Stratford Cullitons no more: Team changing nickname after 41 years

The Allman Arena in Stratford, Ont., is pictured on Monday, March 9, 2015. (Darren Stevenson / CTV Kitchener)

When Stratford’s Junior B hockey team hits the ice this fall, they’ll be the city’s first team in more than four decades not to call themselves the Cullitons.

The team announced Wednesday night that it is changing its name.

Effective immediately, the team will be known as the Stratford Warriors – the same name they had until Stratford-based contracting company Culliton came aboard as a sponsor in 1975.

In those 41 years, the team sent many players on to careers in the OHL, the Canadian university and American college ranks, and even professional hockey.

They also found international attention in another arena through hometown pop star Justin Bieber, who attended games at the Allman Arena with his grandfather while growing up and had the team’s logo tattooed on his shoulder.

A new logo for the Stratford Warriors is expected to be unveiled later this summer.

Stratford won the 2015-16 Cherrey Cup, the trophy awarded annually to the champions of the GOJHL’s Mid-Western Conference.