The Fort McMurray Oil Barons are a Junior A

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team in the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The re ...

(AJHL). They play in

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...

, Alberta, Canada at the Centerfire Place. The Oil Barons have won three AJHL playoff championships, three regular season titles, and one

National Junior A Championship The Centennial Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament organized by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), which determines the national champion of junior A ice hockey. It is a ten-team round robin featuring the winners of ...

History

The team first played in the 1981–82 season as an expansion franchise the

(AJHL) and is one of the more successful teams in the league having won three league titles and has appeared in the league finals 12 times. In 2000, the Oil Barons hosted the Royal Bank Cup and won the

. In November 2010, the Oil Barons hosted the Northern Classic against the Drayton Valley Thunder as the first known outdoor game in AJHL history and set the league's attendance record. In August 2011, the Oil Barons traveled to Omsk,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, to play in the Junior Club World Cup tournament hosted by teams of their top tier Junior Hockey League (MHL). On August 26, the Oil Barons defeated Mytishchi Atlantes 4–2 in an exhibition game. On August 27, the Oil Barons played 2011 Russian Champion

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in another exhibition game, losing 7–0. The tournament ran from August 30 until September 4. On August 30, Fort McMurray played

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

's Dinamo-Shinnik and lost 3–0, on August 31 Sweden's

Malmö Redhawks The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games. The history of the ...

and lost 3–2, and September 2 they lost to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

's Energie Karlovy Vary 4–1; for a 0–3 record and finishing last in their division. These teams are all top tier European clubs, while Fort McMurray are members of the

Canadian Junior Hockey League The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) is an association of Canadian junior A ice hockey leagues and teams and was formed in November 1993, emerging from the Canada West Association of Junior 'A' Hockey. The champion of the Canadian Junior H ...

, the second highest level of Canadian junior hockey behind the

major junior Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

Canadian Hockey League. In the summer of 2014, after one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, the Oil Barons released head coach and general manager Gord Thibodeau. After a lengthy search, the Barons hired former

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

' assistant coach Curtis Hunt to replace him. Hunt added former Senators goalie Mike Brodeur to the staff as the team's new goaltending and video coach. In 2015, the Oil Barons hosted the third

Western Canada Cup The Western Canada Cup (WCC); was the Junior 'A' ice hockey championship for western Canada from 2013 to 2017. The annual five-team event consisted of the host team and the champions from the four western leagues (Alberta Junior Hockey League, Bri ...

, earning an automatic berth in the tournament against the champions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with two spots open to qualify for the Royal Bank Cup Junior A national championship tournament. They were eliminated in the semifinal game by the

Melfort Mustangs The Melfort Mustangs are a junior "A" ice hockey team based in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada. They are members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). They play their home games at the Northern Lights Palace, which has a seating cap ...

at the 2015 Western Canada Cup. On May 10, 2019, the Oil Barons agreed to mutually part ways with general manager and head coach Tom Keca. On May 17, 2019, the team announced that Dave Dupas had been hired as the head coach and general manager for the 2019–20 season. Dupas had been with the Oil Barons organization since 2015 as an assistant coach after previously serving as head coach of the Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL).

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T/OTL = Ties/Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against''

Western Canada Cup

The

was a postseason tournament between the playoff champions of the

(AJHL), British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), and a previously selected host team from one of the leagues. It ran from 2013 to 2017 with the top two teams qualifying for the Royal Bank Cup Junior A national championship tournament. It replaced the Doyle Cup, which had been the qualifier for the AJHL and BCHL champions, and the ANAVET Cup, which had been the qualifier for the MJHL and SJHL champions. The qualifying system reverted the Doyle and ANAVET Cups in 2018. The tournament began with round-robin play between the five team followed by the top two teams playing in championship game and the third and fourth place teams playing in a semifinal game. The loser of the championship game then faced the winner of the semifinal game for the runner-up qualifier. The winner of the championship and the runner-up game advanced to the Royal Bank Cup.

Junior A National Championship

The

, formerly known as the Royal Bank Cup, is the postseason tournament for the Canadian national championship for Junior A hockey teams that are members of the

. The tournament consists of the regional Junior A champions and a previously selected host team. Since 1990, the national championship has used a five-team tournament format when the regional qualifiers were designated as the ANAVET Cup (Western), Doyle Cup (Pacific), Dudley Hewitt Cup (Central), and

Fred Page Cup The Fred Page Cup is a championship ice hockey trophy, won by a tournament conducted by the Canadian Junior Hockey League. The award is given to the winner of a round-robin and playoff between the Bogart Cup champions of the Central Canada Hoc ...

(Eastern). From 2013 to 2017, the qualifiers were the Dudley Hewitt Cup (Central),

(Eastern), and the

champions and runners-up. The tournament begins with round-robin play between the five teams followed by the top four teams playing a semifinal game, with the top seed facing the fourth seed and the second facing the third. The winners of the semifinals then face each other in final game for the national championship. In some years, the losers of the semifinal games face each other for a third place game.

NHL alumni

The following former Oil Barons have gone on to play in the NHL: * Dale Kushner * Bradley Mills * Rich Parent *

Chris Phillips Chris Phillips (born March 9, 1978) is a Canadian businessman and former professional ice hockey player. Phillips was a member of the Ottawa Senators for his entire career, which began with the 1997–98 season and ended with the 2015–16 seaso ...

* Colton Parayko * Garret Stroshein *

Scottie Upshall Scott Upshall (born October 7, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He was selected in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators in the first round, sixth overall. Playing career Amateur As a youth, Upshall p ...

Harry York Harold Cameron York (born April 16, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played several seasons in the National Hockey League. Playing career Born in Ponoka, Alberta, York was the Alberta Junior Hockey League MVP and lea ...

References

External links

Fort McMurray Oil Barons websiteAlberta Junior Hockey League website
{{Alberta Sports Alberta Junior Hockey League teams Fort McMurray Ice hockey teams in Alberta Ice hockey clubs established in 1981 1981 establishments in Alberta