AFTER finishing with a sub-.500 regular season record in the inaugural campaign of the Colonial Hockey League back in 1991-92, but buoyed by previous postseason success, it was a different story come playoff time for the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks.
With a line-up put together by the legendary Gary Cook, and coached by another local icon, in Bill McDonald, the duo relied on their experiences of winning Allan Cups with the Thunder Bay Twins to do likewise in the CoHL.
While going from senior hockey to the minor professional ranks may have been a bit foreboding at first, the basic principles of producing winning hockey, when it counted, remained.
“Going from the era of the Twins, which arguably could go down as one of the greatest organizations of all time, to turning pro, was to me, a little scary,” admitted McDonald when reflecting on the events, some three decades ago. “The reputation we had with the championships we won with the Twins was going to be hard to match.”
Knowing they’d need to appease the masses, who would be flocking to the Fort William Gardens, to take in this new level of competition that matched the success of the Allan Cup glory days constantly remained in the back of McDonald’s mind.
“We had to give the fans something equal to that, and let me tell you, the Twins had some real good teams over the years,” stated the highly-successful bench boss. “Going into this, we knew we had to find some different kinds of players.”
That’s where Cook, as the club’s general manager, came into play.
“As I’ve always said, it was (Cookie), who did all the recruiting,” confirmed McDonald. “He had the touch; spent endless hours on the phone and to bring in guys like Cam Plante, Mike Berger, Joe West, Steve Hogg, Bryan Wells, Gary Callaghan, Barry McKinley, Petr Bares, Tom Warden, Trevor Converse, and in the end, Everton Blackwin, was unreal.”
The head coach/GM duo also lined up a solid core of city talent to bolster the roster.
“We added the local flavour of real good players too. Pat Szturm, Bruce Ramsay, Vern Ray, Ransom Drcar, Brock Shyiak, Dan Bissonnette, Randy Cameron and our first-ever signing, Terry Menard.”
Tinkering with the roster throughout, McDonald, along with assistant Larry Wintoneak, and goalie coach John Adams, constantly juggled with a line-up throughout the season as they looked to find the right mix come playoff time.
With ups and downs, Thunder Bay wrapped up the regular season with a special guest, as Mr. Hockey – Gordie Howe, was brought in for a special luncheon, and also laced them up in the pre-game warmups in a match-up against the Brantford Smoke.
Finishing the slate third overall, with a 26-28-6 mark, a first-round playoff date with the same Smoke was on deck.
Starting in Brantford, Thunder Bay took the first two games by identical 5-4 scores in overtime, thanks to early game-winners from Wells and Converse respectively.
After the visitors held off a late charge by the home side in Game 3 at the Gardens, the series would change during the next contest in Thunder Bay.
With the Smoke up big early and seemingly on their way to tying up the best-of-seven affair, the Thunder Hawks erupted with a four-goal, second-period barrage in just over a three-minute span to chase a clearly rattled Brantford goalkeeper David Schill, much to the delight of the boisterous Gardens’ throng, who rained down a thunderous ‘Sieve’ chant from the rafters, in a thrilling 8-6 come from behind victory.
After themselves letting a lead get away while falling 7-6 in Game 5 on the road via a decider in the final moments, Thunder Bay returned home to extinguish the Smoke with a 4-1 triumph in the finale, including a series-ending point blast, power play tally, by captain Mike Berger.
That set-up a final against the upstart St. Thomas Wildcats, who had clipped the first place Michigan Falcons in the other league semifinal.
Next week: Part III on the Thunder Hawks’ flight to a CoHL championship, 30 years ago.