The Durham Huskies were an ice hockey franchise based in the town of Durham, Ontario, Canada. The team is actually a series of teams that have spanned nine decades and through an uncountable series of leagues. The Huskies have existed under of couple short lived monikers before finding their name by accident in the 1950s. This team has spanned the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior levels of Ontario hockey.
Founded around 1920, the Durham Hockey Club participated in the Ontario Hockey Association Intermediate League. The league was divided into numerous small divisions in which each club would have two home-and-homes with. The team with the top record after this round robin moved on to the provincial playdowns.
Their inaugural season, 1920–21, had the Durham Hockey Club competing against Markdale, Owen Sound, and Wiarton in OHA Group 14 of the Intermediate division. The season would end with the Club earning their historic first victory but still finishing last tied with Owen Sound.
As members of Intermediate Group 16, the 1928-29 Durham Hockey Club competed against Markdale and Flesherton. In their four-game schedule, the Club went undefeated. In the first round of the playoffs they met Walkerton who beat them 7-6 and 5–2 to win the series 12-goals-to-8. In 1930–31, the club was moved into a division with Walkerton and Owen Sound, still referred to as Group 16. Durham had one win and three losses and was eliminated from playoff contention. At the same, Durham's junior team won the Northern Hockey League's junior hockey championship.
In these infantile years, many OHA clubs played a second season after the OHA season was done. This season was played under the league name: the Northern Hockey League. The Durham Hockey Club played in both leagues.
1935-36 marked the year that the Durham Hockey Club won its first ever Senior OHA Championship. Coached by Dr. Royden Burnett, this team went the distance and took home the last championship this organization would see until the 1950s.
The 1950s and 1960s
During the 1951–52 season, the Durham Hockey Club was competing in the Western Ontario Hockey Association Intermediate "A" League. The club was dominant, but a reporter from the town's local paper, The Chronicle, felt the team was missing a name. He attempted to give them names like the "Hornets" and the "Phantoms", but nothing stuck. Possibly by mistake, near the end of the 1952 playoff run, The Chronicle ran an article calling the club the "Huskies". The name stuck and the team won its first championship in over a decade. The team repeated their championship run in the 1952–53 season, but at the senior level, again fell dormant. The Intermediate Huskies took over from there, winning the OHA "B" championship in 1953-54 and 1955–56. After the success of the early 1950s, even the Intermediates fell off the map for a short while. It took until the 1967–68 season for the Intermediates to win the OHA again. The Huskies repeated the next year, and then disappeared from the history books.
Senior A years
In 1971, after being very dominant at the Intermediate B level as members of the Central League, the Huskies jumped up to the newly formed Georgian Bay Intermediate A League for one season. In that one season, they won the league and lost the OHA Intermediate A final to the Georgetown Raiders.[citation needed]
In 1972, the Huskies jumped to the new Western Senior B League which became the Continental Senior B league in 1973 and jumped up to Senior "A" in 1975. Durham won the Continental crown in Senior "B" 1973-74 and Senior "A" in 1975–76.[citation needed] The Huskies won the 1974 title by defeating the Stratford Perths 4-games-to-2 in the league and provincial final. Two years later, the Huskies advanced past their league championship to compete in the Allan Cup playdowns for the first time in their history.[citation needed] The Huskies were defeated by the Barrie Flyers 4-games-to-none in the J. Ross Robertson Cup series for the Ontario Hockey Association title.[1] Barrie made it all the way to the Allan Cup final where they were defeated 4-games-to-none by the Spokane Flyers. They Huskies found a great rivalry in the Continent league with the Lucan-Ilderton Jets and the Stratford Perths.[citation needed]
In 1980, the Continental League became the OHA Senior A Hockey League. The Huskies stayed for two seasons as the league filled with teams from the Continental League's more Toronto-based rival. In 1982, the Huskies left the league in favour of a more local competitive base and more affordable players. President of the Huskies, Steve Morris, claimed that the paying of players under the table was the biggest problem and why they had to get out.[2]
The final years
In 1982, the Huskies joined the Major Intermediate A Hockey League. For the first time, the Huskies would compete for the Hardy Cup and the league was fairly local with some teams as close as the Owen Sound Greys and Collingwood Shipbuilders. The new level would prove too challenging for the Huskies and they would finish last in the league.
