The Bombers date back to 1927. Their trademark colours are maroon and white. The team originally played at the Flin Flon Community Club Arena until the construction of the Whitney Forum, known locally as "the zoo", in the 1950s.[1][2] The Bombers originated as a senior team, and they competed in the Northern Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League and the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League between 1937 and 1948.
SJHL dynasty
In the postwar period, the Bombers became charter members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).[3] The team quickly established a dynasty, winning seven league titles in a nine-year span between 1952 and 1960. The team's biggest success during this period came in the 1956–57 season. The Bombers lost only five games in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Bombers beat the Humboldt Indians four games to none in the semifinals, then won the final over the Prince Albert Mintos four games to two. As SJHL champions, the Bombers then advanced to the Abbott Cup to determine the champion for Western Canada. They defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings, a team of junior-aged players competing in the seniorCentral Alberta Hockey League, four games to two, then the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League's Fort William Canadiens in four games to win the Abbott Cup and advance to the Memorial Cup national tournament.[4][5]
As per Memorial Cup rules, the Bombers were permitted to add three players to their roster for the 1957 national playoffs, picking up goalie Lynn Davis and defenceman Jean Gauthier from the Fort William Canadiens and centre Orland Kurtenbach from Prince Albert Mintos. There, they faced the Eastern Canadian champion Ottawa Canadiens, coached by Sam Pollock and assistant Scotty Bowman.[6] The first three games were in Flin Flon, with the remaining games played in Regina, Saskatchewan with Pollock drawing the ire of Flin Flon residents for criticizing the remoteness and size of the community.[6] The Bombers won the series four games to three to claim the Memorial Cup championship.[3][4] The win by the Bombers was considered a considerable upset over the favoured Canadiens.[6] The team was greeted by 4,000 people when they returned to Flin Flon after the series.[7]
The Bombers played in the SJHL until 1966, when the launch of the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (CMJHL) led the SJHL to fold with several of its teams joining the new league.[9] The Bombers spent the 1966–67 season in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) instead.[3] Led by coach Paddy Ginnell and star players Reggie Leach and Bobby Clarke, who won the league scoring title, the Bombers dominated the MJHL and won the Turnbull Cup as league champions, before losing the Abbott Cup final to Port Arthur.[3][10] Clarke recorded 71 goals and 183 points in 45 games, while Leach recorded 67 goals and 113 points.[11] Ginnell was credited with turning the Bombers into a hard-working and physically tough team.[11][12] The arrangement with the MJHL would last just one season, with the Bombers leaving the league in 1967.
After its inaugural season, the CMJHL was renamed the Western Canada Junior Hockey League, which was then simplified to the Western Canada Hockey league one year later.[9] After their one season in the MJHL, the Bombers joined the WCHL, now the top level of junior hockey in Western Canada, for the 1967–68 season, and they immediately built on their previous success.[3]
The Clarke-led Bombers continued to dominate, finishing in first place for the 1967–68 regular season before losing in the President's Cup finals to the Estevan Bruins. The Bombers again finished in first place in the 1968–69 season, going on to win that season's playoffs to become President's Cup champions, defeating the Edmonton Oil Kings.[13] Clarke led the league in scoring both seasons, while Leach recorded 87 goals in 1967–68.[11] As 1969 WCHL champion, the Bombers proceeded to win a national championship in 1969 by defeating the St. Thomas Barons of the Western Ontario Junior A Hockey League; the best-of-seven series was unsanctioned by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), which at the time had barred the WCHL from competing for the Memorial Cup. The short-lived Canadian Hockey Association organized an alternate championship; despite being a best-of-seven, St. Thomas withdrew from the series during the fourth game, trailing the game and the series two games to one, protesting the Bombers' violent play style—the Bombers were awarded the title.[13][14] After the series, Flin Flon challenged the Memorial Cup-champion Montreal Junior Canadiens to a showdown, but the Montreal club declined.[15] The following season, with Clarke having graduated to the professional ranks, the Bombers repeated as league champions, again defeating Edmonton, with Leach leading the league in scoring. Due to the controversy surrounding the previous years series against St. Thomas, there was no national series in 1970.[13]
The growing financial demands of major junior hockey, including extensive travel, became a strain for the Bombers, who played in one of the league's smallest and most remote communities; not only was the travel difficult for the Bombers, but for any team visiting Flin Flon, which had also developed a reputation as a particularly violent team.[16] The franchise departed Flin Flon after the 1977–78 season. The franchise played three and a half seasons after leaving Flin Flon with iterations as the Edmonton Oil Kings—after the original Oil Kings departed Edmonton in 1976 due to pressure from the Edmonton Oilers—for the 1978–79 season, the Great Falls Americans for part of 1979–80 before suspending operations, and the Spokane Flyers for 1980–81 and start of the 1981–82 season before folding in December 1981.[9]
Return to Junior A
In 1977, the WCHL Bombers had formed an affiliate Junior B team. The Jr. B Bombers would win the 1977–78 Baldy Northcott Trophy as Manitoba Provincial Champions. When the WCHL Bombers departed to Edmonton, the Bombers' ownership retained the Junior B Bombers. The Flin Flon ownership, along with the owners of the Thompson King Miners, banded together with people from The Pas and Snow Lake, Manitoba to create the NorMan Junior Hockey League (NJHL), a rival to the Manitoba Junior League; the following year, the NJHL—along with the Bombers—would be promoted to Junior A status and the right to compete for a national Junior A championship.[17] Flin Flon won NJHL titles in 1979, 1982, and 1984.
For the 1984–85 season, the Bombers were granted expansion into the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), which had been revived in 1968 following the 1966 demise of the original SJHL.[18] For two seasons, due to SJHL rules requiring teams to be located in Saskatchewan, the team was re-named the Creighton Bombers after the adjacent community of Creighton, despite Flin Flon straddling the provincial border. After two seasons, the league allowed the team to re-adopt the Flin Flon moniker.[citation needed]
Harvey Fleming, Carl Forster, Cliff Lennartz, Barry Beatty, Mike Kardash, Duane Rupp, George Konik, Mel Pearson, Ken Willey, Rod Lee, Wayne Sproxton, Ted Hampson (captain), George Wood, Lynn Davis, Jean Gauthier, Ron Hutchinson, Orland Kurtenbach, Pat Ginnell, Doug Dawson (manager), Bobby Kirk (coach), Hec McCaig (trainer), Jim Wardle (executive), Pinkie Davie (executive), Ken Cunningham (stickboy), Rees Jones (stickboy), and Dan McCaig (mascot) were with the team through the SJHL and Abbott Cup championships, and were joined by Lynn Davis, Jean Gauthier, and Orland Kurtenbach for the Memorial Cup national championship.[4]
