Skip to main content

Flint Generals (IHL, 1984-85)

1984-85 Turner Cup Playoffs
Generals vs. Kalamazoo Wings
     The Flint Generals were in their sixteenth year of existence in 1984-85. The franchise was coming off it's finest hour in the previous year, winning their first-ever Turner Cup championship. The Generals swept aside both Milwaukee and Toledo in four straight, the first team to sweep to the Cup since the 1969 Dayton Gems.
     Dr. Eugene Chardoul led the consortium that had owned the Generals for the past several years. Former Saginaw Gears and Generals forward Dennis Desrosiers returned for his second season as head coach and general manager. The team played their home games at the 4,021-seat IMA Sports Arena.
     Desrosiers' Generals had a fine season in 1984-85, going 43-32-4. Their 93 points placed them in second place in the IHL Eastern Division, ten points behind league-best Muskegon. Flint had the third-most goals scored that season, with 349. Gilles Thibaudeau, a rookie from the Montreal system, led the team in scoring with 52 goals and 97 points. Four other players had at least 35 goals that year, including future (Colonial League) Generals coach Peter Horachek, who had 38.
     Defense seemed to be a bit of a weak spot in the Vehicle City, as the Gens surrendered 340 goals, third-worst in the league. Rick Knickle and Rick Wilson were the two main netminders in Flint, though the Gens used six throughout the season. Knickle was in net for the postseason.
     The Generals opened the Turner Cup Playoffs against a tough opponent, the third-place Kalamazoo Wings. The K-Wings were just four points behind the Gens and allowed about 50 fewer goals. In a back-and-forth series, the Generals fell in Game 7 on IMA ice, 4-3 in overtime. Kalamazoo would be swept aside by Muskegon in the second round, and Peoria would claim the Turner Cup.
     The Generals always had nice-looking programs, and this one is no different. It's 58 pages, black-and-white, and loaded with the usual advertisements. This program is from Game 3 of the series, which the Generals won, 2-1. There's a recap of the 1983-84 playoff run. Nice to see they drew big crowds for their two Finals games. Former Gears forward Dave Westner was not only the broadcast booth, but was also an assistant coach. Len Hoyes offered an article about the Generals' luck in playoff overtime games. A directory of the IHL is included as well. Local advertisements include WCRZ Cars 108 FM, WHNN 96 FM ("Alive and Lite"), Stroh's Beer and James Lumber. The Windmill Place shopping center, one of Flint's attempts to diversify after the auto industry tanked, also had a small ad. Car advertisements included the Buick Somerset and the Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport.

Aftermath: 1984-85 would be the last hurrah for the Flint Generals. Ownership spent the majority of the summer battling with the City of Flint over lease agreement for the IMA. When talks stalled, the Generals moved up I-75 to Saginaw for the 1985-86 season. The Generals would be replaced by the expansion Flint Spirits.
References:
IHL Statistics: 1984-85 (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 playoffs in their inaugural cam
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's economy tanked
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 Turner Cup (Playoff C
Post a Comment
Read more