Clarenville Caribous – An Organization to be Admired

The Clarenville Caribous are an organization to be admired when it comes to how they run a hockey organization.

With their return to senior hockey in Newfoundland and Labrador, many had questioned if the Caribous would survive a season or fall wayside like the Bay of Island Bruins.  Here was an organization that seen an opportunity to return to hockey, but not in the east coast which would have been much easier logistically and financially, but in the West Coast Senior Hockey League.

Anyone who is a fan of West Coast Senior Hockey knows that this league is competitive, it is serious and it doesn’t take kindly to change.  Having the Clarenville Caribous in the mix upset many people in the “old boys” club, and added a few challenges in scheduling, travel and added expenses.  However, what many already in the league forgot to realize was this organization had their backs to the wall.

With Corner Brook, Deer Lake and Grand Falls-Windsor would see their travel costs increase only a small amount with the addition of a road trip to Clarenville.  However, with the geographical location of the Caribous, the travel expenses for this organization was going to be much larger and getting the players to the other venues much more challenging.

However, the Clarenville Caribous organization built a strong executive and management team, acquired great local talent and relied heavily on a group of dedicated volunteers to do what many thought was the impossible.

The Clarenville Caribous came into the league and competed hard from day one, and while they had their critics and those that wanted to see this organization fail, the Caribous showed they were for real.  With the best transitional game and fasted team in the league, the players lived up to expectations that many who truly loved the game recognized early on about the team.

With their first Herder Memorial Championship under their belts in 2008-2009, the Caribous have silenced the critics.  They have become an organization to be admired and copied in the Newfoundland hockey arena.