Charlottetown Abbies

The Charlottetown Abbies had several iterations over the years and were among the very first hockey teams on Prince Edward Island (PEI). As far back as 1897, the Abegweits competed in the inaugural PEI senior championship. "Abegweit" is the Mi'kmaq Nation's word for PEI, meaning "cradled on the waves."

Decades later, in the 1970s, the Abbies were formed as a Junior 'A' team, initially playing locally in the PEI Junior Hockey League. The team eventually joined the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, which included teams from the Maritimes beyond PEI. The Abbies played 14 seasons in the MJHL and were at one point coached by PEI hockey legend Forbes Kennedy. Mark Flood, an Abbies alum, went on to play in the NHL.

The high point for the MJHL Abbies came in 1999 when they became only the fourth PEI team to compete for what was then known as the Royal Bank Cup, the national championship of Junior A hockey in Canada. That year, they amassed an impressive 57 wins in 70 regular season games and made it all the way to the Cup final before losing to the Vernon Vipers.