By John Humphrey
The Tilbury Bluebirds have moved to a new league.
The team opened their 2025-2026 Premier Hockey League season on September 27 by hosting the Alvinston Killer Bees at the Tilbury Memorial Centre. The contest was the first of a 40-game (divided equally between home and road games) regular season that extends until February before the play-offs start.
The move to the Premier League came after the Bluebirds played their first three seasons of existence in the Western Ontario Super Hockey League (WOSHL) In their third and final season the Bluebirds finished in sixth place in the 12-team WOSHL regular season standings before bowing out in a semifinal to the eventual champion Stratford Fighting Irish.
According to Bluebirds team majority owner Joe Bryne, the change in league was made after much thought and deliberation as his team and five others were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the manner that the WOSHL was being run both on and off the ice.
“Some owners were not happy with what was going on in the old league,” claimed Bryne, who also serves as the Bluebirds team president and general manager of the team. “We all had our own reasons for wanting out and we finally decided to make the move collectively.” The Northern Premier Hockey League was originally known as the Eastern Ontario Hockey League when it came into existence in 2019.
The seven former WOSHL teams who have joined the Northern Premier Hockey League (NPHL) include Alvinston, Stratford, Strathroy and Tilbury who have formed the new Metropolitan Division that will operate under the NPHL ‘s umbrella along with teams from Six Nations (expansion team), Woodstock and Orangeville.
The WOSHL, coincidentally, announced plans to suspend its operation following the mass exodus of teams.
And while the Bluebird have moved into a new season, there will be many players returning this fall from last season’s club. In fact, between 26 and 28 players who saw playing time with the club last season were already pencilled into the Bluebirds’ 2025-2026 season roster.
“We didn’t have a training camp heading into this season as there were so many players who had played so well for us last season and were wanting to come back again this time around,” said Bryne. “Of course, having so many players available to us means that a few guys will have to sit out, unless there are injuries or suspensions.
“We are also going to invite another half dozen players to come out and skate with us at practice,” Bryne continued. “This will serve as their try-outs of sorts and it will also help keep the other players primed and focused.”
Up front, expectations are that the Bluebirds will be lead offensively by the talented trio of Dylan Denomme, Nick Pavia and Jake Durham while a talented defence corps will be lead by the likes of Chays Ruddy, Mike MacIntyre and Tucker Firth, all of whom have pro hockey experience. A talented addition to the Tilbury blueline this season is Levi Tetrault. A native of Pain Court, Tetrualt played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2014-2017 with the Guelph Storm before splitting the last three seasons in with the Brantford 99ers and the Leamington Flyers.
In net the Bluebirds staring netminder will be Ryan Polidori and although Bryne had not confirmed who the team’s backup puckstopper will be by Tilbury Times press time, he was confident in finding a talented goaltender to play behind the starter Polidori.
Bryne was also hoping to be able to spend more time this season expanding his team’s community involvement in Tilbury.
Among the plans being eyed were potential new partnerships with both local businesses and charities and the Bluebirds’ participation in community fundraisers and school visits as well.
“We are going to make game nights bigger and more inclusive for our fans and sponsors,” Bryne claimed. “Tilbury is the small town with a big heart.
“And we are going to show that the Tilbury Bluebirds have a big heart too.”
