Kingston Frontenacs GameDay November 27, 2015

Some 42 years ago the Ontario
Hockey Association granted
Kingston a franchise and
started a five-decade love affair
between the Limestone City and its
junior hockey team.
The origin of the Kingston
Canadians is somewhat confusing.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s the
Montreal Junior Canadians was a
powerhouse team in what was then
called Major Junior Hockey under
the banner of the Ontario Hockey
Association.
In 1972, in an effort to avoid
legal action from the newly formed
Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League (QMJHL) the Junior
Canadians were allowed to suspend
team operations for a year in order
to make the transition from the
OHA into the QMJHL. In the “Q”,
a new team emerged dubbed the
Montreal Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. Most
of the Junior Canadians moved with
them and that opened the door for
Kingston to begin operations the
following year.
The brand new Kingston
franchise was born and began play
in the 1973-1974 season using the
“Canadians” moniker and the colours
of their Montreal namesakes, but
the team had no other connection
to the Junior Canadians. In essence
the Kingston Canadians were an
expansion franchise with new
ownership and new players. They
experienced all the growing pains
associated with their rookie status
in that first season, managing just
20 wins and finishing well out of
playoff contention.
In season two with promising
youngsters like future Stanley
Cup winner Ken Linesman and
future NHLers Tony McKegney
and Mike Crombeen, they took the
eventual Memorial Cup Champion
Toronto Marlboroughs to an 8th and
deciding game.
Those were the days when each
playoff series was decided by the
first team to reach 9 points. In that
final game with the teams tied at 8
points each and the game tied 1-1,
sniper Mark Napier wristed a shot
by the Canadian’s goaltender but
the puck appeared to hit the post.
Michel Blais, a defensemen for
that Kingston team was on the ice
for what many Kingstonians still
remember as a “phantom” goal.
“I watched the shot hit the post,”
recalled Blais. “It definitely didn’t
go in, Napier didn’t even raise his
hands, but the goal judge put the
light on and they ended up calling
it a goal. We should have won that
game and then who knows what
would have happened.”
For many hockey fans in the
Limestone City, that watershed
moment when the upstart
sophomore franchise took the
vaunted Marlboroughs to the very
edge of defeat stands as a turning
point. The Canadians would go on to
make the playoffs for the next seven
seasons in a row. Along the way
12 KINGSTON FRONTENACS GAMEDAY MAGAZINE