Tilbury has a new adult hockey team to entertain the community.
The Tilbury Bluebirds have joined the recently developed Western Ontario Super Hockey League (WOSHL).
League President Jamie Petrie told CK News Today the average age on teams is about 25 and the Bluebirds were added because there's such a demand for adult hockey across the province.
Petrie said he's excited to have the Bluebirds as part of the "skilled and talented league."
"This age demographic has been so under-serviced in Ontario that there is a huge market for it and we're happy to help that out," said Petrie.
The Tilbury Bluebirds are one of nine current teams in the WOSHL, but Petrie said the league could grow by as many as 20 more teams over the next couple of years when other divisions in the Windsor area, in the Greater Toronto Area, and in the Collingwood area are set up to compliment the division already operating in the Guelph area.
"Since Christmas, we've had 22-plus teams reach out to us to join our league. A lot of them are former junior teams or current junior teams....it's been outstanding, the interest. Junior is awesome, I used to play junior, I used to coach junior, junior is awesome, but junior is flooded in Ontario," he said.
The Tilbury Bluebirds start their inaugural WOSHL season on October 1, 2022 and play on Saturdays.
Western Ontario Super Hockey League logo. (Photo via WOSHL)
The WOSHL launched in the fall of 2021 to offer a unique new level of hockey that will allow players over 20 years of age the opportunity to continue playing competitive hockey when they're done playing junior, college, minor pro, or pro hockey.
Petrie said each game comes with family entertainment, live music, and contests, emphasizing it's not a beer league with tons of fights.
The Bluebird name has a long history in Tilbury and Chatham-Kent. Tilbury had a Bluebirds team in the Great Lakes Junior B Hockey League between 1969 and 1974.