Notre Dame Hounds

Father Athol Murray c. 1930

The Notre Dame Hounds joined the SJHL in 1970 and stayed until 1976 when they left after a poor season. The franchise operated as a Midget "AAA" minor hockey team until 1987 and made it to the final of the Canadian Midget Championship, the Air Canada Cup, where they lost to the Quebec seed. The AAA team is affiliated with Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.

In 1987, the Hounds moved up to Tier II Junior "A" from minor hockey and had a successful season, winning the SJHL Championship with only the Yorkton Terriers taking them to six games before being eliminated. The team then won the ANAVET Cup against the Winnipeg South Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The Hounds swept the series in four games and moved on to face the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the Abbott Cup. The Hounds initially trailed in the series 3-games-to-1 before coming back in games five and six. In game seven with a 3-2 lead, future National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Curtis Joseph led the team to a victory and a berth into the Centennial Cup. In the first game, the Hounds played the Halifax Lions of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League, defeating them 6–5. In the second game, they played the Thunder Bay Flyers of the United States Hockey League, resulting in a 9–7 win. The Hounds then played the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Junior A Hockey League and lost in triple overtime by a score of 4–3. The semi-final re-matched them against the Lumber Kings, and avenged the previous loss with a 7–3 win, setting up a final between the Hounds and the Lions. The Hounds trailed 2–1 after two periods of play. The score was evened in the third period until future NHL player Rod Brind'Amour assisted on Dwayne Norris' game-winning goal for the Hounds. Brind'Amour won awards for being the Top Scorer, Most Valuable Player, and Top Centre, while another future NHL player, Joby Messier, won Top Defenseman.

Perhaps the team's best-known contribution to the NHL is the Toronto Maple Leafs Hound Line of the 1985–86 season, when Gary Leeman, Wendel Clark, and Russ Courtnall played on the same forward line. Although those individuals played for the AA midget team were not on the same line; Wendel Clark was a defenceman until he played with the world junior team. It seems someone on this site forgot the 1980 National Championship Hounds who finished that season 67-2&1 while winning it all! Gord Kluzak 1st overall, Brian Curran, Lyndon Byers 2nd Rd picks all to the Boston Bruins in the 1982 draft! From the 1987–88 championship team, 19 players graduated to the National Collegiate Athletic Association hockey teams, and some, like Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph, Joby Messier, Dwayne Norris, Jason Herter, and Scott Pellerin, made it to the National Hockey League.

Since 1995, the Hounds have only failed to make the SJHL playoffs three times, but have yet to win their second league title.

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Lose, T = Tie, OTL = Overtime Lose, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, P = Points

• Rod Brind'Amour
• Wendel Clark
• Braydon Coburn
• Scott Daniels
• Jason Herter
• Curtis Joseph
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Brooks Macek
• Curtis McElhinney
• Joby Messier
• Mitch Messier
• Scott Munroe
• Tyler Myers
• Dwayne Norris
• Scott Pellerin
• Teddy Purcell
• Brad Richards
• Jaden Schwartz

• List of ice hockey teams in Saskatchewan
• Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, the home of the Notre Dame Hounds

• Notre Dame Hounds Website