Napanee Raiders

Napanee Raiders
City	Napanee, Ontario
League	Empire B Junior C Hockey League
Founded	1989 (1989)
Home arena	Strathcona Paper Centre
Colours	Black, Silver, and White
General manager	Adam Bramburger
Head coach	Mike Hartwick
Previous franchise history
1960-1963	Napanee Red Wings
1964-1965	Napanee Legion
1966-1980	Napanee Kelly Tiremen
1980-1986	Napanee Warriors

The Napanee Raiders are a Canadian Junior ice hockey team based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Empire B Junior C Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association.

History

The current Napanee Junior C hockey team found its genesis in the 1960s as a member of the Eastern Junior C Hockey League when the team was known as the Napanee Red Wings and later the Napanee Legion. In 1966 the team changed its name to the Napanee Kelly Tiremen, a name that remained with the team through to the 1980 season. Napanee made several appearances in the Clarence Schmalz Cup playoffs during this era advancing to the cup final in 1963, semi-finals in 1966 and 1967 and the quarter-finals in 1968. In 1980 the Kelly Tiremen became the Napanee Warriors. By this time the Eastern League became the Quinte-St. Lawrence Junior C Hockey league. The league was floundering and in 1986 merged with the more western Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League. The merger left the Napanee Warriors without a local league and forced them to go on hiatus.

Raiders era

After three seasons with no junior hockey, the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League was re-formed. The Napanee Raiders were its first regular-season and playoff champions in 1990.

In 1993, the Napanee Raiders forced the Ontario Hockey Association to take the far-east upstart league seriously. The Raiders finished first in the regular season with thirty-two wins in thirty-five games played. They won the league playoffs and entered the Clarence Schmalz Cup provincial playdowns. They made it to the provincial final where they faced the Western Ontario Junior C Hockey League's Hanover Barons for Ontario's crown. The Raiders came out on top with a 4-games-to-2 series win. This marked both the Raiders' and the new league's first provincial championship.

The Raiders won the Eastern Ontario Junior C League title again in 1994 and 1995. After the 1995 championship, the league announced that they were changing their name from the Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League to the Empire B Junior C Hockey League. The name change was to end confusion between the league and the neighbouring Ottawa District Hockey Association's long-running Eastern Ontario Junior C Hockey League.

In 1995–96, the Napanee Raiders won their fourth straight league championship. Unlike the previous two years, the Raiders made it through to the Clarence Schmalz Cup final. Their opponents were the Paris Mounties of the Niagara & District Junior C Hockey League. However unlike the 1993 finals, the Raiders fell short of their bid for a second provincial crown, losing in the championship series, 4-games-to-1.

In the 2000-01 season, the Raiders won their sixth Empire B Junior C Hockey League championship.

In 2005-06, the Raiders finished the regular season in first place overall. They received a bye through the league quarter-finals and ended up against the second year Colborne Cobras in the league semi-final. The Raiders proved too much for the Cobras and crushed them 4-games-to-none. In the league final, the Raiders met up with the Amherstview Jets. In a long and tough series, the Raiders prevailed in game 7, winning the series 4-games-to-3. In the provincial semi-final, the Raiders ran into the Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League's Port Perry Mojacks. The Mojacks swept the Empire B champions 4-games-to-none.

The 2006-07 season saw the Napanee Raiders slip to third place overall in the regular season standings. The Raiders met the Amherstview Jets in the league semi-final. The Jets were set on avenging the 2006 Finals loss to the Raiders and defeated them 4-games-to-2 to move on to the league final. During the 2006-07 season, the Raiders invited the local Canada World Youth branch along with a large contingent of Peruvians from "La Brigada de Voluntarios Bolivarianos del Peru" to attend the game. The Raiders defeated the Picton Pirates 6-3 in front of their guests.

The 2007-08 season saw the Raiders win the Empire B Championship and for the first time since 1996 they defeated the Central Ontario League Champion (Georgina Ice) in the CSC QF. The Raiders would fall to the Alliston Hornets (eventual CSC Champs)in five games in the CSC SF

The Raiders finished the 2008-09 season with a 20-0 home record.

The Raiders regained their league championship in 2009-10 but had similar results in the CSC playdowns. They defeated the Little Britain Merchants (Central Ontario League) in 7 games but fell again to the Alliston Hornets (Georgian Mid Ontario) this time pushing them to six games.

After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in 2012-2013, the Raiders have been showing signs of improvement over the past three seasons under head coach Michael Hartwick. The team missed the playoffs by one point in 2013–2014, then reached the Empire B Junior C Hockey League final in each of the past two seasons, ultimately losing to Port Hope both years. The team has improved its wins and points records both seasons also.

Season-by-season results

Schmalz Cup Finals appearances

1963: New Hamburg Hahns defeated Napanee Red Wings 4-games-to-0

1993: Napanee Raiders defeated Hanover Barons 4-games-to-2

1996: Paris Mounties defeated Napanee Raiders 4-games-to-1

External links

• Raiders' Webpage