The Port Colborne Sailors (formerly the Thorold Blackhawks) are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Port Colborne, Ontario. They play in the Eastern conference of the Greater Ontario Hockey League.

History

The Thorold Jaycees joined the Niagara District Junior B Hockey League in 1963, three seasons after the folding of the Thorold Mountaineers. The Jaycees became the Paper Bees in 1975 and stayed with the league until 1979 when it folded. From 1979 until 1982, the team was known as the Thorold Paper C's and played in the local Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League. In 1982, the Paper C's became the Blackhawks and joined Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League. The Blackhawks stayed members of the GHJHL until 2007 when it merged into the GOJHL.

The team consists of mostly local players between the ages of 16 and 21. The Blackhawks were League Champions in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, the team went on to capture the Sutherland Cup as the best Jr. B team in Ontario. Many players that started their careers in Thorold went on to play in the Ontario Hockey League, the American Hockey League, and the National Hockey League. Notable alumni include Nathan Horton, Sean Bentivoglio, John Scott, Zenon Konopka, Dwayne Roloson and Owen Nolan.

The Blackhawks played the longest game in club history on March 26, 2006, in a quadruple-overtime thriller of game 6 of their GHL Semi-final series against their arch-rival, the St. Catharines Falcons. The Blackhawks moved onto the GHL finals with this victory. The final score of this contest was 2-1 after Steve Zmudcynski beat St. Catharines' netminder Sean Hall with 5:06 left in the 4th overtime period. Zmudczynski received a long pass from Steve Chappell that set up the winning marker. The game lasted a little over four and a half hours and ended after midnight. An interesting side note from this game is that if there would have been a game seven it would have been played on March 27, the same day Game 6 ended.

Logo In October 2013, a Facebook page called Is The Thorold Blackhawks Logo Offensive? was started, which questioned the use of an aboriginal caricature as the team's logo. The page garnered attention from local media and politicians and was brought to the attention of Thorold City Council.

On August 4, 2016, Mayor Ted Luciani announced that the logo would be prohibited from the city's arenas from June 1, 2017. The prohibition would apply to jerseys, signage and marketing materials. Luciani said that the city council had been working with the club since 2013 "to resolve the logo issue amicably" and that the club had been given "more than reasonable opportunity to address the issue." As a result, he said, "The City of Thorold will no longer permit the continued use of a logo that has been deemed offensive."

During a pre-game ceremony at Frank Dougherty Arena on November 3, 2016, the team unveiled their replacement logo, a stylized head of a black bird of prey. Co-owner Tony Gigliotti – who had inherited the controversial logo when he bought the team in 2013 – said: "I understand how the old logo could offend people and that is something we never wanted to be part of. I created [the] new logo with the blackbird theme a few years ago with a graphic design guy in Toronto [James Brandan Walker] and we have tweaked it since then. I actually love the new logo and it is easily identifiable for young children and all our fans so we think it will be part of a good marketing plan in the future."

2016-17 season On February 14, 2017, the Blackhawks announced they were ceasing operations for the remainder of the season due to inability to sustain a full roster. Citing concerns for player safety, the team elected to cease operations with 8 games remaining in the season, which will be recorded as 5-0 forfeit wins for their opponent.

Move to Port Colborne and Permanent Relocation Due to ongoing renovations to the Thorold Community Arena, the Blackhawks announced on July 19, 2022, that they would be playing the upcoming 2022–23 season out of the Vale Centre in nearby Port Colborne. On May 5, 2023, the Blackhawks announced they would be making the move permanent and would be officially relocating to Port Colborne for the 2023–24 season, thus ending 60 years of Junior hockey in Thorold.

