It has been more than four months since the Central Canada Hockey League shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the league is planning for an October 1st re-start as its kicks off its 59th regular season. For that to happen, the league is banking on the Ontario government and public health officials […]

Jim Farelli watched intently from the press box at the Pembroke Memorial Centre.  The veteran junior A coach was making his final cuts as training camp and the pre-season wrapped up for his Pembroke Lumber Kings. The start of the 1986-87 season was just around the corner and the team’s director of player personell, Gavin […]

Cameron Hough was a toddler when he first put on a pair of skates.  By 3 years old he was playing Tim Bits hockey.  Now as he approaches his 20th birthday, the power forward will get his first opportunity to be a captain of a hockey team.  He will wear the “C” for the Pembroke […]

With the National Hockey League season on pause as the world deals with the COVID-19 virus pandemic, television networks have been scrambling to fill hours of programming time normally consumed by Canada’s national sport.  The Saturday night slot held by the iconic Hockey Night in Canada on CBC has been replaced by Movie Night in […]

If ever the Pembroke Lumber Kings needed a win, it was on the final night of their regular season.  Closing out their 2019-20 campaign in front of one of the largest crowds of the season, the Kings were facing the Rockland Nationals. Both teams knew this would be a playoff appetizer as they would be […]

It has been 90 years since Frank Nighbor laced up a pair of skates in a professional hockey game.  It has been 67 years since he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and it has been almost 55 years since he died. The “Pembroke Peach,” as Nighbor was known, is recognized as one […]

On Saturday, February 22nd in Toronto  and on Hockey Night in Canada,  a 42-year old Zamboni driver became the oldest goaltender in National Hockey League history to win his first NHL start.  It was a night to remember for David Ayres  who was thrown into emergency duty when both of Carolina’s goaltenders were injured in […]

Jim Farelli was a late bloomer.  He didn’t play much hockey as a kid growing up in Northern Ontario, but as a teenager he caught on to the game quickly and because of his rugged style of play he caught the attention of some junior teams. He got his feet wet with the Kitchener-Waterloo Greenshirts […]

At the end of the Second World War, Pembroke had a decision to make.  Its aging privately owned hockey rink, the McKay Street Arena, was no longer viable having opened in 1905. The “old barn” was crumbling and with its natural ice, it had too many limitations.  Many communities were building new arenas that had […]

Over the decades, the Pembroke Lumber Kings have produced a lot of great hockey players. Many of them are recognized on the Lumber Kings Wall of Honour in the Pembroke Memorial Centre, but only two former players have had their numbers retired. In the case of Gale Linton and Ben Reinhardt’s retired sweaters, one is […]