Cornwall Hockey

BOW DOWN TO THE KINGS: River Kings to stay in Cornwall

Time to make some noise Cornwall!

The hockey gods that are the LNAH board of governors have decided to give the River Kings back where it belongs; to the city of Cornwall.

Local businessman, real estate agent and now owner of the Cornwall River Kings, Brock Frost had made a successful pitch to the powers that be of the league. The secret was kept under wraps for a number of weeks. David Small and his partnership had given the team back to the league at the end of May and it was all in the league’s hands.

This won’t be an easy task. With little to no advertising being used inside the rink due to a lopsided deal between the Junior A. Cornwall Colts and the City of Cornwall, Frost and the River Kings will have their work cut out for them. However, the word of mouth is a powerful thing.

At the beginning of last season there was talk of the fans starting up a Booster Club. I can not stress how important this club will be to the team once it gets going. This has the oppourtunity to generate a secondary income for the team. Teams in the UK have paid their entire teams roster when struggling through tough financial times. Let’s be smart Cornwall and make sure our team never ends up this way again.

Kudos to Councilor Brock Frost (Yeah, he’s running for council but I’m going to call it now and say he’s earned a spot at the round table), and whoever helped him along his way to keep the blue, red and white of the River Kings on course. The real work starts now.

That means you, reading this. YOU need to come out to the games. YOU need to buy merchandise. YOU need to GET INVOLVED. Let’s make sure this upcoming season is one we’ll never forget.

Who’s house? Our house.

Sprague Cleghorn and the Cornwall Cougars

A name like Sprague Cleghorn is bound to be stuck in your mind. A bit of a forerunner for what it means to have a “hockey name”. Older hockey fans will remember Cleghorn as one of the toughest men to lace up the skates. In fact rumors are that Evelyn Byng, the wife of Lord Byng who was the twelfth Governor General of Canada, donated the Lady Byng Trophy to the NHL in 1924 on account of being repulsed with Cleghorn’s play.

Born and bred out of Montreal, Quebec, Cleghorn was a four time Stanley Cup champion having won two with the Montreal Canadiens and two with the Ottawa Senators. During the beginning of establishing the National Hockey League, Cleghorn was charged twice with on ice infractions that evidently led to his legacy. One such incident caused him to take a bad tumble to the ice and break his ankle. Upon returning back home to Montreal, he fell on the slippery sidewalks and broke the other one. If that’s not karma, I don’t know what is.

Upon hanging up the skates or the gloves if you will, Cleghorn didn’t get away from the game and instead turned to coaching. He was picked up the lead the Pittsburgh Shamrocks of the International Hockey League in the late 1930’s. Just like the issues of hockey today, Cleghorn was let go after one season due to the accusation of the team not paying him. He sued and won.

After the Pittsburgh debacle, not many teams we’re looking for a beat up tough guy with business sense. Naturally, Cornwall came calling.

The Cornwall Cougars were a senior team playing out of the Quebec Provincial Hockey League. The Cougars were in operation for a little under three years and were hardly a powerhouse. Cleghorn first set up in Cornwall running hockey clinics around town when he was appointed as coach. Cornwall was the only Ontario entry as they face off against Quebec squads from Victoriaville, Sherbrooke, Saint Hyacinthe, Lachine and Drummondville.

Cleghorn wasn’t noted for his coaching. After going six games without a win and being shut out by 11 goals, Cleghorn was canned. Soon after the entire team folded and the legacy of the Cornwall Royals would soon come to fruition.

Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958 but didn’t live to see it happen. Cleghorn was hit by a car two years earlier in his hometown of Montreal and succumbed to his numerous head injuries. Sprague Cleghorn will be forever remembered as one of the few who reaches the Hall for his fists.

Florida Panthers’ Jesse Winchester lands cover of Cornwall Living magazine

How fitting of the latest edition of Cornwall Living magazine to feature hometown NHLer Jesse Winchester as their cover boy. At a special event held last week at local restaurant Schnitzels’ European Flavours, Winchester himself was on hand along with a variety of local Cornwallites to witness the unveiling.

