The Newfoundland Regiment are marking their home arena’s silver anniversary by donning special throwback jerseys honouring one of their city’s historic hockey franchises.
The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League team announced on Thursday, October 8, that they would celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Mary Brown’s Centre (née Mile One Centre) with a pair of Throwback Nights in November. The first of those will take place on Thursday, November 5, when the Regiment will don the jerseys of the St. John’s Maple Leafs, the American Hockey League team that called the arena home from 2001 to 2005.
“When this building opened, the Baby Leafs were the team that filled it,” said Regiment president Glenn Stanford, who previously served as vice-president of the St. John’s Maple Leafs. “Twenty-five years later, seeing a new generation wear that jersey on the same ice is something special. We want to bring back the fans who were there from the start and share that history with the families just getting to know it.”
Because the St. John’s team was affiliated with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the “Baby Leafs” wore jerseys with the same template as their parent club at the time. The Regiment’s throwback jerseys stay true to that design, with two white stripes around the sleeves and waist of the blue base. The Leafs’ “Ballard era” logo appears on the front, with “ST. JOHN’S” replacing “TORONTO” in the first line of text.
The only deviation from the 2001-2005 look is a Regiment secondary logo patch on each shoulder. The two white stripes also run around the blue socks, while a single white stripe goes down each side of the blue pants.
The St. John’s Maple Leafs played in the AHL from 1991 to 2005, playing at Memorial Stadium for the first 10 years of their existence. They won three division titles, a conference title and a regular season title during their time in Newfoundland and Labrador, but no Calder Cup championships.
In an effort to reduce costs, the parent club moved the team to Toronto in 2005, rechristening them the Toronto Marlies. St. John’s wasn’t without high-level hockey for long, though; the QMJHL’s St. John’s Fog Devils moved into the Mile One Centre right away, playing there from 2005 to 2008. The city then hosted the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps from 2001 to 2017. The Regiment relocated from Acadie-Bathurst, New Brunswick, in time for the 2025-26 QMJHL season.
The Regiment host the Moncton Wildcats on Thursday, November 5, at the Mary Brown’s Centre for the first Throwback Night. The second Throwback Night will be held on Thursday, November 26, against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, but the theme for that one has not yet been announced.
