Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website

After the conclusion of the Second World War, the National Hockey League (NHL) stood alone as the dominant major pro league on the continent. With six teams in the league, and distance between cities already being an issue, the league’s governors indicated that expansion was unlikely. With this decision and no rival leagues--like the old Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL)-- Albertans gave up hope of seeing big-league pro hockey anytime soon. Instead, many Edmontonians flocked to the Gardens to see the Flyers and the Oil Kings.

General manager Leo LeClerc recognized that the Oil Kings could become the top junior club in the country, and could attract top teenage talent from across Western Canada. LeClerc had founded the Oil Kings with the philosophy that it would act as a city junior all-star club, plucking the elite players off the rosters of the Edmonton’s other junior teams.

By the early 1950s, the Oil Kings had established themselves as a powerhouse in the league; thanks, in part, to the rise of two locally-bred teenage stars. Johnny Bucyk and Norm Ullman—two players who would later play for the Flyers and go on to NHL careers worthy of nominations into the Hockey Hall of Fame—paced the Oil Kings to a WCJHL title and a chance to play for the Memorial Cup. This was Edmonton's first opportunity at the Cup, and was a chance to equal their arch-rival Calgary, who won the Memorial Cup in 1926. Despite the high-powered attack led by Ullman and Bucyk, the Oil Kings fell short in the 1954 final, losing to Ontario champ St. Catharines TeePees.

Following the loss, LeClerc pushed the Oil Kings forward. In 1956, the Oil Kings shocked the ranks of junior hockey by pulling out of the WCJHL and joining the senior Central Alberta Hockey League, instead. LeClerc felt the team would be better prepared for future Memorial Cups if the players competed against grown men, not fellow teenagers. In future years, the Oil Kings would need to try and beat the WCJHL champs for the chance to represent the region on the road to the Memorial Cup.

After several seasons of playing against senior competition, the Oil Kings quickly became the dominant club on the Western Canadian hockey. The Oil Kings made seven consecutive appearances in the Memorial Cup final from ’60-’67, winning the title in ’63 under GM LeClerc and in ’66 under new GM and president Bill Hunter—a Saskatoon native and former Second World War pilot who had been involved in hockey ever since he returned from his tour of duty.

After the 1966 season, Hunter and long-time friend Scotty Munro—the head of the Estevan Bruins and former goaltending legend with the great Edmonton Dominions teams of the 1930s—argued that Western Canada needed a new “major” junior hockey league that would house the top teams from British Columbia and the Prairie Provinces. Their vision formed the Western Canadian Hockey League; a seven team league that allowed players up to the age of 21 to play. With this new age limit, teams had the chance to ice more consistent lineups from season to season, an attraction for the new owners. But, the new league was spurned by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, who did not allow the league to enter its champions into the Memorial Cup competition.

The differences were soon smoothed over, and by 1971 the Oil Kings won their first WCHL title, defeating the Flin Flon Bombers. It was sweet revenge for the Oil Kings, who had lost the previous two WCHL finals to the Bombers.

As the Oil Kings prepared for the final, Hunter was forced to go on a PR campaign to save the Memorial Cup tournament. The Quebec Remparts, the team that featured Guy Lafleur, threatened to pull out of the Memorial Cup. The Remparts had won the Eastern championship by default as the St. Catharines Blackhawks defaulted when they refused to go to Quebec City for Game 6 of their series. Remnants of the FLQ and other separatist factions had threatened the Blackhawks, and the series had been brawl-filled, fueled by Anglo and Francophone animosities. The Remparts were scheduled to host the final at Le Colisée, and there was talk that they would cancel the Cup in lieu of the heated political tensions in Quebec. Hunter beseeched Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to invoke the War Measures Act, and force the series to go on. The Remparts relented, and Lafleur stole the show on his home ice, leading Quebec to the championship.

The Oil Kings repeated as league champs in 1972, but once again met with Memorial Cup failure. Hunter’s dream of bringing major pro hockey back to Edmonton was realized that year, and interest in the WHA Oilers had negative effects on the home crowds for the Oil Kings. After the 1975-76 season, the team moved south to Portland, Oregon, to become the Winter Hawks. The Winter Hawks won Memorial Cups in 1983 and 1998, bringing the Oil Kings/Winter Hawks all-time franchise total to four.

In 1978-79, the owners of the Flin Flon Bombers decided to move the team to Edmonton and resurrect the Oil Kings name. After one abysmal season that saw the new Oil Kings win just 17 of 72 games, the franchise was moved and became the Great Falls Americans. Failures continued to plague the team, as they later moved to Spokane and shortly folded in 1982.

Over the next 25 years, Hunter was to own, manage or coach--often all three --minor-league teams in Saskatoon, Regina, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Yorkton and Edmonton.

In 1966, he was among a group of western hockey owners who changed the way the game was structured when they formed what is now the Western Hockey League. For quite some time it had been known as "The Outlaw League," but it eventually became too big to ignore and is now one of the largest junior leagues in the world. Despite taking the Edmonton Oil Kings twice to the Memorial Cup--bringing it back in 1966--Hunter wanted into the big leagues. Stymied in an effort to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and denied an expansion team by the NHL, he began looking elsewhere.