Bradford Rattlers
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The Bradford Rattlers are a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
junior
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
team based out of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario, and members of the
Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League The Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) is a Canadian developmental junior ice hockey league. The league has primarily had teams in the Greater Toronto Area, Central Ontario, Northeastern Ontario, and Quebec. As of December 2019, the le ...
. The Rattlers, then known as the Bradford Bulls, were bought out towards the end of the 2005–06 season by a local group of investors for the purpose of moving the team up to Junior "A" from the
Georgian Mid-Ontario Junior C Hockey League The Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League is a former Junior "C" ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. The Champion of the league competed for the All-Ontario Championship and the Clarence Schm ...
.


History

The Bradford Vasey Juniors were founded in 1971 as they joined the South-Central Junior "D" Hockey League. The league soon became the Central Junior "C", then the Mid-Ontario Junior "C", and finally after merging with the Georgian Junior "C" league became the Georgian Mid-Ontario Junior "C" Hockey League. Their team's first championship was the Junior "D" OHA Cup in 1973. They won the All-Ontario Junior "D" title by defeating the
Mitchell Hawks The Mitchell Hawks are a Junior ice hockey team based in Mitchell, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Provincial Junior Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association. History The Mitchell Hawks were founded in 1966 in one of the many Ontario ...
4-games-to-1. That summer, the SCJDHL was promoted to Junior "C" for the 1974–75 season, and changed their name to the Bradford Blues for the 1975–76 season. In 1980, Bradford won their league and went all the way to the Clarence Schmalz Cup All-Ontario Final. In the end, they lost out to the Leamington Flyers 4-games-straight. In 1986, they made it all the way back to the All-Ontario final only to lose to the Norwich Merchants 4-games-to-3. The team changed its name to Bradford Bulls for the 1988–89 season, in which they immediately struck gold; they won their league and then followed it up with a 4-games-to-2 series victory to defeat the Hanover Barons to win their only ever Clarence Schmalz Cup. The Bulls won the league again in 1998, but did not reach the All-Ontario Final. The Most valuable Player of the playoffs was Noah Bell, who was drafted into the
Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...
a year later by the
Sudbury Wolves The Sudbury Wolves are an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) ice hockey team based in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Sudbury has had various hockey teams competing at the Junior ice hockey, junior and senior ice hockey levels of the game k ...
. The Bradford Bulls were bought out towards the end of the 2005–06 season by a local party who owned an independent Junior "A" travelling team known as the Toronto Rattlers, though technically a
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
-area franchise. The Rattlers toured the
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playing games in junior hockey tournaments and against college teams from 2004 until 2006. A number of alumni received US college offers and
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n-based player Kirill Tulupov, who made his presence known in North America by touring with the Toronto Rattlers, was taken by the
New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...
in the
third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...
of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. The new ownership group believed that combining the operations and management of the thirty-five-year-old Branford franchise with the experience of the Toronto Rattlers would earn the Bradford franchise a move up to the
Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. It is under the supervision of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The league dates back to 1954 where i ...
, but when the
Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...
(OHA) turned down the request the team walked away from the OHA's version of Junior "A". The Bradford franchise adopted the nickname of the now disbanded travelling team, and the Bradford Rattlers became a member of the
Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League The Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) is a Canadian developmental junior ice hockey league. The league has primarily had teams in the Greater Toronto Area, Central Ontario, Northeastern Ontario, and Quebec. As of December 2019, the le ...
(GMHL).


2006–07

The Bradford Rattlers first game in the GMHL was against the South Muskoka Shield on September 15, 2006, in
Gravenhurst, Ontario Gravenhurst is a town in the District Municipality of Muskoka, Muskoka Region of Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately south of Bracebridge, Ontario. The Town of Gravenhurst includes a large area of the District of Muskoka, known to Ontar ...
. The Rattlers dismantled the Shield, winning by a score of 10–1. Andreas Goetz picked up the team's first Junior "A" victory in net. Their first home game was on September 17, 2006, against the Toronto Canada Moose, a 5–3 win. On September 24, 2006, the Bradford Rattlers became the last undefeated team of the GMHL's inaugural season, moving to 5–0–0–0, defeating the (until then undefeated) Richmond Hill Rams by a score of 3–1. The winning streak lasted until October 15, 2006, 10–0–0–0, as the Rattlers picked up an overtime loss to the King Wild, but still had yet to lose a game in regulation. On January 21, 2007, the Rattlers had compiled a 27–0–0–4 record before playing the Deseronto Thunder. The Thunder were leading 5–2 but Bradford came only to lose for the first time in regulation by a score of 6–5. The Rattlers finished the season in first place, earning a bye into the league semifinals. Their semifinals opponent was the Deseronto Thunder. The Thunder won the first two games of the series. The Rattlers pulled themselves together and won the next four games straight to play in the league finals. The finals were against the league's second seeded King Wild. The Rattlers started with a 2–1 victory but the Wild won the second game 6–3 to even the series. The Rattlers came back and won the next game 5–0 while the fourth and fifth games went to overtime with Bradford winning 2–1 and 4–3, respectively. The Bradford Rattlers won the first ever Bob Russell Cup as GMHL Champions. The Rattlers faced the WHA Junior West Hockey League's New Westminster Whalers for the short-lived ''National Junior Hockey Alliance's'' "Alliance Cup," the only year in which this competition was contested. The Rattlers swept the series 3-games-to-none.


