Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website - Oil Kings and The Memorial Cup

The early 1960s were a source of great pride and frustration for Edmonton Oil Kings general manager Leo LeClerc. From 1960-62, the Oil Kings had decimated their Western Canadian opposition and earned the right to play for the Memorial Cup, the national championship of junior hockey. However, in each of those three championships, the Oil Kings had to watch the Eastern champions do the celebrating. In 1960, the St. Catherines TeePees, the same club that took on the Oil Kings in the 1954 final, won the Memorial Cup. In 1961, the Toronto-based St. Michael’s Majors, coached and managed by the legendary Father David Bauer, beat the Oil Kings. In 1962, the Oil Kings fell to the Hamilton Red Wings.

In 1963, the Oil Kings had made it to their fourth final in a row, but this young team would prove to be the grittiest bunch. The lineup included hard-hitting def

enceman Pat Quinn and gritty forward Glen Sather. The team also featured Ron Anderson, who would later go on to score the first–ever goal in World Hockey Association history as a member of the Alberta Oilers.

Early in the 1963 series final, the Oil Kings looked like it was ready to meet the same fate as the 1960, '61 and '62 teams. The Ontario champion Niagara Falls Flyers hammered the Oil Kings 8-0 in Edmonton. Niagara Falls was paced by the hard-nosed play of Terry Crisp and Gary Dornhoefer. The Oil Kings rebounded to take Game 2, but, given the team’s past history of losing Memorial Cups and the absolute thrashing laid in Game 1, the Flyers had become the critics’ choice to take the series.

It was Quinn who would change the momentum of the series; not with a goal or an assist, but with a Game 3 bodycheck that broke Dornhoefer’s leg. That hit sent the message that the Oil Kings were ready to play the Flyers’ style of rough-and-tumble hockey, and acted as an intimidator for the rest of the series. The Oil Kings took the championship in six games, with the deciding game being a 4-3 nail biter. Finally, the team shrugged off the stigma of being an excellent club that was always good for second place.

In the 1964 and 1965 seasons, the Oil Kings returned to their losing ways in the Memorial Cup final. The team was swept in the 1964 series by the Toronto Marlboros, and in 1965 they were beaten by the Flyers in a grudge match. In the 1965 series, the Oil Kings were stymied by goaltender Bernie Parent, a Niagara Falls star who would go on to become a key part of that great Philadelphia Flyers team.

When the Oil Kings reached the 1966 final, the team’s seventh in a row, not many gave the team much of a chance against the Ontario champion Oshawa Generals. The Generals were a dominant team in the Ontario League, and they were led by Wayne Cashman and teenage phenom Bobby Orr.