The Cornwall Royals were a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 1969 to 1981 and the Ontario Hockey League from 1981 to 1992. This team should not be confused with other Cornwall Royals teams that played in the QSHL, MMJHL, or OHA-B.

History

From 1903 until 1925, the Cornwall Royals were successful members of the Central Junior A Hockey League. After an application to join the OHL was rejected, the franchise became one of the inaugural teams of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1969. The Cornwall Royals were one of the league's premier teams during its tenure in the QMJHL, winning 3 Memorial Cup titles. For the 1981–82 season, the team transferred to the Ontario Hockey League.

The Royals suffered through many tough seasons and poor attendance after moving to the OHL. The switch in leagues alienated many die-hard fans from across the Quebec border. Seeking better fortunes, the franchise moved to Newmarket, Ontario to play as the Newmarket Royals in 1992. In 1994 the team was bought by the Ciccarelli brothers and moved to Sarnia, Ontario as the Sarnia Sting.

Championships

The Cornwall Royals are one of only 7 clubs to win consecutive Memorial Cup championships. They did so in 1980 and 1981. In total, the Royals won 3 Memorial Cups, 3 President's Cups, and 5 division titles while in the QMJHL. The Royals did not win any OHL championships.

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1966, 1967, 1968

President's Cup Playoff Champions in the QMJHL. 1972 QMJHL Champions vs. Quebec Remparts 1980 QMJHL Champions vs. Sherbrooke Castors 1981 QMJHL Champions vs. Trois-Rivieres Draveurs Jean Rougeau Trophy Regular season Champions in the QMJHL. 1971–1972 96 points 1980–1981 90 points

West Division Trophy First overall in the West Division. 1973–1974 94 points Lebel Division Trophy First overall in the Lebel Division. 1977–1978 100 points 1979–1980 88 points 1980–1981 90 points

Memorial Cups

• 1972 CHL Champions vs. Peterborough Petes
• 1980 CHL Champions vs. Peterborough Petes
• 1981 CHL Champions vs. Kitchener Rangers

Coaches

Orval Tessier guided the Cornwall Royals to the Memorial Cup championship in 1972. Doug Carpenter coached the 1980 Royals, and Bob Kilger in 1981.

Marc Crawford was a former Cornwall Royals player who came back to coach. He would win the Stanley Cup coaching the Colorado Avalanche. He also coached the Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings.

List of Coaches

(Multiple years in parentheses)

1981–82 Bob Kilger 1982–83 *multiple coaches 1983–84 Jocelyn Guevremont 1984–85 Floyd Crawford

1985–86 Tony Zappia 1986–89 Orval Tessier (3) 1989–91 Marc Crawford (2) 1991–92 John Lovell

*1982–83 coaches Bob Kilger, Bill Murphy, Gord Woods, Jocelyn Guevremont

Players

The Cornwall Royals graduated 55 players to the National Hockey League. From these alumni, 31 played for the Royals in the QMJHL, and 29 played for the Royals in the OHL, and 5 played for the Royals in both leagues.

CHL awards

CHL Player of the Year 1980–1981 Dale Hawerchuk CHL Defenceman of the Year 1989–1990 John Slaney

CHL Scholastic Player of the Year 1991–1992 Nathan LaFayette

QMJHL awards

Michel Brière Commemorative Trophy (Most Valuable Player) 1973–74 Gary MacGregor 1974–75 Mario Viens 1980–81 Dale Hawerchuk Guy Lafleur Trophy (Playoffs MVP) 1979–80 Dale Hawerchuk Jean Béliveau Trophy (Top Scorer) 1980–81 Dale Hawerchuk Instructors Trophy (Rookie of the Year) 1970–71 Bob Murphy 1971–72 Bob Murray 1979–80 Dale Hawerchuk

Emile Bouchard Trophy (Defenseman of the Year) 1980–81 Fred Boimistruck Jacques Plante Commemorative Trophy (Best Goals Against Average) 1971–72 Richard Brodeur 1975–76 Tim Bernhardt 1976–77 Tim Bernhardt 1977–78 Tim Bernhardt Mike Bossy Trophy (Best Professional Prospect) 1980–81 Dale Hawerchuk Frank J. Selke Commemorative Trophy (Most Sportsmanlike Player) 1971–72 Gerry Teeple 1973–74 Gary MacGregor

OHL awards

Red Tilson Trophy OHL Most valuable player. 1982–1983 Doug Gilmour 1985–1986 Ray Sheppard Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy OHL Top Point Scorer. 1982–1983 Doug Gilmour 1985–1986 Ray Sheppard Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy OHL Top Scoring Right Winger. 1982–1983 Ian MacInnis 1985–1986 Ray Sheppard 1989–1990 Owen Nolan

