The Newfoundland Growlers are a professional minor league

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

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team began play in the 2018–19 ECHL season and have home games at

Mary Brown's Centre Mary Brown's Centre (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena ca ...

. They are members in the North Division of the Eastern Conference and are affiliated with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies is owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

History

The search for a new professional hockey team for St. John's began after the departure of the St. John's IceCaps of the

. In July 2016, the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

, who owned the franchise used by the club, confirmed the relocation of the team to the newly constructed Place Bell arena in

Laval, Quebec Laval (; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in C ...

, for the start of the 2017–18 season. Danny Williams, who ran the IceCaps and owned the team's intellectual property, stated his intentions to find another franchise with the AHL or another league. From that point two rival groups formed. The first were the operators of the

St. John's Edge The St. John's Edge are an inactive Canadian professional basketball team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and compete in the National Basketball League of Canada. From 2017 to 2020, they played home games at Mile One Centre. The ...

basketball team and current occupants of the

Mile One Centre Mary Brown's Centre (formerly Mile One Centre) is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena can ...

, who looked to secure a

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

franchise for the arena. The other, led by local businessman Dean MacDonald and including ice hockey executive Glenn Stanford of the former IceCaps, were looking to secure an ECHL team. The ECHL franchise was conditionally approved for the Stanford-led group pending an arena deal but was delayed in late January 2018 after a dispute with the

ownership group over arena rights that led to

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

. After the lease issue was settled, the ECHL officially approved St. John's for entry into the league on March 13, 2018, to begin with the 2018–19 season, placing them in the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The ECHL ownership group reportedly created a partnership with the

, which would bring the organization back to St. John's for the first time since the team relocated their

affiliate, the

St. John's Maple Leafs The St. John's Maple Leafs were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at Memorial Stadium from 1991 to 2001, and at Mile One Stadium from 2001 to 2005. The team was ...

, to Toronto in 2005. The affiliation would eventually be confirmed on June 14. Among the names considered for the new franchise were Shamrocks, Storm, Regiment, and Newfoundland Growlers. The team announced its name as the Newfoundland Growlers on May 22, the name in reference to the

Newfoundland dog The Newfoundland is a large working dog. They can be black, brown, or black and white. However, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, before it became part of the confederation of Canada, only black and Landseer (white-and-black) coloured dogs wer ...

, specifically the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

mascot of the

Royal Newfoundland Regiment The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (R NFLD R) is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 37 Canadian Brigade Group. Predecessor units trace their origins to 1795, and since 1949 Royal N ...

Sable Chief Sable Chief was a Newfoundland dog that served as the mascot of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I. He was presented officially on 1 Oct 1914, before troops left St. John's on the SS Florizel, by James R. Stick of the Royal Stores, ...

. Ryane Clowe, a Newfoundland native, previously an assistant coach with the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

, was named head coach on June 20. John Snowden was added as assistant coach on July 19 after serving in the same capacity for the Maple Leafs' previous ECHL affiliate, the

Orlando Solar Bears The Orlando Solar Bears are a professional ice hockey team that plays their home games at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. They play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference and are affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning of t ...

. The Growlers played their first game on October 12, 2018, a 3–2 win over the

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliated with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (N ...

in front of a sold-out arena. In January 2019, Clowe stepped down due to health concerns and was replaced by assistant coach John Snowden. The Growlers finished the season in first place within their division with 94 points. The Growlers then advanced through the 2019 playoffs to the league finals where they defeated the

Toledo Walleye The Toledo Walleye are a professional ice hockey team based in Toledo, Ohio. The Walleye are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Walleye were founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm and play their home games at ...

in six games to win the Kelly Cup. The Growlers were the first team since the 1989–90

Greensboro Monarchs The Greensboro Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Monarchs joined the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) as an expansion franchise prior to the start of the 1989–90 season and surrendered the f ...

to win the ECHL championship in an organization's first season of operations. They are also the first Canadian team to win the Cup. They did not get to defend their title in 2020 as the playoffs were cancelled due to the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The Growlers then voluntarily suspended operations for the 2020–21 ECHL season as the pandemic still had ongoing travel restrictions. In the 2021 offseason, head coach Snowden was hired by the Growlers' AHL affiliate, the

, as an assistant coach and the Growlers brought in

Eric Wellwood Eric Wellwood (born March 6, 1990) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current head coach for the Newfoundland Growlers in the ECHL. He played parts of three National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. He ...

as the next head coach. During the 2021–22 season, the Growlers hired

Danielle Goyette Danielle Goyette (born January 30, 1966) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played on the Canada women's national ice hockey team. In 2013, she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. In 2017, she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fa ...

as a temporary assistant coach when Wellwood was unavailable to coach due to COVID-19 protocols in February 2022, making Goyette the first woman to coach for an ECHL team.

2021 arena dispute

In July 2021, co-tenant of Mile One Centre, the

basketball team, were not given the option to renew their lease despite being in negotiations with the Growlers ownership, Deacon Sports and Entertainment (DSE), to purchase the Edge. This led to a dispute between DSE and the City of St. John's as the Growlers still needed to renew their lease agreement as well, ultimately signing a three-year agreement in August 2021. However, the operations of the arena was continued to be criticized by DSE and tickets were not being sold a week before their first scheduled home game of the 2021–22 season. On October 27, 2021, the city voted to evict the team citing workplace harassment of arena employees with DSE planning to fight the eviction with a lawsuit. A third-party investigation is underway and the Growlers initially scheduled their first six home games to be at the

Coca-Cola Coliseum Coca-Cola Coliseum is an arena at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, used for agricultural displays, ice hockey, and trade shows. It was built for the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (the Roya ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, the home of their AHL affiliate the

, in case they could not secure a more local arena. They came to an agreement with the nearby city of

Conception Bay South Conception Bay South is a town located on the southern shore of Conception Bay on the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is commonly called C.B.S. Conception Bay South is the ...

to play in their local arena for their first six games. On November 18, DSE and the city came to an agreement to play the rest of the season at the Mile One Centre, which had been renamed

in early November.

Mascot

Buddy the Puffin is the mascot of the Growlers. Buddy, a longtime sports mascot in St. John's was previously the mascot of the St. John's Maple Leafs and later the St. John's IceCaps. Buddy's number is 92, which represents 1992, the year that he was introduced as the mascot of the St. John's Maple Leafs. In 2022, Chris Abbott the long time man under the costume of Buddy The Puffin sadly passed away. Buddy was then retired by the Growlers. In December 2022 the Growlers introduced Buddy Jr. sporting the number 22. Buddy was also the mascot for the

basketball team.

Season-by-season records

Players

Current roster

Updated November 23, 2022.

References

External links

* {{Newfoundland and Labrador Sports ECHL teams Ice hockey clubs established in 2018 Sport in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Toronto Maple Leafs minor league affiliates