The Victoria Maple Leafs were a minor pro ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) that played three seasons in Victoria, British Columbia, beginning in 1964. They were the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The previous season the team had played as the Denver Invaders, with the best regular season record in the WHL, and from 1959 to 1963 the team had played as the

Spokane Comets The Spokane Comets were a minor professional ice hockey team that was located in Spokane, Washington. They played in the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 1958 to 1963. In April 1961, the franchise considered a move to San Francisco in view of the ...

. In 1967 they became the Phoenix Roadrunners.

History

Victoria had had a baseball team named the Maple Leafs in 1915. The Victoria Cougars entered the WHL as an expansion team for the 1949-50 season, but in 1961 they moved to Los Angeles to become the

Blades A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...

. In 1964 it was announced that the Denver Invaders of the WHL would be relocated to Victoria after Denver had failed to reach a 2,000 season ticket target before the June 19 deadline the league had imposed. The team, which was owned by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, had lost a reported $150,000 in their first season. The team became known as the Victoria Maple Leafs for the following season. The team logo was a stylized blue maple leaf, with the words "Victoria Maple Leafs" on it. They played in the Victoria Memorial Arena which opened in 1949 and sat 5033 spectators. Andy Stephen called the games for local radio station CKDA. Fans of the team were well known for chanting the parent-team's cheer, "Go Leafs Go!" In June 1967,

Maple Leaf Gardens Limited Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

sold the team for $500,000 to a group from Phoenix which relocated it to become the

Roadrunners The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

, where they played until the WHL's demise in 1974. In Phoenix, the franchise won the last two WHL championships in 1973 and 1974. The Roadrunners then competed in the World Hockey Association in 1974-75 using essentially the same team from the previous year.

1964-65 season

The Maple Leafs finished the 1964-65 season with a 32-36-2 W-L-T record in fourth place in the six-team league, making the WHL playoffs.

Milan Marcetta Milan Marcetta (September 19, 1936 – September 18, 2014) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 54 games in the National Hockey League. He played with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North St ...

led the team in scoring with 34 goals and 46 assists, and Larry Keenan scored 35 goals. Victoria sported four 30-goal scorers. Journeyman goaltender

Al Millar Franklin Allan Millar (September 18, 1929 – December 20, 1987) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played in six games in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins during the 1957–58 season. The rest of his career, ...

played 63 games and future NHL goaltender Gary Smith also played in seven. The Leafs beat the

Seattle Totems The Seattle Totems were a professional ice hockey franchise in Seattle, Washington. Under several names prior to 1958, the franchise was a member of the Pacific Coast Hockey League (renamed the Western Hockey League in 1952) between 1944 and ...

in a seven-game semi-final, but lost to the

Portland Buckaroos The Portland Buckaroos was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in Portland, Oregon. PCHL/NWHL era (1928–1941) The first incarnation of Portland Buckaroos played their home games at the Portland Ice Arena. The Buckaroos ini ...

in five games for the championship. Millar played 10 playoff games in goal, with Jean-Guy Morissette playing the other two.

1965-66 season

In the 1965-66 season, the Maple Leafs defeated the San Francisco Seals in a seven-game semi-final, to set up a rematch of the previous year's final. They beat the regular season champion Buckaroos in seven games to capture their only

Lester Patrick Cup The Lester Patrick Cup was the championship trophy of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 1949 to 1974. Originally known as the Phil Henderson Cup and then in 1952 it was renamed to the President's Cup. The ...

in Victoria and the first for the franchise going back to Denver and Spokane. They finished the regular season in second place, with a 40-28-4 record under coach Frank Mario. Milan Marcetta repeated as team scoring leader with 28 goals and 54 assists.

Bob Barlow Robert George Barlow (born June 17, 1935) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. He played 77 games in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1969 and 1970, and 51 games in the World Hockey Association bet ...

scored 42 goals and added 39 assists,

Lou Jankowski Louis Casimer Jankowski (June 27, 1931 – March 21, 2010) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and scout who played 131 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks between 1951 and 1955. The r ...

scored 32 and

Andy Hebenton Andrew Alexander "Spuds" Hebenton (October 3, 1929 – January 29, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger, and holds the record for the longest streak without missing a game in professional hockey history. Playing career Af ...

added 31. Marcetta got 7 goals and 13 assists to win the playoff scoring title and Barlow scored another 10 goals and 9 assists tying Portland's Art Jones for second place in playoff scoring. Barlow earned a place on the WHL First All-Star team. Journeyman Al Millar started 51 games as goaltender before being sent to the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

of the CPHL and John Henderson played in 24. With Millar gone, Henderson started all 14 playoff games.

1966-67 season

In their last season in the WHL, the Maple Leafs finished out of the playoffs with a fifth-place 30-34-8 W-L-T record. Buck Houle was the general manager and Frank Mario was the coach. Milan Marcetta continued as the team's top goal and point scorer with 40 goals and 35 assists. Bruce Carmichael added 30 goals. Gary Smith started 17 games for Victoria in the net.

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a ...

had started the season with Toronto but arrived in time to play 55 games for Victoria. Al Smith went on to play in the NHL with Toronto and five other teams over nine seasons, as well as the

New England Whalers New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

of the WHA. Marcetta's output in Victoria earned him a trip to Toronto to play three playoff games for the 1967 Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple LeafsLegends of Hockey - Milan Marcetta
/ref> where his name is engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Season-by-season record

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes'' {, cellpadding=5 , - bgcolor="#dddddd" , Season , , GP , , W , , L , , T , , Pts , , GF , , GA , , PIM , , Finish , , Playoffs , - , 1964-65 , , 70 , , 32 , , 36 , , 2, , 66 , , 246, , 242, , 926 , , 4th , , Lost final (

) , -bgcolor="#eeeeee" , 1965-66 , , 72 , , 40 , , 28 , , 4, , 84 , , 260, , 243, , 735 , , 2nd , , Won

, - , 1966-67 , , 72 , , 30 , , 34 , , 8, , 68 , , 224, , 232, , 613 , , 5th , , Did not qualify , - bgcolor="#dddddd" , Totals , , 214 , , 102 , , 98 , , 14 , , 218 , , 730 , , 717 , , 2274 , , , ,

References

HockeyDB.com
Defunct ice hockey teams in British Columbia Western Hockey League (1952–1974) teams

Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic ...

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Toronto Maple Leafs minor league affiliates 1964 establishments in British Columbia 1967 disestablishments in British Columbia Ice hockey clubs established in 1964 Sports clubs disestablished in 1967