Barry  Wright/The Independent

What’s old is somewhat new again for the Petrolia Squires.

The local senior hockey team along with the Delhi Flames have  joined the Ontario Elite Hockey League for the coming season. The 18-team OHA and Hockey Canada sanctioned league includes many opponents from the Squires’ previous stops in the now-defunct Western Ontario Athletic Association loop as well as the Western and Ontario Super Hockey Leagues.

Petrolia will play a 20-game schedule in the South division alongside Delhi, Dunnville, Elora, Erin, Milverton, Seaforth, Tavistock and Tillsonburg.

Petrolia has a long, storied history dating back more than 50 years, including Allan Cup championships in 1979 and 1981, said the league in making the recent expansion announced about the Squires and Flames.

“The addition of two more established clubs based in southwestern Ontario is tremendously exciting,” said Commissioner Rick Richardson in a prepared statement. “We continue to see the appeal of the OEHL’s vision of strong, sustainable small-town hockey.”

Perhaps one downside of the move for fans is the end of the rivalry between the Squires and the Alvinston Killer Bees. The Battle of Lambton games were often chippy and always entertaining with fans cramming the local arenas for the event.

 The Killer Bees announced earlier this year that it would join the new Northern Premier Hockey League as the Ontario Super League fell apart.