3 Memorial Cup Championships Of The Cornwall Royals

The Sarnia Sting have been members of the Ontario Hockey League since 1994-95. Before that, the franchise was known as the Newmarket Saints. Even before that, there was the Cornwall Royals. The Royals were in the OHL from 1981-82 but before that, they played in the QMJHL since its inception in 1969-70.

The Memorial Cup is the ultimate prize in Canadian junior hockey, pitting the best teams from the QMJHL, OHL and WHL to determine the best team in the country. The Cornwall Royals won the Memorial Cup three times as a team in the QMJHL.

In 1971-72, just their third season, the Royals finished first overall in the ten team QMJHL, ten points ahead of the next competitor, the Drummondville Rangers. Cornwall powered past the Verdun Maple Leafs, Shawinigan Bruins and Quebec Remparts to win the President’s Cup.

The 1972 Memorial Cup was held in Ottawa, Ontario and featured the Peterborough Petes and Edmonton Oil Kings, along with the Royals. Cornwall met Peterborough in the final game, winning 2-1 to become Memorial Cup champions for the first time. Cornwall goaltender Richard Brodeur was named tournament MVP, earning the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy.

Cornwall was led by several players that went on to play in the National Hockey League, including Bob Murray, Blair MacDonald, John Wensink and Al Sims. The team was coached by Orval Tessier. Orval would lead the New Brunswick Hawks to a Calder Cup victory in the American Hockey League in 1981-82. The following season, as coach of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, Tessier was honoured with the Jack Adams Award as the league’s coach of the year.

In 1979-80, the Royals finished first in the Lebel Division and second overall, behind only the Sherbrooke Castors. A kid named Dale Hawerchuk played for the Royals and was named rookie of the year. Hawerchuk would go on to have a Hockey Hall of Fame worthy NHL career. Cornwall took out the Shawinigan Cataractes, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Sherbrooke to capture the President’s Cup.

The 1980 Memorial Cup was jointly held in Brandon, Manitoba and Regina, Saskatchewan. Once again, the Peterborough Petes were the OHL representative with the Regina Pats representing the WHL. Recovering from an 11-2 loss to Regina in the round robin portion of the tournament, Cornwall recovered and met Peterborough in the final game and won 3-2 in overtime. Dave Ezard of the Royals was the Stafford Smythe recipient. Besides Dale Hawerchuk, the team was led by future NHLers Scott Arniel, Marc Crawford and Dan Daoust.

The following season, 1980-81, Cornwall finished first overall in the QMJHL. Hawerchuk was the league’s scoring leader with 81 goals and 183 points. The Royals beat the Quebec Remparts, Sherbrooke Castors and Trois Rivieres Draveurs to earn the President’s Cup.

The 1981 Memorial Cup was held in Windsor, Ontario. Joining Cornwall were the Kitchener Rangers and Victoria Cougars. The Royals easily handled the Rangers in the final game by a score of 8-2 to capture their third and final Memorial Cup. Dale Hawerchuk was the Stafford Smythe Trophy winner. The team was supported by mostly the same cast as the year before with Dan Daoust gone but Doug Gilmour in.

1980-81 was the final year in the QMJHL for the Royals. The team shifted to the OHL for 1981-82. Since, the franchise has yet to capture a Robertson Cup as the playoff champion in the Ontario Hockey League. Subsequently, the team has never returned to the Memorial Cup tournament.

 

U.S. Invasion At The Memorial Cup

Canadian Hockey League teams have been based in the United States of America as early as 1976-77 when the Portland Winterhawks were relocated to Portland, Oregon from Edmonton, Alberta. Three times since, American teams have won the Memorial Cup as CHL champions. On four occasions, U.S. cities have hosted the tournament. Portland hosted in 1983 and 1986 while Seattle, Washington hosted in 1992 and Spokane, Washington hosted in 1998.

It might be called the Canadian Hockey League but teams based in the United States have participated since the Edmonton Oil Kings became the Portland Winter Hawks at the start of the 1976-77 WHL season. The CHL is made up of three leagues across Canada, the WHL, OHL and QMJHL).

Currently, there are three teams from the Ontario Hockey League based in the U.S. (Erie Otters, Plymouth Whalers, Saginaw Spirit) and five teams from the Western Hockey League (Everett Silvertips, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans). The Lewiston Maineiacs were the only U.S. team in the QMJHL and they were relocated back to Canada for the 2011-12 season.

Since Portland entered the league in 1976, on just three occasions have American teams been crowned Memorial Cup champions. Only twice has an American team has made an unsuccessful appearance in the final game and six U.S. franchises have gone to the tournament. The Winterhawks reached the final in 2013 before falling to the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL.

In 1983, the Portland Winterhawks beat the Oshawa Generals 8-3 on home ice in the Memorial Cup final to win their first. The Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP was handed out to Alfie Turcotte of the Winterhawks. Turcotte went on to play 112 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals. Future NHLers Ray Ferraro and Cam Neely led Portland offensively. In fact, the two were part of a group of six players on the team to reach the 100 point plateau. Read more about that excitingly offensive team here: 1982-83 Portland Winterhawks.

In 1991, the tournament was held in Quebec City and the Spokane Chiefs were the victor with a 5-1 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the final. The Stafford Smythe Trophy went to Pat Falloon of Spokane. Falloon was the second overall pick of the San Jose Sharks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft and played 575 NHL regular season games with the Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Falloon holds a bit of San Jose Sharks trivia as the player with the most points in a rookie season for the National Hockey League club. Trevor Kidd and Ray Whitney were team leaders for Spokane while NHL veteran Bryan Maxwell was the bench boss.

Portland returned to championship form in 1998 as the Winterhawks edged the OHL’s Guelph Storm 4-3 in overtime in the final that was hosted by the Spokane Chiefs in Spokane, Washington. The Smythe Trophy went to the goaltender on the losing team, Chris Madden. Portland was led by NHLers Marian Hossa and Brenden Morrow. The team was coached by Brent Peterson, another NHL veteran.

The latest U.S. teams to qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament before Portland’s 2013 loss to Halifax were the Lewiston Maineiacs and Plymouth Whalers in 2007. Despite the 50/50 odds, neither team made it to the final. The 1995 Detroit Junior Red Wings are the only other American team to make it to the final and lose. The Erie Otters and Seattle Thunderbirds are the only other U.S. based teams to qualify for the tournament. Erie went in 2002, while Seattle participated back in 1992 as the host city.