Toledo Blades (1967-68, IHL)

1967-68 Regular Season--Opponent Unknown

     The Toledo Blades were the third professional hockey club to play in Toledo, Ohio. They were members of the International Hockey League from 1963-70, when they were renamed Toledo Hornets. They played their home games at the Toledo Sports Arena, a 5,230-seat arena.
     The Blades were coming off their second Turner Cup victory in 1966-67, having defeated Fort Wayne in the Finals. The 1967-68 Blades slipped to fifth place in the IHL that year, with a 29-29-14 record. While Muskegon ran away with the regular season title, the battle for the second-fourth playoff seeds was hotly contested, as only six points separated second place Dayton and fifth place Toledo.
     Coach Terry Slater's squad scored only 261 goals, second-fewest in the league. Stan Maxwell led the charge on offense, with 34 goals and 78 points. Richard Balon led the Blades in goals with 41. Five other players scored at least 20, including two players with over 30 goals.
     The Blades allowed the second-most goals in the IHL that season, with 307 pucks getting past Toledo netminders. The Blades used five different goaltenders that season. Toledo legend Glenn Ramsay played the lions-share of games in '67-68, making it into 53 games. Jim Helkie played in 11 games, the second-most on the team. Lyle Carter, Barry Olson and Hal Murphy appeared in a few games each.
     The Blades narrowly missed the playoffs in 1967-68, finishing just a point behind fourth place Fort Wayne. Muskegon captured the Turner Cup, defeating Dayton.
     Sharp program that's still in excellent condition for it's age. There are a lot of in-game action pictures in this program. All of them are pictures of a Blades-Flags game at McMorran Arena. Nice cover picture of Glenn Ramsay making a kick save in the Blades net! This program has 34 pages, all black-and-white. Ads include McDonald's, Econo-Car of Toledo and WOHO 1470 AM.

Sources:

International Hockey League Statistics: 1967-68 (from hockeydb.com)

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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 playoffs in their inaugural cam

Flint Generals yearbook (IHL, 1973-74)

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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 Turner Cup (Playoff C

Hockey Programs

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