Flint Generals
Shop retro Flint Generals tees, hoodies and jerseys. The Generals made the playoffs in 15 of 16 seasons and finally brought the Turner Cup home in 1984 with a sweep of Toledo. A later version at Perani Arena, with a stick-wielding General bursting through the jersey, won Colonial Cup titles in 1996 and 2000. Celebrate Flint's long hockey tradition by browsing all of our Generals gear, then read the team history below. Vintage Ice Hockey Canada is a small business that keeps the designs and history of forgotten hockey clubs alive.
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Flint Generals History
The Flint Generals™ started play in the IHL for the 1969-70 season, making it an 8-team league for the first time in about ten years. Their first season was tough, with only 21 wins and missing the playoffs but they wouldn't miss a beat after that. The Generals would win at least 30 games and make the playoffs every single season for the rest of their existence, through 1984-85. That's 15 of 16 seasons with a playoff berth. But it would be much tougher for the team to win the IHL title. They bowed out of the playoffs in the first round many times and went the entirety of the 1970s without an IHL title. But in 1984 a 41-win Generals team coached by Dennis Desrosiers and 103 points from each of Bernie Gallant and Jeff Pyle would finally bring home a Turner Cup to Flint after they swept the Toledo Goaldiggers. Despite another 43-win season after the title victory, the Generals would leave town and head to nearby Saginaw where they would become the Saginaw Generals for two seasons and the Saginaw Hawks for two more before folding. Flint didn't go without hockey though, as the Flint Spirits took their place.
The Generals name would be re-born as a UHL and IHL team starting in 1993. The re-created team took up residence in the IMA Sports Arena (renamed Perani Arena in 2003) after the Flint Bulldogs skipped town for Utica, NY. The Generals sported a new logo, with a hockey stick wielding General bursting through the front of their jerseys. The new Generals would be just as dominant as the old ones in the Colonial League (later the UHL), winning league titles in 1996 and 2000, including 7 straight playoff appearances through that 2000 title run. In 2007, the UHL renamed itself the IHL, as the league lost half of its teams that year. Unfortunately, both the IHL and the Flint Generals would go out of business in 2010.
