With the announcement of the logo and nickname of what will become the newest QMJHL entry next fall, the Newfoundland Regiment represents a new chapter in major junior hockey history, not to mention a new era in the province’s longstanding relationship with the game.
Best known as a hotbed for senior hockey, as well as the home to several professional franchises in the AHL and ECHL over the decades, Canada’s youngest provinces has, rather fittingly, produced it’s fair share of stars in the ‘Q’.
For decades, Newfoundland-born players could choose any of the three CHL circuits to ply their trade. Still, particularly starting in the late 90’s, the QMJHL could claim a number of Rock stars among its alumni. It was an era that saw Ryan Walsh’s scoring touch earn him popularity for the team then known as the Screaming Eagles in its first season in Cape Breton. Michael Ryder took the teachings of Head Coach Claude Julien from Gatineau to the NHL, where the two would reunite during the Boston Bruins championship run in 2011.
In an interview with this author in 2020, the late St. John’s Telegram Sports Editor Robin Short recalled the Newfoundland migration to the QMJHL and how it reflected the sacrifices required to advance those player’s careers.
“I think that most (Newfoundland) kids (at the time) understood that if they had any hope at all of getting into a pro career, they had to get out of here and play major junior elsewhere,” Short recalled. “But, if anything, what guys like Ryder and Walsh and (Cape Breton and Moncton star Patrick) Yetman were doing was proving to kids back home that this was doable.”
Indeed, that trail remains well travelled. In recent years, players such as Zach Dean and brothers Dawson and Riley Mercer have made their mark on the circuit, from everything to prime selections at the NHL Entry Draft to spots on Team Canada at various IIHF events and, in the case of Riley Mercer, a league playoff title in 2024.
Now, the next group of great Newfoundland stars will have an opportunity to come home and make an impact on the game. Of course, it’s not like it’ll be the first time.
From 2005 to 2008, junior hockey was a main attraction in the province. With the awarding of two expansion franchises, the Saint John Sea Dogs and St. John’s Fog Devils, the ‘Q’ greatly increased its Atlantic Canadian footprint. While the Sea Dogs elected to build slowly and methodically with several first overall draft selections, the Fog Devils elected for a greater degree of success earlier.
A number of the players responsible for those early wins were born and raised on the island, including former QMJHL first-rounder Wesley Welcher, defenseman Pat O’Keefe and forward Scott Brophy, an overager that first season who would go on to have his number 12 retired, the only player so honored by the Fog Devils franchise.
After that first season in St. John’s, the Foggies used the seventh selection at the 2006 QMJHL Draft to select the most noteworthy Newfoundland native in the club’s short history. Luke Adam quickly became a star in the league, turning four strong years of junior into 90 NHL games with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Buffalo Sabres, the club who selected him in the second round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
Other notable players during the Fog Devils’ tenure included forwards Mario Kempe and Ryan Graham, defenseman TJ Brennan and goaltenders Timo Pielmeier and Jake Allen, who currently counts Dawson Mercer among his teammates with the New Jersey Devils.
Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to bring the Fog Devils’ time on the Rock to an all-too-soon halt. Despite finishing with a winning record for the first time in franchise history, the club was relocated to Verdun, Quebec during the 2008 off-season, where it became the Montreal Junior. Today, the franchise lives on as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. In a twist that was both ironic and unfortunate, the final Fog Devils game was played that spring against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Robin Short felt a longer look in front of the fans on the Avalon Peninsula by this team on the rise may have been the key to its survival.
“There was a feeling there that the team was just coming around and people were starting to understand the cycle of junior hockey,” he said. “The feeling was that there were some good young players on that team and maybe, if they were around for another year or two, they might have made some noise. I’m not suggesting they would’ve won a championship, but they were going to be a whole lot better than they were the first couple of years.”
All of this is history now. But it’s a history, not only of the province’s former franchise but of the players it continues to supply to a fortunate hockey watching public, that will be celebrated once again when the puck drops in the far east this fall.
Come get your duds in order – the ‘Q’ is setting sail for the Rock once again.
