Best Northern Ontario Team Ever?

I'm on the road today, so I needed to work my destination into the mix here on HBIC. I'll be in Thunder Bay for a day as I've been dispatched to do some work out here, but we need to talk about Thunder Bay's entry into the USHL in the 1980s. As you're probably very aware, the United States Hockey League has no Canadian teams as part of its roster, but they made an exception for the 1984-85 season when the Thunder Bay Flyers joined the circuit after the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League folded. Wanting to remain in a high-level league, the Flyers were admitted into the USHL in 1984, but it was one season that put the Thunder Bay Flyers on the map in both nations!

The Flyers were in a fairly unique position as a Junior A hockey program in Canada because their inclusion in the USHL gave them a very good league in which they could play, but they still qualified for the Centennial Cup National Junior A hockey championships. There were some struggles in the early going as the team adjusted to the USHL's play and opposing teams, but a 20-25-3 season in 1984-85 put them in seventh-place in the ten-team league. The next season was a little less memorable as well as the Flyers fell to 15-32-1, landing them in ninth-place in the league.

The 1986-87 season is where things went dramatically better for the Flyers as Dave Siciliano was hired as the head coach, and his efforts to find good hockey players in northwestern Ontario paid off in a big way. The Flyers would finish in second-place in the USHL with a 35-10-3 record as Terry Menard emerged as the USHL MVP following a campaign where he scored 53 goals and 54 assists in 46 games! The Timmins, Ontario native played in a number of leagues, but he would leave after one season for the WHL and the Brandon Wheat Kings where he went on a tear again as he scored 56 goals and 71 assists!

That 1987-88 season saw the fans show up in droves as Thunder Bay got behind the Flyers as Siciliano took them to new heights with a 40-7-1 record, good for first-place in the USHL despite being tied in points with Kevin Constantine's Rochester Mustangs. The Flyers would claim the Anderson Cup for the first time in their history, and they'd follow that effort up by winning the Clark Cup in four games over the Rochester Mustangs in the USHL playoffs. However, the wheels came off as they competed in the Central Canada Junior A Playoffs where the Pembroke Lumber Kings swept the Flyers to end their season. Clearly, it wasn't the ending that the Flyers wanted, but better days were still to come for the franchise!

Four Cups In One Year

The excitement for the Flyers didn't slow down as the crowds cheered the team to another incredible season in 1988-89! Siciliano guided the Flyers to a 40-6-2 record and top spot in the USHL for the second-straight season, but the experience of the previous year's battles proved important this season. The St. Paul Vulcans were the Flyers' opposition for the Anderson Cup, and they would need every second of both games to claim victory. With 14 seconds remaining in Game Two, Wayne Sawchuk converted a pass from Darryl Blazino to push the Flyers to the 7-6 win! The Thunder Bay Flyers were the USHL's Anderson Cup champions as regular season champions!

The Flyers weren't done there, however, as they advanced as the top-seeded team in the USHL's Clark Cup Playoffs, and they'd dispatch the Omaha Lancers in three-straight games before downing the North Iowa Huskies in a 3-1 series win to setup a rematch with the St. Paul Vulcans in the Clark Cup Final. Just as they played in the Anderson Cup showdown, the Flyers would need all five games to claim victory with a 5-3 win in the fifth and deciding game to give them the Clark Cup and the USHL championship!

Making things even more fun was the fact that the Flyers were also competing in the Centennial Cup's Central Canada playoffs at the same time as the USHL playoffs were happening, and they were doing a pile of winning there too. Thunder Bay needed the minimum eight games to win the two series against the Sudbury Cubs and the Pembroke Lumber Kings to win the Dudley-Hewitt Cup as the Central Canada Junior A champions as they booked their spot in the Centennial Cup championship tournament in Summerside, PEI!

Things didn't slow down for Thunder Bay in PEI either as the Flyers entered the tournament with an incredible record, but got zero respect for their efforts through the 1988-89 season.

