The Kemptville 73's are a Junior A ice hockey team based in North Grenville, Ontario. The 73's compete in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) as a member of the Robinson Division, which is the west division of the league. The club was founded as the Kemptville Comets in the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League (EOJHL) in 1969. The Comets changed their name to the 73's in 1973 to coincide with that year. In 2007, they moved to the Central Junior A Hockey League, which rebranded to the Central Canada Hockey League in 2010. For their first 36 seasons in North Grenville, the 73's were based at the before-renovated North Grenville Municipal Arena in Kemptville. Before the 2005–06 season, the facility was rebuilt and expanded, and changed its name to the North Grenville Municipal Centre. The 73's are owned and managed by Jason Jork, Joe Jefferies and Paul LeBreux, with founder Shawn Fensel and Craig Whitten acquiring the team in 2020.

The franchise was poor to mediocre in the first eight years in the CCHL as they failed to make the Bogart Cup playoffs six times in eight seasons and never finished higher than fifth in their division, in which contained six teams. Their fortunes began to turn around following the hiring of the president and general manager Terry Nichols in 2012. They are one of the three current CCHL franchises to have never made any Bogart Cup Final appearances, and to have never won the Bogart Cup. Their best season occurred in 2025–26, in which they finished second in their division with a record of 36–16–3, and have lost in the semi-final round. When they were part of the EOJHL, the team has reached the finals multiple times including two championship victories in 1997 and 1999.

The 73's have a rivalry with their Highway 416 neighbor, the Brockville Braves, as well as a rivalry with the Carleton Place Canadians and the Smiths Falls Bears. The Carleton Place–Kemptville rivalry has been present since the 1969–70 season when they were a member of the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League, and have faced each other in the playoffs multiple times in their history. The 73's are the only ice hockey team in the Kemptville community, as well as the only sports team in the Municipality of North Grenville, billing themselves as solely representing the North Grenville township in any sport.

History The team was founded in 1969 in the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League along with the Carleton Place Canadians.

In the 1996–97 season, the 73's achieved an undefeated season with a record of 38–0–4 en route to the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League championship. They repeated the championship victory in 1999.

The team moved up from the EOJBHL to the CJHL in 2007. On 14 September 2007, the team played their first ever Junior A hockey game at home. The 73's took on the Nepean Raiders and have lost the game 5–2. Anthony Scarpino scored the 73's first ever Junior A goal in the first period. Alex Beaudry started the historic game in net. The 73's won their first CJHL game by defeating the Kanata Stallions at home by a score of 4–2 on 23 September 2007. On 8 April 2008, Mark Nasca become the first 73 in history to commit to an NCAA Division I when he signed with the Colgate University Raiders for the 2008–09 season. A few months later, Rob Capellupo was announced as the head United States scout for bringing in players. He was also announced as the teams physical and psychological doctor.

During the summer of 2017, the 73's changed their ownership from Ron and Lisa Tugnutt to Jason York, Joe Jefferies and Paul LeBreux. The ownership group expanded in 2020, when Shawn Fensel and Craig Whitten joined the group. In 2023, Fensel left the ownership group to become the team's head coach. Since 2018, the ownership group decided for the team to play an annual family day home game on a Sunday afternoon each February at the North Grenville Municipal Centre. This became the 73's most popular game in the regular season beside the playoffs, attracting over 800 people at the annual event, with a record of 1,350 fans in the 2023 edition.

Season-by-season record Season GP W L T OTL GF GA PTS Finish Playoffs1999–00 45 32 10 - 3 218 127 68 1st in EO St. Lawr Lost Final2000–01 45 30 13 - 2 217 138 62 1st in EO St. Lawr Lost Final2001–02 45 19 24 - 2 194 182 43 4th in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Semi-final2002–03 45 21 15 - 9 210 197 51 3rd in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Final2003–04 45 30 13 - 0 228 137 62 3rd in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Semi-final2004–05 45 28 13 - 4 223 166 60 1st in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Final2005–06 45 31 12 - 2 293 196 64 1st in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Final2006–07 40 21 15 - 4 217 179 46 4th in EO St. Lawr Lost Division Semi-final2007–08 60 15 39 - 6 164 260 36 9th in CJHL Did not qualify2008–09 60 15 38 - 7 126 225 37 10th in CJHLDid not qualify2009–10 62 27 29 - 6 191 214 60 8th in CJHL Lost quarterfinals2010–11 62 22 33 - 7 157 225 51 10th in CCHL Did not qualify2011–12 62 13 44 - 5 164 299 31 11th in CCHL Did not qualify2012–13 62 15 44 - 3 152 295 33 6th of 6 in Robinson 12th of 12 in CCHLDid not qualify2013–14 62 26 30 - 6 210 232 58 5th of 6 in Robinson 8th of 12 in CCHLLost quarterfinals 4–0 to Carleton Place Canadians2014–15 62 26 25 - 11 225 223 63 6th of 6 in Robinson9th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2015–16 62 36 23 - 3 224 179 75 5th of 6 in Robinson7th of 12 in CCHL Lost quarterfinals 4–1 to Ottawa Jr. Senators2016–17 62 33 25 - 4 216 188 70 4th of 6 in Robinson5th of 12 in CCHL Won quarterfinals 4–2 over Hawkesbury HawksLost semi-finals 4–2 to Carleton Place Canadians2017–18 62 18 40 - 4 159 267 40 6th of 6 in Robinson11th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2018–19 62 21 34 - 7 176 227 49 6th of 6 in Robinson11th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2019–20 62 26 31 - 5 204 229 59 4th of 6 in Robinson9th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2020–21 Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic2021–22 55 29 18 - 8 198 171 66 3rd of 6 in Robinson5th of 12 in CCHL Lost quarterfinals 4–2 to Renfrew Wolves2022–23 55 25 24 - 6 199 206 56 5th of 6 in Robinson9th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2023–24 55 25 26 - 4 160 170 54 5th of 6 in Robinson9th of 12 in CCHL Did not qualify2024–25 55 26 23 - 6 152 168 58 5th of 6 in Robinson7th of 12 in CCHL Lost quarterfinals 4–0 to Carleton Place Canadians2025–26553616 -3208124752nd of 6 in Robinson4th of 12 in CCHLWon quarterfinals 4–1 over Navan GradsLost semi-finals 4–0 to Rockland Nationals

Notable alumni Calvin de Haan Ben Hutton

References

External links 73's Webpage EOJHL Webpage CJHL Webpage