OVER the years, many highly-touted local junior teams took to the ice and went on to achieve success.
One such club was the 1973-74 Thunder Bay Hurricanes, who proved to be an elite Jr. squad on both sides of the border.
Now nearly five decades on, that Herks team that was good enough to potentially win it all, has plans to hold a reunion, September 8-9 in Thunder Bay.
That is to include a ‘Team Reception’, beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 at On the Links on Golf Links Road, followed by a round of golf the following day at Fort William Country Club.
Back in the early summer of 1973, the Hurricanes organization opted to forego playing in the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League, during the regular season, versus local rivals, the Fort William Canadians; Case Eagles and Thunder Bay Beavers.
Instead the club agreed to join the fledgling Midwest Junior Hockey League, which would consist of them, along with five U.S.-based clubs: the Minnesota Jr. Stars; St. Paul Vulcans; Fargo-Moorhead Sugar Kings; St. Cloud Jr. Blues and the Chicago Nordics.
There they would be coached by Dave Siciliano, managed by Dave Farrow, and saw the team financed courtesy of local business man, Bob Irwin of Irwin Ready-Mix.
The first-ever MWJHL game was held in front of a big crowd at the Fort William Gardens back on Friday, October 5, 1973, but the visiting Jr. Stars from Minnesota spoiled the night by skating away with a 4-3 victory.
After playing to a 3-3 draw the following evening, Thunder Bay found their winning ways by clobbering Chicago 12-4 a week later, led by Frank Venasky’s hat trick and a pair of tallies off the stick of Lynn Jorgenson.
Throughout the 60-game slate, the Hurricanes had little trouble finding the back of the net, supplying a MWJHL-best 419 goals, averaging nearly seven markers per contest.
Among the offensive leaders, Darrell Traer, deemed by Siciliano to be a magician with the puck, went on to pace the league offensively with 149 points, featuring 67 goals and 82 assists.
Jorgenson meanwhile was second in scoring with 133 points and led the way with 69 tallies.
Then there was Chris Ferguson, who was third on the squad, and sixth overall in the league on 93 points, while Venasky sat seventh in the MWJHL with 88.
Also making an impression to the Herks’ line-up were a pair of teenage defencemen and eventual future NHLers, Trevor Johansen and Mike Hordy.
At just 16, Johansen quickly became known for his resounding bodychecks and offensive capabilities that saw him provide 44 points in 59 outings, including 13 goals, which led team blueliners.
He later was a first round NHL Draft pick, 12th overall, by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1977.
As for Hordy, just a year older, he registered 50 points to lead the team defensive corps in that department.
Thunder Bay went on to capture the Anderson Cup regular season title with a 45-14-1 record.
Their 91 points tied them with Minnesota, but claimed the crown by virtue on one more victory to their credit.
Deciding to pass on the MWJHL playoffs, and concentrate on the Centennial Cup playdowns instead, the Hurricanes set their sights on vying for a Canadian Jr. A championship.
First came the TBJHL playoffs where they dominated by sweeping the Case Eagles in three straight in semifinal play before putting the broom the Canadians in a four-game romp to win the Jack Adams Trophy.
Advancing to the eastern Canadian playdowns, their initial opponent there were the Wexford Raiders from Toronto.
After splitting the first two games of the best-of-seven affair in the provincial capital, the clubs headed to the Lakehead to finish things off.
Thunder Bay started strong at home, winning the first two at the Gardens by scores of 5-2 and 10-7.
However, Wexford countered with a couple of triumphs of their own, by counts of 6-3 and 7-5, to force a seventh and deciding affair.
There, the Raiders proved to be no match as the Herks rolled to an 8-1 victory, backed by a Jorgenson hat trick, two tallies from Traer, along with singles courtesy of Jack Davies, Ken Martyn and Ferguson.
Netminder Dave Balina finished with 26 stops to secure the win.
Up next came a date with the Smiths Falls Bears from the Ottawa area.
Starting on the road again, Thunder Bay was outscored 8-6 to kick things off.
Controversy then played a hand in the decider late in Game 2, when Hurricanes’ defenceman Davies appeared to have notched a short-side go-ahead marker with only a couple of minutes remaining.
Despite the celebrations, the night’s referee appeared to be one of the few building who didn’t see the puck go in and proceeded to wave it off.
While the Thunder Bay players were celebrating what they insisted was a goal, an alert Bears’ player scooped up the puck and dashed down the ice and connected for what was the winner and a 4-3 result.
Still fuming with the outcome, the Hurricanes returned to the Gardens and swamped Smiths Falls 11-3 in Game 3 to get back in it.
Jorgenson was once again an offensive catalyst with four goals, with Gary Raynak chipping in with three while seeing Johansen, Hordy, Venasky and captain Don Kells also connected.
Regrouping, the Bears went up 3-1 in the series off a 6-3 score.
Battling back, the Herks won 6-4 and 9-3 to send the match-up to the distance.
There despite holding a big edge in shots, Thunder Bay let a trio of leads get away as Smiths Falls rallied to win 7-5 and advance to the Canadian Jr. A final.
Ironically the goaltender who backstopped the Bears to victory with a 41-save performance was Rocky Menard.
This was the same Menard who was later recruited by Siciliano and helped the Thunder Bay Twins to an Allan Cup win in 1975.
Smith Falls later fell in seven games to the Selkirk Steelers from Manitoba while vying for 1974 Centennial Cup glory.
Members of this high-scoring and talented Hurricanes team will now have the opportunity to get together in just over six weeks time to share memories and reflect on what could have been.
The 1973-74 Anderson Cup-winning Thunder Bay Hurricanes consisted of:
Goal: Dave Balina; Stan Prokopchuk
Defence: Trevor Johansen, George Nickerson; Ken Fraser; Michael Hordy; Ron Bevilaqua; Jack Davies
Forwards: Darrell Traer; Frank Venasky; Chris Ferguson; Ken Martyn; Larry Oleksuk; Bill McIlwain; Gary Schmidt; Lynn Jorgenson; Gary Raynak; Ted Lis; Don Kells (Captain)
Manager: Dave Farrow
Coach: Dave Siciliano
Trainer: Dino Martin
Assistant Trainer: Jim Bruno
Team Doctor: Dr. John Nickerson
Team Owner: Bob Irwin, Irwin Ready-Mix
For further information, on the Thunder Bay Hurricanes Sept. 8 get together at On the Links, contact George Nickerson.