Celebrating 50 years of the MMJHL

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This article was published 24/02/2020 (2407 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

Jack McKenzie, the first president, says the league was formed in 1970 to fill a void in Winnipeg for players wishing to continue to play after completing juvenile in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association system. At the time there were only four junior A teams in the city and players had to play for the junior teams in their geographic zone — for the Monarchs in the south or the West Kildonan North Stars in the north, for example.

Discussions took place with the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association about forming a junior B league and the groups involved made it very clear they were not interested in becoming a developmental league for junior A clubs. The new league was formed without an agreement with the MAHA.

When the MMJHL’s first season began in the late fall of 1970, the charter teams were River Heights Cardinals, Charleswood Hawks, Fort Garry Blues and Stonewall. Not long after, teams from St. James and Portage la Prairie asked to join so the schedule was revised to accommodate six teams. 

A key to the league’s success and longevity was the decision by the founding fathers to operate as an independent league with its own rules. 

At the time the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League allowed its teams to have three 21-year-old players, which was not the case for junior A teams. The MMJHL chose to adopt a similar rule but in its first season the teams were allowed as many 21-year-olds as they wanted. After that, the number was four. One important rule stopped players who had aged out of junior A from moving down to a MMJHL team as an over-aged player. League organizers realized that many of players were enrolled in post-secondary education. With this in mind, playoffs were completed early in the spring so there would be no conflict with exams.

In the first season, three 15-year-old players, Ray Russell of Charleswood, Don Houston of River Heights, and future NHL defenceman Brian Engblom with Fort Garry, were allowed to play. 

The league later operated a team under the leadership of furniture baron Nick Hill, called Kern Hill Nationals. The rationale was that players 17 and under wishing to play in the league would play there before moving to a MMJHL team when they turned 18. Stonewall dropped out after two seasons but the league continued to grow with teams from Transcona, East and West Kildonan, St. Vital, St. Boniface and Selkirk. 

In his history of the early years, McKenzie, who served as president for six years, recognized Bob Fitzpatrick, Ed Rutherford, Richard Partridge, Gordon Marks and Ron Russell as volunteers who got the league “off the ground.” Bob Foulds was the first referee-in-chief and Len Cowie and Earl Ormshaw were experienced officials who worked games.

On March 6 at the Eric Coy Arena, the Charleswood Hawks will celebrate five decades of hockey. The Hawks have won 16 MMJHL championships, including 12 under the leadership of the late Wayne Deschouwer, who is described in the anniversary program as the “most loved Hawk.” The evening will feature a game against the St. James Canucks. 

The plan is to bring back players from the past to join in the celebration. Among the talented players on the Hawks roster were those labelled as players of the decades —Wayne Gogal, Garth Bannatyne, Jeff and Blair Van Norman, Keith Potter, Matt Ring, Colin Hekle, Dillon Smith, Riley Gilmore and Brian Hearn, who was the team’s all-time leading scorer with 300 points. Blue Bomber Nic Demski played for the Hawks from 2011 to 2013 and Winnipeg Jets senior communications director Scott Brown was team captain in the 1995 championship year. 

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

T. Kent Morgan
Memories of Sport

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

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