Jason LaRose
This season in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) there were the Rockland Nationals, there was everybody else.
The Nationals were the undisputed class of the CCHL all season long, going 45-8-2 to finish 21 points ahead of defending league champion Navan in the Yzerman Division and 16 points clear of Carleton Place in the league standings.
They scored the most goals (250), allowed the fewest (112) and iced the best penalty kill (84.9%).
Three of their 10 losses came in the final four games of the season, with little to play for. And from Dec. 13 to Feb. 21, Rockland ran off a 21-game win streak, longest in any of the nine leagues that comprise the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).
But there always has to be a little bit of adversity in every playoff run, right?
In the semifinals, the Nationals faced off against the Smiths Falls Bears, quickly jumping out to a 2-0 series leadby outscoring the Bears 9-1. But Smiths Falls battled back to win the next two and pulled out an overtime win in Game 6 to force the series to the distance.
The decider entered the dying minutes of the third period even at 1-1 before Spencer Bowes netted the series-winning goal with 3:28 to go, and Rockland quickly dispatched Carleton Place in four games in the league final to secure its place in Calgary.
The Nationals have been a score-by-committee team all season; five players reached the 50-point mark during the regular season, led by Anthony Hall (36-40—76), and eight hit double digits across 15 playoff games.
CCHL teams have not fared well since the start of the 10-team format in 2022, reaching the semifinals only once in three tournaments. The league’s peak run came from 2011-15, when the Pembroke Lumber Kings won Canada’s National Junior A Championship (2011) and Carleton Place reached a pair of championship games (2014, 2015).
HOW THEY GOT TO CALGARY
Central Canada Hockey League Quarterfinal: defeated Cornwall Colts 4-0 (4-3, 3-2 OT, 6-5, 4-2) Semifinal: defeated Smiths Falls Bears 4-3 (6-0, 3-1, 1-5, 2-5, 6-2, 3-4 OT, 3-1) Final: defeated Carleton Place Canadians 4-0 (3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 5-4 OT)
REGULAR SEASON
Record (W-L-OTL): 45-8-2 (1st in CCHL) Goals for: 250 (1st in CCHL) Goals against: 138 (1st in CCHL) Power play: 39 of 196 (19.9% – 8th in CCHL) Penalty killing: 180 of 212 (84.9% – 1st in CCHL) Longest winning streak: 21 (Dec. 13-Feb. 21)
Top 3 scorers: • Anthony Hall – 36G 40A 76P (5th in CCHL) • Gabriel Le Houllier – 29G 43 A 72P (6th in CCHL) • Jacob Charron – 26G 41A 67P (7th in CCHL)
PLAYOFFS
Record: 12-3 Goals for: 56 Goals against: 39 Power play: 6 for 53 (11.3%) Penalty killing: 30 of 41 (73.2%)
Top 3 scorers: • Gabriel Le Houllier – 9G 6A 15P • Rémi Gagné – 3G 11A 14P • James Marshall – 7G 5A 12P
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
1995 – Gloucester Rangers | runners-up | 3-3 | 27GF 18GA
COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY COMMITMENTS
Jacob Charron – Concordia University (2025-26) Josh O’Connor – Dalhousie University (2025-26)
CJHL TOP 20 RANKINGS
Sept. 30 – 1st Oct. 7 – 1st Oct. 14 – 1st Oct. 21 – 1st Oct. 28 – 1st Nov. 4 – 1st Nov. 11 – 1st Nov. 18 – 1st Nov. 25 – 3rd Dec. 2 – 4th Dec. 9 – 7th Dec. 16 – 7th Dec. 23 – 6th Jan. 6 – 6th Jan. 13 – 6th Jan. 20 – 6th Jan. 27 – 6th Feb. 3 – 3rd Feb. 10 – 3rd Feb. 17 – 1st Feb. 24 – 2nd March 3 – 1st March 10 – 3rd