The hockey history in Thunder Bay is vast and even includes a team that was a feeder to both the American Hockey League and International Hockey League.
Before the Superior International Junior Hockey League launched in 2001 and the Lakehead Thunderwolves made the city home in 2000, the Fort William Gardens played host to first the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks, (1991-1993) followed by the Thunder Bay Senators, (1993-1996) and finally the Thunder Bay Thunder Cats, (1996-1999).
Tom Warden, who serves as the Director of Athletics for Lakehead University, was a former player and Head Coach for the franchise and recalled in an interview when the club had an affiliation with the Ottawa Senators.
“I remember we had as many as nine guys on the squad that were signed directly with the Senators,” Warden recalls. “So you really saw a good level of hockey here.”
The franchise was involved in the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997. The league had its headquarters in Michigan and was considered a low-level minor professional league.
Five teams were in the circuit to start, (Brantford Smoke, Flint Bulldogs, Michigan Falcons, Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks and the St. Thomas Wildcats) before the league eventually expanded to ten clubs and later changing to the United Hockey League in 1997.
The Thunder Bay squad had three American Hockey League affiliates, (New Haven Nighthawks, New Haven Senators, Prince Edward Island Senators) along with a partial partnership with the International Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers.
Warden noted the American dollar at the time was one of several factors that eventually led to the owners selling the team.
“It was hard for our local owners, who did a heck of a job keeping [the team] here but it was hard to survive in that economy. It couldn’t survive with that business model,” stressed Warden.
The ownership change came after eight seasons in Thunder Bay. The team moved to Rockford, Illinois, and were renamed the IceHogs in time for the 1999-2000 season.
Listen to the Full interview with Tom Warden below
