Part 2 of Round Two
Matchup No. 13
In 2005 Chilliwack, British Columbia was granted a WHL expansion team after Tri-City Americans’ owners attempt to move the franchise there was voted down by the WHL directors. The Bruins would begin play in the 2006-07 season. The Bruins would make the playoffs in four of the five seasons in Chilliwack, however would only manage a total of four playoff wins in those years, never making it out of the first round. The team would be sold after the 2010-11 season and new ownership would move the team to the provincial capital in Victoria, filling the void left when the Cougars moved to Prince George in 1994.
Chilliwack would adopt the ever common spoke logo that all Bruins teams seem to use, replacing the B with the C of Chilliwack.
The Lethbridge Broncos kicked aside another Bruins team in the Estevan Bruins by a mere two votes in the first round (18-16). How will they fare up against another Bruins team?
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Matchup No. 14
In the first round the Kamloops Jr. Oilers slid past their franchise’s edition of the Bruins from New Westminster 22 votes to 13.
The Weyburn Red Wings were founded in 1961 and were one of the founding members of the WHL in 1966. They would play only two seasons however in the WHL, only managing 31 wins in 116 games. Due to increasing travel costs of the WHL the team would return to the SJHL in 1968. The team continues to play in the SJHL today and are one of the most successful, having won the SJHL Championship eight times.
The franchise was named after the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings so it’s no surprise that they also have the same logo, with Weyburn written in the bottom of the wheel.
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Matchup No. 15
When the WHL formed in 1966 five of the eight teams from the SJHL would join, while the Brandon Wheat Kings and Flin Flon Bombers would join the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. After one season however, both those franchises would then join the WHL. Led by Bobby Clarke the Bombers would be a force in their first two seasons in the WHL winning two league championships. The mid-70’s would see the teams success start to dwindle and the team outgrow the small arena in Flin Flon. The Bombers would depart to Edmonton, Alberta in 1978 and become the second version of the Oil Kings, replacing the first that relocated to Portland, Oregon two years prior. The Flin Flon Bombers would continue to operate though, as a NorMan Junior Hockey League team from 1979 to 1984, and in 1984 they would rejoin the SJHL where they continue to play today.
The Bombers logo is, as the kids would say, the bomb. (Do they still say that?) It is literally a bomb cloud with the middle ‘B’ of Bombers exploding. The logo that the team uses today is a little less cluttered than the original but basically the same.
The Edmonton Oil Kings knocked off the Spokane Flyers in round one (27-22).
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Matchup No. 16
The Great Falls Americans beat out the Nanaimo Islanders in the first round by a 29 to 17 vote count, which may have been somewhat aided by the logo that wasn’t actually used by the WHL team. We’ll see how they fare with their true logo in the second round.
Tacoma, Washington was granted an expansion WHL franchise to begin play in 1991. The Rockets were quite successful on the ice while in Tacoma, reaching the playoffs in all four seasons. Their second season in Tacoma the Rockets would win 24 straight home games, setting a WHL record at the time (the Kamloops Blazers would break that record the following season with 29 straight wins at home). Success on the ice unfortunately did not translate into fans in the seats. Due to low attendance, as well as playing in the Tacoma Dome which was not well suited for hockey, the franchise would relocate to Kelowna, British Columbia in 1995.
Many will recognize the Tacoma Rockets logo, as the Kelowna Rockets would use the same logo (with ‘Kelowna’ instead of ‘Tacoma’) for their first five years in the Okanagan, along with last season as their 25th Anniversary logo. Oddly enough in the franchises 25 years their logo has never contained an actual rocket of any sort, as Kelowna would change from this logo in 2000 to the now used Ogopogo logo.
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Last Week’s Results:
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