The last time the Pembroke Lumber Kings were on the ice was when they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Brockville Braves, ending their 2021-22 season. That was on April 22, a night the Kings and Braves played into a fourth overtime period in game seven of their Central Canada Hockey League […]
Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada was impressed when he heard a tape of the great Bill Kutshcke calling a Pembroke Lumber Kings game in the early 1960’s, so impressed that he used the clip on a national broadcast of Rogers Hometown Hockey, comparing Kutschke to a hockey broadcasting legend, Dan Kelly. Kutschke and […]
The city of Pembroke and its storied hockey franchise took centre stage recently when Rogers Hometown Hockey broadcast live from the parking lot of historic Pembroke Memorial Centre. For three hours, the city and its special relationship with the sport were profiled to a national television audience on Sportsnet, the final act in a three […]
Hockey is Canada’s national game and like many communities across the nation, Pembroke has a special relationship with the sport. From Pembroke’s first official game in 1893 to its most famous hockey player, Frank Nighbor, hockey is weaved into the fabric of the municipality which brands itself as Hockey Town Canada. This weekend that rich […]
Morris Snider was busy. As the first manager of the new Pembroke Memorial Centre he was expected to turn the new arena into a profitable enterprise, especially after the town of Pembroke had needed to hold a referendum to get the blessing of taxpayers to borrow the final $125,000 to finish the building. In the […]
It was time to play a game at Pembroke’s new hockey arena. On Saturday, October 27, 1951 as last-minute construction continued on the Pembroke Memorial Centre, the Pembroke Senior Lumber Kings hosted the Smiths Falls Rideaus in a game that would produce 14 goals and be settled in overtime. The more than 2,200 fans who […]
It has been seven decades since the Pembroke Memorial Centre opened its doors. The official opening was led by Ontario’s Governor General, Ray Lawson, on November 11, 1951 when close to 5,000 people attended a special Remembrance Day Service to christen the new building that was a memorial to the Pembroke area’s war dead from […]
It will have been 565 days since the Pembroke Lumber Kings played a meaningful hockey game when the team returns to the ice to start its 2021-22 Central Canada Hockey League regular season Friday night in Kemptville. Two nights later they will play their home opener against the Smiths Falls Bears at the venerable Pembroke […]
Francis Dupuis called it the greatest pre-game speech he had ever heard. It left half the team in tears and “motived the Hell out of us,” said Dupuis as he looked back on the greatest moment of his junior hockey career. It was Mother’s Day, May 8, 2011 and the Pembroke Lumber Kings, led by […]
Mason McTavish played in only five games for the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the 2018-19 season, but it was clear he was a special player. He was only 15 years old and because his age restricted him from playing regularly with the Junior A club, Lumber Kings fans never really got to appreciate his talent. […]
