The Cornwall Nationals were a minor league professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team in the

Federal Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...

(FHL) that played in the 2016–17 season and folded during the 2017–18 season. Based in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

, the Nationals played their home games at the

Ed Lumley Arena The Cornwall Civic Complex is a business/sports facility located in Cornwall, Ontario, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. The arena inside is called the Ed Lumley Arena, named for Ed Lumley. It was built in 1976 and originally held 4,000 people, but in 20 ...

History

The Nationals were founded in September 2016, when the

Cornwall River Kings The Cornwall River Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada and members of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH). They played their home games at Ed Lumley Arena at the Cornwall Civic Complex. The team wa ...

of the

Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey The Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH, ''"North American Hockey League"'') is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in the Canadian province of Quebec. Teams in the LNAH compete for the Vertdure Cup. History The league was fou ...

(LNAH) folded just prior to the 2016–17 season. The team was led by general manager Mitch Gagne and team president Rodney Rivette. Prior to creating the Nationals, Rivette led a last-minute fundraising campaign to save the River Kings but did not get enough support in time for the LNAH's deadlines. On September 14, 2016, the city of

, approved a team called the Cornwall Nationals to begin play for the 2016–17 season out of the

. On September 16, the

(FHL) approved of the addition to the league for the upcoming season. On September 17, Rivette and Gagne presented the first four players ( Lou Dickenson, Jeff Legue, Jason Lepine, and Kris McCarthy) and revealed logo and jerseys. Midway through their first season, team president Rodney Rivette bought out Mitch Gagne's share of the team and Gagne left his position of general manager on 18 December. On December 21, the Nationals announced that it had secured another local investor, Will Beauvais, to help support the team. Nationals forward, Basem Awwad, also took over general manager duties at that time. On February 28, 2017, captain Joel Trottier took over as head coach. On February 20, 2018, Rivette announced that the team folded during the season and were unable to continue citing lack of spectators and income, despite the team sitting in second place in the league standings. Their last game was played on February 17 in a 13–6 win against the

North Shore Knights The North Shore Knights were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Federal Hockey League based out of Kingsville, Ontario. The Knights played the majority of their home games at the Kingsville Arena Complex as well as a few home games in se ...

in front of a crowd of 358.

References

External links

Official website
{{FHL Federal Prospects Hockey League teams Ice hockey clubs established in 2016 Sport in Cornwall, Ontario Ice hockey teams in Ontario 2016 establishments in Ontario