The Vernon Canadians were a men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

team from Vernon, British Columbia that played in the Okanagan Mainline League or the

Okanagan Senior League The Okanagan Senior Hockey League (OSHL) is a defunct Canadian ice hockey league that operated for 10 seasons (1951 to 1961) within the Okanagan region of British Columbia. This league is notable as it played hockey at the highest amateur leve ...

from 1949 to 1961. In 1962, after the Okanagan Senior League folded, the Canadians became a beer league team and then an “old timers” team that still plays today. The Vernon Canadians won the

1956 Allan Cup The 1956 Allan Cup was the Canadian senior ice hockey championship for the 1955–56 senior "A" season. The event was hosted by the Vernon Canadians and Vernon, Kelowna, and Kamloops, British Columbia. The 1956 playoff marked the 48th time ...

, becoming the national senior ice hockey champions. This made them Canada's representative for the

1957 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between 24 February and 5 March 1957 at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, USSR. This was the last World Championships played on natural ice; and were the first World C ...

, but the tournaments was being held in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and western nations

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

ed them in protest over the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

's invasion of Hungary in 1956. They were the

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

senior champion one more time, losing in the

1959 Allan Cup The 1959 Allan Cup was the Canadian senior ice hockey championship for the 1958–59 senior "A" season. The event was hosted by the Whitby Dunlops and Toronto, Ontario. The 1959 playoff marked the 51st time that the Allan Cup has been awarde ...

national finals to the Whitby Dunlops.

Season-by-season record

Okanagan Mainline League

Season Games Won Lost Tied Points GoalsFor GoalsAgainst Standing Playoffs 1949–50 48 21 25 2 - 215 237 4th out of playoffs 1950–51 55 17 38 0 - 220 297 4th Lost Final

Okanagan Senior League

Season Games Won Lost Tied Points GoalsFor GoalsAgainst Standing Playoffs 1951–52 50 27 23 0 54 - - 2nd Lost Semi Final 1952–53 54 20 31 3 43 203 262 4th Lost Semi Final 1953–54 64 25 36 3 53 281 311 4th Lost Semi Final 1954–55 54 27 24 3 57 212 198 2nd Won Final, Won Province, Lost West Final 1955–56 56 37 17 2 76 - - 1st Won Final, Won Province, Won West, Won Allan Cup 1956–57 54 32 19 3 67 269 221 1st Won Final, Lost Province 1957–58 54 24 29 1 49 228 257 3rd Lost Semi Final 1958–59 54 25 25 4 54 244 269 2nd Won Final, Won Province, Won West, Lost Allan Cup 1959–60 47 37 9 1 75 305 160 1st Lost Final 1960–61 51 32 19 0 - 331 264 1st Won Final, Lost Province

Notable alumni

* Dick Butler * Marcel Dheere * Dave Gatherum *

Johnny Harms John Harms (April 29, 1925 – January 5, 2003) was a professional ice hockey player of Cree heritage who played 43 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_m ...

* Bing Juckes * Frank King * Odie Lowe *

Dave MacKay David Craig Mackay (14 November 1934 – 2 March 2015) was a Scottish football player and manager. Mackay was best known for a highly successful playing career with Heart of Midlothian, the Double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961, a ...

Connie Madigan Cornelius Dennis "Mad Dog" Madigan (born October 4, 1934) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey defenceman notable for being the oldest rookie in National Hockey League (NHL) history. Dennis was born in Port Arthur, Ontario. After playi ...

* Doug McKay * Jim McLeod * Jack Miller *

Alex Ritson Alexander Clive Ritson (March 7, 1922 – July 18, 2008) was a professional ice hockey centre who played in one National Hockey League game for the New York Rangers during the 1944–45 NHL season. See also *List of players who played only one ...

* George Agar * Walt Trentini * Tom Stecyk *

Hal Gordon Hal Gordon (1894–1946) was a British film actor. A character actor, he appeared in over 90 films in both comic and straight roles. He started off as a lawyer's clerk but finding it dull he decided on the stage, making his music hall debut i ...

* Orv Lavell * Willie Schmidt * Merv Bidoski * Art Hart *

Don McLeod Donald Martin "Smokey" McLeod (August 24, 1946 – March 11, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played briefly in the National Hockey League and six full seasons in the World Hockey Association between 1970 and 1978. Pl ...

References

Ice hockey teams in British Columbia Sport in Vernon, British Columbia {{Canada-icehockey-team-stub