Nepean Raiders

Nepean Raiders
City	Nepean, Ontario, Canada
League	Central Canada Hockey League
Division	Yzerman
Founded	1972
Home arena	Steve Yzerman Arena
Colours	Red, Black, Grey, and White
General manager	Randy Watt
Head coach	Peter Goulet

The Nepean Raiders are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team from Nepean, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Central Canada Hockey League. The town of Nepean was granted expansion after the Cornwall Royals and the Hull Hawks left the CJHL for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Raiders started their operations in Nepean in 1972.

Nepean made the finals multiple times between 1972 to 1981. In the 1980s. Steve Yzerman and Darren Pang are still known for being the most-outstanding Raiders in the early era. The Raiders struggled in the 1980s and 1990s missing the playoffs multiple times, and set a season-record for the most-penalized CJHL team in 1995-96.

Nepean sought new ownership in 1998, and were bought buy Gord Black, who gave the Nepean Raiders a much-needed facelift, giving the team a new logo (used from 1998–2008), and a new reputation. The new ownership named Fred Parker head coach for 1998-99, but was released after the season. Nepean went with former Nepean Raiders grad Chris Byrne and named him head coach for 1999-00, and was later named general manager along with head coach in 2002. Chris Byrne's coaching tactics and player developement helped turn the Nepean Raiders into one of most-successful franchises in the CJHL leading the team to their first championship in 2003, and another in 2004. Nepean won the Fred Page Cup later on. Despite, the dramatic comeback in the Fred Page Cup, it wasn't enough for to make the Royal Bank Cup finals, despite a 2-0 record at the start of the tournament.

In 2004-05, the Raiders set a season-low of 9 losses and finishing 1st overall for the second-consecutive year. However, the Raiders found themselves losing a controversial finals against the Hawkesbury Hawks when game 7 was played at a neutral venue.

After the 2005-06, the Nepean Raiders lost Chris Byrne to the OHL's Ottawa 67's as an assistant coach, and Archie Mulligan was hired. Mulligan, who had a strong reputation with Kanata from 1978-2002 was expected to help revive Nepean. The efforts were not enough, and Nepean finished 4th, but made the finals, losing to Pembroke. In the fall of 2007, Archie Mulligan resigned from the team after differences between management. Soon after, players desired to be traded. At the end, the Nepean Raiders had 3 different head coaches.

In 2008, after 10 years of ownership, Gord Black sold the franchise to Bryan Altshuller and Arnie Vered. The new owners, revived the team to its original era, but also commemorated the pirate logo as a symbol of success in the past. Hockey Night in Canada commentator Gary Galley was hired as head coach. The changes paid off, as the Raiders finished 1st overall in 2008-09. In the end, Nepean lost the finals to Pembroke.

In December 2009, the organization dealt with a devastating blow as management and coaching staff parted ways over differences. Players wanted to be traded afterwards, and new coach Peter Goulet encouraged players to stay, as he tried to resolve the issues.

Nepean adopted the original logo for 2010-11, and discontinued the pirate logo.

2003 Fred Page Cup

Lennoxville Cougars 5 Nepean Raiders 2

Nepean Raiders 3 Charlottetown Abbies 1

Cornwall Colts 3 Nepean Raiders 2 (OT)

Nepean Raiders 3 Cornwall Colts 2 (2OT) semi-finals

Lennoxville Cougars 4 Nepean Raiders 0 championship game

CORNWALL, ONTARIO: Nepean punched its ticket to their first Fred Page Cup with a 4 games to 1 win over the Ottawa Jr. Senators. The Nepean Raiders and the Cornwall Colts were rivals in the last three seasons. Nepean dropped their first game 5–2 to the LHJAAAQ's Lennoxville Cougars, who were only playing in their first season. Nepean won their second game against the maritime representatives Charlottetown Abbies, that would help the Raiders solidify a berth in the semi-finals. Lennoxville earned a bye to the finals, despite a 7–5 loss to the Abbies. Cornwall and Nepean prepared for an all-league tilt on the final day of round robin. Cornwall won the game 3–2 in overtime, despite that the goal shouldn't have counted because there were too many men in the crease area. The Raiders boycotted the players-of-the-game ceremonies because Colts fans threw cups and snack wrappers into the Raiders bench moments after Cornwall scored the game-winner. The Raiders did re-match with Cornwall in the semi-finals. Cornwall forced overtime on a last-minute goal. Brian Ruckwald of Nepean scored the game-winner with a wrist shot that found its way past Cornwall goaltender Christian Boucher.

2004 Fred Page Cup

Valleyfield Braves 4 Nepean Raiders 0

Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs 6 Nepean Raiders 4

Nepean Raiders 3 Campbelton Tigers 1

Nepean Raiders 3 Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs 2 (2OT) semi-finals

Nepean Raiders 4 Valleyfield Braves 0 championship

SALLEBERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD, Quebec: Nepean got added support by acquiring Gloucester Rangers goaltender Mitch O'Keefe, whose team was defeated in the finals by the Raiders in a seven-game series. O'Keefe got his second chance with the Nepean Raiders. The opening game for the Nepean Raiders faced the Valleyfield Braves, who went on to win 4-0, with the support of a sold-out crowd of Braves supporters. Nepean lost the second game to Saint-Eustache, and were in trouble of being eliminated. Campbelton lost to Valleyfield, and therefore Nepean had to win their last game against Campbelton, which they did 3-1. Nepean then went on to upset the Saint-Eustache Gladiateurs (ranked 5th in Canada) 3-2 in the semi-finals. Raiders captain Brennan Sarazin missed two games of the tournament due to exams at Carleton University and having a bad case of laryngitis. Sarazin arrived just in time for the final three must-win games including the championship game, in which Nepean won 4-0.

