Rockland Nationals
City	Rockland, Ontario
League	Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League
Arena	Jean Marc Lalonde Arena
Colours	Blue, Red, and White
Coach	Frank Cyr
GM	Alan Lawrie

The Rockland Nationals are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team from Rockland, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League.

History

The original Nationals were founded in 1973 to replace the Hull Festivals who had just left the Central Junior A Hockey League for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In just three season the Nationals, coached by Bryan Murray, won the league, the Dudley Hewitt Cup as Central Canadian champions, and the Centennial Cup 1976 National Championship. Unfortunately for them, in those days the teams played sets of best-of-seven series to determine the national champion. Many successful Tier II clubs like the Red Deer Rustlers, the Guelph Platers, and the Vernon Vipers franchises were well rooted in their communities when they were victorious, with warchests of cash from major sponsors and massive fan support awaiting long playoff runs. The Nationals were in their infantile stage as an organization and found themselves not only national champions but financially bankrupt from months of travel across the county. They survived one more season on life support funds from the CJHL before packing it in for the 1977-78 season. The fall of the Nationals convinced the CJHL to petition the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to consider alternate, cheaper, playdown methods to determine regional and national champions. The CAHA answered back a few seasons later with the formation of round robin championship tournaments. To this date, the Rockland Nationals are the only team in CJHL history to have won a Tier II Junior "A" National title.

A decade later the Nationals were reborn. In 1987, the Nationals entered the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League and won the league title in their first season back in action. In recent years, the Nationals have been pushing to re-enter the CJHL, but with no results so far.

Centennial Cup 1976

In only their third season, the Nationals were league champions. They moved on to take on the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association champion Guelph Platers. The series went the distance, but the Nationals pulled out a 4-games-to-3 series win. In the Eastern Canadian championship, the Nationals drew the Island Junior Hockey League's Charlottetown Islanders. The Nationals overpowered the Islanders and crushed them 4-games-to-none. In the final, the Nationals came to play the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Doyle Cup, and Abbott Cup Champion Spruce Grove Mets. The Mets were floored by the Nationals in the first two games, losing 9-4 and 7-1 respectively. In Game 3, the Mets pulled close in a 5-3 loss and then took game four 4-3. Game 5 saw the National regain their early series form and crush the Mets 7-3 to win their first and only National title 4-games-to-1.

Season-by-Season Record

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

External links

• Nationals Homepage

Central Junior A Hockey League
Current Teams: Brockville Braves | Cornwall Colts | Cumberland Grads | Hawkesbury Hawks | Kanata Stallions | Kemptville 73's | Nepean Raiders | Orleans Blues | Ottawa Jr. Senators | Pembroke Lumber Kings | Smiths Falls Bears Former Member Teams: Cornwall Royals | Hull Hawks | Rockland Nationals Canadian Junior A Hockey League | Fred Page Cup | Royal Bank Cup

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