"The host Summerside team commented at the coaches press conference that Thunder Bay couldn't be very strong since they played in a U.S.-based league," recalled Siciliano. "I know it fired me up to prove him wrong and I am sure the players took it personally also."

Playing a chip on their shoulder, the Flyers hammered the Vernon Lakers 8-2 in their round-robin game, defeated the Moncton Hawks 6-2, but ran into a tough Summerside Western Capitals team that beat the Flyers 5-4. Their 2-1 record through the preliminary round would put them in the three-way tie for first-place, and their goal differential proved to be the difference as the Flyers were given the top seeding and a berth in the Centennial Cup Final. Summerside would down Moncton in double-overtime to set up the final between the host Western Capitals and the Thunder Bay Flyers.

"We knew the arena would be packed and loud cheering for them," offered Siciliano. "We emphasized to remain calm and disciplined. The Capitals were going to try and run us out of their building. I believed they didn't have much respect for us since they had beaten us in the round robin."

Using their speed and discipline, the Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead off a goal by forward Bruce Ramsay who was known more for throwing punches than scoring goals. Ramsay totalled 781 PIMs in three seasons with the IHL's Grand Rapids Griffins from 1996-1999, so seeing him score the first goal in Thunder Bay's biggest game likely surprised people as his reputation in Junior A hockey was well-known.

With tournament all-star and leading scorer Greg Johnson carrying the play for the Flyers, the Western Capitals couldn't muster much offence as Thunder Bay skated to the 4-1 victory in the final! Johnson, who would go on to have a very successful 12-year NHL career, was named as the Canadian Junior A Player of the Year in 1988-89 after helping to lead the Flyers to the Centennial Cup, their fourth major championship of the year, and becoming the first team from northwestern Ontario to claim the title!

"1988-89 was a special and memorable year for me my teammates, and in so many ways, was a turning point in my career," Johnson reminisced about the season. "The entire group was unselfish and team-first. Great leadership from our captains and veteran players and our coaching staff did an amazing job with many great decisions. To win the USHL, Dudley-Hewitt Cup and Centennial Cup in the same year was an incredible accomplishment."

At the conclusion of the Centennial Cup, the Thunder Bay Flyers had won the USHL's Anderson Cup, the USHL's Clark Cup, the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, and the Centennial Cup on the strength of a 60-10-2 record. There hasn't been a season of hockey like this one in Thunder Bay since 1988-89, and the vast majority of their lineup was sourced from Thunder Bay and communities in northwestern Ontario. In short, this was a special team that put Thunder Bay on the hockey map in both Canada and the US!

Members of that team included captain Darryl Blazino, Jason Bortolussi, Brian Caruso, Dwight DeGiacomo, Peter Grant, Greg Hankkio, Todd Henderson, Todd Howarth, Chris Hynnes, Greg Johnson, Brad Kennett, Darren Leishman, Barry McLeod, Ian Milne, Don Osborne, Craig Pages, Michael Power, Neal Purdon, Bruce Ramsay, Wayne Sawchuk, Gary Wenzel, head coach Dave Siciliano, assistant coach Sean Donohue, manager Ray Bohonis, trainer Dino Martin, and trainer Gaetan Joubert.

The Flyers would win more championships in the following years - Anderson Cups in 1991 and 1992, the 1992 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, and the 1992 Centennial Cup - but they did not win all four championships in the same year ever again.

The Flyers played their last game in 2000 in the USHL before the franchise was folded, and the void was filled by the Superior International Junior Hockey League in 2001. With the Lakehead University Thunderwolves men's hockey program becoming the highest level of men's hockey in Thunder Bay, they've seen some success, but they still haven't been able to have a season like the 1988-89 Thunder Bay Flyers had.

For one season, Thunder Bay had the best Junior-A program on either side of the border. No other team can claim that distinction, and that's why the '88-89 Thunder Bay Flyers may very well be the best northern Ontario hockey team ever assembled!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!