Wheatley Sharks

Wheatley Sharks
City	Wheatley, Ontario
League	Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League
Founded	1995 (1995)
Home arena	Wheatley Area Arena
Colors	Red, Blue, and White
General manager	Kevin Fisher
Head coach	Ken Galerno
Parent club(s)	Leamington Flyers
Franchise history
1995-2001	Southpoint Sharks
2001-2008	Wheatley-Southpoint Sharks
2008-Pres	Wheatley Sharks

The Wheatley Sharks are a Canadian junior hockey team based in Wheatley, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association.

History

The Wheatley Sharks have been a member of the Great Lakes Junior C League since 1995-96. The Sharks have made it to the League Finals 4 times since the 2001-2002 season but have never been able to win the Championship.

In the 2001-2002 season the Sharks faced the Essex 73's in there first ever Finals appearance, the 73's would knock off the Sharks in a hard fought series which Essex won in 5 games, the following year the 73's and Sharks would meet once again in the Championship series, Essex would control this series once again beating the Sharks this time in 4 games.

2004-2005 the 73's and Sharks would once again meet up this time in the League Semi-Finals which many saw as a battle of the 2 best teams, it would be a classic series, the teams would play Game 7 at the Essex arena in front of over 1500 fans, Sharks held a 2-0 3rd period lead before the 73's battled back with 3 late goals to claim the series victory, Essex would go on to win the Provincal Championship.

The 2005-2006 season would be the most successful season in Wheatley Sharks history as Head Coach Dave Wiper led them to a Regular Season Championship with a 1st Place finish with a record of 29-8-1-2. The Club would once again make it to the League Finals for the 3rd time and Face Essex once again this time having the advantage of Home ice, the 73's however would take the title in another classic series going 6 games.

In the 2008-2009 season The Sharks would finish 3rd in the league and battle the Belle River Canadiens in first round battle, the Canadiens would take a 3-0 series lead only to see the Sharks battle back and tie the series forcing a game 7 in Belle River. The Canadiens would take the 7th game by a score of 7-1.

The Sharks had another successful season in 2010-2011 finishing 21-16-3 would face the Essex 73's once again. The Sharks and 73's were tied 3-3 and another Game 7 in Essex for the Sharks, this time it would be Sharks that would come out on top with a 4-0 shutout win as the Sharks finally defeated the 73's in a playoff series, they would move onto the semi Finals and defeat the 1st place Wallaceburg Lakers in 6 games, however the Sharks lost in a classic 7 game series to the Belle River Canadiens as Belle River won there 2nd straight league title.

The 2011-2012 edition of the Sharks would be a very successful one during the regular season, the club finished with a 24-15-1 record during the regular season, which was good enough for 3rd in the league. During the 2011-2012 regular season the Sharks would set a team record with 12 straight wins at the Wheatley Arena and finish with a 16-3-1 home record, it was also a successful season for Kurtis Ouellette who won Defenceman of the year and Riley Babkirk who won Rookie of the year. The regular season success would not continue over to the playoffs though, the Sharks would fall in the 1st round to the Belle River Canadiens in 5 games.

Season-by-season record

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	P	Results	Playoffs
1995-96	43	20	19	2	2	153	158	43	5th GLJHL
1996-97	40	18	12	5	5	200	169	46	5th GLJHL
1997-98	45	30	14	1	0	202	157	61	2nd GLJHL	Lost Semi-final
1998-99	40	17	19	1	3	164	192	38	5th GLJHL
1999-00	41	12	22	5	2	130	164	31	7th GLJHL
2000-01	40	12	25	2	1	134	181	27	8th GLJHL	Lost Quarter-finals
2001-02	40	22	12	2	4	160	127	50	2nd GLJHL	Lost Final
2002-03	40	26	10	3	1	162	116	56	2nd GLJHL	Lost Final
2003-04	40	15	20	1	4	125	138	35	7th GLJHL	Lost Semi-Final
2004-05	40	19	13	8	0	166	137	46	6th GLJHL	Lost Semi-Final
2005-06	40	29	8	1	2	185	114	61	1st GLJHL	Lost Final
2006-07	40	26	9	2	3	201	163	57	3rd GLJHL	Lost Semi-final
2007-08	39	14	20	4	1	167	171	33	6th GLJHL	Lost Quarter-final
2008-09	40	22	14	-	4	167	148	48	3rd GLJHL	Lost Quarter-final
2009-10	40	19	18	-	3	174	170	41	5th GLJHL	Lost Quarter-final
2010-11	40	21	16	-	3	142	144	45	4th GLJHL	Lost Final
2011-12	40	24	15	-	1	157	119	49	3rd GLJHL	Lost Quarter-final

2011-2012 Coaching staff

• Team Owner/Director of Hockey Operations - Bruno Carnevale
• General Manager - Kevin Fisher
• Head Coach - Ken Galerno
• Assistant Coach - Aaron Setterington
• Assistant Coach - Brad Hyatt
• Assistant Coach - Rob Beleau
• Assistant Coach - Josh Carnevale
• Trainer - Dave Moore
• Assistant Trainer - Ryan Willan
• Equipment Manager - Tim Oliphant

External links

• Sharks Webpage