HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: After long wait, Rockland Nationals returning to Centennial Cup junior A hockey championship

By Martin Cleary

It has been a long time since the Rockland Nationals have reached the Centennial Cup and won the Canadian men’s junior A hockey championship.

You need to roll the calendar back to 1976, one year shy of 50 years, when the small community of 4,000 east of Ottawa came alive and achieved that ultimate hockey prize.

But the Nationals are at it again.

On Thursday, Rockland will represent the Central Canada Hockey League during the 10-team, 11-day national championship in Calgary, when the Nationals will play the No. 1-ranked junior A team in the country, the Edmundston Blizzard.

The four-game round-robin for the third-ranked Nationals continues on Friday against No. 12 Valleyfield Braves, Sunday against No. 15 and host Calgary Canucks and Tuesday against No. 5 Melfort Mustangs.

A little history lesson is in order to understand this Rockland junior hockey franchise.

From 1968 to 1973, the M and W Rangers participated in what was called the Central Junior Hockey League and was the league champion in 1970 and 1971.

The Rockland Nationals were part of the loop, which is one level below major junior A hockey, from 1973-77. The Nationals won 12 of 14 Centennial Cup playoff games over three best-of-seven series to capture the national title. But the cost of winning forced the team to fold after the 1976-77 season.

In 1973, the M and W Rangers became the Gloucester Rangers until 2005. During that run, the Rangers were playoff champions in 1981 and 1994. From 2003 to 2008, the Rangers were known as the Orleans Blues.

The franchise changed its name back to the Gloucester Rangers from 2008-17. The Rangers then became the Rockland Nationals from 2017 to the present.

When the Nationals were crowned the Centennial Cup champions in 1976, the format for the final was a best-of-seven series.

Playing all games at the jam-packed Rockland Arena, the Nationals outscored the Spruce Groves Mets by a combined score of 31-15 and won the championship 4-1 under head coach Bryan Murray, who would eventually become a prominent NHL figure and head coach and general manager of the Ottawa Senators. Rockland’s Gerald Leroux was the tournament MVP and Luc Prud’homme was the team captain.

The format for the 2025 Centennial Cup championship is totally different with nine league champions and host Calgary divided into two five-team pools. Each team will play four round-robin games from Thursday through May 14 to determine four squads for the quarterfinals on May 16. The semifinals are May 17 and the championship game is May 18.

On April 27, the Nationals defeated the Carleton Place Canadians 5-4 on an overtime goal by Anthony Hall to sweep the best-of-seven final 4-0. It was the sixth time the franchise had won the CJHL/CCHL playoff Bogart Cup championship (M and W Rangers 2, Gloucester Rangers 2, Rockland Nationals 2). In earlier games, the Nationals won 4-2, 3-2 and 3-1.

The Nationals, who won the regular-season pennant with a 45-8-2 record for 92 points under head coach Justin Pereira, reached the final by surviving their semifinal series 4-3 over the Smiths Falls Bears and turning back the Cornwall Colts 4-0 in the quarterfinals.

In his first year in the CCHL, right-winger Gabriel Le Houillier led the Nationals in playoff points with nine goals and six assists for 15 points in as many games. Centre Remi Gagne notched three goals and 11 assists for 14 points.

During the regular season, Hall was the Nationals’ offensive leader at 36-40-76, while Le Houillier was second at 29-43-72 and Jacob Charron was third with 26-41-67.

Goaltending also played a vital role in Rockland’s success. Benoit Forget was the CCHL’s No. 1 goalie in the regular season at 29-3-1 with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. He was 12-2-1 in the playoffs at 2.34 and .909.

The Nationals were a hot team right from the start of the CCHL season. They won the inaugural, three-day pre-season tournament for the RE/MAX Cup, opened the regular season with 12 consecutive wins and were 15-0-1 before losing their first game.

QUINN BEAUCHESNE HELPS CANADA WIN WORLD MEN’S U18 GOLD MEDAL

Defenceman Quinn Beauchesne of Ottawa played a key role in Canada going undefeated at the world men’s U18 hockey championship in Frisco and Allen, Texas.

Canada defeated Sweden 7-0 in the gold-medal final, after turning back Slovakia 4-0 in the semifinals and outlasting Czechia 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals.

It was the sixth time Canada had won the gold medal since the start of the world men’s U18 championship in 1999 and the first time it captured the title in back-to-back years.

In round-robin pool play, Canada outplayed Slovakia 9-2, Latvia 7-1, Finland 5-1 and Norway 8-1.

Beauchesne, who plays for the OHL’s Guelph Storm, counted one assist in the championship game and finished his seven-game series with one goal and three assists for four points. He also was plus-eight for the championship, had 16 shots on goal and averaged 17 minutes and 12 seconds of ice time per game.

