Old Game for the New Millenium:

For the last few years, thanks to a dedicated group of volunteers lacrosse has been resurrected in Cornwall. There is a group of Cornwall citizens that are working to bring this wonderful game back to the status it once enjoyed in our city.

In it's heyday, in the early '70's there were some 500 kids playing the game. Thirty years ago, the Cornwall Celtics won the All -Ontario Jr. "B" Championships. In 1972 we hosted the Castrol Cup which was the Canadian National Jr. "B" Championship. Do you remember the classic battles between the St. Regis Braves and the Cornwall Celtics? It was not uncommon to draw between 1500 and 2000 fans in the Water Street Arena (now Si Miller) for those epic battles on a sweltering hot August night. The Cornwall Minor Lacrosse Association hosted a Midget tournament that drew teams from as far away as B.C. and I can tell you people from Toronto still talk about how that was one of the best tournaments in the country.

Do you remember the Cornwall Wildcats? Mustangs? T-Birds? Yes at one time Cornwall boasted 3 Jr. teams. Cornwall Rams? Colin Chisholm hosting a Mann Cup in Cornwall? Some may think that the years between 1963 to the late seventies with players like the Disotell's, Bowen's, Thompson's, McDonald's, Herrington's, Robillard's, Ward's, Desrosier's, Denneny's, Chuck Li, and so many more was lacrosse's finest hour in the Seaway City. But was it?

Fact is Cornwall's lacrosse history goes all the way back to 1886 when Cornwall entered a team in the National Lacrosse Union. It had a humble beginning and the team went 6-6 in it's inaugural season. The following year Cornwall won it's first Championship. The names were different back then, Norm Carpenter, Alex Black, "Red" Dave Danaher, James and John Broderick, Bill Leacy, John White, the Degans, Bob Madden, "Bones" Allen, Dot Phelan, Shiner Eastwood, brought Cornwall 4 pennants in five years. The first ever real "dynasty".

Perhaps the most famous lacrosse player of all was a rookie in 1905. Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde a goaltender! By 1910 "Newsy" was a hockey star in Montreal and decided to stay in that city and play lacrosse there for the summer. Problem was Montreal already had the best goaltender in the league. So "Newsy" decide he would play the "attack" position, all he did that season was win the scoring title (his first of many) with a record 31 goals. It was a modest start compared to what he would do in the years to come. Cornwall's own Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde was on his way to being named Lacrosse Player of the Half Century. In 1911 he played in Vancouver and was earning $208.45 per week, a big payday back then.

This is some of the history of this great game of lacrosse in our city. These are some of the things we want to revive. Not just a game but a part of our heritage.