When Bryan Crawford took over as commissioner of the OHL in 2024, he said expansion was a top priority for the league.
Looks like he wasn’t just blowing smoke. And recently, Crawford has been doing much more than talk about adding clubs to the 20-team Major Junior circuit which hasn’t expanded since 1998.
The former Toronto Argonauts running back, who became a sports executive following his CFL career, has targeted Cornwall, Chatham and Vaughan as potential sites for OHL expansion. Sooner than later. Crawford has been in contact with each municipality and Cornwall will actually host a pair of 2026-27 regular-season OHL games in October at the Ed Lumley Arena.
Here’s a look at the three cities that could become home to the first expansion clubs to enter the OHL in almost 30 years:
CORNWALL
An introduction to Major Junior hockey is certainly not necessary for this Ontario border town where two of Belleville’s Crawford brothers — Bobby and Marc — cut their teeth in the QMJHL before going on to significant professional playing careers.
The Cornwall Royals were longtime members of the Quebec League and boasted a rich history of success, capturing three Memorial Cup titles and sending several players to NHL stardom before switching over to the OHL in 1981, the same year the Belleville Bulls were granted an expansion franchise.
Cornwall’s move to the OHL was said to have alienated many hard-core Royals supporters who favoured the Quebec League rivalries, and was at least partially to blame for the franchise pulling up stakes and relocating to Newmarket in 1992, and eventually settling in Sarnia as the Sting.
The Ed Lumley Arena at the Cornwall Civic Complex seats about 5,000 for hockey and wouldn’t need extensive renovations to accommodate an OHL expansion club. The rink, it was recently announced, will host consecutive OHL regular-season games in October involving the Brampton Steelheads, Ottawa 67’s and Kingston Frontenacs.
Crawford told the Standard Freeholder that the weekend doubleheader — dubbed the ‘Seaway Shootout’ (Brampton vs. Ottawa on Oct. 16; Brampton vs. Kingston on Oct. 17) — will serve as something of a test drive for Cornwall’s potential return to the OHL.
“Our interest is to find expansion markets,” said Crawford. “This will be an interesting test that will tell us a lot about the community and the viability of the league.”
Need to know: Belleville’s Bobby Crawford scored 62 goals in 65 games for the Cornwall Royals during the 1978-79 QMJHL stanza.
CHATHAM
Even when the Belleville Bulls were still in the OHL, there was periodic chatter about Chatham possibly joining the fold.
The Southwestern Ontario city has been a Jr. B hotbed and home to the Chatham Maroons for decades but ancient Memorial Arena is almost 80 years old and holds only around 2,500 spectators. A new facility would be required to bring the OHL to town and Crawford has already made a live pitch to Chatham-Kent council on the benefits of doing both — throwing up a new barn and inviting in the OHL as major tenant.
According to media reports from Chatham, city council is seriously considering both possibilities.
Need to know: Founded in 1959, the Jr. B version of the Chatham Maroons have posted 48 winning seasons including the last 13 straight in the Greater Ontario League.
VAUGHAN
Metro Toronto has been an ultra-tough market for the OHL but Crawford has told media types he believes it could work in Vaughan. The city certainly has the population (approximately 325,000) and the money (ranked 21st among Canada’s wealthiest communities by University Magazine in 2025) from which an owner or ownership group could conceivably emerge. And according to reports, the city is already searching for a suitable site for a potential OHL-sized arena complex.
Need to know: Fifteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky produced 60 points in 28 games for the Vaughan Nationals in 1975-76 and was named Rookie of the Year in the old Metro Jr. B League.
As mentioned earlier, the OHL hasn’t expanded since1998 with the addition of the Mississauga Ice Dogs (now the Niagara Ice Dogs) and Brampton Battalion (now the North Bay Battalion).
The WHL’s most recent expansion took place this past season with the entrance of the Penticton Vees. Another WHL expansion franchise — in Chilliwack — will make its debut next season. Prior to the addition of Penticton, the WHL hadn’t expanded since 2007 (Edmonton Oil Kings).
The QMJHL last expanded in 2012 with the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Nothing appears to be on the immediate horizon, but there’s been some recent buzz about adding one or two American-based expansion franchises, specifically in the New England region.