Cornwall Living showcases the citizens and their accomplishments throughout the region. Plenty of local photographers have their work featured in the magazine along with profiles of local business men and woman, athletes and creative minds. It is a fundamental part of promoting how one can thrive in Ontario’s eastern most city.

Winchester who joined the Florida Panthers last season after a few years with the close by Ottawa Senators, first started his hockey career in nearby Winchester suiting up for the Jr. B Hawks. From there he made the jump to the Junior A. Cornwall Colts for three seasons, ending with 82 points in 54 games in his last season as captain. After a successful collegiate career with Colgate University, Winchester made the big leagues as he joined the black, red and gold of Ottawa.

Winchester is a big role model for young Cornwall hockey players. His performance has not only lead him to the NHL but has led him overseas as he played last year’s lockout season with Jokerit Helsinki of the top league in Finland. He managed to secure himself the title of having the best faceoff percentage in the league.

Cornwall often gets a bad rap. It’s usually from the younger folk but as you grow more mature you realize that Cornwall is a great place to raise a family. It’s strategically placed close to Ottawa and Montreal who in itself provide many opportunities for Cornwallities as well. I was born and raised here. I’ve come to love this little city on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Your life is what you make of it. Your city is what you make of it.

Even if you leave, chances are you’ll miss this Seaway City.

Choose Cornwall.

To get your free copy of Cornwall Living, head over to request form at the City of Cornwall website.

Massena, New York awarded a team for North Atlantic Professional Hockey League’s inaugural season

There’s a new hockey league being formed in the region and if you want to get more of a hockey fix this winter, the second team to be involved has been awarded right across the border in Massena, New York. The North Atlantic Professional Hockey League is based out of Massachusetts and hopes to start icing teams this fall. The President of the league, Phil DeFranco, has had plenty of experience with starting up hockey. He has had his hand in starting up junior hockey leagues in his home state and also helped the former league of the Akwesasne Warriors, the Federal Hockey League jump up onto its feet.

The mission statement for the NAPHL is to provide quality and entertaining hockey at an affordable prices for families. With already one team awarded to the city of North Adams, Massachusetts, Massena, NY is a strategic place to enter a team. Former Akwesasne Warriors owner, Darby Oakes will steer head the Massena movement and have come down to three choices for Head Coach and General Manager. Oakes plans to hold a press conference in June to unveil the coaching staff and front office personnel, along with the team name and mascot. The team will play out of the Massena Arena, the former home of the Massena Americans before they moved to Cornwall and became the Colts.

The Berkshire Black Bears will be the first team playing in the NAPHL, located in North Adams, Massachusetts.

According to the press release given by the NAPHL, the league will be announcing more teams in the US and even possibly Canada for its first year in existence. The league wants to end up with a total of eight to provide a quality game playing over the course of a 52 game schedule. The longest road trip for teams is said to only be six hours. Could we see an NAPHL team in Cornwall with the River Kings position up in the air? It would create one hell of a rivalry; The Battle of the Seaway.
To keep track of updates on the Massena squad and the NAPHL in general, head on over to their website: www.naphl.us. Of course, here at March Hockey, I’ll be keeping my eyes locked closely on this story.

Cornwall’s hockey history: Owen McCourt and one of hockey’s first fatalities

What a time to be alive. It was the early 1900’s in the newly formed country of Canada and the population’s fascination with the fastest game on ice had barely started. The passion we know and love today from Canadians was in its infancy. However in Cornwall, the small Seaway town had been established for well over a hundred years already. Early versions of the game had already taken place up and down the St. Lawrence corridor; it was only fitting for a league to start in the area.

Under the leadership and guidance of the already well-established Montreal Wanderers hockey club, the formation of the Federal Amateur Hockey League began in 1903. What came to fruition was a 4 team, 6 game season that would begin that very winter. The clubs in the mix were the aforementioned Wanderers, Montreal Nationals, Ottawa Capitals (who would later become the Ottawa Silver Seven) and a team from the Seaway City of Cornwall. Over the next couple of years, clubs from three other small towns in the area, Brockville, Morrisburg, and Smith Falls would try their hand at winning a championship with the latter winning one in 1906.

