In 1963, Eugene George and a group of Kitchener businessmen brought the Guelph Royals, a farm team of the NHL’s New York Rangers, to Kitchener and renamed them the Kitchener Rangers Junior “A” Hockey Club.
“We wanted to put a Junior “A” team on the ice that Kitchener would be proud of,” recalled George. “We wanted to prove we could put together a competitive local team.”
On Tuesday, October 15,
1963, John Beechey scored the franchise’s first goal in the team’s first-ever game. Sandy Fitzpatrick – the Rangers’ first captain – broke a 3-3 tie to give the Rangers’ its first franchise victory, 4-3, over the St. The New York Rangers sponsorship of the team ended in 1967 with the expansion of the NHL’s “Original Six’” Era, so on July 7, 1967, George agreed to purchase the team from the New York Rangers for a sum of one dollar. He declined the opportunity for private ownership but instead turned the team over to the community through the creation of a not-for-profit organization. To this day there is not one, lone “owner” of the club; instead, a 39-person Board of Directors is elected by the club’s season ticket subscribers each year to act as the “trustees” of the storied franchise. This Board of Directors is comprised entirely and only of KitchenerRangers’ season ticket subscribers. The Kitchener Rangers celebrated their 50th anniversary season in 2012-13 and are entering their 60th season of operation in 2022-23. Since the Club’s inception in 1963, the Kitchener Rangers have seen over 180+ former players earn their way to the National Hockey League. They have also produced over 156 players selected by teams in the NHL Entry Draft; 28 of those players were selected in the first round.
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