Western Hockey League (1964-1967)
Tombstone
Born: June 1964 – The Denver Invaders relocate to Victoria, BC
Moved: May 16, 1967 (Phoenix Roadrunners)
First Game: October 9, 1964 (L 7-3 @ Los Angeles Blades)
Last Game: April 1, 1967 (W 2-1 vs. Portland Buckaroos)
Lester Patrick Cup Champions: 1966
Arena
Marketing
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Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Toronto Maple Leafs
NHL Affiliation: Toronto Maple Leafs
Background
The Victoria Maple Leafs were a farm club of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the NHL club’s 1960’s dynasty era. Victoria matched the parent club’s on-ice success during their brief run in the Western Hockey League.
The franchise was the relocated Denver Invaders who had the WHL’s best regular season record the previous season. The team arrived from Colorado largely intact, retaining #1 goaltender Al Millar, and top scorers Lou Jankowski, John Sleaver and Gord Redahl. Head Coach Rudy Pilous, who managed the Chicago Black Hawks to a Stanley Cup championship in 1961, also moved north with the club.
The Maple Leafs advanced to the 1965 Lester Patrick Cup finals at the end of the first season in Victoria. They lost to the Portland Buckaroos in five games. They earned a re-match with Portland in the 1966 Cup finals and flipped the script with a seven-game series victory.
The 1966-67 Maple Leafs missed the playoffs. In the spring of 1967 the Toronto Maple Leafs sold off their directly owned farm clubs in Victoria and Rochester, New York. Investors in Arizona bought Victoria and moved the club to Phoenix for the 1967-68 season.
Victoria Maple Leafs Shop
Editor's Pick
ICE WARRIORS
The Pacific Coast/Western Hockey League 1948-1974
By Jon C. Stott
Between 1948 and 1974, more than 2,500 minor-league professional hockey players skated across the Pacific Northwest states and western Canada as part of the 23 teams that made up the Western Hockey League (known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League before 1952). Some of the young players went on to enjoy careers in the National Hockey League; others were former NHLers willing to extend their careers by returning to the minors. Many of the most colorful, however, were minor-league “lifers” who simply had hockey in their blood and built their reputations in the WHL and other minor pro leagues.Ice Warriors traces the WHL’s origins, rise and fall, and includes interviews with players, coaches and fans as well as statistical records and pictures from the era.
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In Memoriam
Franchise leading scorer Milan Marcetta passed away on September 18, 2014 at age 77. Times-Colonist obituary.
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