Brockville Braves

Brockville Braves
City	Brockville, Ontario, Canada
League	Central Canada Hockey League
Division	Robinson
Founded	1963
Home arena	Brockville Memorial Center
Colours	Red, Black, and White
General manager	Jason Hawkins
Head coach	Jason Hawkins
Franchise history
1963-1975	Brockville Braves
1975-1977	Brockville Warriors
1977-1980	Brockville Braves
1980-1981	Rockland Remparts
1981-Present	Brockville Braves

The Brockville Braves are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Brockville, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Central Junior A Hockey League. Such NHLer's as Larry Robinson and current player Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers amongst other famous players have all played for the Braves.

History

Founded in 1963, the Braves are the second oldest team that has never ceased operation in CJHL history—second only to Pembroke. In the 1979, the teams was the focus of national attention when they were left homeless due to their arena collapsing. This did not stop the Braves though, playing their home games out of Cardinal and Rockland, the Braves did not miss a beat.

It took until 1986 for the Brockville Braves to win a CJHL championships. They clinched the Bogart Cup on a late April night, defeating their arch-nemesis Pembroke Lumber Kings 8-7 in the finals. Braves' goalie Jacques Breault was the hero, as with 22 seconds to go in the game, turned away a penalty shot by the league's all-time leading scorers Luc Chabot. Although losing to Orillia in the Ontario playdowns, the team was a memorable one. Notable members of this team were all-time Braves leading scorer Larry Mitchell, Breault, Paul Duford, Tim Dubas, Dan Nummikoski, Steve Rachwal, Chad Badawey and Rob White.

Since that championship, the team has experienced more bad times than good. The late 80's and early 90's were not good to the Braves, who failed to make the playoffs multiple times.

In 1997, times began to change for the better again. The Braves competed in and won in Quebec, the Fred Page Cup, the Eastern Canadian Junior "A" championship. This allowed for their team to compete in the event and give them the experience they needed for the next season. The Braves regained their league title in 1998, bringing the club around full circle.

Former NHLer Todd Gill purchased the Brockville Braves and has been the head coach since 2006-07. He helped bring the Fred Page Cup to Brockville for the first time for 2010. Gill played in the NHL from 1984 to 2003 playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes, and St. Louis Blues. Former Braves head coach Mike McCourt was recently named head coach of the OHL's Niagara Ice Dogs for 2009-10. McCourt was head coach with Brockville from 2003 to 2006.

