Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender George Hainsworth played senior hockey for the Greenshirts from 1917 to 1923. Another Hall of Famer, Earl Seibert played one game with the team in 1928.[3]
The first junior ice hockey Greenshirts team played in the OHA the early 1920s to the start of World War II. This Junior A program operated in affiliation to the Senior A team of the same name.[citation needed]
The team was known as the Kitchener Colts when they won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as the OHA junior champions in 1923.[4] The Colts eventually advanced to play the University of Manitoba in a two-game, total-goals series in Toronto to decide the 1923 Memorial Cup winner. The university won consecutive 7–3 contests to capture the Cup by a total score of 14–6.[5]
The team later became the Greenshirts and were finalists for the J. Ross Robertson Cup in 1929.[4] The Greenshirts were awarded the J. Ross Robertson Cup by default in the 1934–35 season after winning a protest on the series it had lost to the Oshawa Generals.[6] The decision on the protest came too late for Kitchener to challenge the Northern Champion Sudbury Cub Wolves for the right to compete for the Memorial Cup.[7] The Greenshirts were runners-up in the J. Ross Robertson Cup finals in 1936.[4]
With many high calibre Junior A and NHL players involved in military service, Kitchener was left with a Junior B team to fill the void.[citation needed]
Future NHLers Howie Meeker & Dutch Reibel played for the Junior B Greenshirts during the 1940s.[3] Howie Meeker would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a broadcaster.[citation needed]
The Greenshirts were granted as an expansion team for the 1951–52 season. The first Junior A season in Kitchener since World War II was successful in gaining local fan support, and beating out rivals Waterloo Hurricanes to be the best team in the twin cities.[citation needed]
The team played three years in total from 1951 to 1954, then were renamed the Kitchener Canucks. The Kitchener Canucks later became the Peterborough TPT Petes.[citation needed]
^ abcAnnual Report: Constitution, Regulations and Rules of Competition. Cambridge, Ontario: Ontario Hockey Association. 2006. p. W-13.
^Lapp, Richard M.; Macaulay, Alec (1997). The Memorial Cup: Canada's National Junior Hockey Championship. Madeira Park, British Columbia: Harbour Publishing. pp. 21–23. ISBN1-55017-170-4.
^Brown, Babe; Attersley, Bobby (1978). A History of the Oshawa Generals. Vol. One. Toronto, Ontario: Chimo Publishing. p. 2. ISBN0-920344-07-0.