As the QMJHL final possibly nears its end tonight, with the Moncton Wildcats entering Game 3 with a commanding 2-0 lead over the Rimouski Océanic, we reflect on a story of another QMJHL success story that took place outside of Quebec’s borders. The Q did not expand into the Maritimes until 1994, with the addition of the Halifax Mooseheads. Ergo, the story of non-Quebec-based teams in the Q prior to that is somewhat unusual. There was the Plattsburgh, NY experiment, for example, which was mentioned in passing in our Lewiston MAINEiacs story and an absolute disaster. However, the pinnacle actually lay just barely across la belle province‘s border, in Ontario, and it was not an expansion team. Indeed, it was actually one of the QMJHL’s charter franchises. Without further ado, let us take a trip down memory lane and examine the successful, yet somewhat star-crossed, story of the Cornwall Royals.

Cornwall were originally a Junior A league founded in 1961, with plenty of success to their name. However, for the sake of simplicity, we shall examine most thoroughly its time as part of the major junior landscape as junior hockey in Canada began its transformation. The origins of the Cornwall Royals being one of the founding members of the Q laid in the rejection of their application to join the OHL’s precursor league. Per the QMJHL Arena Guide, the reasoning for this was at least partially rooted in the fact that the Water Street Arena, even at the time, was considered an inadequate facility. However, the QMJHL had a place for them as the league began play for its inaugural season. Success was not immediately apparent, as they were a first round exit in year one and a playoff miss in year two. However, driven by eventual longest tenured head coach Orval Tessier, offensive output from C Gerry Teeple (who tallied 128 points in 56 games that season) and strong performance by G Richard Brodeur (who subsequently went on to have a strong, several season WHA stint with the Quebec Nordiques before joining the NHL and having a fairly lengthy career primarily with the Vancouver Canucks), the Royals had an amazing third season. They had the best regular season record with 96 points, 10 points ahead of the second-place Drummondville Rangers, then were crowned QMJHL champions after defeating the Verdun Maple Leafs, Shawinigan Bruins, and Quebec Remparts. This sent them to the 1972 Memorial Cup, which was its 54th edition and the first time it had been contested as a round robin rather than simply an Eastern Canada vs. Western Canada final due to the changes in the environment that had occurred. Some more detail on this can be found in this article and its various references. The Royals would win the ultimate trophy when all was said and done, eventually defeating the OHA’s Peterborough Petes 2-1 in the final despite dropping their preliminary round game to them by a score of 4-2 (having qualified for the final by beating the WCHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings by a score of 5-0 to qualify for the final). Under the guidance of head coach Ron Racette the following season, the Royals would have another successful campaign, finishing in second in the regular season standings behind only Quebec and boasting two 100-point players by way of Blair MacDonald (who later played for the Edmonton Oilers for many seasons in both the WHA and NHL) and Yvan Bouillon. They would return to the finals, facing Quebec yet again, but the Remparts would have their revenge, defeating the Royals in seven games.

The next several seasons were spent stuck in the middle, in a way, as Cornwall had many successful regular season campaigns, but never made much of a dent in the QMJHL playoffs. Their fortunes drastically changed with the addition of Dale Hawerchuk, who had quite a rookie campaign. This article we published last year examines how Hawerchuk came to be drafted by the Royals and what his path to major junior hockey looked like. Most importantly for Cornwall, however, the one the Oshawa Generals didn’t want recorded 103 points in 72 regular season games, while defenseman David Ezard and fellow forward Dan Daoust also passed the century mark to round out the top three with 105 and 102 points, respectively. Gilles Crépeau was not far behind at 95 points on the season. The goaltender tandem of Ron Scott and Tom Graovac split the duties nearly evenly as the Royals finished the regular season atop the Lebel Division with 88 points. They would subsequently defeat the Shawinigan Cataractes, Chicoutimi Saguenéens, and Sherbrooke Castors to capture their second-ever QMJHL title. In the Memorial Cup, they would face the OMJHL’s Peterborough Petes yet again, as well as the WHL’s Regina Pats. Yet again, they would defeat Peterborough to capture the title, but not without some intriguing controversy along the way. Nevertheless, though, this placed Cornwall in a special category, as they had multiple Memorial Cup titles to their name.

This would not be the last big-time success, either, as Hawerchuk took a huge development step the next season (his DY) via a league-leading 183 points in 72 games. Two future NHL head coaches in the form of Marc Crawford and Scott Arniel were on that roster, as well, with both also eclipsing the century mark. John Kirk trailed just behind at 98 points and Crépeau had another good campaign with 94 points to his name. Defenseman Robert Savard was also lauded for his own zone and was a QMJHL second team all-star. Graovac did most of the heavy lifting this season, starting 47 games and holding his own. This time around, the Royals had the best record in the Q but faced some adversity in the postseason. They required seven games to defeat both the Remparts and the Castors, but defeated the Trois-Rivières Draveurs in five to capture their second consecutive title and third overall. In the Memorial Cup, the Royals were pitted against the WHL’s Victoria Cougars and OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. They put in a dominant performance, winning all but one of their round robin games and defeating Kitchener 8-2 in the final to capture their third Memorial Cup and second in a row. The team had become a dynasty.

That said, this was the Cornwall Royals’ swan song in the Q. Subsequently, they made the switch to the OHL, where they always wanted to be. The Royals had scorned their vast Francophone fanbase, due in part to the fact that they were now drawing from the Ontario talent pool for drafting and scouting, and saw their attendance drop significantly. The team had some bright spots in their time in the O, such as the development of Doug Gilmour, but their on-ice results were never close to sniffing the success they had in the QMJHL. Eventually, they relocated to Newmarket, ON in 1992, then were purchased by Dino and Robert Ciccarelli and relocated to Sarnia, where they became known as and still play today as the Sting. The Sting have produced their fair share of NHL talents, with Steven Stamkos perhaps standing atop their list of greatest alumni. However, perhaps forever haunted by the ghosts of their past, the franchise still seeks its first appearance in the OHL championship.