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Gloucester Rangers
Gloucester Rangers Star Rangers
City: Flag of Ontario Gloucester, Ontario
League: Central Hockey League
Division: Yzerman
Founded: 1968
Home Arena: Earl Armstrong Arena
Colors: Black, Green, Gold, and White


                   

General Manager: Sylvain Favreau
Head Coach: Paul Jennings
Franchise history
1968-1973: Ottawa M&W Rangers
1973-2005: Gloucester Rangers
2005-2008: Orleans Blues
2008-2017: Gloucester Rangers
2017-Present: Rockland Nationals

The Gloucester Rangers were a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Gloucester, Ontario, Canada. They were a part of the Central Junior A Hockey League.

History[]

The franchise dates back to the 1968 expansion Ottawa M.&.W (MacIntosh & Watts) Rangers and made their home in Lietram in south Ottawa. In 1972, the M&W Rangers became the Gloucester Rangers and played out of the Earl Armstrong Arena. The Rangers won their first Art Bogart Cup as league champions in 1981 by defeating the Pembroke Lumber Kings. The 1995 Centennial Cup (now Royal Bank Cup) was awarded to the City of Gloucester and the Gloucester Rangers. The Rangers, who were up by a goal in the championship game against the Calgary Canucks of the AJHL. The Canucks tied the game in the dying seconds and won the Centennial Cup in overtime. After their last playoff appearance of the 20th century, the Rangers fell on hard times missing the playoffs multiple times. After a 10th place performance after the 2001-02 season, the Gloucester Rangers Jr. A Hockey Club was sold, and the colours and uniforms were changed to black, purple, and silver, which gave the Rangers a new reputation for the 2002-03 season. The Rangers also landed the best players that were acquired in blockbuster trades with their cross-town rivals Ottawa Jr. Senators. The changes paid off. In December 2002, the Gloucester Rangers traded for Mitch O'Keefe, who would then go on to record 6 regular season shutouts in 2003-04. Despite losing the 2004 Art Bogart Cuo finals, the Gloucester Rangers were predicted to be a championship contender the next season. In October 2004, with the sudden resignation of coaches Justin Nistico and Wayne Hughes, the championship-bound team lost its wheels to players demanding trades before January and the Rangers dropped mid-way in the overall standings and lost the Hawkesbury Hawks in the first round of the playoffs.

Orleans Blues[]

Days after the Gloucester Rangers lost the first-round to the Hawkesbury Hawks, the team was sold to a group of Orleans businessmen, who re-named the team - Orleans Blues, and the newly-created team remained at the Earl Armstrong Arena instead of playing out of the Orleans Arena of the Orleans Recreation Complex (now Bob McQuarrie Recreation Centre). The change results in lost tickets sales and a drop in attendance. The Blues best season was in 2006-07, when goaltender Adam Courchaine led the team to their only playoff appearance. After a disastrous 2007-08 season, the Blues were no more and returned to the traditional Gloucester Rangers.

Gloucester Rangers return[]

The owners of the Orleans Blues decided to return as the Gloucester Rangers because the Central Junior A Hockey League board of governers denied permit the team to move to Orleans, Ontario. Former Ottawa 67's assistant coach Vince Milette was hired as the Rangers coach. The Rangers requested to play four regular season games in Rockland, Ontario. But, the decision was denied by the league. On October 10, 2008 the Gloucester Rangers played a game at the nearby Orleans Recreation Centre against the Cumberland Grads for special game to commemorate the rivalry between the Rangers and Grads. At the time of the game, the Orleans Arena was re-named the Roger Senecal Arena in memory of Roger Senecal, who died in 2002. Senecal was a big part of the Gloucester Rangers Hockey Association. On March 6, 2009, the Rangers qualified for the 8th and final playoff spot defeating Brockville 4-1. The Rangers bowed out of the quarter-finals losing the series 4 games to 0 to the Nepean Raiders. Former Belleville Bulls and Ottawa 67's forward Stephan Blunden now plays for the Gloucester Rangers going into the 2009-10 season. previous Rangers logo

New ownership and final season in Gloucester[]

In late September 2016, Paul Jennings sold the Gloucester Rangers to a group of 4 partners being André Chaput, André Charlebois, Jean-Robert Leger and Robert Bourdeau. Paul Jennings purchased the Orleans Blues franchise from Chaput in 2007. The Gloucester Rangers will finish the 2016-17 season and will relocate to Rockland, Ontario to become the Rockland Nationals after playing at the aging Earl Armstrong Arena for nearly 50 years.

