The Hespeler Shamrocks are a junior ice hockey team based in Hespeler, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the Provincial Junior Hockey League. The team was known as the Simcoe Storm from 1989-2017 and had played in Simcoe, Ontario since 1959 before relocating in 2018.[1]
The Simcoe Juniors were founded in 1959 as members of the Niagara District Junior B Hockey League. A season later, they took the name "Pacers".
In 1961, the Simcoe Pacers jumped to the Central Junior C Hockey League. They soon changed their names to the Simcoe Blades.
The Simcoe Blades finished their sixth season, fourth in the Central Jr. C league, with a record of 26 wins and only five losses. With first place clinched, the Blades met the pesky Hespeler Shamrocks in the Central League quarter-final. The Shamrocks battled hard and at one point even led in the series, but the Blades rebounded and won the series 4-games-to-2. In the league semi-final, the Blades drew the Preston Pals. The Pals were "out of their league" and were swept in three games in a best-of-five series. They then drew the Milton Merchants in the league final and defeated them four games straight to win the Central League Crown. With their league out of the way, they then moved into the Provincial play-downs. Their provincial semi-final opponent would end-up being the Point Edward Redmen, who had defeated the Port Huron junior team to advance this far. The best-of-five series was hard-fought. In game one, the Blades led 9-1 after two periods. In the third, a vicious line-brawl broke out involving all ten skaters and one goalie. Game one was one by the Blades 11-5. Game two saw the Blades come from behind to defeat the Redmen 5-2. The third game had the Blades show the Redmen exactly how good they were, as they crushed them 13-3 to take the series. In the other provincial semi-final, the Lindsay Merchants took out the Penetang Hurons 4-games-to-1 to meet the Blades in the final. The All-Ontario final took place in late April and early May 1965 between Simcoe and Lindsay. Simcoe took the first three games: 7-2, 5-1, and 3-1. Each game got closer as Lindsay grew stronger. Game four in Lindsay had the Merchants prove why they made the final, taking the game 6-5 with a huge surge in the second period. Game five was back in Simcoe on May 3. Lindsay made a game of it, leading 3-2 after the second frame. In the next period, the Blades scored the equalizer halfway through, before Doug Macaulay scored the winner with 3:34 remaining in the third in front of an estimated 1,400 fans. After only six years of existence, the Simcoe junior team won its first provincial championship.
The 1966-67 season has the Central league divide up into the Inter-county Junior C Hockey League and the Western Junior C Hockey League. The Blades went to the Inter-county league.
In 1969, the Blades folded less than 20 games into the 1968-69 Inter-county Junior C season. Their final game saw them take a 14-0 drubbing against the Ingersoll Marlands. With only nine skaters and a goalie at the game, the goaltender for the Blades quit the team at the end of the second period. Ingersoll's back up goalie played the remainder for the Blades. It would be the last game the "Blades" would ever play.