In 1983, the Huskies jumped down to the even more local Northern Intermediate B Hockey League with neighbouring franchises like the Shelburne Muskies, Tavistock Royals, Kincardine Kings, and Port Elgin Suns. The Huskies would find their niche, winning three straight league titles and the 1985 Paxton Cup as OHA Champions. That final season, most of the rival teams had fled to the WOAA Senior Hockey League for more local governance and better regulated refereeing, leaving only Durham and Shelburne to duke it out. To fill the season with games, the OHA told the two teams to integrate their season with exhibition games in the OHA Intermediate C Hockey League—these games resulted mostly in massive blowouts (19-3, 12–2, etc.) which kept Durham and Shelburne from truly becoming "battle hardened" for playoffs. This showed in the 1986 OHA Final when Durham forfeited a 2-games-to-none and 3-games-to-2 series lead to the Dunnville Mudcats to lose the series.
The summer of 1986 saw restructuring. The Northern League and OHA Intermediate C League, combined with Collingwood fresh out of OHA Senior A, were reorganized into Georgian Bay Senior A and Senior B. This came at the end of the "Intermediate" era and happened 2–3 years after the rest of the country got rid of the designation. Durham and Collingwood dominated the Senior A league, with Durham winning the provincial Senior AA crown to move into the Hardy Cup playdowns and Collingwood winning the provincial Senior A crown. This structure faltered after one season as more teams defected to the WOAA in 1987 and Collingwood took a year off to build a new Junior B team (Collingwood Blues). The remaining teams were reorganized back into the Northern Senior B Hockey League and a new rival league called the Central Senior B Hockey League. Durham would compete in the Central for 1987-88 before returning to the Northern in 1988 for good.
In 1989, the Huskies would again win the OHA Senior AA crown and advance into the Hardy Cup playdowns. They also defeated the Almonte Centennials of the Ottawa District Hockey Association to win the Ontario/Quebec championship 3-games-to-1 in Durham. Their trail would end in the Eastern Canada final, in contention for the Col. J. Bourque Trophy against the Port-aux-Basques Mariners of Newfoundland and Labrador. Durham would be swept 3-games-to-none, but in the face of an opponent that was allowed to cherry-pick the top five players from their league to come play for them against Durham and a budget of near $400,000 compared to Durham's $20,000. This was Durham's last attempt at a national championship. This team was honoured in 2009 at the Hockey Day in Durham festival.
In 1990, their league was declared Senior A. The Huskies put together consistently good teams, but kept failing to win their league championship in the face of the Creemore Chiefs and Elora Rocks. In the summer of 1992, the Huskies declared themselves folded due to lack of interest.
Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Season
GP
W
L
T
GF
GA
Points
Finish
Playoffs
1920-21
6
1
5
0
17
61
2
4th Int. Gr. 14
1926-27
4
3
1
0
8
6
6
1st Int. Gr. 18B
1928-29
4
4
0
0
31
6
8
1st Int. Gr. 16
1929-30
7
5
1
1
39
15
11
1st Int. Gr. 12B
1930-31
4
1
3
0
8
18
2
3rd Int. Gr. 16
1938-39
8
5
2
1
--
--
11
2nd Int. B Gr. 9
1941-42
8
3
4
1
--
--
7
3rd Int. B Gr. 6
1953-54
26
13
13
0
--
--
26
5th OHA Int. A
1965-66
24
15
7
2
--
--
32
3rd WOAA North
Lost semi-final
1966-67
Statistics Missing
Lost OHA Int. B SF
1967-68
22
16
6
0
--
--
32
2nd Central Int. B
Won League, won OHA Int. B
1968-69
26
20
6
0
--
--
40
1st Central Int. B
Won League, won OHA Int. B
1969-70
24
19
5
0
--
--
38
1st Central Int. B
Lost final
1970-71
20
14
5
1
137
66
29
2nd Central Int. B
Won League, lost OHA Int. B Final
1971-72
16
12
4
0
101
60
24
1st Georgian Bay Int. A
Won League, 4-3 (Midland) Lost OHA Final, 0-4 (North Halton)
1972-73
33
21
11
1
160
135
43
3rd WSBHL
1973-74
30
22
8
0
148
107
44
2nd CSBHL
Won League
1974-75
34
15
17
2
163
151
32
5th CSBHL
1975-76
40
28
10
2
215
140
58
1st CSAHL
Won League, lost OHA Final
1976-77
33
12
21
0
121
197
24
6th CSAHL
1977-78
36
22
14
0
171
151
44
2nd CSAHL
1978-79
39
21
16
2
208
171
44
3rd CSAHL
Lost quarter-final
1979-80
40
23
17
0
216
177
46
4th CSAHL
Lost semi-final
1980-81
36
20
15
1
206
187
41
4th OHA Sr. A
Lost quarter-final
1981-82
36
23
12
1
194
183
47
2nd OHA Sr. A
Lost quarter-final
1982-83
30
8
22
0
134
206
16
6th OHA Int. A
Lost Quarter-final, 2-4 (Port Elgin)
1983-84
18*
11
6
1
89
70
23
2nd Northern Int. B
Won League, lost OHA Final
1984-85
24
15
6
3
136
73
33
2nd Northern Int. B
Won Semi-final, 4-0 (Port Elgin) Won Final, 4-0 (Shelburne) Won OHA Final, 4-1 (Dunnville)
1985-86
6†
3
1
2
34
24
8
1st Northern Int. B
Won Final, 4-2 (Shelburne) Lost OHA Final, 3-4 (Dunnville)
1986-87
23
19
3
1
232
94
39
1st Georgian Bay Sr. A
Won Semi-final, 4-1 (Shelburne) Lost Final, 1-4 (Collingwood) Won OHA Sr. AA SF, 2-0 (Elora) Won OHA Sr. AA Final, 2-1 (Dresden) Lost Eastern Canada SF, 1-3 (Smiths Falls)
1987-88
25
16
6
3
144
105
34
2nd Central Sr. B
Won Quarter-final, 3-1 (Tavistock) Won Semi-final, 3-1 (Elora) Lost Final, 0-4 (Exeter)
1988-89
25
16
7
2
155
113
34
1st Central Sr. A-North
Won Quarter-final, 4-0 (Shelburne) Lost Semi-final, 3-4 (Creemore) Won OHA Sr. AA SF, 2-1 (Exeter) Won OHA Sr. AA Final, 3-0 (Mooretown) Won Eastern Canada SF, 3-1 (Almonte) Lost Eastern Canada Final, 0-3 (Port-aux-Basques)
Won Semi-final, 4-0 (Creemore) Lost Final, 2-4 (Elora)
(*) denotes that the results of the final 6 games of the 1983-84 season are currently missing.
(†) denotes 2 teams in league, rest of schedule filled with exhibition vs. Int. C teams.
List of championships
A note of interest: the Intermediate level was abolished in the late 1980s as the entire Senior and Intermediate system fell apart. Since then, the Ontario Hockey Association has rewritten the accolades of championship Intermediate level teams to read as Senior level championships. As well, the championship tiers were revised from two classifications with three tiers each (Sr. A, B, C and Int. A, B, C) to one classification with four tiers (Sr. AAA, AA, A, and B) instead. As an example, instead of the Huskies being OHA Intermediate "C" champions in 1985, the OHA now considers them the OHA Senior "A" Champions. The list below is written as close to the original championship classification and tier as possible.
The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the OHF include the Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Northwestern Ontario. The OHA controls three tiers of junior hockey; the "Tier 2 Junior "A", Junior "B", Junior "C", and one senior hockey league, Allan Cup Hockey.
