The Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks were formed in 1991 as one of the five founding franchises of the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL), alongside the Brantford Smoke, Flint Bulldogs, Michigan Falcons and St. Thomas Wildcats. They took over Fort William Gardens from the Thunder Bay Twins, the senior club that had played there since 1970 and had just finished the 1990-91 season as league champions and Allan Cup runners-up.
In August 1991 the Winnipeg Sun reported that the Twins had joined the new Colonial League. The reasoning being that they were competing with a junior team in Thunder Bay and had made the move to boost attendance. It’s not entirely clear to us if the Twins simply changed leagues or if this was an altogether new franchise, but there were lots of common threads between the 1990-91 Twins and 1991-92 Thunder Hawks.
Bill McDonald, who had played for the Twins in the 1970s and coached them in their final senior season, was the Thunder Hawks' head coach. John Adams was an assistant on both teams, and ten of the twenty-eight players on the Twins' last roster played for the Thunder Hawks. Randy Cameron, Bruce Ramsay, Rob DeGagne and Brock Shyiak wore the same sweater numbers for both.
In their first season, 1991-92, the Thunder Hawks finished 26-28-6 for 62 points, third in the five-team league, and won the Colonial Cup. Terry Menard led the team with 41 goals and 57 assists for 98 points in 58 games, Joe West scored 45 goals, Bruce Ramsay took 313 penalty minutes, and Steve Hogg went 14-7-3 with a 3.88 goals against average in net.
In 1992-93 the league expanded to seven teams and the Thunder Hawks went 32-24-4 for 68 points. In the playoffs, they would beat the Muskegon Fury four games to three in the opening round, before losing to the St. Thomas Wildcats in the second round. McDonald was named Coach of the Year for that season. In 1993, the team was renamed the Thunder Bay Senators to reflect an affiliation with the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators, and the franchise continued under that name and then later rebranded to the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats.
This would make a unique gift for the hockey fan in your life or a neat find for yourself of a vintage hockey team.
All t-shirts and hoodies ship from Victoria, BC via Canada Post, with expected delivery in 6 –10 business days. Please note that we are a print-on-demand shop, which means that we will create your products upon receiving your order.
About the hoodie from the manufacturer:
- Brand: Gildan or similar
- Product: Gildan 18500 or similar
- 13-oz., 50/50 cotton/polyester fleece
- 3-end fleece
- Compacted yarns to minimize shrinkage
- Double-lined hood with drawstring
- Rib-knit cuffs and waistband
- Anti-pill
- Classic, true-to-size fit