2007–08

On December 30, 2007, the Rattlers hosted the Moscow Selects All-star team in an exhibition game. The Selects won the game by a score of 8–4. This was the second game of seven that the Moscow team played against different GMHL clubs. In 2007–08, the Rattlers challenged their 31-game record for regular season games without a regulation loss, but came up short with a still impressive 28-game streak with a 5–3 January 6 loss to the Deseronto Storm. The Rattlers did, however, set a new league record for regular season games without a regulation loss across multiple seasons with 38. This also marked the end of the longest winning streak in GMHL history of 27 straight wins. The Rattlers began the 2008 playoffs against the Toronto Canada Moose, whom they swept. They then defeated the South Muskoka Shield 4-games-to-1. In the league semifinals, they swept the Elliot Lake Bobcats and in the league finals they swept the Innisfil Lakers to win their second straight Russell Cup.


2008–09

On January 5, 2009, the Rattlers played against
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
's
Torpedo UST-Kamenogorsk Torpedo Hockey Club (, ''«Torpedo» hokkeı klýby''; ), commonly referred to as Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk, formerly known as Kazzinc-Torpedo (1999–2015), is a professional ice hockey team based in Oskemen, Kazakhstan. Torpedo has typically been t ...
Under-18 squad in
Shelburne, Ontario Shelburne (2021 population 8,994) is a town in Dufferin County, Ontario, Canada, is located at the intersection of Ontario Highway 10, Highway 10 and Ontario Highway 89, Highway 89. Shelburne hosts the Annual Canadian Championship Old Time Fiddli ...
. At one point leading 5–0, the Rattlers played a lot of their younger players in the second half of the game. The final score was 6–5 for Bradford. The Rattlers finished the 2008–09 season with the second best record in the South Division and third best in the league. In the playoffs, the Rattlers first met the Toronto Canada Moose. After winning the first two games, the Moose came back and took game three and four of the best-of-five series to force a decisive game five. The Rattlers overcame the potential upset and won the series 3-games-to-2. In the division semifinals, the Rattlers drew the Deseronto Storm. The Rattlers took game one, but in game two and three the Storm took control. The Rattlers had to win game four to prolong the best-of-five series, and succeeded with a 5–1 victory. The next morning it was announced that the Deseronto Storm protested the result of game four due to a roster violation by Bradford. Upon review of the league, the result of game four was overturned and the Rattlers were disqualified from the remainder of the playoffs.


2012–13

The 2008 championship passed and in the four following years four different teams would claim the Russell Cup as GMHL. In those four years, the Rattlers failed to reach the finals in each of those years. The 2012–13 led to the Rattlers turning in the league's first undefeated season with a 42–0–0–0 record. There would be a black mark on this season though when the Rattlers competed in the league's showcase tournament in
Bracebridge, Ontario Bracebridge is a town and the seat of the District Municipality of Muskoka in Ontario, Canada. The town was built around a waterfall on the Muskoka River in the centre of town and is known for its other nearby waterfalls (Wilson's Falls, High Fal ...
, in late 2012. They turned in a less than stellar performance and were ejected from the tournament, along with longtime rival South Muskoka Shield, for a brawl and an off-ice altercation involving crowd members and ejected players that caused a police investigation. The Rattlers perfect season allowed them a date with the eighth seeded Lefroy Wave. Sweeping the Wave in three games extended the Rattlers winning streak to 45 games. They played the Bobcaygeon Bucks next, sweeping them in three games and extending their streak to 48 games. In the South Division final, the Rattlers faced the Orangeville Americans and swept them in four games. The series victory gave them a record of 52–0–0–0 so far that year. The perfect streak was snapped the very next game in the league final by the Temiscaming Titans 7–6 in overtime. Bradford would win games two and three to extend their record for streak of games without a regulation loss to 55 games before that streak was ended in regulation in game four by the Titans. The Rattlers would win games five and six and the series to claim their third Russell Cup.


