Spokane Flyers

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Spokane Flyers

City:	Spokane, Washington
League:	Western Hockey League
Operated:	1980-81
Home Arena:	Spokane Coliseum
Franchise history
1967-78:	Flin Flon Bombers
1978-79:	Edmonton Oil Kings
1979-80:	Great Falls Americans
1980-81:	Spokane Flyers

The Spokane Flyers were a short lived ice hockey team that played in the Western Hockey League from 1980-1981. They played in Spokane, Washington.

Founded: 1980-81

Last Season: 1981-82

Division titles won: None

Regular season titles won: None

League Championships won: None

Memorial Cup Titles: None

1 History
2 Season-by-season Record
3 See also
4 References

[edit] History

The Spokane Flyers entered the WHL on May 15, 1980 when Bob Cooper, owner of the dormant Great Falls Americans franchise, resurrected his team and relocated it to Spokane for the 1980-81 WHL season. Like the Americans, the Flyers would cease operations mid-season, as the franchise folded on December 2, 1981 after playing only 26 games.

It was widely believed that the failure of the Flyers was due to management, and Spokane would gain a second chance the WHL four years later when the Spokane Chiefs moved into town.

The Flyers franchise first joined the WHL in 1967 as the Flin Flon Bombers. The franchise had a great deal of stability in Flin Flon, Manitoba and lasted eleven seasons in the Manitoba community before the WHL outgrew it. The Bombers relocated to Edmonton, Alberta for one season in 1978 before being sold and relocating again to Great Falls, Montana. The Great Falls Americans failed to last even one season as they ceased operations in December 1979 before Cooper resurrected them again in 1980 as the Flyers.

The Flyers were posthumously involved in one of the most bizarre trades in hockey history. After ceasing operations, the Flyers team bus was sold to the Victoria Cougars. The Cougars owners were not willing to pay the duties and taxes required to bring the vehicle into Canada, so on December 19, 1983, the Cougars traded the bus to the Seattle Breakers for holdout Tom Martin.