Junior juggernaut earns spot in B.C. hall
WHL’s Kamloops Blazers honoured for dominant 1994-95 season
In advance of the 1995 Memorial Cup in Kamloops, it was suggested by a rival coach that the defending champion Blazers could compete at the American Hockey League level.
They were either that good or the opposition was that much in awe of the junior hockey juggernaut. The Blazers would dominate and graduate a dozen players to the National Hockey League, including Memorial Cup MVP Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Darcy Tucker, Nolan Baumgartner, Tyson Nash, Ryan Huska, Brad Lukowich, Hnat Domenichelli and Jason Strudwick.
The Western Hockey League champion Blazers not only established records in the 1994-95 season, they went undefeated in four games to claim their third Memorial Cup title in four years — outscoring the opposition 23-11 and outclassing the Detroit Junior Red Wings 8-2 in the final — to cement the franchise’s reputation as an elite organization.
And when the Blazers are honoured at a banquet today in the Vancouver Convention Centre as a team category inductee into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, it will be a memory lane reminder of stunning success in the cyclical world of the junior game.
Tucker scored 64 goals and finished second in league scoring in 1994-95 with 137 points before scoring 16 times in 21 playoff games. Domenichelli had 52 goals and 114 points.
“I’m really proud of the group and really proud of the honour — especially being an amateur club,”
said Don Hay, who coached that club and worked in tandem with general manager Bob Brown to ice a formidable team.
“We wanted to go through the front door at the Memorial Cup — we didn’t want to go in as the host team. It was just a real good story.”
After going 52-14-6 in the regular season and allowing just 202 goals in 72 games — a league record 2.70 per outing — and being the first Canadian Hockey League team to go wire-to-wire as the top-ranked club, there were bumps along the way. Hay, Tucker and Baumgartner were with a triumphant Team Canada at the world junior tourney in Red Deer and the remainder of the roster and coaching staff had to pick up the slack.
The Blazers had to add size and toughness at the WHL trade deadline. And then they had to rally to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings in the league final. The Blazers lost the first two games on home ice and then won the next three games on the road before clinching the league title at home.
“To go into Brandon and win three in a row — we shocked everybody,” recalled Hay. “But we believed in ourselves.”