Nepean Raiders

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Nepean Raiders
Nepean Raiders 2010.gif
City Nepean, Ontario, Canada
League Central Canada Hockey League
Division Yzerman
Founded 1972
Home arena Steve Yzerman Arena
Colours Red, Black, Grey, and White
                   
General manager Randy Watt
Head coach Peter Goulet

The Nepean Raiders are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team from Nepean, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Central Canada Hockey League. The town of Nepean was granted expansion after the Cornwall Royals and the Hull Hawks left the CJHL for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Raiders started their operations in Nepean in 1972.

Contents

[edit] Early History

Nepean made the finals multiple times between 1972 to 1981. In the 1980s. Steve Yzerman and Darren Pang are still known for being the most-outstanding Raiders in the early era. The Raiders struggled in the 1980s and 1990s missing the playoffs multiple times, and set a season-record for the most-penalized CJHL team in 1995-96.

[edit] Modern History

Nepean sought new ownership in 1998, and were bought buy Gord Black, who gave the Nepean Raiders a much-needed facelift, giving the team a new logo (used from 1998–2008), and a new reputation. The new ownership named Fred Parker head coach for 1998-99, but was released after the season. Nepean went with former Nepean Raiders grad Chris Byrne and named him head coach for 1999-00, and was later named general manager along with head coach in 2002. Chris Byrne's coaching tactics and player developement helped turn the Nepean Raiders into one of most-successful franchises in the CJHL leading the team to their first championship in 2003, and another in 2004. Nepean won the Fred Page Cup later on. Despite, the dramatic comeback in the Fred Page Cup, it wasn't enough for to make the Royal Bank Cup finals, despite a 2-0 record at the start of the tournament.

In 2004-05, the Raiders set a season-low of 9 losses and finishing 1st overall for the second-consecutive year. However, the Raiders found themselves losing a controversial finals against the Hawkesbury Hawks when game 7 was played at a neutral venue.

After the 2005-06, the Nepean Raiders lost Chris Byrne to the OHL's Ottawa 67's as an assistant coach, and Archie Mulligan was hired. Mulligan, who had a strong reputation with Kanata from 1978-2002 was expected to help revive Nepean. The efforts were not enough, and Nepean finished 4th, but made the finals, losing to Pembroke. In the fall of 2007, Archie Mulligan resigned from the team after differences between management. Soon after, players desired to be traded. At the end, the Nepean Raiders had 3 different head coaches.

In 2008, after 10 years of ownership, Gord Black sold the franchise to Bryan Altshuller and Arnie Vered. The new owners, revived the team to its original era, but also commemorated the pirate logo as a symbol of success in the past. Hockey Night in Canada commentator Gary Galley was hired as head coach. The changes paid off, as the Raiders finished 1st overall in 2008-09. In the end, Nepean lost the finals to Pembroke.

In December 2009, the organization dealt with a devastating blow as management and coaching staff parted ways over differences. Players wanted to be traded afterwards, and new coach Peter Goulet encouraged players to stay, as he tried to resolve the issues.

Nepean adopted the original logo for 2010-11, and discontinued the pirate logo.

[edit] 2003 Fred Page Cup

Lennoxville Cougars 5 Nepean Raiders 2
Nepean Raiders 3 Charlottetown Abbies 1
Cornwall Colts 3 Nepean Raiders 2 (OT)
Nepean Raiders 3 Cornwall Colts 2 (2OT) semi-finals
Lennoxville Cougars 4 Nepean Raiders 0 championship game

CORNWALL, ONTARIO: Nepean punched its ticket to their first Fred Page Cup with a 4 games to 1 win over the Ottawa Jr. Senators. The Nepean Raiders and the Cornwall Colts were rivals in the last three seasons. Nepean dropped their first game 5–2 to the LHJAAAQ's Lennoxville Cougars, who were only playing in their first season. Nepean won their second game against the maritime representatives Charlottetown Abbies, that would help the Raiders solidify a berth in the semi-finals. Lennoxville earned a bye to the finals, despite a 7–5 loss to the Abbies. Cornwall and Nepean prepared for an all-league tilt on the final day of round robin. Cornwall won the game 3–2 in overtime, despite that the goal shouldn't have counted because there were too many men in the crease area. The Raiders boycotted the players-of-the-game ceremonies because Colts fans threw cups and snack wrappers into the Raiders bench moments after Cornwall scored the game-winner. The Raiders did re-match with Cornwall in the semi-finals. Cornwall forced overtime on a last-minute goal. Brian Ruckwald of Nepean scored the game-winner with a wrist shot that found its way past Cornwall goaltender Christian Boucher.

[edit] 2004 Fred Page Cup

Valleyfield Braves 4 Nepean Raiders 0
Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs 6 Nepean Raiders 4
Nepean Raiders 3 Campbelton Tigers 1
Nepean Raiders 3 Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs 2 (2OT) semi-finals
Nepean Raiders 4 Valleyfield Braves 0 championship

SALLEBERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD, Quebec: Nepean got added support by acquiring Gloucester Rangers goaltender Mitch O'Keefe, whose team was defeated in the finals by the Raiders in a seven-game series. O'Keefe got his second chance with the Nepean Raiders. The opening game for the Nepean Raiders faced the Valleyfield Braves, who went on to win 4-0, with the support of a sold-out crowd of Braves supporters. Nepean lost the second game to Saint-Eustache, and were in trouble of being eliminated. Campbelton lost to Valleyfield, and therefore Nepean had to win their last game against Campbelton, which they did 3-1. Nepean then went on to upset the Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs (ranked 5th in Canada) 3-2 in the semi-finals. Raiders captain Brennan Sarazin missed two games of the tournament due to exams at Carleton University and having a bad case of laryngitis. Sarazin arrived just in time for the final three must-win games including the championship game, in which Nepean won 4-0.