In 2009-2010, the Braves established a league record for most consecutive wins with 26. Brockville completed easy series wins over Kemptville (4-0) and Ottawa (4-0) to win a birth in the finals against the Pembroke Lumber Kings - as predicted by many CJHL followers. However, it was Pembroke that made CJHL history by winning four-consecutive Art Bogart Cup championships knocking off the Braves in 5 games. Despite, the finals loss to the Lumber Kings, the Braves won the Fred Page Cup against the Lumber Kings in an all-league finals tilt as the Braves won 5-1. At the Royal Bank Cup in Dauphin, Manitoba, the Braves broke a Royal Bank Cup record the highest margin of victory by defeating the Oakville Blades 11-2. (The previous record was held by the 1999 Vernon Vipers, who defeated the Charlottetown Abbies 9-3 in the championship game in Yorkton, SASK). The Braves would still have to win their last game against the LaRonge Ice Wolves, in which they did 6-3 to earn a birth in the semi-finals against the defending RBC champions, Vernon Vipers. Vernon went on to win the game 2-0, leaving the Braves out.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Points	Finish	Playoffs
1963-64	32	11	20	1	-	--	--	23	7th OHDJHL	Lost Quarter-final
1964-65	36	16	16	4	-	165	141	36	7th CJHL	Lost Quarter-final
1965-66	36	19	16	1	-	188	175	39	5th CJHL	Lost Quarter-final
1966-67	50	19	25	6	-	173	218	44	3rd CJHL	Lost Semi-final
1967-68	40	25	11	4	-	193	152	54	1st CJHL	Lost Semi-final
1968-69	40	13	24	3	-	166	183	29	4th CJHL	Lost Semi-final
1969-70	40	22	13	5	-	180	156	49	2nd CJHL
1970-71	48	16	29	3	-	174	244	35	4th CJHL
1971-72	48	24	22	2	-	198	181	50	3rd CJHL
1972-73	55	26	27	2	-	273	290	54	3rd CJHL
1973-74	50	16	29	5	-	234	322	37	5th CJHL
1974-75	50	10	36	4	-	218	329	24	6th CJHL
1975-76	50	17	23	10	-	204	212	44	4th CJHL
1976-77	50	17	20	13	-	252	270	47	5th CJHL
1977-78	48	10	32	6	-	165	268	26	5th CJHL
1978-79	48	9	38	1	-	205	349	19	5th CJHL
1979-80	50	10	35	5	-	209	391	25	5th CJHL
1980-81	50	20	24	6	-	183	223	46	4th CJHL
1981-82	50	19	27	4	-	237	281	42	5th CJHL
1982-83	48	22	18	8	-	248	198	52	3rd CJHL
1983-84	54	26	20	8	-	315	245	60	2nd CJHL
1984-85	54	37	15	1	1	364	237	76	2nd CJHL
1985-86	60	41	17	2	0	360	285	84	1st CJHL	Won League
1986-87	52	16	29	3	4	213	309	39	7th CJHL
1987-88	56	35	16	3	2	335	224	75	3rd CJHL
1988-89	56	37	14	0	5	322	230	79	2nd CJHL
1989-90	56	38	8	4	6	377	256	82	2nd CJHL
1990-91	50	12	32	1	5	139	327	30	9th CJHL
1991-92	57	13	41	1	2	211	346	29	9th CJHL
1992-93	57	19	29	4	5	235	297	47	8th CJHL
1993-94	57	24	28	3	8	279	275	59	7th CJHL
1994-95	54	26	24	2	2	222	219	56	8th CJHL
1995-96	56	25	27	2	0	249	247	52	2nd in Yzerman
1996-97	53	28	18	7	0	234	206	63	3rd in Yzerman
1997-98	56	36	11	9	3	283	222	84	1st in Yzerman	Won League, Won FPC
1998-99	54	39	11	4	0	294	190	82	1st in Yzerman
1999-00	56	39	12	5	0	285	221	83	1st in Yzerman
2000-01	55	9	43	3	0	167	295	22	5th in Yzerman
2001-02	55	12	35	11	0	213	302	35	5th in Yzerman
2002-03	55	21	27	7	0	226	274	50	2nd in Yzerman
2003-04	55	27	21	6	1	223	219	61	5th
2004-05	57	34	13	8	2	214	162	78	3rd in Yzerman
2005-06	59	29	22	5	3	213	201	66	3rd in Yzerman	Lost Quarter-final
2006-07	55	28	20	6	1	201	190	63	2nd in Yzerman	Lost Quarter-final
2007-08	60	38	18	3	1	270	196	80	3rd CJHL	Lost Semi-final
2008-09	60	36	20	-	4	240	185	76	4th CJHL
2009-10	62	52	8	-	2	308	140	106	1st CJHL	Lost Final, Won FPC
2010-11	62	44	15	-	3	233	160	91	3rd CCHL	Lost Semi-final

Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1978, 1998

Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: 1998, 2010

CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

Notable alumni

• Terry Carkner
• Brian Chapman
• Chris Clifford
• Mark Cornforth
• Todd Gill
• Brett Harkins
• Murray Kuntz
• Hank Lammens
• Kevin MacDonald
• Paul MacLean
• Larry Robinson
• Ray Sheppard
• Wayne Simmonds
• Gord Smith
• Trevor Stienburg

External links

• Brockville Braves Website