Max Kaminsky Trophy Most Outstanding Defenceman. 1989–1990 John Slaney OHL Goaltender of the Year Voted best goaltender in the OHL. 1987–1988 Rick Tabaracci Emms Family Award Rookie of the year. 1988–1989 Owen Nolan Bobby Smith Trophy Scholastic player of the year. 1990–1991 Nathan LaFayette 1991–1992 Nathan LaFayette

Hockey Hall of Fame members

Two alumni of the Cornwall Royals have been enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The first was New York Islanders goalie Billy Smith. Smith was the inaugural goalie for the Royals in the QMJHL during the 1969–70 season. After this season he was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings.

Dale Hawerchuk is the second inductee. He led the Royals to two Memorial Cup championships in 1980 and 1981. He was drafted first overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft

NHL alumni

QMJHL (1969–1981)

Jeff Allan Dave Allison Scott Arniel Fred Arthur Reid Bailey Tim Bernhardt Fred Boimistruck Richard Brodeur

Eric Calder Alain Chevrier Bob Crawford Lou Crawford Marc Crawford Dan Daoust Jeff Eatough Dan Frawley

Danny Geoffrion Doug Gilmour Dale Hawerchuk Blair MacDonald John Markell Corrado Micalef Bob Murray Graeme Nicolson

Rick Paterson Ron Scott Al Sims Billy Smith Ron Smith John Wensink Rod Willard

OHL (1981–1992)

Scott Arniel Bobby Babcock Eric Calder Jason Cirone Larry Courville Craig Duncanson Jeff Eatough Dan Frawley

Doug Gilmour Jim Kyte Nathan LaFayette Alan Letang Guy Leveque Steve Maltais Owen Nolan

Mike Prokopec Rob Ray Joe Reekie Ken Sabourin Mathieu Schneider Ray Sheppard John Slaney

Mike Stapleton Jeremy Stevenson Rick Tabaracci Tom Thornbury Mike Tomlak Ryan Vandenbussche Michael Ware

Season-by-season results

Regular season

Season	League	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	Pct %	Goals for	Goals against	Standing
1969–70	QMJHL	56	24	31	1	49	0.438	223	255	2nd West
1970–71	QMJHL	62	22	40	0	44	0.355	260	326	10th QMJHL
1971–72	QMJHL	62	47	13	2	96	0.774	361	182	1st QMJHL
1972–73	QMJHL	64	43	19	2	88	0.688	365	253	2nd QMJHL
1973–74	QMJHL	70	46	22	2	94	0.671	438	328	1st West
1974–75	QMJHL	72	36	24	12	84	0.583	322	296	3rd West
1975–76	QMJHL	72	39	24	9	87	0.604	349	270	2nd West
1976–77	QMJHL	72	38	24	10	86	0.597	345	281	2nd Lebel
1977–78	QMJHL	72	46	18	8	100	0.694	404	258	1st Lebel
1978–79	QMJHL	72	29	36	7	65	0.451	361	397	3rd Lebel
1979–80	QMJHL	72	41	25	6	88	0.611	388	333	1st Lebel
1980–81	QMJHL	72	44	26	2	90	0.625	403	311	1st Lebel
1981–82	OHL	68	28	35	5	61	0.449	303	327	6th Leyden
1982–83	OHL	70	36	33	1	73	0.521	370	335	5th Leyden
1983–84	OHL	70	33	37	0	66	0.471	348	375	6th Leyden
1984–85	OHL	66	34	30	2	70	0.530	355	344	4th Leyden
1985–86	OHL	66	28	36	2	58	0.439	307	356	5th Leyden
1986–87	OHL	66	23	40	3	49	0.371	261	369	6th Leyden
1987–88	OHL	66	35	24	7	77	0.583	333	255	3rd Leyden
1988–89	OHL	66	31	30	5	67	0.508	350	308	4th Leyden
1989–90	OHL	66	24	38	4	52	0.394	309	361	6th Leyden
1990–91	OHL	66	23	42	1	47	0.356	281	335	7th Leyden
1991–92	OHL	66	38	22	6	82	0.621	328	289	3rd Leyden

Playoffs

QMJHL (1969–1981)

• 1969–1970 Lost to Verdun Maple Leafs 4 games to 2 in quarter-finals.
• 1970–1971 Out of playoffs.
• 1971–1972 Defeated Verdun Maple Leafs 8 points to 0 in quarter-finals.
  Defeated Shawinigan Bruins 8 points to 2 in semi-finals.
  