Season-by-season record[]

Season GP W L T OL GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
1968-69 40 11 22 7 - 145 202 29 5th CJHL
1969-70 40 30 6 4 - 198 108 64 1st CJHL Won League
1970-71 48 26 12 10 - 235 158 62 2nd CJHL Won League
1971-72 48 27 20 1 - 234 188 55 2nd CJHL
1972-73 55 30 20 5 - 293 233 65 2nd CJHL
1973-74 50 25 19 6 - 297 252 56 4th CJHL
1974-75 50 14 27 9 - 241 289 37 5th CJHL
1975-76 50 26 21 3 - 271 203 55 2nd CJHL
1976-77 50 24 21 5 - 241 231 53 3rd CJHL
1977-78 48 30 13 5 - 261 204 65 2nd CJHL
1978-79 48 23 23 2 - 210 235 48 3rd CJHL
1979-80 50 33 12 5 - 284 187 71 2nd CJHL
1980-81 50 28 15 7 - 248 191 63 3rd CJHL Won League
1981-82 50 11 36 3 - 191 266 25 6th CJHL
1982-83 48 15 28 5 - 189 241 35 6th CJHL
1983-84 53 21 16 6 - 233 235 48 6th CJHL
1984-85 54 18 33 1 2 234 328 39 6th CJHL
1985-86 60 35 21 1 3 311 247 74 4th CJHL
1986-87 54 28 21 2 3 260 248 61 3rd CJHL
1987-88 56 25 27 1 3 275 271 54 6th CJHL
1988-89 55 10 39 1 5 203 316 26 9th CJHL
1989-90 56 34 18 2 2 325 281 72 4th CJHL
1990-91 54 32 15 2 5 347 276 71 3rd CJHL
1991-92 57 40 12 4 1 360 233 85 3rd CJHL
1992-93 56 30 18 3 5 308 261 68 5th CJHL
1993-94 57 37 16 2 2 324 245 78 1st CJHL Won League
1994-95 55 32 18 2 3 263 219 69 3rd CJHL
1995-96 54 35 18 1 0 249 177 71 3rd in Robinson
1996-97 54 26 24 4 0 209 221 56 3rd in Yzerman
1997-98 56 26 21 9 3 223 217 64 2nd in Robinson
1998-99 54 7 43 4 0 18 149 287 5th in Robinson Out of Playoffs
1999-00 55 11 41 4 0 26 177 307 5th in Robinson Out of Playoffs
2000-01 55 14 35 6 0 37 192 278 4th in Robinson Lost quarter-final 4-1 to Cornwall
2001-02 55 6 43 7 0 19 162 331 5th in Robinson Out of Playoffs
2002-03 55 27 17 11 2 67 246 210 3rd in Robinson Lost semi-final 4-3 to Nepean
2003-04 55 30 21 4 0 188 167 64 4th Lost final 4-3 to Nepean
2004-05 57 24 26 1 6 194 204 55 3rd in Robinson Lost quarter-final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
2005-06 57 16 37 1 3 172 262 36 5th in Robinson Out of Playoffs
2006-07 55 26 21 6 2 184 190 60 2nd in Robinson Lost quarter-final 4-2 to Nepean
2007-08 60 14 38 4 4 188 301 36 10th CJHL Out of Playoffs
2008-09 60 26 26 - 8 198 247 60 8th CJHL Lost quarter-final 4-0 to Nepean
2009-10 62 35 21 - 6 277 225 76 4th CJHL Lost Quarter-final
2010-11 62 35 25 - 2 263 244 72 4th CCHL Lost semi-final 4-0 to Pembroke
2011-12 62 13 46 - 3 186 325 29 12th CCHL DNQ
2012-13 62 19 35 - 8 166 246 46 10th CCHL DNQ
2013-14 62 23 32 - 7 219 280 53 9th CCHL DNQ
2014-15 62 31 30 - 1 199 223 63 3rd of 6 Yzerman
9th of 12 CCHL
Won Prelim. Playin, 2-0 (73's)
Lost Quarterfinals, 0-4 (Jr. Senators)
Season GP W L T OL GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
2015-16 62 5 52 3 2 116 305 15 6th of 6 Yzerman
12th of 12 CCHL
DNQ
2016-17 62 22 34 3 3 141 204 50 T-4th of 6 Yzerman
T-10th of 12 CCHL
DNQ

Championships[]

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1970, 1971, 1981, 1994
Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: None
CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

Notable alumni[]

External links[]



This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Gloucester Rangers. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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