The Durham Thundercats, originally the Durham 72's, are a senior hockey team based out of Durham, Ontario, Canada. The Thundercats are members of the Ontario Elite Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association and Hockey Canada. The Thundercats date back to the town's Centennial, 1972, and have been an extremely successful team in all loops of the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior "AA" Hockey League.
The Ontario Elite Hockey League is a Canadian senior ice hockey league governed by the Ontario Hockey Association and Hockey Canada. The league operates in Southwestern Ontario.
The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. It is under the supervision of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).
The Georgian Mid Ontario Junior C Hockey League is a former Junior "C" ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. The Champion of the league competed for the All-Ontario Championship and the Clarence Schmalz Cup.
The Collingwood Blues were a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. They were a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League and earlier the Central Junior B Hockey League.
The Owen Sound Greys were a series of junior ice hockey teams based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Mid-Western division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The original Greys, in their early years, won the 1924 and 1927 Memorial Cups as Dominion Junior Hockey Champions. The Greys were controversially moved to Brampton, Ontario, in the summer of 2012 after years of financial trouble.
The Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League was a Tier II Junior "A" ice hockey that lasted from the late 1960s until 1977 in Southern Ontario, Canada. The league was swallowed by what is now called the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League in 1977.
The Petrolia Squires are a Canadian senior ice hockey team based in Petrolia, Ontario. They play in the Western Ontario Super Hockey League and are two-time Allan Cup National Champions.
The Durham Huskies were a Junior "A" ice hockey team from the town of Durham, Ontario, Canada. The Huskies played in the Metro Junior A Hockey League for two seasons and the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League for three seasons. The Huskies were a continuance of the Traditional Durham Huskies Senior/Intermediate team that existed from 1920 until 1992.
The Major Intermediate A Hockey League was an ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada, sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association. It existed from 1978 to 1983. Its champion was eligible to compete for the W.G. Hardy Trophy, emblematic of Canadian Intermediate A hockey supremacy.
The Georgetown Raiders were an ice hockey team from Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. They competed in the OHA Senior A and Intermediate A ranks in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Central Ontario Hockey League (COHL) was a highly competitive Intermediate ice hockey league in the central Grey County area of Ontario, Canada until the late 1970s. The league was originally sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association, but later the Western Ontario Athletic Association incorporated it into their WOAA Senior Hockey League.
The Ripley Wolves are a senior hockey team based out of Ripley, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Ontario Elite Hockey League of the Ontario Hockey Association and Hockey Canada.
The Komoka Classics were a senior ice hockey team based out of Komoka, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior Hockey League. They folded in 2014 after winning the WOAA Sr. AA championship.
The OHA Senior A Hockey League was a top tier Canadian Senior ice hockey league in Ontario from 1975 until 1987. The league was sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Association and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and competed for the Allan Cup.
The Exeter Mohawks were a senior hockey team based out of Exeter, Ontario, Canada. The team was previously known as the Hensall Sherwoods, but relocated to Exeter in the summer of 2007. The Mohawks played in the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior Hockey League.
The Arthur Tigers were a Canadian senior hockey team based in Arthur, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior Hockey League.
The Northern Senior A Hockey League was an Ontario Hockey Association-sanctioned senior loop in Southwestern Ontario. Its champions could compete for the Hardy Cup in the 1980s and briefly for the Allan Cup in the 1990s.
The Lakeshore Winterhawks were a senior hockey team based out of Southampton, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior Hockey League and the Northern Senior A Hockey League. From 1967 until the mid-1980s, the team was known as the Port Elgin Sunocos from Port Elgin, Ontario and spent some of their time in the Major Intermediate A Hockey League and in for contention for the Hardy Cup.
References
↑ "Senior Series". Ontario Hockey Association. 2019. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
↑ Senior hockey league may not survive.The Toronto Star. April 16, 1982, Page D8.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