Season-by-season standings

(*) ''Standings incomplete.''


Russell Cup Finals

National Championships (GMHL North and South and Western)


Playoffs

*''2007'' Won League, won Alliance Cup :Bradford Rattlers defeated Deseronto Thunder ''4-games-to-2'' in semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated King Wild ''4-games-to-1'' in finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated New Westminster Whalers ''3-games-to-none'' in Alliance Cup *''2008'' Won League :Bradford Rattlers defeated Toronto Canada Moose ''4-games-to-none'' in bye round :Bradford Rattlers defeated South Muskoka Shield ''4-games-to-1'' in quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Elliot Lake Bobcats ''4-games-to-none'' in semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Innisfil Lakers ''4-games-to-none'' in finals *''2009'' Lost Division Semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Toronto Canada Moose ''3-games-to-2'' in division quarter-finals : Deseronto Storm defeated Bradford Rattlers ''3-games-to-1'' in division semi-finals *''2010'' Lost semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated
Brock Bucks The Colborne Cramahe Hawks were a Canada, Canadian junior ice hockey, Junior ice hockey team based in Colborne, Ontario. The Hawks were members of the World United Hockey League. Competing in the GMHL, Greater Metro Junior 'A' Hockey League from 2 ...
''3-games-to-none'' in quarter-finals : South Muskoka Shield defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-1'' in semi-finals *''2011'' Lost semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Deseronto Storm ''3-games-to-none'' in quarter-finals : South Muskoka Shield defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-3'' in semi-finals *''2012'' Lost semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Lefroy Wave ''3-games-to-2'' in quarter-finals : Sturgeon Falls Lumberjacks defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-none'' in semi-finals *''2013'' Won League :Bradford Rattlers defeated Lefroy Wave ''3-games-to-none'' in division quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Bobcaygeon Bucks ''3-games-to-none'' in division semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Orangeville Americans ''4-games-to-none'' in division finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Temiscaming Titans ''4-games-to-2'' in finals *''2014'' Lost finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Toronto Attack ''3-games-to-none'' in division quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Toronto Blue Ice Jets ''3-games-to-1'' in division semi-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Seguin Huskies ''4-games-to-none'' in crossover series :
Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...
defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-1'' in finals *''2015'' Lost Division Semi-finals : Toronto Blue Ice Jets defeated Bradford Rattlers ''3-games-to-2'' in division semi-finals *''2016'' Lost Division Quarter-finals : Knights of Meaford defeated Bradford Rattlers ''3-games-to-1'' in division quarter-finals *''2017'' Lost Division Quarter-finals : Temiscaming Titans defeated Bradford Rattlers ''3-games-to-1'' in division quarter-finals *''2018'' Lost Division Finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated West Nipissing Lynx ''2-games-to-none'' in division quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Ville-Marie Pirates ''3-games-to-2'' in division semi-finals : Almaguin Spartans defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-none'' in division finals *''2019'' Lost Division Finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated Knights of Meaford ''2-games-to-none'' in division quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated West Nipissing Lynx ''3-games-to-none'' in division semi-finals : Ville-Marie Pirates defeated Bradford Rattlers ''4-games-to-2'' in division finals *''2020'' Postseason cancelled prior to completion :Bradford Rattlers defeated New Tecumseth Civics ''2-games-to-none'' in division quarter-finals :Bradford Rattlers defeated
Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...
''3-games-to-2'' in division semi-finals : Temiscaming Titans led Bradford Rattlers 3-games-to-1 in division finals before the postseason was cancelled due to
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...


Clarence Schmalz Cup appearances

:''1980'': Leamington Flyers defeated Bradford Blues ''4-games-to-none'' :''1986'': Norwich Merchants defeated Bradford Blues ''4-games-to-3'' :''1989'': Bradford Bulls defeated Hanover Barons ''4-games-to-2''


Organization staff history


Notable alumni

''Blues'' * Darrin Madeley * Noah Bell


References


External links


Rattlers WebsiteWHC Website
{{Toronto Sports Ice hockey teams in Ontario 1971 establishments in Ontario Ice hockey clubs established in 1971