In 1905, two teams from the FAHL and four from the Canadian Amateur Hockey League decided to join forces and form the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. Their decision to amalgamate was based on entertaining the idea to maximize revenues as hockey was turning into a wildly popular spectator sport. Along the same lines, some players were being paid under the table. This league would attempt to foresee the professionalism of the sport. This was the very beginning forms of the National Hockey League that we know and love today.

Cornwall’s club was not one of the lucky two who got picked to join. The powerful Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa HC were the ones invited. However the league was looked at as a sort of farm league for the clubs in the ECAHA. Cornwall had its fair share of powerful players but could not manage a standing place of higher than third in their years together. One player in particular showed promise as he was flying up and down the ice with great speed and developing a reputation of a powerful goal scorer. His name was Owen McCourt.

Owen McCourt was just 22 years old when he was invited to play a couple games with the Montreal Shamrocks of the ECAHA. McCourt was proving himself on the ice as he became the top goal scorer for Cornwall in the 1906 season with 5 (remember, seasons consisted only 5 or 6 games apiece). In 1907, the local brick layer was top of the world again as he notched 16 goals in 8 games including a 7 goal performance against Morrisburg in late February. Taking note of his goal scoring abilities is what prompted the Shamrocks to invite McCourt for two games late in the 1907 season. McCourt was also a seasoned local lacrosse player which added to his skills on the ice.

It was not uncommon for players to bounce around teams and leagues from time to time. Some looked down upon this tactic but it only improved the playing abilities of both the player and club. In the beginning of March, the Cornwall H/C were hosting the Ottawa Victorias at the old rink on Third Street. The fixture would be a replay of sorts from a game that was supposed to have taken place on February 15^th. It did not go through as planned as McCourt and another Cornwall player were away with the Montreal Shamrocks while Ottawa protested the move accordingly. Continue reading “Cornwall’s hockey history: Owen McCourt and one of hockey’s first fatalities”

Texas shooting for Calder success

I know I have quite a few Texas fans that follow the blog. Take a look at what Mark has to say about the Baby Stars.

UK Hockey Blog

The Texas Stars have been the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars for five seasons including the one currently in progress.

In their first season of operation, they made it all the way to the Calder Cup final before losing in six games to the Hershey Bears.
The next season was a first round exit in six game to Milwaukee which was followed up by a losing season, where the team failed to make the post season.
It wasn’t just a losing season though as they finished bottom of the West and 29th in the AHL.
For the 2012/13 season, Willie Desjardins was installed as head coach, having been an assistant coach for Dallas the previous year.
Before that, Desjardins had spent the last nine seasons in the WHL with Medicine Hat Tigers.
The impact was immediate as Texas went on to win the Western Conference before losing in the…

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BBC’s Olympic Hockey Coverage

Brilliant piece by Mark on the BBC’s Olympic commentary.

UK Hockey Blog

The coverage of Ice Hockey during the Winter Olympics by the BBC has been the talk of those in the UK on social media.

One of the issues has been confusion over when games will be televised while not always showing the full sixty minutes or the games until completion. For example, while Slovenia were leading Slovakia 3-0 and creating history by winning their first ever game at the Winter Olympics, the BBC in their wisdom cut away from the game with five minutes remaining to show a GB Curling match which hadn’t even commenced.
I understand the need to show all things involving GB as the nation isn’t blessed with many competitors but that is just ridiculous.

The real disconnect between hockey fans has been towards the commentary provided for the BBC by Seth Bennett and Brent Pope.
The play by play from these two gentlemen seems to have…

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Five Minute Major – News and Notes, Week of February 16th

New segment! News and notes of the hockey world for the week!

