The Allan Cup Champion Clarenville Ford Caribous will not be playing in the Avalon East Senior Hockey League this year, and the chance of playing next year don’t look good.
GM Ivan Hapgood says the team didn’t have the “quality and the quantity” to compete.
Hapgood says after the draft, he was told by the Avalon East Senior Hockey League that he could not pick up any new players outside his catchment area of Bonavista and Clarenville.
“When we played (the CWHL) a number of years ago, we had Clarenville, Bonavista, Marystown, and Trinity-Placentia areas to pick from.”
“There was one point in time where the Bonavista region was turning out hockey players galore. There was a ton of players that came through that Bonavista system. For the past number of years, we haven’t been able to avail of any players from that area alone. We’ve only got two locals from the Clarenville minor system that are on our team right now.”
The 2026 Allan Cup Champion Clarenville Caribous
The team won the Allan Cup – the national championship – last year, and recently traded two of its star players in James Melindy and Jordan Escott.
Hapgood says the chance of his team returning next year is “slim.”
