JASON SETNYK
The Ontario Hockey League will return to Cornwall this fall, with the newly announced Seaway Shootout bringing two regular-season games to the Civic Complex for the first time in more than three decades.
The event will see the Brampton Steelheads face the Ottawa 67’s on October 16 and the Kingston Frontenacs on October 17, alongside a weekend of community events.
“We’re really excited about this,” said OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford during a media conference. “There wasn’t a community that made more sense than a return to Cornwall, to reconnect with some of the roots of the OHL and the history of junior hockey.”
That history runs deep.
The Cornwall Royals, who played from 1969 to 1992, remain one of the most successful junior franchises in Canadian hockey, winning three Memorial Cups and producing NHL talent such as Dale Hawerchuk and Doug Gilmour.
The Civic Complex, still home to the Cornwall Colts, continues to display that legacy throughout the arena. Crawford said that history, combined with recent investments, helped make Cornwall an easy choice.
“We were extremely pleasantly surprised by the amount of investment that the city has been making in the facility,” he said, pointing to upgrades to the arena floor, boards, glass, roof, and interior spaces.
Boards meet standards
Those upgrades have also addressed a recent social media rumour suggesting the rink boards/glass did not meet league standards. Crawford dismissed that claim directly.
“The city invested in a new board and glass system. It meets the standards for our league and is in line with other facilities,” he said, calling it “a testament to the investments that the community has made.”
Mayor Justin Towndale said those investments were made with events like this in mind.
“We’ve been ensuring that that jewel doesn’t tarnish or crumble,” Towndale said of the Civic Complex. “We’ve been making those investments for something like this, exactly to host a premier sporting event.”
“We’re aiming for a full building both nights.”
The games will mark the first OHL regular-season action in Cornwall since 1992, though recent exhibition matchups, including a fairly well-attended 2024 game between Ottawa and Kingston, have demonstrated continued local interest. Towndale said that appetite has never faded.
“Ever since the Royals left, there’s always been a push and a desire to see OHL hockey return to Cornwall,” he said. “It’s part of our culture here.”
While the league emphasized the Seaway Shootout is designed as a marquee neutral-site event, it will also serve as a measuring stick for the market amid ongoing expansion discussions.
That point came into focus when asked what would define success for the weekend.
“Two full buildings would be successful, and that’s the targets we’re projecting,” Crawford said.
“We’re aiming for a full building both nights — that’s for sure.”
Beyond attendance, the event is expected to bring economic activity, with teams, staff, and visiting fans filling local hotels and restaurants.
The Brampton Steelheads alone are expected to travel with a group of roughly 40 people.
The weekend will also include a free public skate, Seaway Hockey Day at the Benson Centre, and additional family-focused activities still being finalized.
For Cornwall, the event represents both a celebration of its past and a potential glimpse at its future in major junior hockey. “I think this is a step in the right direction,” Towndale said. “And I know that residents are excited.”
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