The Valley Wildcats are a Canadian junior ice hockey franchise from the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia. The team is a member of the Maritime Junior Hockey League and plays in the EastLink Division. They play their home games in the Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick, Nova Scotia.
History The Antigonish Bulldogs were founded in 1967 as members of the Antigonish-Pictou-Colchester Junior B Hockey League. After two seasons the league became the Northumberland Junior B Hockey League. In 1974, the Bulldogs became a founding member of what became the Eastern Junior A Hockey League, but returned to the Northumberland League in 1975. The Bulldogs would win league titles and provincial titles in 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. They would also win the Don Johnson Cup as Atlantic Junior B Champions in 1983 and 1984, the first team to ever win the Cup back-to-back. In 1987 they jumped to the Metro Valley Junior A League, which became the MJAHL in 1991.
The franchise was known as the Antigonish Bulldogs for 40 years. After it was decided that operating in Antigonish, Nova Scotia was no longer viable, the franchise was sold to a Metro Halifax group and then relocated to that city in the summer of 2008. The team's nickname, then, as the Halifax Lions was announced on August 22, 2008. The name is a tribute to the successful Halifax Lions teams of the 1980s.
In 2010, the team was relocated to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and renamed again as the Metro Marauders. Two years later, it was renamed the Metro Shipbuilders.
In 2013, it was announced that the Halifax Regional Municipality was losing Junior A hockey, due to low attendance rates in the area. The Metro franchise's move to the valley area of Nova Scotia was confirmed by the league's board of governors ahead of the 2013 MHL draft on June 15. The franchise was renamed the Valley Wildcats and was based in Kentville, Nova Scotia.
On April 5, 2014, it was announced that the franchise would be relocating once again, this time from Kentville to Berwick, Nova Scotia but will remain as the Valley Wildcats.
Season-by-season record Season GP W L T OTL GF GA P Results Playoffs1967-68 18 7 10 1 - -- -- 15 2nd APCJBHL Lost final1968-69 Statistics Not Available1969-70 24 13 9 2 - 103 92 28 3rd NJBHL Lost semi-final1970-71 30 14 13 3 - -- -- 31 3rd NJBHL Lost semi-final1971-82 Statistics Not Available1982-83 24 16 7 1 - -- -- 33 1st NJBHL Won League, won DJC1983-85 Statistics Not Available1985-86 30 19 9 2 - 147 119 40 2nd NJBHL 1986-87 40 11 21 8 - 171 222 30 4th MVJHL1987-88 40 21 16 3 - 202 171 45 3rd MVJHL1988-89 40 20 13 7 - 209 186 47 3rd MVJHL1989-90 38 24 12 2 - 230 181 50 3rd MVJHL1990-91 40 21 12 7 - 210 172 49 3rd MVJHL1991-92 46 25 14 7 - 256 195 57 2nd MJAHL1992-93 48 23 16 7 2 235 179 55 3rd MJAHL Won League1993-94 48 32 13 2 1 273 177 67 2nd MJAHL Won League1994-95 48 27 14 7 0 215 202 61 2nd MJAHL1995-96 54 32 19 2 1 288 231 67 2nd MJAHL1996-97 56 30 21 3 2 287 264 65 4th MJAHL1997-98 51 19 25 3 4 229 244 45 7th MJAHL1998-99 48 29 16 3 - 241 149 64 3rd MJAHL 1999-00 52 34 12 5 1 273 181 74 3rd MJAHL 2000-01 52 33 16 2 1 260 187 69 2nd MJAHL Won League2001-02 52 4 41 4 3 123 296 15 10th MJAHL 2002-03 52 24 27 1 0 210 226 49 7th MJAHL 2003-04 52 20 25 3 4 166 206 47 7th MJAHL 2004-05 56 23 25 5 3 200 216 54 8th MJAHL 2005-06 56 30 22 0 4 196 182 65 5th MJAHL Lost in division semi-final2006-07 58 28 21 0 9 218 229 65 7th MJAHL Lost in division quarter-final2007-08 58 6 48 - 4 105 299 16 12th MJAHL 2008-09 54 10 39 - 5 159 288 25 10th MJAHL2009-10 50 22 24 - 4 178 199 48 6th MJAHL Lost quarter-final2010-11 52 27 21 - 4 173 177 58 7th MHL Lost Mini Series2011-12 52 27 19 - 6 202 192 60 6th MHL Lost quarter-final2012-13 52 4 46 - 2 124 287 10 11th MHL DNQ2013-14 52 19 28 - 5 141 204 43 9th MHL Lost quarter-final2014-15 48 25 16 - 7 187 164 57 6th MHL Lost semi-final2015-16 48 26 17 2 3 179 165 57 2nd of 6 South5th of 12 MHL Lost semi-finals 2-4 (Crushers)2016-17 50 12 31 4 3 140 245 31 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ2017-18 50 17 31 1 1 140 196 36 6th of 6 South10th of 12 MHL DNQ2018-19 50 6 40 0 4 93 240 16 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ2019-20 52 11 37 4 0 130 227 26 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ2020-21 32 9 21 2 0 87 132 20 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL playoffs impacted by covid 19 restrictions2021-22 38 19 16 2 1 109 119 41 3rd of 6 South7th of 12 MHL Won Div Semifinals 4-2 (Mariners)Lost Div Finals 3-4 (Bearcats)2022-23 52 22 26 1 3 181 209 48 3rd of 6 South7th of 12 MHL Lost Div Semifinals 2-4 (Bearcats)2023-24 52 10 40 2 0 179 319 22 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ2024-25 52 9 41 1 1 145 283 20 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ2025-26 52 12 38 0 2 161 266 26 6th of 6 South12th of 12 MHL DNQ External links Official Wildcats website
See also List of ice hockey teams in Nova Scotia