New owners have big plans for the Rebels
New owners have big plans for the Rebels
Goal is to survive this dismal season, rebuild with new name, new players in new arena
If all goes according to the plans of the new owners of the Campbellford Rebels, by this time next year the team will have a new name, be playing in a new arena, and its new players will be doing something new — winning and attracting fans.
The Campbellford Rebels have a lot of history in town; they’ve been playing home games at the Campbellford-Seymour Centre for 32 years, since 1992.
But their glory years are a long way back in that history and recent seasons have been tough on players, fans, and owners. Now, the team has its third set of owners in the past five years as three local businessmen have stepped in to take over and keep the team in town.
The new ownership group is Daniel Giddings, President, Dave Marsh, Vice-President, and Bryce Ellis, Director of Hockey Operations. The three started to take control in November when previous owner Larry Patton made it clear he had had enough and wanted out. Patton, who had a successful background with sports teams in his home of Niagara Falls, bought the then financially troubled team in 2019 and acknowledged it was going to be a tough, long process of rebuilding.
“I'm in it for the long haul,” Patton told reporter John Campbell back in July 2019. “I've been part of a rebuild, I know what it takes.”
In the end it took too much and Patton left the team much as he found it with players who didn’t live in town losing games in front of small crowds. I phoned and emailed Patton, but didn’t get a response.
The rebuilding process wasn’t helped when a season was lost to COVID-19. Back on the ice in 2021-22, the team won eight games, lost 21 and had one tie. Last season, the team won just three games, lost 35, lost two in overtime and had one tie.
This season it has continued that dismal record with no wins, 25 losses, one loss in overtime, and one tie, for a total of two points, worst of the 61 teams in the Provincial Junior Hockey League. The opposing teams frequently hit double digits and Campbellford’s goalies face an onslaught of pucks. For example, Brayden Friedrich, who played in 15 games for the Rebels faced 566 shots and gave up 66 goals, before leaving for the Port Hope Panthers . He played 16 games for the Rebels last year and gave up 54 goals on 643 shots.
Attendance has also been an issue with crowds of around 100 last season and this. One challenge in attracting local fans has been the absence of local players. A few Campbellford teens are playing elsewhere in the Junior C league but until November there were no local guys on the ice. That changed on Nov. 25 when Owen Ellis signed to play for the team his father now owned part of.
Giddings, who is also a Trent Hills councillor and owner of a home improvement company, says the ownership trio wants to strengthen ties to the local community by having the players active and visible.
“In the spring we are going to have a contest to rename the team,” he says. “We want to brand it as a Trent Hills team that has ties to all our communities.” Giddings notes that the team currently practices at the Warkworth arena and plans to use the Hastings Field House for summer training sessions.
Marsh, owner of Grinders Sports, says the new owners are actively recruiting local players who are 14 to 16 and will try to keep them on the local team.
Junior C is the lowest level of junior hockey. It’s primarily for 17 to 20 year olds, but each team can have a player or two as young as 15 or as old as 22.
“Performing the way the team was the previous owner wanted out of the business,” Marsh says. “But the league didn’t want to lose a team that had been in this town for 30 years, especially not in the middle of the season. So everybody worked together and came up with a common goal.”
Marsh acknowledges that the new owners and their new coaches — head coach Bob McAskill and assistant coach Jake Taylor — face a huge challenge.
“I'm hopeful we can get through the rest of the season and then start fresh in the spring and completely rebuild everything and go from there,” he says.
Giddings is responsible for generating publicity and buzz about the team and he has lots of plans, which started with a New Year’s Eve bash. In February he is planning an alumni game to bring back former players (and their friends and families).
Giddings says construction of the new arena in the Sunny Life Recreation and Wellness Centre is on track to be ready for hockey next fall. He’s promising that his construction business will donate time and material to create a top-notch dressing room for the players.
If you want to catch the new(ish) team in action, they play the Napanee Raiders at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday, Jan. 13.