In other statistical categories, Beauchesne had the fourth most shifts for Canada at 145 and was ninth in time per shift as well as plus-minus.

OTTAWA PLAYERS PART OF CANADIAN SOCCER HISTORY

Canada won four of its five matches at the inaugural CONCACAF women’s futsal championship in Guatemala City, Guatemala, to qualify for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup Nov. 21 to Dec. 7 in the Philippines.

In the gold-medal game, Canada outscored Panama 8-2 and Keera Melenhorst of Ottawa scored one of the goals. Esther Brossard paced Canada with three goals and won the Golden Boot award for eight goals in five games.

Sadie Sider-Echenberg of Ottawa also played for Canada, which lost its opening game to Costa Rica 3-2, but rebounded to defeat Mexico 5-4 in a shootout, Honduras 6-0 and the United States 3-1 to reach the final.

CANADA, USA WOMEN’S RUGBY MATCH AT TD PLACE AUG. 1

World-class rugby will be returning to TD Place for a fourth consecutive year.

As its final preparation match before the 2025 Rugby World Cup Trophy championship in England, the Canadian women’s 15s team will face the United States in the Classic Rugby Rivalry on Aug. 1.

The last time the Canadian women’s team played at TD Place, the match attracted 10,092 spectators, which was a record for a Canadian women’s match.

Canada and the United States got a head start on their upcoming match, when the former defeated the latter 26-14 in the opening game of the Pacific Four Series in Kansas City, Missouri.

The series will continue later this month, when Canada faces New Zealand on May 16 in Christchurch, and Australia on May 22 in Brisbane.

While Canada won the women’s bronze medal at the HSBC SVNS world championship in Los Angeles by defeating the United States 27-7, the national men’s team posted a 2-2 record and were relegated.

The Canadian men’s team lost its final game 24-5 to Kenya and was denied an entry into the 2026 HSBC SVNS division 2 tour. Under revamped tour rules, Canada must win a regional tournament to make division 3 with hopes of returning to division 2.

In its other games, the Canadian men opened with a loss to Uruguay 24-7 before defeating Ireland 19-12 and Germany 22-17.

University of Ottawa products Jamie Armstrong at back and Elias Hancock at forward played all four games for Canada. Armstrong scored Canada’s first try against Germany.

GOLF HONOURS FOR ISAIAH IBIT, MAX CORCORAN

Isaiah Ibit of Ottawa had an impressive first year with the Golden Flashes at Kent State University.

He helped Kent State win the Mid-American Conference men’s golf title, earn a berth as the only freshman on the first All-American conference team and was named the MAC freshman of the year.

The Golden Flashes will play in the Amherst, Virginia, regional tournament beginning Monday with hopes of qualifying for the NCAA golf championship.

Ibit was the first Kent State freshman on the first All-American team since 2008. He played in all 11 tournaments for the Golden Flashes, posted four top-10 results, had 18 rounds at par or better and 12 rounds in the 60s.

He became only the seventh Kent State golfer in history to shoot three consecutive rounds in the 60s, which he did at the Canadian collegiate and Hal Williams intercollegiate tournaments.

Kent State’s Jon Mills, who is from Deep River, was selected the MAC golf coach of the year.

Meanwhile, Max Corcoran tied for second place and played a major role in Simon Fraser University winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s team golf championship. He also was named the freshman of the year in his conference.

Simon Fraser’s Izzy Ferguson of Ottawa finished fifth at the conference women’s golf championship for Simon Fraser. She posted the best scoring average in the conference at 74.8 strokes per round and led the Red Leafs with five rounds at par or better. A biomedical physiology student, Ferguson, a junior, was recently named to the conference all-academic team for 2024-25.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Dominique Vivier of the Navan Curling Club and Nick Codner of Torbay, NL, lost their opening match at the world junior mixed doubles curling championship in Edmonton. The Canadian U21 champions allowed three in the sixth and seventh ends to snap a 5-5 tie and see Korea win 11-5. Canada is scheduled to play Romania on Wednesday.

· After rallying to win her round-of-16 match over Toronto’s Sydney Maxwell 7-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, Iman Shaheen of Ottawa lost her quarterfinal to Egypt’s Zeina Zein of Princeton University 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 at the Canadian open women’s squash championship in Toronto. Gloucester’s Jayden Shortt fell 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 to George Crowne of Oakville in the men’s open round of 16, while Gatineau’s Frederik Bemeur Thorson fell to Luke Yang of Toronto in the boys’ U19 round of 32 13-11, 11-6, 11-5.