OffThePost.org

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&m ... 6b9cfa8e0a

Just a Google Map I did locating all of the franchises in the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL, right down to their home arena. Thought it might be of interest.

I can't believe it's such a shitty satellite image of the Saint John harbour. Bathurst and Rimouski, OK, I understand. But why is Saint John half good and half terrible?

I hope to do one for the AHL and ECHL as well. Yay for Google Maps, Wiki and GeoHack!

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

There was a European guy on HFBoards who if I recall had mapped out basically every team in the world... so much of your work may have been done for you.

I didn't realize that the Thunderbirds had moved to Kent...

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Good work...but I don't see the Rocky Mountain Rage or Colorado Eagles on there...

Yeah, there's plenty of these out there. I saw one for all of the western junior teams, both major junior and tier 2, but they weren't accurate to the arena. I haven't got that far, obviously, but who knows. I want the Melfort Mustangs to clearly be located in downtown Melfort, at the local sporting complext that has the swimming pool attached to it, not south of town, damn it!

It gets really tough, obviously, for those leagues since the arenas aren't very big and the imagery tends to be crappy.

Yeah, the Thunderbirds one was funny. That's where I had to place the marker in the middle of a bunch of community ball diamonds since they hadn't even broke ground on the site when that satellite snapshot was taken.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

I have since found this map (or something like it) and it's quite amazing to see... it has also located the birthplaces of several NHL legends. Good stuff... except, and I don't know if this was a loading error or not, the entire Itech Division of the SJHL (yes, they sold the naming rights for their divisions) is not represented.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

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GO CANUCKS GO!

Despite the existence of the aforementioned global hockey map, I'm still trying to do some of these, albeit at a leisurely pace. Doing Canadian Junior A (CJHL) right now, got the BCHL, AJHL and just finished the SJHL. It's kind of fun... I've often thought of other communities that could have SJHL franchises in Saskatchewan, and thought Meadow Lake was a good spot for one given it's growing population and solid minor hockey base, but it's really much closer to a bunch of AJHL franchises than SJHL ones (Lloydminster, Bonnyville, even Fort Mac). It's not terribly out of the way (the Battlefords franchise is nearby), but the SJHL is really an Eastern Saskatchewan league, other than the Battlefords and Kindersley. Hopefully Martensville or Warman or some other Saskatoon bedroom community takes up the cause of getting a SJHL team. It'd be fun to have to go to games semi-regularly.

The CJHL is definitely my favourite level of hockey, not in terms of competition obviously, but in terms of community enthusiasm. The arenas are small (1500-3500 generally in size), the chances of making the big time are small, but the hockey is good and the teams are still important enough to attract a following outside of immediate family and friends. And most teams have local radio broadcasts (the Notre Dame Hounds are an obvious exception, since they're located in a village of 300 people and really just a high school).

Anyways, here it is so far:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&m ... 40f869a058

Just 7 more leagues to go!

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

I haven't been to a game for a really long time, but when the Merchants had Haydar and were doing well, the Thompson(Memorial now) arena in Milton was loud as hell and rammed for games. Playoff games were crazy. Some of the Merchants used to board on my parents street and would come down and play road hockey with us.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Exactly. People talk about the "Hockeyvilles" of the country and that's the kind of passion/atmosphere I think of in these rinks.

The RBC Cup next year is in Dauphin, Manitoba and the Memorial Cup is in Brandon. Combine that with the WJC's here in Saskatoon and one can plan a heck of a hockey vacation in this part of the country. The RBC cup runs just before the Memorial Cup... it's worth a thought, that's for sure.

Now that I'm looking up the Manitoba league, I stumbled upon a bit of an interesting gem... the Steinbach Pistons are joining the league next year, only two years after losing their team to the small town of Beausejour (they were called the Blades), and now are getting the team back. Definitely love Manitoba's placenames, it's just such a peak at their diverse history. Anyways, Steinbach author Miriam Toews wrote a book that satirized Steinbach, which as you can probably gather is a German Mennonite town. In fact, it's so staunchly Mennonite that they just voted down a prohibition measure in 2003. The book is called "A Complicated Kindness", and it sounds quite good. I think I'll pick that up at the library sometime.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

I went to a BCJHL (as it was) game in Bellingham, Washington back around 1991, and I was shocked by how kickass the fan support was. The arena holds about 4,000 -- don't remember how many were actually there. Bellingham isn't far from the BC border, but Washington State has never been known as much of a hockey hotbed, so it was pretty cool to see.

R.I.P., Ice Hawks...

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I think the Superior International Junior Hockey League might be the saddest hockey league in Canada. 6 teams, and it seems like teams are constantly folding midseason. The Sioux Lookout expansion franchise folded after barely a month of hockey, and then they were rescued by the community to go on to a 2 win season. And the only way they are international is if you count the two First Nations franchises as nations, I suppose. Maybe they have ambition to put teams wherever the Staal brothers decide to party. At one point, there were 6 teams, with 3 of them in Thunder Bay. Now there are only 2 in Thunder Bay, one of which is owned by the Fort William First Nation.

Hey, I found an American CJHL team! The Soo Eagles play on the Michigan side, and there's the Soo Thunderbirds on the Ontario side. So the "Superior International" league doesn't have an American team, but the Northern Ontario league does. Go figure.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

can you do one with all my exes?

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"if your parachute doesn't open up while skydiving, don't worry, you have the rest of your life to figure it out"