Starting in 1975, both Rio Algom Mines and Denison Mines assisted the club by way of sponsorship, but more importantly they agreed and enabled the team to properly recruit talent. A decision which proved to be controversial at the time, made by Mr. Berthelot and the executive of the club, was to stop the practice of bringing under-age players up from the Elliot Lake Minor Hockey System until they were of proper age to play Junior hockey. Many players came up to the Vikings back then at the age of 14 and 15. Some of these players were very talented and their personal hockey careers may have gone further had they been given the opportunity to hone their skills within their appropriate age groups, rather than having been thrust into playing against 20-year-olds before they were ready.