  
  Defeated Quebec Remparts 9 points to 5 in finals.
  
  
  
  QMJHL CHAMPIONS
  Defeated Peterborough Petes 2-1 in Memorial Cup final.
  
  
  
  
  
  MEMORIAL CUP CHAMPIONS
  
  
  
• 1972–1973 Defeated Montreal Bleu-Blanc-Rouge 4 games to 0 in quarter-finals.
  Defeated Sorel Eperviers 4 games to 1 in semi-finals.
  
  
  Lost to Quebec Remparts 4 games to 3 in finals.
  
  
• 1973–1974 Lost to Laval National 4 games to 1 in quarter-finals.
• 1974–1975 Lost to Montreal Bleu-Blanc-Rouge 4 games to 0 in quarter-finals.
• 1975–1976 Defeated Montreal Juniors 4 games to 2 in quarter-finals.
  Lost to Quebec Remparts 4 games to 0 in semi-finals.
  
• 1976–1977 Defeated Trois-Rivières Draveurs 8 points to 4 in quarter-finals.
  Lost to Sherbrooke Castors 9 points to 0 in semi-finals.
  
• 1977–1978 Defeated Hull Olympiques 8 points to 0 in quarter-finals.
  Lost to Montreal Juniors 8 points to 2 in semi-finals.
  
• 1978–1979 Lost to Verdun Eperviers 8 points to 6 in quarter-finals.
• 1979–1980 Defeated in Shawinigan Cataractes 4 games to 3 in quarter-finals.
  Defeated Chicoutimi Saguenéens 4 games to 1 in semi-finals.
  
  
  Defeated Sherbrooke Castors 4 games to 2 in finals.
  
  
  
  QMJHL CHAMPIONS
  Defeated Peterborough Petes 3-2 in Memorial Cup final.
  
  
  
  
  
  MEMORIAL CUP CHAMPIONS
  
  
  
• 1980–1981 Defeated Quebec Remparts 4 games to 3 in quarter-finals.
  Defeated Sherbrooke Castors 4 games to 3 in semi-finals.
  
  
  Defeated Trois-Rivières Draveurs 4 games to 1 in finals.
  
  
  
  QMJHL CHAMPIONS
  Defeated Kitchener Rangers 5-2 in Memorial Cup final.
  
  
  
  
  
  MEMORIAL CUP CHAMPIONS
  
  
  

OHL (1981–1992)

• 1981–1982 Lost to Toronto Marlboros 6 points to 4 in first round.
• 1982–1983 Defeated Toronto Marlboros 7 points to 1 in first round.
  Lost to Ottawa 67's 8 points to 0 in quarter-finals.
  
• 1983–1984 Lost to Peterborough Petes 6 points to 0 in first round.
• 1984–1985 Defeated Toronto Marlboros 8 points to 2 in first round.
  Lost to Belleville Bulls 6 points to 2 in quarter-finals.
  
• 1985–1986 Lost to Belleville Bulls 9 points to 3 in first round.
• 1986–1987 Lost to Ottawa 67's 4 games to 1 in first round.
• 1987–1988 Defeated Belleville Bulls 4 games to 2 in first round.
  Lost to Ottawa 67's 4 games to 1 in quarter-finals.
  
• 1988–1989 Defeated Toronto Marlboros 4 games to 2 in first round.
  Defeated Ottawa 67's 4 games to 2 in quarter-finals.
  
  
  Lost to Peterborough Petes 4 games to 2 in semi-finals.
  
  
• 1989–1990 Lost to Oshawa Generals 4 games to 2 in first round.
• 1990–1991 Out of playoffs.
• 1991–1992 Lost to Ottawa 67's 4 games to 2 in first round.

Uniforms and logos

The Cornwall Royals used similar red, white and blue uniforms for their entire 24 year existence. Their unusual logo was the winning entry in a contest, hand drawn by a local child.

Arenas

The Cornwall Royals played out of the Water Street Arena from 1969 to 1976 while in the QMJHL. The Arena has seen been renamed the Si Miller Arena, in honour of the City of Cornwall Director of Parks and Recreation, from 1963 until his retirement on December 31, 1994.

• Water Street Arena The OHL Arena & Travel Guide

From 1976 to 1992 the Royals played out for the Cornwall Civic Complex, located across the road from their previous arena. The arena hosted the 1990 Chrysler Challenge Cup, the annual All-Star game between the OHL and the QMJHL, which the OHL won by a score of 3 to 0.

• Cornwall Civic Complex The OHL Arena & Travel Guide