One of Flin Flon’s champion hockey clubs has received their day in the spotlight.
The 1965-66 Flin Flon Warriors are joining two other teams and several influential hockey figures as this year’s class of honorees for the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (MB HHOF).
The Warriors were three-time Manitoba Intermediate division champions, winning the title in consecutive seasons from 1963-64 to 1965-66. The 1965-66 edition of the team went on to win the Western Canadian Intermediate Playoffs (also known as the Edmonton Journal Trophy), beating the Kenora Thistles, Kindersley Klippers and Lloydminster Border Kings en route to the title.
The Warriors were the first-ever northern Manitoba team to earn the Manitoba Intermediate AA championship. Following the team’s three-year run of dominance, both The Pas Huskies and the Thompson Hawks would win the title – the Hawks winning it seven times between 1970 and 1994.
Also entering the HHOF are players Bob Fitchner, Trevor Kidd, Marty Murray, Terry Yake, Larry Bolonchuk and Susanna Yuen; builders Barry Shenkarow and Kelly McCrimmon; official Bob Haithwaite, broadcaster Bob Holiday; and in the veteran’s category, Johnny Shepherd and the 1929 Elmwood Millionaires.
Many former Flin Flon hockey players are already in the HHOF, including Bobby Clarke, Dean Evason, Al Hamilton, Gerry Hart, George Konik, Dunc McCallum and Eric Nesterenko, as well as former Bomber stars Reggie Leach, Blaine Stoughton and others.