Ahmed Mahfouz has received a well earned call up. Well, I guess some could say well earned. He’s been in the FHL for the past little while now with the Dayton Demonz and happened to go on a tear with 175 points in 75 games. (Remember, I said the FHL.) The CHL’s Brampton Beast picked him up.

Speaking of FHL. The EIHL Coventry Blaze head coach Matt Soderstrom was canned in favour of former Dayton Demonz head coach Marc Lefebvre. The Kanata, Ontario native was Assistant of Hockey Ops with the Sheffield Steelers. Interesting to see if he lasts more then the rest of the season.
The Sheffield Steelers also cleaned house and canned their head coach Doug Christiansen. Replacement is yet to be named.

Dominic Chiasson scored his 300th career LNAH goal last Saturday with the Cornwall River Kings.

There’s talk of enforcer Steve Bosse coming back to the LNAH. Seems like the league is trying to go back to it’s roots. Who knows if that will actually happen though.
Team Canada and Team USA both come away with wins in their first preliminary games at the Sochi Olympics. They face much harder tests coming soon.
The CCHL held a phenomenal turn out for their Do It For Darren day last Saturday in Carleton Place. Every team was in action and it ended with a bang at the Canadian Tire Centre for an AHL game.

New Zealand and Team GB have both selected their national teams for their respective IIHF tournaments coming up. The Australian and New Zealand leagues are almost ready for puck drop.

7 Colts make Team Canada East Camp Roster

(Photo: Robert Lefevbre/IceLevel Photography)

The World Junior A Challenge is set to take action this November and team training camp rosters have been announced. Countries invited to the tournament include Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and of course, the United States.

Canada has two entries into the tournament: Team Canada East and Team Canada West. Out of the 65 invitees from each eastern Junior A league, 20 are from the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) and 7 of those are from the Cornwall Colts.

Of course, you can say it’s a bit biased to do Cornwall’s Head Coach Ian MacInnis was selected to man the bench for Team Canada East for the tournament. However, each one of the 7 Colts invited have rightfully earned their spot with their hard work through out the first part of the CCHL season.

Red hot goaltender Jordan Piccolino has played 12 games with Cornwall so far and boasts a 1.96 goals against average. That’s good enough to throw him in second in the league, just behind Carleton Place’s Cory Simic who was not even offered an invite to the team. The Pierrefonds, Quebec native is in his second year with the Colts and already lead them to a championship in his first year. Not a bad selection to have between the pipes for Team Canada East.

On defence, Callum Hofford and Matthew Cruickshank were selected as invitees. The possibly college bound Cruickshank has played in 16 games for Cornwall this season and is deadly on the point. He won’t be taken lightly either as he’s wracked up 15 penalty minutes.

Forwards is where you need your strength and Team Canada East has invited Lawson MacDonald, Chase Pearson, Marley Quince and Tanner Spink. Quince and Spink need no introduction to Cornwall fans as they both lead the team in points with 18 and 13 respectively. Not to be outdone, Pearson is right up there with 10 from his side of the ice. Quince and Spink could be deadly when stuck between the right wingers, Pearson included. Hopefully we’ll see what the rest of leagues offer up for Team Canada East.

The tournament gets underway November 4th when Team Canada East takes on Team Russia.

Stage is set for NZIHL Grand Final

And what a final it will be.

After a season filled with ups and downs, highs and lows and a tight race to the finish line, the NZIHL Grand Final will be between the Canterbury Red Devils and the Dunedin Thunder.

The Canterbury Red Devils come into the final as TKRT champs and with a second place record in the standings. They are also the current reigning league champs looking to make back to back trips to the podium. Host team Dunedin Thunder finished in first and captured their first Minor Premier trophy.With their back to back wins over the West Auckland Admirals last weekend, Dunedin secured their home ice advantage for the final.

For a more in depth look at the Grand Final match up, head on over to OnTheFlyHockey.com and give this article a read.

The NZIHL Grand Final will take place on August 24th. Get down to the Dunedin Ice Stadium and grab your tickets now. For all my Canadian fans and readers, you can check out the action at http://www.nzihl.tv. The action will start around 1:00 am EST.