and ringette teams, and is home to the Mitchell Hawks, a junior hockey team that plays in the PJHL. Mitchell is the birthplace of professional ice hockey player Howie Morenz. He began his career with the Mitchell Juveniles, 1917–18, and moved to Stratford where he played with several teams there. In 1923 he joined the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. He remained in the League for 14 years, 12 with Montreal. In 1950 Morenz was voted the outstanding hockey player of the half century by Canadian Press. He was one of the initial nine inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Education In the educational sector, Mitchell has two schools, Upper Thames Elementary and Mitchell District High School. Upper Thames Elementary School is a school from J.K. to 6. This school was built in 1970 to serve the rural population (from the former Townships of Logan, Fullarton, and Hibbert), and replaced numerous one and two room schoolhouses in the rural areas. It is a school that has many activities and fundraisers. In recent years, grade 7 and 8 children from the former Town of Mitchell started attending MDHS, with all town children now attending since the closure of Mitchell Public School in 2010. Mitchell District High School, otherwise known as MDHS, is a secondary school serving grades 7-12. The building, constructed in the late 1950s, is shaped as a square with an open courtyard in the middle, and is one level; there are no stairs which makes it wheelchair accessible. The building replaced a building on St. David Street which now serves as the municipal office for the Municipality of West Perth. Although a small high school, it has a good range of programs, including music, sports and mechanics, and many extra-curricular activities. Wildlife Mitchell is located in southwestern Ontario, which has many small rivers and forests patched throughout the landscape. The Thames River runs through the heart of Mitchell, and dense brush and forests run along the northern and southern edges of the town. The brush and forest contain commonly seen animals such as Bufo fowleri, red fox, striped skunk, eastern gray squirrel, eastern cottontail, and the white-tailed deer. The Thames River is home to many varieties of fish, including but not limited to, common carp, mirror carp, chub, rock bass, redeye bass, perch, suckers, crayfish, clams, and minnows. The dam in the Thames River is known