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Rockland Nationals
Nickname	Nats
City	Rockland, Ontario, Canada
League	Central Canada Hockey League
Division	East Division
Founded	1968
Home arena	Clarence-Rockland Arena (capacity: 2,500)
Colours	Red, blue, white
Owner(s)	Luc Lavictoire
President	André Chaput
General manager	Carl Robillard
Head coach	Justin Pereira
Captain	Josh O'Connor
Media	FloSports
Website	https://www.rocklandnationalsjuniora.com
Franchise history
1968-1973	Ottawa M&W Rangers
1973-2005	Gloucester Rangers
2005-2008	Orleans Blues
2008–2017	Gloucester Rangers
2017–	Rockland Nationals

The Rockland Nationals (French: Le National de Rockland), and colloquially known as the Nats, are a Junior A ice hockey team based in Rockland, Ontario. The Nationals compete in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) as a member of the East Division. Since 2017, the team has played its home games at Clarence-Rockland Arena, originally known as the CIH Arena.

Founded in 1968 as the Ottawa M&W Rangers, they are one of the oldest continuously operating junior ice hockey team worldwide. The current Rockland Nationals began play in 2017–18, after the Gloucester Rangers relocated to Rockland after nearly 50 years in Gloucester.

Team history

The franchise dates back to the 1968 expansion Ottawa M.&.W (MacIntosh & Watts) Rangers and made their home in Leitrim in south Ottawa. In 1972, the M&W Rangers became the Gloucester Rangers and played out of the Earl Armstrong Arena. The 1972–73 season was coached by Derek Holmes, and included Mark Aubry as a player. 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.

In 2002, new owners decided to change the colours to Black, Purple, and Silver. The team rebuilt with blockbuster trades with cross-town rivals and defending league champions Ottawa Junior Senators. Unfortunately, the Rangers came close to winning the 2004 league championship by one goal in a sudden death game 7 to Nepean. In October 2004, coaching staff walking out of the organization over disagreements with management and ownership leaving the team with a shortage of players throughout the season through trades and releases. The team was sold to a group of Orleans businessmen in April 2005, who re-branded the team as the Orleans Blues, but couldn't move to Orleans, Ontario because of an inadequate arena, and therefore were forced to change back to the Gloucester Rangers for the 2008-09 season.

Rockland Nationals (2017–)

In late September 2016, Paul Jennings sold the Gloucester Rangers to a group of partners being André Chaput, André Charlebois & Amélie Lecompte, Jean-Robert Léger and Robert Bourdeau. Paul Jennings purchased the Orleans Blues franchise from Chaput in 2007. The Gloucester Rangers finished the 2016-17 season and relocated to the 2,500-seat Clarence-Rockland Arena to become the Rockland Nationals after playing at the aging Earl Armstrong for nearly 50 years. Nationals games can be heard on flohockey.tv, via the FloSports streaming platform. The team's play-by-play broadcaster is Richard Gauthier, who also serves as the public address announcer for the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League. Gauthier brings over 40 years of experience in sports media as a play-by-play broadcaster and public address announcer for various sports.

In 2020, the ownership team changed with the sale of André Chaput’s share to Luc Lavictoire.

Season-by-season record

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

Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 1970, 1971, 1981, 1994 (Gloucester Rangers)

Centennial Cup Champions: 1976 (Gloucester Rangers)

Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: None

CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

Notable alumni

• Mark Aubry
• John Barrett
• Dan Boyle
• Josh Bower
• Todd Charlesworth
• Mathieu Dandenault
• P.C. Drouin
• Blake Dunlop
• Jerome Dupont
• Robert Esche
• Todd Flichel
• Mark Fraser
• Garry Galley
• Steve Guenette
• Derek Holmes
• Mitch Lamoureux
• Gary Laskoski
• Claude Loiselle
• Larry Robinson
• Moe Robinson
• Andre Savage
• Larry Trader
• Bob Warner
• Steve Washburn
• Sean Whyte

References

1. "Ottawa M and W Rangers 1972-73 roster and scoring statistics". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2018-08-02.

• Central Canada Hockey League teams
• Ice hockey teams in Ottawa
• Ice hockey clubs established in 1968
• 1968 establishments in Ontario