Ontario Hockey League commissioner David Branch is retiring.
Branch, who will soon turn 75, has informed the OHL board of governors this season will be his final one. He also served as Canadian Hockey League president for almost a quarter-century until he gave up that post in 2019.
He will leave a rich legacy. He’s been in charge since the OHL’s inception and has overseen a massive change in both the league and the brand of hockey it plays.
A half-century of longevity will do that, but the sport is better off because of Branch. He’s likely headed for the Hall of Fame, for which he currently serves on the selection committee.
Locally, his greatest impact was granting Barrie an OHL expansion franchise almost 30 years ago.
League-wide, Branch deserves immense credit for the profound change that has taken hold, but his greatest achievement is continuing the OHL’s leading role in producing elite teenage hockey players.
Proponents of the Western Hockey League may disagree, but the OHL is still probably the best development league in the world.
Peeling the onion back a bit, it’s now easy to forget the crisis of confidence that was starting to take hold in Canadian hockey in the 1990s.
The country was sitting on a wobbly perch and the angst was especially acute when Canada finished fourth at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, the first such Games where the best players took part.
Around the same time, Canada finished eighth at the World Junior championships and there were other years when it was overmatched against certain elite nations.
Canadian hockey was forced to take stock of where it was headed and eventually made changes for which the OHL played a leading role at the amateur level.
The top rung of international hockey has tightened up again — there is almost nothing to choose between the United States and Canada right now — but Canada wins most, though not all, competitions where the best players take part.
Secondly, Branch has cleaned up his league. Fighting has been seriously curtailed, as has gratuitous violence that was the norm even for long stretches after the Colts returned to the fold.
Let’s be honest: Amateur hockey players should not be beating the daylights out of each other, and Branch was smart enough and brave enough to take steps to stop it.
The OHL also has a first-rate scholarship program that perhaps should be even better, but Branch put rules in place to ensure the league administers it, instead of individual teams, which couldn’t always be trusted to dole out the funds as promised.
Branch also displayed a certain approachability that won’t soon be forgotten. When the commish is kind to people grinding away at rinks, it not only speaks to him being a good person; it’s an important aspect for a league that still has a community feel to it.
It hasn’t all been rainbows and lollipops.
Branch could have done more to stamp out bullying, hazing and the culture that has led to some disturbing incidents of sexual impropriety involving junior hockey players going back decades.
The hockey world awaits the NHL’s findings into allegations surrounding Canada’s 2018 World Junior team. Hockey Canada, rightly, has taken most of the hit so far in that ugly incident. But Branch was both OHL commissioner and CHL president at the time it took place. He’s barely uttered a peep about it, even when called before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa last summer.
For me, Branch also let down a large swath of players when the league shuttered during the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic.
The WHL and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were able to play abridged schedules, but the OHL was not, and at least some of that lost season lies at Branch’s feet.
If you think that’s harsh, ask an OHL player born between 2002 and 2004 about the negative effect on his development and the lost opportunities.
Branch has earned the right to choose the time and circumstances of his departure, but it’s time for new blood. Time will tell who succeeds him, and there are some in the wider hockey world curious whether he will do what he can — and his influence remains strong — for his son, Barclay, to gain a pivotal role.
But for now, it’s time to pay tribute to a good hockey man who has done a lot of great things.
