Richmond Hill Rams

Richmond Hill Rams

The Rams were a resurrection of the Richmond Hill Rams of the old Metro Junior A Hockey League. The original franchise folded in 1995. The creation of this team, although in a renegade league, is the first Junior team to set foot in Richmond Hill in 12 seasons.

The Rams' first game was the first in the GMHL's history. The game took place on September 8, 2006 against King Wild in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The final result was a 6-0 victory for the Rams. The first goal in the team's history was scored by Darren Archebald in the first period on the powerplay. Archebald's goal was also the first in the league's history as well. Daniel Jones had the honour of goaltending the team and league's first win and shutout. The Rams 100th goal was scored on November 3, 2006 against the Nipissing Alouettes, Frank Spano scored the Rams 100th goal with 9:19 remaining in the second period of play. English player Craig Peacock was also the first player in the league to score a Hat Trick, this was on the 2nd day of the season in a 5-1 win against Nipissing, he also went on to top the whole league in scoring with 39 games played 48 goals and 34 assists for a total of 82 points, 17 ahead of his nearest challenger.

On January 2, 2008, the Rams hosted the Moscow Selects All-star team in an exhibition game. The Selects won the game by a score of 7-4. This was the fourth game of seven that the Moscow team played against different GMJHL clubs.

After finishing the 2007-08 season with exactly the same record as they did in the 2006-07 season, the Rams took a bye during the bye round, then were challenged by the Innisfil Lakers in the quarter-final. The Lakers initially went up 3-games-to-none, but the Rams battled back to force a winner-take-all Game 7. The Rams ran out of steam in Game 7 and were defeated 6-4 by the Lakers.

In March 2008, the Rams and King Wild engaged in a 4-game exhibition series against the Mexico national ice hockey team. The first of two games for the Rams was on the 20th, and finished with the Mexico national team winning 6-4. On the 24th, the Rams played them again and lost 5-2.

Ontario Lightning Rams

On January 8, 2008, the ownership of the Rams announced a new sponsorship that will change the team name to the "Ontario Lightning Rams" for 2008-09, the deal and the name was dropped after one year. In the summer of 2009, the Rams took a leave of absence and never returned to action, along with sister-franchise Espanola Kings.

Rams goalie during warm-ups

Playoffs

• 2007 Lost Semi-final

Richmond Hill Rams defeated Nipissing Alouettes 4-games-to-2 in quarter-final

King Wild defeated Richmond Hill Rams 4-games-to-2 in semi-final

• 2008 Lost Quarter-final

Innisfil Lakers defeated Richmond Hill Rams 4-games-to-3 in quarter-final

• 2009 Lost Division quarter-final

Innisfil Lakers defeated Ontario Lightning Rams 3-games-to-1 in division quarter-final