The Pembroke Lumber Kings are the oldest member of the CCHL, having begun operations in 1961. However, in 1979–80 the Lumber Kings were suspended for one season[why?] and replaced with the Pembroke Royals. The Pembroke Lumber Kings were approved to rejoin the league for 1980–81.
The Pembroke Lumber Kings won a total of 14 Art Bogart Cup league championships between 1973 and 2011. Six of those championships came in the 1980s when the Kings were coached by Jim Farelli. Farelli coached 420 games for the Kings, the most of any coach in Lumber Kings history. His teams advanced to the Art Bogart Cup championship series eight consecutive years, winning six titles. This included three consecutive championships from 1987 to 1989, tying the record for longest streak set by the Cornwall Royals (1966–1968).
The Kings had previously won three Art Bogart Cups in the 1970s. The 1972–73 team was coached by Mac MacLean and made it to the Centennial Cup Canadian Junior A Final, losing 4 games to 1 to the Portage la Prairie Terriers. Under coach Bryan Murray the Kings won consecutive titles in 1977 and 1978. The 1977 team made it to the Centennial Cup Final, losing to the Prince Albert Raiders. Murray was fired by the Lumber Kings after the 1978 season. Three years later he was starting a long NHL coaching/general manager career as coach of the Washington Capitals.
The Lumber Kings broke their own (shared) league record by winning five consecutive Art Bogart Cup championships from 2007 to 2011, appearing in five Fred Page Cup tournaments for the Eastern Canada Junior A championships (2006 as hosts), winning in 2007 and 2011, and finishing as finalists in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In 2011, the Pembroke Lumber Kings became only the second team since the 1976 Rockland Nationals to win the National Junior A championship. The team was led by owner, coach and general managerSheldon Keefe, who had purchased the Kings in June 2006.[1]
Keefe announced on May 29, 2013, that he had sold the Pembroke Lumber Kings to former Calgary Flames player (9 games) and Eganville native Dale McTavish.[2] With Keefe no longer in charge of ownership, general management and coaching duties, the Lumber Kings' success began to fade away, despite making the league finals in 2015, losing to Carleton Place; and failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in 13 years in 2017.
The team was sold to Alex Armstrong in June 2019.
Three books have been written about the history of the Pembroke Lumber Kings, two by author Harold Garton which primarily cover senior hockey in Pembroke until senior hockey ended in the early 1960s, and one by Jamie Bramburger which covers both junior and senior Lumber Kings hockey from 1905 to 2018. Garton's books are called Hockey Town Canada and Hockey Town Canada: The Golden Years; Bramburger's book is titled Go Kings Go! A Century of Pembroke Lumber Kings Hockey. Sheldon Keefe wrote the afterword for Bramburger's book.[citation needed]
Dale McTavish (1988–89) played for the Calgary Flames in 1996–97 (9 games) and last played pro hockey for SaiPa and Blues of the Liiga from 1997 to 2000 and again in 2010–2011 season.
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2021)
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points
(*) denotes the removal of 9 points from Pembroke's totals by the CJHL for disciplinary reasons. The Lumber Kings lost their franchise prior to the start of the 1979-80 season for failing to remain in good standing with the league.[3]
Fred Page Cup
Eastern Canada Championships MHL - QAAAJHL - CCHL - Host
Round robin play with 2nd vs 3rd in semi-final to advance against 1st in the finals.
