At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Lakehead Junior Hockey League Annual General Meeting (AGM), the league membership approved an additional step that would require clubs to provide paperwork to the 1st and 2nd Vice President of any trades and transactions before players are notified.

“Our league and teams need to have a fully transparent process. There must be something a little bit more than just an email,” stated Gribben. “There needs to be a clear-cut process so that everybody is aligned, and then we have some precedents going forward and transparency amongst all teams to know what players are moving where and when.”

Outgoing Thunder Bay Bandits owner Larry Busniuk put forward a motion to push back the timeframe that allowed teams to speak to their draft picks up until December 1st instead of November 1st. It was a measure to prevent other teams to recruit or sign any player under another teams protection. That motion was defeated.

Re-elected Vice-President Gary Nistico presented a few motions for consideration, including the elimination of Hybrid Icing. 2024/2025 was the second season in which the league allowed the linesman to judge which player would have touched the puck first.

Gribben, who also serves as a hockey official, didn’t want to entertain the thought of going back to the way things were before.

“If we're looking to push our players through to the next level, then our job is to prepare them. Our job is also to help prepare young officials in the same capacity to be able to manage the game at the Junior A level. So aligning our gameplay rules with Junior A is obviously an important thing in my mind.”

This motion was defeated, as was a separate one that would have constituted that each team would need a minimum of ten players including a goaltender to play a game.

The membership did approve amending by-law 32.6 by levying a $1000 fine on any team that does not fulfill their obligations to finish the season and playoffs.

Each team will also be required to add the LJHL logo and name bars on their jerseys for the 2025/2026 season.