By Olivia Snyder
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—Tom Longland of Dunnville is excited to announce senior hockey is coming back to town with the Dunnville Aeros, the newest Sr. AA expansion team in the Western Ontario Super Hockey League (WOSHL). Longland, who co-owns the Aeros with his brothers Curtis and Travis Longland and friends Patrick O’Neill and Mike Knox, grew up playing Canada’s game in his hometown.
The Aeros’ five Dunnville born-and-raised owners want to revive the small-town camaraderie the old Sr. A Mudcats inspired in their fathers’ era. While the team’s roster is not yet finalized, Longland emphasized in an interview on Saturday that players will be “heavily Dunnville based,” and they will be “bringing in guys from the surrounding area, including Haldimand.”
Three of those players are Longland and his two brothers. Tom played NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) hockey for the State University of New York’s Morrisville Mustangs. Curtis was drafted by the Barrie Colts of the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) and later won a Queens Cup Championship with the OUA’s (Ontario University Athletics) Windsor Lancers. Travis played for Dunnville’s own Jr. C Mudcats and currently volunteers at the Jr. C Mudcats’ home games.
Dunnville residents will also recognize Tyler and Chad Springer, who played for the Jr. C Mudcats back when the team was still known as the Dunnville Terriers. The Springer brothers will play for the Aeros in the team’s debut season this fall. Longland is confident the Aeros will “be competitive in our first year using a lot of homegrown talent.”
Longland commented that “a lot of the players are dads who want to show their kids they can still play.” Aeros team members, whose ages range from 21 to 35, understand the significance of being a role model and showing leadership on and off the ice.
Along with the Longland brothers, owners Mike Knox and Patrick O’Neill are deeply involved in the Dunnville community. Knox grew up playing minor hockey locally and is now raising a family in Dunnville and building up his town as a minor hockey coach and volunteer. O’Neill, who represents Dunnville as Haldimand County’s Ward 6 Councillor, is passionate about connecting community members through sports.
From the team’s name to their home ice, the Aeros are brimming with Dunnville pride. Longland explained that the ownership group wanted to “bring back a little history to the town and have a little bit of meaning to the actual name of the team.”
The name ‘Dunnville Aeros’ references the No. 6 RCAF Dunnville Museum, located outside of town on the site of the former No. 6 Service Flying Training School (SFTS). The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan commissioned the No. 6 SFTS to train pilots in Yale, Harvard, and Anson training aircraft during World War II. The team’s logo is another nod to Dunnville’s WWII history: a bright yellow Harvard plane inspired by the memorial outside the Dunnville Public Library.
— Haldimand Press photo by Olivia Snyder.
The Aeros are based out of the Dunnville Memorial Arena, which was built in 2012 and boasts an NHL-size rink with seating for 1,000 fans. Longland and the ownership group hope that hosting the new team in Dunnville will “bring some more events to the town, especially in the winter.”
Starting this October, the Aeros will play home games Saturdays at 8 p.m. You can check out the new team on Instagram: instagram.com/dunnvilleaeros, Twitter: twitter.com/dunnvilleaeros, and Facebook: facebook.com/dunnvilleaeros.
Travis Longland sums up the ownership group’s excitement in a quote from their WOSHL Expansion Submission bio: “Life is hockey and there is no other town that brings more enthusiasm to the sport than Dunnville, Ontario.”
Tom Longland agrees, saying, “I think people will just be excited hockey’s back.”
