The best kept secret in the QJAAAHL
Known as everybody’s team, the Kahnawake Condors in 2010 were on the brink of their tenth anniversary, and for past co-owner and President John McComber owning a hockey team wasn’t something he ever thought of.
“Definitely not,” he said in 2006. “Like many parents I was interested in hockey because of my son. He was ten-years-old and he was playing hockey then.”
Ross Lahache knew that the team from La Prairie and approached Frank “Putsky” Rice and Robert Gloutney, former owner of the Lachine Maroons and Pro Shop owner, to talk some people in Kahnawake about buying the team.
“It was mainly Bob Gloutney who wanted to get the team here,” said Rice. “He asked me to talk with people in the community. Eventually there was a price presented to people interested and when it was all said and done, Kahnawake had a hockey team.”
“So we got ten owners together and each chipped in,” said McComber. “Frank “Putsky” Rice said all we need is 300 people per game and everything would go crystal smooth. Everyone had a part to play. Frank handled game operations and I took care of the marketing side. Owners like Barry Alfred and Peter Jacobs helped with the programs and the team had a few silent owners and that is how we started.”
“I thought it was a great idea to bring a team here,” said Rice.
The Condors didn’t get the 300 per game, but McComber said those figures probably reflected more the playoff average attendance that first year. That was the year locals Travis Zachary along Mikie Stacey played for the team along with Alexander Burrows who now plays with the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks.
“We ended upsetting the first place team Longueil in the first round of the playoffs that year,” McComber said, joking that he was not sure if the league was more upset with a new team knocking out an older team.
The first year’s success quickly turned into a reality check.
In 2001 the Condors hired a new general manager who hired as coach Francis Lacombe. That move lasted eight games and the team went through four coaches that year, winning two of 52 games.
Half baked, is how McComber refers to that second year. “We were the total laughing stock of the league.”
Still building they changed coaches again in the next year, finishing .500 and losing to Longueuil in the playoffs.
“We were feeling our way around,” McComber said. “The year we won two games we had three picks in the first round of the draft and we picked three double AA players. Usually its Triple AAA players, but we had no scouts.”
Until Jean-Guy Chartrand arrived and Louis Neveu joined the Condors in 2003 as assistant coach to Steve Beaudien who took over as head coach replacing Serge Charlebois who went to coach elsewhere.
“Guy Chartrand helped us turn a corner in 2003-2004,” said Neveu. “A scout’s input doesn’t show until years later, as in 2004-2005.”
It was also the year of the NHL strike, and people latched on, and the year the Condors ended up in first place.
Fans refer the quarter final match against Longueuil that year as a turning point in the Condors history. After finishing first they got a buy and played in the second round.
Neveu remembers the playoff series against Longueil.
“It was a classic because we won game six over there but lost game seven at home. It was a heartbreak for sure,” said Neveu. “At the same time it showed to everyone in Kahnawake and around the league that we are a team to be taken seriously.”
McComber is grateful for the influences of Chartrand and Neveu and recalls a time when he thought he would lose him.
The team was losing coaches and the team was dead in the water with sales, but Neveu said he would remain for the 2008-2009 season.
“I told him you never know how things work out,” McComber said. “And look where he is now, from those tough days to being named the General Manager and Coach. He works non stop from the end of the season during the draft and up to the start of the season.”
Since that breakthrough season in 2004-2005 the team has an impressive 112 wins and 74 losses up until that point. The result over the years is that support from the community has also been growing. Anywhere from 250-350 attended games at the Complex, and there are the faithful who accompany the team on the road.
“It is a positive for the community and over the last ten years the amount of non-native players who have come in here see the community and how we are like any other community,” McComber said.
“We are the best kept secret in he league,” said Neveu in 2007, who believes that his players are happy to play here and enjoy the community and interacting with the team. He admits that some players prefer larger crowds and more exposure. But when they come here he says they love it.
“It’s everybody’s team,” said McComber.
“We want to get our players to work at minor hockey games as much as possible, to be more visible for our kids, based on the availability of their schedules. Many of our players attend university and CEGEPs so they are busy.”
“The team is good for the community,” Rice reiterates. “And it is something for our kids to look up to. You see kids around town wearing Condor sweaters they have won at the games, and I think the team will be around for another ten years.
