) Dave Erickson (Findlay Grrrowl)
Players:	
 1 - G Cedrik LaFrance (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 30 - G Jon Smarsh (Philadelphia Thunder)
 33 - G Cody Martin (Wooster Oilers
 2 - D Chuck DeRico (Philadelphia Thunder)
 3 - D Laurent Dumont (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 4 - D Geoffrey Stowe (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 5 - D Mike Fratto (Wooster Oilers)
 6 - D Cory Petrie (Philadelphia Thunder
 17 - D Kyle Firth (Wooster Oilers)
 7 - F Tim Haun (Wooster Oilers)
 8 - F Jean-Phillipe Sansfacon (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 9 - F Brandon McPhail (Wooster Oilers)
 10 - F Jimmy Wallace (Philadelphia Thunder)
 11 - F Alexey Sorochan (Wooster Oilers)
 12 - F Adam Eastbrook (Philadelphia Thunder)
 13 - F Francois L'Italien (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 14 - F Dave Grimard (Saint Lawrence Lions)
 15 - F Ryan Rinko (Wooster Oilers)
 16 - F Max Rickard (Wooster Oilers)
 18 - F Bill Vitale (Philadelphia Thunder)
 19 - F Matt Dietrich (Philadelphia Thunder)	
 1 - G Ricky Hennard (Penn Enforcers)
 30 - G Louis Morin (Findlay Grrrowl)
 33 - G Ryan Clarke (Jamestown Jets
 3 - D Goshi Kumagai (Jamestown Jets)
 4 - D Kyle Ralston (Penn Enforcers)
 5 - D Mike Robertson (Jamestown Jets)
 6 - D John Brooks (Findlay Grrrowl)
 7 - D Tyler Nelson (Jamestown Jets
 18 - D Chris Clarke (Findlay Grrrowl)
 2 - F Mike Shanahan (Findlay Grrrowl)
 8 - F Jordan Crews (Penn Enforcers)
 9 - F Zach Bachnak (Findlay Grrrowl)
 10 - F Joe Coyne (Jamestown Jets)
 11 - F Brock Donnelly (Findlay Grrrowl)
 12 - F Austin Webber (Penn Enforcers)
 13 - F Scott Frenzel (Penn Enforcers)
 14 - F Kevin Tejchma (Findlay Grrrowl)
 15 - F Tyler Underhill (Jamestown Jets)
 16 - F Justin Banaszak (Jamestown Jets)
 17 - F Joey Kasper (Penn Enforcers)
 19 - F Dean Wolfe (Jamestown Jets)
==Playoffs==
===UJHL Playoffs===
Semi-final
:Jamestown Jets defeated Penn Enforcers 2-games-to-?
:Findlay Grrrowl defeated Wooster Oilers 2-games-to-1
::(3-4 OT, 8-3, 6-3)
Final
:Findlay Grrrowl defeated Jamestown Jets 2-games-to-1
::(3-2, 4-5 OT, 4-3 OT)
===Independent Quebec Playoffs===
Semi-final
:Team Ulysse defeated Trois-Rivieres Draveurs 2-games-to-none
::(9-0, 8-7)
:Saint-Lawrence Lions defeated Harrington Icebergs 2-games-to-1
::(6-3, 2-4, 4-2)
Final
St. Lawrence refuses to play Team Ulysse in Final over an incident in November 2008, withdraws and is replaced by Harrington.
:Harrington Icebergs defeated Team Ulysse 2-games-to-1
::(6-4, 1-2, 5-3)
== References ==
==External links==
*UJHL Official site
Category:UJHL seasons
Category:2008 in hockey
Category:2009 in hockey