The OHL's J. Ross Robertson Trophy Spent Some Time In Goderich This Weekend

by Bob Montgomery

The R. Ross Robertson trophy is awarded to the OHL champions each year.

This year the London Knights swept Oshawa to win the OHL, and tradition dictates that each member of the winning team gets to take the trophy back to their hometown for a couple of days. And as it happens, Paulie O’Byrne is the mental health strategist for the Knights so he gets to bring the trophy home, and home for him is Goderich. He's a close friend of Goderich Mayor Trevor Bazinet, and he actually brought two trophies home this weekend. He brought them to the town hall on Friday afternoon and this Saturday afternoon he brought them to the Bannister Park as part of the 18th annual Don Johnston Memorial Slo-Pitch tournament.

The first trophy is the Wayne Gretzky Trophy, that is awarded to the Western Conference Champions, and that was the London Knights last year and this year. The second trophy, the R. Ross Robertson Trophy goes to the OHL Champions, and O'Bryne says it was extremely exciting to be part of that.

The R. Ross Robertson Trophy is 126 years old and the history of the trophy is something very special. He says when he got it he started looking over the players who have their names on the trophy and found Bobby Orr's name and Paul Henderson and Bobby Baun and Turk Broda and he felt very special to be part of a group that won that trophy.

O'Bryne says he wanted to bring the trophies back to Goderich to show his appreciation for the support the town has given him and he also considers himself very lucky to be working with a team like the London Knights where he's surrounded by great hockey minds but also great people.

Paulie O’Byrne with the R. Ross Robertson Trophy