LNAH Comes To Cornwall

It's been a long bittersweet wait for those who knew it was coming but finally the wait is over. On Thursday the last day of May a press conference was called at the Cornwall Civic Complex to formally announce the arrival of Cornwall's newest addition.  A new chapter is being written in the City of Cornwall's storied hockey history. A city that has housed Major Junior/AHL/CJHL will add another league to it's resume. The LNAH. A league which is normally known more for it's rough play and fisticuffs. However when you take a deeper look at this league you recognise a girth of talent ranging from former NHL'ers and AHL'ers to Major Junior veterans. A quality of competition not seen since the days when the Cornwall Aces plied their trade as the minor affiliate of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche

Here is the press conference video announcing the arrival of the River Kings

Video credit: Keith Papineau

Keeping with the tradition of Cornwall hockey the River Kings will sport the blue,red and white which has been the go to colours of the Aces, Colts and Royals before them.

Quick to make a splash the River Kings management announced the first ever River King former First Round Pick(14th Overrall to the Washington Capitals) Sasha Pokulok of Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC. The 6'5 defensemen spent the 2011-2012 season in the KHL playing for Zagreb Medvescak playing 49 games and registering  17 points and a +12 rating.

Photo credit: Keith Papineau



Formerly Sherbrook St-Francois and this season the Windsor Wild. The River Kings will look to continue the franchises winning ways. Sherbrooke won the championship twice in 05-06 and in 2010-2011 season. The organisation then moved to Windsor to become the Wild where under GM and former Cornwall Aces goaltender Jean-Francois Labbe the team played in the final against Thetford-Mines Isothermic falling short of becoming the first team to win back to back championships since the Laval Chiefs from 2001-2003.


The River Kings were quick to pull the trigger on trades:
#1 http://caronetguay.lnah.com/nouvelle.aspx?i=9202#.T8jpLxIhBmc.facebook 
Translation: Pierre-Luc Faubert and 8th round pick to Cornwall
Yann Joseph, Denis Demarais, M-A Huot and Stephane Boileau to Trois Rivieres.

#2 http://coolfm.lnah.com/nouvelle.aspx?i=9208
To Saint-Georges: Samuel Grenache, Phillipe Bolduc, Martin Nolet and Brandon Christian
To Cornwall: Former Colt and NHLer Eric Meloche and Ryan-James Hand

Shipping out former Windsor Wild players who likely had no plans of playing in Cornwall and bringing in pieces to build upon.

The biggest piece of these deals is former Cornwall Colt, Penguin, Flyer and Calder Cup winner Eric Meloche. The 36 year old right winger is a veteran of over 70 NHL games 400 AHL games and 200 DEL games. Potential to hit a point per game or more is high with Meloche as his depth of experience will serve him and the River Kings well. He has put up points at every level of hockey and will be a leader on and off the ice for a team in it's infancy.

Photo credit: Stefanie Kovacevic

Congratulation to everyone who was involved in making this happen. Cheers to new beginnings here in Cornwall!!!