March 27, 2024, Mississauga, ON – …. Andrew Groombridge of the Georgetown Raiders Is the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Equipment Manager of the Year, the league announced today.
He’s worked 1,506 games for the franchise in Halton Hills.
Groombridge was the inaugural recipient of the OJHL Trainer of-the-Year Award in 2012.
Groombridge has been with the Raiders since the 2000-01 season.
What keeps him coming back to the rink every season?
“It’s been my life,” he told the OJHL this week. “It’s the enjoyment of sports. I’ve got a pretty good thing going here.”
The 63-year old native of Sarnia arrived in Georgetown with a wealth of experience already in his back-pocket, having started his training career back in 1974 with his high school football team.
“Sports as a whole and especially the Raiders has been very good to me,” Groombridge told Ron Valentine in an interview during the 2022-23 season.. “I have travelled to many places in the world with hockey and fastball. I have been able to work with players in (Georgetown) like Kevin Harvey, Evan Rodrigues (Florida Panthers) and Scott Wilson; the last two made it to the NHL. In recent times, Jordan Crocker, Brendan and Jack Jacome were exceptional players.
“We went to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup in 2005 at home and then progressed to the Royal Bank Cup. In 2017, we got there again but lost out to the Golden Hawks in Trenton. There have been so many highlights for me. I count myself as very lucky to have been associated with so many great people.”
Groombridge will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony during the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in late April.
“On behalf of the Georgetown Raiders we want to congratulate Drew on this well deserved award and for his long time dedication to our hockey program and hockey community in Georgetown,” said Raiders General Manager Mike Dukeshire.
The OJHL is announcing its 2023-24 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
TOMORROW: Volunteer 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. 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 U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL has had more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarships already this season.
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