2004 Royal Bank Cup

Logo until 2010.

Nepean Raiders 4 Nanaimo Clippers 3 (2OT)

Nepean Raiders 2 Kindersley Klippers 1

Grande Prairie Storm 4 Nepean Raiders 2

Aurora Tigers 3 Nepean Raiders 1

Aurora Tigers 7 Nepean Raiders 2 semi-finals

GRANDE-PRAIRIE, ALBERTA: The Nepean Raiders trailed 3-0 to the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL, before winning the game in double overtime as Raiders captain Brennan Sarazin netted the winner. The next day, the Raiders improved their record to 2-0 after a 2-1 win over the SJHL champions Kindersley Klippers. Chris Priolo scored for the Raiders twice. Nepean had a chance to improve their record to 3-0 against the Grande-Prairie Storm, but lost 4-2. Nepean would lose their last round-robin game to the top-ranked Aurora Tigers 3-1, despite that the Tigers lost to Grande-Prairie 4-2 earlier. Nepean looking to became the first CJHL team to make the Royal Bank Cup finals since its inception in 1996. Nepean would lose a heart-breaker 7-2, and Aurora would go on to win the Royal Bank Cup.

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
1972-73	55	22	32	1	-	214	268	45	5th CJHL
1973-74	50	26	18	6	-	287	236	58	2nd CJHL
1974-75	50	23	17	10	-	254	216	54	4th CJHL
1975-76	50	16	27	7	-	186	240	39	5th CJHL
1976-77	50	28	13	9	-	263	193	65	1st CJHL
1977-78	48	24	20	4	-	258	205	52	3rd CJHL
1978-79	48	36	10	2	-	305	187	74	1st CJHL	Lost final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
1979-80	50	25	22	3	-	312	260	53	3rd CJHL
1980-81	50	29	13	8	-	281	206	66	1st CJHL
1981-82	50	21	22	7	-	253	260	51	4th CJHL
1982-83	50	12	31	7	-	194	258	31	7th CJHL
1983-84	54	28	17	9	-	278	251	65	1st CJHL
1984-85	54	20	30	2	2	226	286	44	5th CJHL
1985-86	60	36	21	2	1	302	251	75	3rd CJHL
1986-87	52	30	21	1	0	266	207	61	2nd CJHL
1987-88	56	29	17	5	5	249	246	68	4th CJHL
1988-89	55	25	30	0	0	216	262	50	7th CJHL
1989-90	55	19	33	2	1	228	274	41	7th CJHL
1990-91	55	25	23	3	4	242	236	57	5th CJHL
1991-92	57	26	23	1	6	274	261	59	6th CJHL
1992-93	57	32	19	3	3	285	258	70	4th CJHL
1993-94	57	31	21	2	3	306	290	67	4th CJHL
1994-95	54	10	38	4	2	214	326	26	10th CJHL	Out of Playoffs
1995-96	54	14	35	5	0	220	315	33	5th in Yzerman	Out of Playoffs
1996-97	53	27	23	3	0	232	223	57	4th in Yzerman	Lost quarter-finals 4-1 to Smiths Falls
1997-98	56	20	23	13	10	180	180	63	4th in Yzerman	Lost quarter-finals 4-1 to Brockville
1998-99	54	31	21	2	0	202	194	64	3rd in Yzerman	Lost semi-final 4-1 to Hawkesbury
1999-00	56	33	20	3	0	245	239	69	2nd in Yzerman	Lost quarter-final 4-1 to Kanata
2000-01	55	26	19	10	0	222	186	63	3rd in Yzerman	Lost semi-final 4-0 to Cornwall
2001-02	55	34	11	10	0	263	174	78	2nd	Lost semi-final 4-2 to Ottawa
2002-03	55	32	17	6	2	227	185	72	1st in Yzerman	Won league 4-1 over Ottawa
2003-04	55	37	14	3	1	229	144	78	1st	Won league 4-3 over Gloucester
2004-05	57	42	9	3	3	225	131	90	1st	Lost final 4-3 to Hawkesbury
2005-06	59	37	16	3	3	231	174	80	2nd in Yzerman	Lost final 4-2 to Hawkesbury
2006-07	55	26	21	6	2	178	165	60	3rd in Yzerman	Lost final 4-1 to Pembroke
2007-08	60	32	23	3	2	233	203	69	5th CJHL	Lost quarter-final 4-2 to Brockville
2008-09	60	42	12	-	6	261	145	90	1st CJHL	Lost final 4-2 to Pembroke
2009-10	62	33	26	-	3	250	217	69	6th CJHL	Lost Quarter-final
2010-11	62	27	25	-	10	207	227	64	6th CCHL	Lost Quarter-final

Championships

CJHL Bogart Cup Championships: 2003, 2004

Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championships: 2004

CJAHL Royal Bank Cup Championships: None

External links

• Nepean Raiders Webpage