[edit] 2004 Royal Bank Cup

Logo until 2010.
Nepean Raiders 4 Nanaimo Clippers 3 (2OT)
Nepean Raiders 2 Kindersley Klippers 1
Grande Prairie Storm 4 Nepean Raiders 2
Aurora Tigers 3 Nepean Raiders 1
Aurora Tigers 7 Nepean Raiders 2 semi-finals

GRANDE-PRAIRIE, ALBERTA: The Nepean Raiders trailed 3-0 to the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL, before winning the game in double overtime as Raiders captain Brennan Sarazin netted the winner. The next day, the Raiders improved their record to 2-0 after a 2-1 win over the SJHL champions Kindersley Klippers. Chris Priolo scored for the Raiders twice. Nepean had a chance to improve their record to 3-0 against the Grande-Prairie Storm, but lost 4-2. Nepean would lose their last round-robin game to the top-ranked Aurora Tigers 3-1, despite that the Tigers lost to Grande-Prairie 4-2 earlier. Nepean looking to became the first CJHL team to make the Royal Bank Cup finals since its inception in 1996. Nepean would lose a heart-breaker 7-2, and Aurora would go on to win the Royal Bank Cup.

[edit] 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
1972-73 55 22 32 1 - 214 268 45 5th CJHL
1973-74 50 26 18 6 - 287 236 58 2nd CJHL
1974-75 50 23 17 10 - 254 216 54 4th CJHL
1975-76 50 16 27 7 - 186 240 39 5th CJHL
1976-77 50 28 13 9 - 263 193 65 1st CJHL
1977-78 48 24 20 4 - 258 205 52 3rd CJHL
1978-79 48 36 10 2 - 305 187 74 1st CJHL Lost final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
1979-80 50 25 22 3 - 312 260 53 3rd CJHL
1980-81 50 29 13 8 - 281 206 66 1st CJHL
1981-82 50 21 22 7 - 253 260 51 4th CJHL
1982-83 50 12 31 7 - 194 258 31 7th CJHL
1983-84 54 28 17 9 - 278 251 65 1st CJHL
1984-85 54 20 30 2 2 226 286 44 5th CJHL
1985-86 60 36 21 2 1 302 251 75 3rd CJHL
1986-87 52 30 21 1 0 266 207 61 2nd CJHL
1987-88 56 29 17 5 5 249 246 68 4th CJHL
1988-89 55 25 30 0 0 216 262 50 7th CJHL
1989-90 55 19 33 2 1 228 274 41 7th CJHL
1990-91 55 25 23 3 4 242 236 57 5th CJHL
1991-92 57 26 23 1 6 274 261 59 6th CJHL
1992-93 57 32 19 3 3 285 258 70 4th CJHL
1993-94 57 31 21 2 3 306 290 67 4th CJHL
1994-95 54 10 38 4 2 214 326 26 10th CJHL Out of Playoffs
1995-96 54 14 35 5 0 220 315 33 5th in Yzerman Out of Playoffs
1996-97 53 27 23 3 0 232 223 57 4th in Yzerman Lost quarter-finals 4-1 to Smiths Falls
1997-98 56 20 23 13 10 180 180 63 4th in Yzerman Lost quarter-finals 4-1 to Brockville
1998-99 54 31 21 2 0 202 194 64 3rd in Yzerman Lost semi-final 4-1 to Hawkesbury
1999-00 56 33 20 3 0 245 239 69 2nd in Yzerman Lost quarter-final 4-1 to Kanata
2000-01 55 26 19 10 0 222 186 63 3rd in Yzerman Lost semi-final 4-0 to Cornwall
2001-02 55 34 11 10 0 263 174 78 2nd Lost semi-final 4-2 to Ottawa
2002-03 55 32 17 6 2 227 185 72 1st in Yzerman Won league 4-1 over Ottawa
2003-04 55 37 14 3 1 229 144 78 1st Won league 4-3 over Gloucester
2004-05 57 42 9 3 3 225 131 90 1st Lost final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
2005-06 59 37 16 3 3 231 174 80 2nd in Yzerman Lost final 4-2 to Hawkesbury
2006-07 55 26 21 6 2 178 165 60 3rd in Yzerman Lost final 4-1 to Pembroke
2007-08 60 32 23 3 2 233 203 69 5th CJHL Lost quarter-final 4-2 to Brockville
2008-09 60 42 12 - 6 261 145 90 1st CJHL Lost final 4-2 to Pembroke
2009-10 62 33 26 - 3 250 217 69 6th CJHL Lost Quarter-final
2010-11 62 27 25 - 10 207 227 64 6th CCHL Lost Quarter-final

[edit] Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 2003, 2004
Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: 2004
CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] External links
Teams
Former Teams
Seasons
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