Newfoundlanders show support for the Regiment in Halifax

Caylen Blake played against a team from his home province for the first time in his major junior hockey career when the Newfoundland Regiment visited the Halifax Mooseheads on Oct. 17. 

The Regiment’s face-off with the Mooseheads was the first time a Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) team from The Rock took the ice in the Scotiabank Centre since Jan. 29, 2008. Blake, 17, was born four days later. 

The Corner Brook, N.L. native opened the scoring in both of the Mooseheads’ back-to-back games against the Regiment, including the first goal in a 3-0 Mooseheads victory on Oct. 17.

Blake said it “felt great” to be able to score two impactful goals against a team from his home province. 

“It’d be better if we played at their home barn, I could rub it in their face a little bit more.”

The Regiment won their second match-up against the Mooseheads, 4-2, on Oct. 18. 

Beginning their inaugural season last month, Blake hopes the newly formed Regiment will be able to grow the sport in the province. 

“The kids can have a dream now,” he said. “[They’ll] want to play for that team, and I think it’s going to be a great impact for our hockey community. We really needed it.”

Since the St. John’s Maple Leafs last took the ice in 2005, five different franchises have represented Newfoundland across the QMJHL, East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League – none lasting more than six seasons. 

Joe Thompson and Brody Tucker are from Marystown and Pouch Cove, N.L., respectively. Both of them are putting stock into the Regiment changing the province’s multi-decade drought without a consistent hockey team.

They attended the game sporting bright yellow fisherman hats and the colours of the unofficial pink, white and green Newfoundland flag painted on their faces. 

“We thought if we super fan it out, we’d hopefully show the b’ys we got support for them,” Thompson said. 

Being able to watch and support the Regiment gives Thompson a “sense of pride.”

“Watching the Regiment games reminds me of going to a game when I was a kid with my dad watching the Fog Devils,” he said. “It’s just awesome.”

Newfoundlander Dwayne King moved to Halifax last year. He is excited to watch a team represent his home province in his new home.

The Newfoundland team is named after the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a provincial symbol of pride since the infantry’s founding in 1795. 

“I worked for the regiment for seven years before moving here, so I’ll always have that connection,” says King. He attended the Oct. 17 game in a commemorative St. John’s IceCaps jersey that was given to him by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment when he left the infantry.

“All Newfoundlanders know that [the Royal Newfoundland Regiment] is something that really sends a message to us,” says Thompson. “The fact that they chose that name, and they’re making a Newfoundland identity for themselves, we’re really behind it. Hopefully, they stick with it and stay around.”

There were 7,594 and 7,365 people in the Scotiabank Centre on Oct. 17 and 18, respectively — the two highest totals since the Mooseheads’ home opener on Sept. 20. 

Blake says he’s excited to play against the Regiment in front of his friends and family when the Mooseheads visit the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s. N.L. on Nov. 28 and 29. 

“Newfoundlanders are just so supportive, we have such a great community; we’re just a big family. It’s going to be great.”