Skip to main content

Indianapolis Checkers (CHL, 1981-82)

The first Checkers program I saw on eBay. Bought it a few years ago.

1981-82 Regular Season--Checkers vs. Salt Lake
      Indianapolis joined the Central Hockey League for the 1979-80 season after several seasons in the World Hockey Association. The new team was called the Checkers and were the primary farm team of the New York Islanders. They played their home games at the 8,421-seat State Fair Coliseum.
     For the 1981-82 season, the Checkers were still affiliated with the Islanders, in the middle of their legendary dynasty. Indianapolis was coached by Fred Creighton, who was also General Manager. Creighton's squad had a solid season, going 42-33-5. That record was good enough for third place in the North Division, eight points behind league-leading Salt Lake.
     The Checkers scored the fourth-fewest goals that season, with 319 in the net. They were led by Don Laurence, who had 43 goals and 98 points. Two other players, Charlie Skojdt and Steve Stoyanovich, scored over 40 goals, and five others scored at least 20. 
     Indy was much better on defense, as their 259 goals allowed was the lowest number in the CHL. Creighton used three different goaltenders that year. Future NHLer Kelly Hrudey played the bulk of the games for the Checkers. Hrudey, in 51 games, went 27-19-4 with a 2.95 GAA and 1 shutout. Rober Holland played in 30 games, going 15-11-1 with a 3.41 GAA on the year. Lorne Molleken was called up from Toledo of the IHL for four games.
     The Checkers drew the Tulsa Oilers in Round One of the Adams Cup Playoffs. Indy destroyed the Oilers in three straight, outscoring them 16-3, to advance to Round Two. They faced the Wichita Wind and swept them aside in four straight to advance to the Finals. The Checkers faced the Dallas Black Hawks for the Adams Cups. In a close series, the Checkers downed the Hawks in six to win their first-ever Adams Cup. 
     Overall, 1981-82 was a pretty good season for the New York Islanders organization. The Isles' IHL team, the Toledo Goaldiggers, won the Turner Cup in five games over Saginaw. The Checkers won their first ever Adams Cup championship over Dallas. And, to top it off, the Islanders won their third-straight Stanley Cup, sweeping aside Vancouver in four.
     This program's 32 years old, but it's in excellent shape. It has 44 pages, mostly in black-and-white. Lots of pictures, ads and articles. There's also an article on the return of hockey to the Coliseum. Checkers netminder Kelly Hrudey would eventually make it to the Islanders and carve out a long career in the NHL, including stops in Los Angeles and San Jose. The Checkers also featured minor-league tough guy Frank Beaton. Beaton did score 13 goals and 41 points, but also piled up 270 penalty minutes, earning his nickname "Seldom".

Aftermath: The Checkers would repeat as Adams Cup Champs in 1982-83 and lost in the Finals in 1983-84. When the Central League collapsed after that season, the Checkers joined the IHL with Salt Lake for the 1984-85 season. 

Sources:
Central Hockey League Statistics: 1981-82 (from hockeydb.com) 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Port Huron Hockey: Flags/Wings (1962-81)

Now, on to Port Huron.      Port Huron has had a long, yet checkered, history of pro hockey. The most successful franchise, by far, was the Port Huron Flags (also called Wings for a few years) of the IHL. The Flags were, for the most part, a competitve team on the ice, making the Turner Cup Finals seven times and winning the Cup on three occasions. For three years, (1971-74), the franchise was a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and sent numerous players on to the NHL in it's existence. However, the team had problems drawing big enough crowds. While the Flags lasted for nearly 20 years, former GM Morris Snider later admitted that the franchise could have folded three years before it actually did, due to declining attendance. I've found some Flags/Wings programs online over the years, and here's what I have. 1963-64 Regular Season--Flags vs. Windsor       1963-64 was the second year of existence for the Flags. After missing the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flint Generals yearbook (IHL, 1973-74)

     I recently bought two yearbooks from the Flint Generals of the IHL. This one is from the 1973-74 season. It's a 40-page book, all in black-and-white, and on glossy paper. Each player for that season has a full page photo and a short bio. The statistics and a team photo for each Generals season are included. Stats for every player that wore the "blue and gold" are listed in the back of the yearbook. Flint Journal sportswriter Len Hoyes added an article previewing the remainder of the 1973-74 campaign.       One thing that Hoyes noted in his article was about attendance: "With all of their problems, the Generals were still attracting fans at a rate of 3,950 per game. Attendance was down slightly, but Flint's percentage rate of almost 100 percent remained the envy of minor league hockey." (Hoyes, 1974)      The original Generals were a popular team for most of their existence, and attendance only bottomed out when the region...
Post a Comment
Read more

Muskegon Mohawks (IHL, 1965-84)

I know, I said earlier I was going to look at Detroit's minor league teams. That would mean the Vipers would be next, but I decided to cover them later when I had time (I have a TON of programs from that team). Instead, I'm going to look briefly at Muskegon.  Muskegon has had a long, colorful past in professional hockey. It all started in 1960 with the expansion Muskegon Zephyrs of the IHL. Five seasons later, 1965-66, the Zephyrs became the Mohawks, and remain so until 1984-85, when they became the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks would remain in town through the 1992-93 season. After that season, the franchise would relocate to Cleveland, Ohio. Here are the Mohawks programs I have, along with a couple bonus scans.        The Mohawks existed from 1965-84, about 20 seasons, and had two vastly different eras of success. From 1965-76, the Mohawks finished above .500 10 times, winning the Huber Trophy (Regular Season Championship) six times and the ...
Post a Comment
Read more