April 1, 2025, Mississauga, ON – …. Mike Aloe of the Burlington Cougars is the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Equipment Manager of the Year, the league announced today.
Aloe took on the role with the Cougars 10 years, after seeing a help-wanted post on the OJHL website.
Aloe lived in Oakville where he performed a variety of tasks with his son Josh’s Oakville Rangers minor hockey teams and followed the hometown OJHL team, the Blades.
“When my son finished hockey I wondered what I was going to do with my time,” said Aloe, who first sat on the minor hockey board in Oakville after Josh retired. “Then the notice from Burlington popped up on my computer and I applied. ”
Cougars Head Coach and General Manager Mark Jooris, who had never met Aloe, invited him to a game the next day.
“Mark said ‘Come on by, see how you like it’,” Aloe recalls. “The rest is history. Ten years later, here we are.
“I had no experience, but I was willing to learn.”
Aloe was honoured in October for working his 500th OJHL game.
Between games and practices, he puts in a 50-hour week for the Cougars, washing uniforms, sharpening skates and packing for bus trips.
Aloe works the midnight shift at his other full-time job, making for some sleep-deprived days.
Road trips can be as long as 12 hours for the equipment manager. He’ll grab some sleep on the bus and has been found napping on a couch in the team lounge at Burlington Central Arena.
“A lot of people say it’s a thankless job and it is at times,” Aloe said. “But what keeps me coming back, as I tell the kids at the end of every year, it’s like having 23 sons every year. I spend a lot of time with them. I’m the first face they see at practices and games and I’m the last person they see when they leave.
“They confide in me. It’s like family; just like my own kids. That keeps me coming back and so does keeping in touch with players from our team 10 years ago. Some are grown men with kids now. When I see them I just say wow.”
Jooris is happy Aloe responded to that job posting.
“Mike is passionate about his Cougars and he’s a loyal guy,” Jooris told the OJHL. “The kids love seeing him at the rink. He’s just part of the family.”
“He’s done a really good job of learning the craft. He really wanted to be good at it and he’s come a long way with it.”
“It’s just like with the kids – it’s all about development.”
Aloe’s most memorable moment came in 2022 when he served as equipment manager for the Team Canada East squad that won silver at the Junior A World Challenge in Cornwall.
“That’s the highlight,” he said. “You see all these players from the various countries and a year or two or three down the road, they’re playing pro and you say ‘I know that guy. I saw him (at the WJAC)’.”
Aloe will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony during the OJHL Championship Series later this month.
The OJHL is announcing its 2024-25 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
TOMORROW: Executive of the Year
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 24 member clubs – including the 2024 national champion Collingwood Blues. A proud member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including the CHL, U SPORTS, the NCAA, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL has had more than 100 commitments already this season.
For more information on the Ontario Junior Hockey League, follow us on Instagram (@OJHLOfficial), X (@OJHLOfficial) and Facebook (OJHLOfficial) and visit www.ojhl.ca