Season-by-season results Season GP W L T OTL GF GA P Results Playoffs1959-60 24 8 12 4 - 101 124 20 4th NDJBHL 1963-64 30 5 23 2 - 120 263 12 6th NDJBHL DNQ1964-65 30 10 18 2 - 133 201 22 6th NDJBHL Lost semi-final1965-66 30 11 16 3 - 162 220 25 6th NDJBHL Lost quarter-final1966-67 - - - - - - - - 3rd NDJBHL 1967-68 30 12 13 5 - 148 161 29 4th NDJBHL 1968-69 36 7 22 7 - 167 238 21 6th NDJBHL 1969-70 36 13 20 3 - 163 208 29 5th NDJBHL 1970-71 36 13 17 6 - 177 221 32 5th NDJBHL 1971-72 35 14 17 4 - 185 195 32 6th NDJBHL 1972-73 35 11 24 0 - 129 212 22 7th NDJBHL 1973-74 35 3 29 3 - 107 228 9 8th NDJBHL 1974-75 35 8 22 5 - 121 181 21 5th NDJBHL 1975-76 40 23 10 7 - 158 126 53 3rd NDJBHL 1976-77 39 14 24 1 - 162 217 31 4th NDJBHL 1977-78 40 11 24 5 - 170 240 27 4th NDJBHL Lost semi-final1978-79 40 5th NDJBHL DNQ1979-80 35 17 15 5 - 224 199 37 3rd NJC-E 1980-81 40 26 14 0 - 247 213 52 2nd NJC-E Lost quarter-final1981-82 Niagara-Can-Am Jr. C Statistics Not Available1982-83 42 13 26 3 - 241 293 29 7th GHJHL1983-84 42 9 28 5 - 178 252 23 8th GHJHL1984-85 42 2 39 1 - 150 381 5 8th GHJHL1985-86 40 19 18 3 - 184 215 41 6th GHJHL1986-87 42 15 18 9 - 202 233 39 5th GHJHL1987-88 42 17 21 4 - 209 270 38 5th GHJHL1988-89 42 25 10 7 - 197 148 57 2nd GHJHLLost final1989-90 48 31 14 1 2 246 200 65 2nd GHJHLLost final1990-91 42 26 14 2 0 236 182 54 4th GHJHL1991-92 42 15 26 1 0 189 219 31 6th GHJHL1992-93 42 22 16 1 3 239 219 48 4th GHJHL1993-94 40 25 12 1 2 270 178 53 2nd GHJHLLost final1994-95 42 19 21 2 1 188 220 41 4th GHJHL1995-96 42 10 26 3 3 190 235 26 7th GHJHL1996-97 42 14 22 5 1 181 181 34 6th GHJHL1997-98 49 26 16 4 3 255 213 59 4th GHJHL1998-99 47 17 24 5 1 167 180 40 5th GHJHL1999-00 48 32 13 1 2 237 155 67 1st GHJHLLost final2000-01 48 31 10 7 0 220 126 69 2nd GHJHL Won League2001-02 48 31 12 3 2 216 138 67 3rd GHJHLLost final2002-03 48 41 4 3 0 282 100 85 1st GHJHL Won League2003-04 48 34 7 7 0 179 84 75 2nd GHJHL Won League2004-05 48 37 6 5 0 185 85 79 1st GHJHL Won League, won Sutherland Cup2005-06 49 29 18 2 0 192 125 60 3rd GHJHL Lost final2006-07 49 30 16 2 1 226 169 63 4th GHJHL Lost semi-final2007-08 49 30 12 6 1 227 144 67 1st GOJHL-GH Lost RR Semi-final2008-09 52 31 18 - 3 217 197 65 3rd GOJHL-GH2009-10 51 35 12 - 4 211 164 74 3rd GOJHL-GH Lost Conf. SF2010-11 51 38 11 - 2 251 135 78 2nd GOJHL-GH Lost Conf. Final2011-12 51 32 17 - 2 197 126 66 3rd GOJHL-GH 2012-13 51 28 19 - 4 192 174 60 5th GOJHL-GH Lost Conf. SF2013-14 49 28 17 - 4 210 185 60 4th GOJHL-GH Lost Conf. SF2014-15 49 14 31 - 4 117 203 32 7th GOJHL-GH Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 1-4 (Falcons)2015-16 50 21 25 1 3 152 172 46 6th of 8-GH17th of 26-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarter-finals, 0-4 (Avalanche)2016-17 50 11 36 1 2 133 206 25 8th of 9-GH25th of 27-GOJHL no playoffs folded with 8 games remaining in season2017-18 50 20 22 3 5 160 205 48 5th of 9-GH16th of 26-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Canucks)2018-19 48 20 23 3 2 149 167 48 5th of 8-GH15th of 25-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Panthers)2019-20 50 26 20 4 0 181 162 56 5th of 9-GH15th of 25-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Kilty B's±)2020–21 Season lost due to COVID-192021-22 48 15 32 0 1 89 155 31 6th of 8-GH20th of 25-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Corvairs)2022-23 50 24 24 2 0 168 155 50 5th of 8-GH17th of 25-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 1-4 (Corvairs) PORT COLBORNE SAILORS2023-24 50 12 33 4 1 128 216 29 7th of 7-GH20th of 23-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Meteors)2024-25 50 31 16 2 1 188 139 65 4th of 11 East Conf8th of 23-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 2-4 (Corvairs)2025-26 50 27 18 4 1 175 145 595th of 11 East Conf10th of 23-GOJHL Lost Conf. Quarterfinals 0-4 (Panthers)

Sutherland Cup appearances 2001: Elmira Sugar Kings defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-2 2003: Stratford Cullitons defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-3 2004: Stratford Cullitons defeated Thorold Blackhawks 4-games-to-none 2005: Thorold Blackhawks defeated Chatham Maroons 4-games-to-1

Professional alumni Vince Dunn John Scott Conor Timmins Sean Bentivoglio Dwayne Roloson Nathan Horton Joey Martin (ice hockey)

References

External links Blackhawks Webpage GOJHL Webpage