Brockville Braves

Brockville Braves
Brockville Braves
City	Brockville, Ontario, Canada
League	Central Canada Hockey League
Division	West Division
Founded	1963
Home arena	Brockville Memorial Centre; (capacity: 1,800)
Colours	Red, white, black ;
Owner(s)	Hani Greiss and Dustin Traylen
General manager	Dustin Traylen
Head coach	Randy Jones
Media	FloSports
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 (French: Braves de Brockville) are a Junior A ice hockey team based in Brockville, Ontario. The Braves compete in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) as a member of the West Division and have won two Bogart Cups and two Fred Page Cups since their founding in 1963. They are one of the original CCHL teams, and they play their home games at the Brockville Memorial Centre.

Such NHLers as Larry Robinson and Wayne Simmonds, amongst other famous players, have both played for the Braves.

History

The Brockville Braves (est. 1963) are the oldest continuously operated franchise in the CCHL. In 1979, the team received national attention after being left homeless from an arena collapse. They played their home games at Cardinal and Rockland.

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 nemesis Pembroke 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 scorer 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 1980s and early 1990s 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 berth 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 La Ronge Ice Wolves, in which they did 6-3 to earn a berth in the semi-finals against the defending RBC champions, Vernon Vipers. Vernon went on to win the game 2-0, leaving the Braves out.

In 2014, the Brockville Braves were sold to former CCHL goaltender Dustin Traylen, who became the general manager. The previous owner was Todd Gill, who sold the Braves because he got a coaching job with the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League in 2011.

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 West
1996-97	53	28	18	7	0	234	206	63	3rd in West
1997-98	56	36	11	9	3	283	222	84	1st in West	Won League, won FPC
1998-99	54	39	11	4	0	294	190	82	1st in West
1999-00	56	39	12	5	0	285	221	83	1st in West
2000-01	55	9	43	3	0	167	295	22	5th in West
2001-02	55	12	35	11	0	213	302	35	5th in West
2002-03	55	21	27	7	0	226	274	50	2nd in West
2003-04	55	27	21	6	1	223	219	61	5th
2004-05	57	34	13	8	2	214	162	78	3rd in West
2005-06	59	29	22	5	3	213	201	66	3rd in West	Lost quarter-final
2006-07	55	28	20	6	1	201	190	63	2nd in West	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
2011-12	62	41	17	-	4	242	186	86	3rd CCHL	Lost quarter-final
2012-13	62	35	20	-	7	215	192	77	6th CCHL	Lost quarter-final
2013-14	62	35	24	-	3	216	200	73	5th CCHL	Lost quarter-final
2014-15	62	31	25	3	3	215	219	68	6th CCHL	Lost quarter-final
2015-16	62	40	19	1	2	197	161	83	3rd of 6 West 4th of 12 CCHL	Won quarterfinal, 4-0 (Grads) Lost semifinals 0-4 (Canadians)
2016-17	62	33	26	1	2	179	162	69	5th of 6 West 6th of 12 CCHL	Lost quarterfinal, 1-4 (Jr. Senators)
2017-18	62	38	20	2	2	210	160	80	2nd of 6 West 3rd of 12 CCHL	Won quarterfinal 4-0 (Lasers) Lost semifinals 3-4 (Jr. Senators)
2018-19	62	41	16	3	2	202	149	87	2nd of 6 West 3rd of 12 CCHL	Won quarterfinal 4-1 (Bears) Lost semifinals 0-4 (Jr. Senators)
2019-20	62	36	16	10	-	213	173	82	Playoff cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic
2020-21	Season cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic
2021-22	55	36	17	0	2	202	149	74	1st of 6 West 3rd of 12 CCHL	Won quarterfinal 4-3 (Bears) Lost semifinals 1-4 (Hawks)
2022-23	55	29	18	4	4	166	154	66	4 of 6 West 7th of 12 CCHL	Won quarterfinal 4-3 (Grads) Lost semifinals 1-4 (Bears)
2023-24	55	8	40	5	2	136	272	23	6 of 6 West 12th of 12 CCHL	Did Not Qualify for Post Season

Fred Page Cup

Eastern Canada Championships
MHL - QAAAJHL - CCHL - Host
Round robin play with 2nd vs 3rd in semi-final to advance against 1st in the finals.

Year	Round Robin	Record	Standing	Semifinal	Gold Medal Game
2010	W, Woodstock Slammers 6-0 W, Pembroke Lumber Kings 2-1 W, Terrebonne Cobras 5-2	3-0-0	1st of 4	n/a	W, Pembroke Lumber Kings 5-1 Fred Page Cup Champions advance to Royal Bank Cup
1998	?, Restigouche River Rats ?-? ?, Coaticook Frontaliers ?-? ?, Kanata Valley Lasers ?-?	?-?-?	?? of 4	n/a	W, Restigouche River Rats 4-1 Fred Page Cup Champions advance to Royal Bank Cup
1997 *	OTL, Longueuil Collège Français 5-6 OTW, Summerside Western Capitals 5-4 ?, Kanata Valley Lasers ?-?	1-2-0	3rd of 4	L, Longueuil Collège Français ?-?	n/a

* Tournament Host

Royal Bank Cup

CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dudley Hewitt Champions - Central, Fred Page Champions - Eastern, Western Canada Cup Champions - Western, Western Canada Cup - Runners Up and Host
Round robin play with top 4 in semi-final and winners to finals.

Year	Round Robin	Record	Standing	Semifinal	Gold Medal Game
2010	W, Oakville Blades 11-2 L, Dauphin Kings 2-3 L, Vernon Vipers 2-4 W, La Ronge Ice Wolves 6-3	2-2	3rd of 5	L, Vernon Vipers 0-2	n/a
1998	OTL, Nanaimo Clippers 4-3 L, Weyburn Red Wings 1-5 L, Milton Merchants 2-5 L, South Surrey Eagles 2-9	0-4	5th of 5

Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1986, 1998

Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: 1998, 2010

CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

Notable alumni

External links

Brockville Braves Website