By: Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News

The East Kent Memorial Arena waited 71 years before it hosted a senior hockey team.

This year, two senior teams are slated to play out of the vintage Ridgetown rink.

The Ridgetown Rebels have been approved to play in the Ontario ‘Elite AA’ Hockey League for the 2026-27 season.

The Ontario Hockey Association approved the Rebels’ expansion application to join the 19-team league on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Ridgetown Royals are preparing for their second season as they will be in the Northern Premier Hockey League after playing in the U.S.-based American Premier Hockey League in their inaugural 2025-26 season.

The Rebels will operate as a non-profit organization, unlike the Royals, who were owned by T.J. Clarke last season and taken over by Dylan Brown this season.

Ironically, the Rebels’ roster and management team will be mainly comprised of local players and personnel from the Royals’ inaugural season.

Ryan Wilson is the Rebels’ team president while Derek Trudgen is the general manager.

The head coach has not been named.

The directors include Colleen and Jim Hawthorne, Erin Couture, Nolan VandenBoorn and Don DeCook.

Wilson and VandenBoorn played with the Royals last season, while Couture was the trainer and the Hawthornes were directors.

Wilson said talk of starting up a new team began shortly after the Royals were eliminated in the APHL semifinals by the Buffalo Tempest, as the majority of the players and management wanted to go a different direction from the former ownership.

It was Wilson, VandenBoorn and Couture who did the legwork to apply to the OEHL, a league whose former Royals owner, T.J. Clarke, said turned down his request last season, forcing him to go to the APHL.

“We had to sell them on how we can make this work,” Wilson said about two teams in two leagues in one arena. “Obviously there were some concerns about the Royals and how we can make that work.”

Both teams want Saturday night home games, as teams in the NPHL played 12 regular-season home games in 2025-26, while the OEHL played 10.

There are 24 Saturdays available from the first of October to the end of March for Chatham-Kent’s winter ice-booking season.

Rob Pollock, Director, Parks, Fleet & Facilities, said the municipality has met with both teams.

“The two teams have asked for ice time, and we’re working through the allocation process to give them the ice time they require,” Pollock said.

Wilson said he’s hoping the two teams can alternate Saturday nights.

“The municipality offered options of some Saturday afternoons,” Wilson said. “We’ll do what we have to do.”

Wilson said the OEHL approved the Rebels’ expansion bid late in the spring. Still, they had to wait until final approval came from the OHA before they could move forward with organizing, player recruitment, and fundraising.

“We’re in the planning stages; it was hard to push things too hard until we got the official word from the OHA,” Wilson said.

He said local players, especially VandenBoorn, were instrumental in obtaining local sponsorship last season.

With the Rebels’ local focus, the organization feels confident in retaining many of last season’s supporters.

As for players, Wilson expects about 80 percent of last year’s Royals roster to be wearing the Rebels’ uniform this season.

And with Friday’s confirmation, Wilson said they will immediately being recruiting more players.

Choosing the Rebels’ nickname will likely be the easiest decision the team makes, as they are adopting the nickname and colours of the former Ridgetown & District Minor Hockey Association before it merged with Blenheim to become the South Kent Lightning in 2014-15.

“A lot of the younger guys on the team last year were on the last hurrah of the Rebels,” Wilson said.

The Rebels will concentrate on off-ice activities over the summer to obtain sponsors and advertisers as well as running fundraising functions, possibly including a summer ball hockey tournament for kids and a gold tournament later in the summer.

The team will likely not have any on-ice activities until August.

The Rebels will be the 19th team in the OEHL. They will be in the South Division with the Petrolia Squires, Seaforth Centenaires, Elora Rocks, Tavistock Royals, Dunnville Aeros, Tillsonburg Thunder, Milverton Four Wheel Drives and Delhi Flames.

The North Division consists of the Ripley Wolves, Minto 81’s, Elmvale Harvesters, Erin Outlaws, Durham Thundercats, Saugeen Shores Winterhawks, Georgian Bay Applekings, Lucknow Lancers, Shelburne Muskies and Creemore Coyotes.

The teams played a 20-game schedule within their own division in 2025-26.

The OEHL was formed in 2023-24 as its roots date back to the former Western Ontario Athletic Association that was formed in 1943, which went under several names and categories over the years – WOAA Intermediate (1943-91), WOAA Senior ‘B’, ‘A’ and ‘AA’ (1994-2023).

The WOAA became extinct when the 12 teams at the end of the 2022-23 season opted to join the OHA, which formed the OEHL for the 2023-24 season.

The Royals, meanwhile, will hold a tryout this Saturday at the Thames Campus Arena in Chatham from 10 a.m.-12 noon.

The team had previously announced the tryout session would be held at the Ken Houston Memorial Ag Centre in Dresden but it has been moved to Thames Campus.

The cost is $15, and players can pre-register on the Royals’ social media sites or by sending an email to royalsgm27@gmail.com or royalsagm2026@gmail.com

The Royals announced the signing of five players heading into the tryout session – Breck Rainey of Ridgetown, goalie Jack Hudec from Downers Grove, Ill., forwards Nathan Schuette from Cleveland, and Derrick Eshelman from Trenton, Mich., and Brown as a player-GM.