Skip to main content

Kalamazoo Wings (1981-82, IHL)

1981-82 Regular Season--Wings vs. Fort Wayne Komets
     The country was going through a recession during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the industrial Midwest was especially hit hard. With fewer and fewer fans having disposable income for hockey games, attendance began to drop off for many IHL franchises. The league was coming off a forgettable offseason in 1981. The Grand Rapids Owls and Port Huron Flags both ceased operations after the season's end. The Saginaw Gears filed for bankruptcy protection shortly after winning the Turner Cup, and Muskegon came close to being evicted from their arena. The league, now down to 7 teams, scrapped their divisional setup.
     The Kalamazoo Wings opened the 1981-82 season in an unfamiliar role: ex-champions. The K-Wings were routed in the 1981 Turner Cup Finals by a red-hot Gears squad in five games, ending their two-year dynasty. Coach Doug McKay moved on to coach the AHL's Adirondack Red Wings and was replaced by JP LeBlanc. The franchise was still a part of Detroit's farm system.
     The K-Wings slipped to third overall in the league. Their ordinary 41-36-5 record had them just two points behind second place Milwaukee, but 22 points behind runaway league champion Toledo.
     Kalamazoo was fifth in the league on offense, scoring 355 goals. They were led by Brent Jarrett, who was later traded to Saginaw during the season. Jarrett notched 40 goals and 122 points for both the K-Wings and Gears that year. Another midseason acquisition, Bill MacNaught, popped in 35 goals and 98 points between the K-Wings and Flint Generals. Six other players scored over 20 goals, including three who reached 38.
     On defense, Kalamazoo was much better. Their 333 goals allowed mark was second-lowest in the IHL, behind Toledo. The team used four different netminders that year. Holdover Georges Gagnon played the bulk of the games (59) , with a 3.70 GAA. Future Red Wings netminder Corrado Micalef played in 20 games and would make it all the way to Detroit that season. Claude Legris and Randy Wilson were the other two netminders that year.
     There would be no fourth-straight appearance in the Turner Cup Finals in 1982. Kalamazoo faced the Fort Wayne Komets in Round One and were quickly dispatched in five games. The Komets would then be the odd-team out in the round robin second round series, and Toledo would dispatch Saginaw in the Turner Cup Finals.
     Another nice K-Wings program. It's the same size as the one from 1979-80. All of the pages are black-and-white. There are the usual local advertisements, from Vicksburg Tune & Turn Motorcycle Shop to Taco John's Super Burrito ("IT'S TACORRIFIC!!"). That night's opponent was the Fort Wayne Komets. The game was on November 20, 1981, and both the Komets and K-Wings were tied for third place with 20 points. Slick program, very good condition too.

Sources:
International 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