3 Niagara Falls Flyers to Win The OHL's Eddie Powers Trophy

Version ‘A’ of the Niagara Falls Flyers existed in the Ontario Hockey Association between 1960-61 and 1971-72. Previous to 1960, the franchise was still known as the Flyers but located in Barrie. The team was relocated for the 1972-73 season and still exists as the Sudbury Wolves. These Flyers are not to be confused with the team (version ‘B’) that was relocated from St. Catherines for the 1976-77 season and is now the current Saginaw Spirit.

While the franchise was known as the Niagara Falls Flyers, three different players were honoured with the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the OHA’s top scorer during the regular season. There were no winners as the Barrie Flyers and only Mike Foligno in 1978-79 has won the Eddie Powers for the Sudbury Wolves.

Wayne Maxner led the league with 94 points in 1962-63. Maxner played two years in the OHA, 1961-62 and 1962-63. He later became a long time coach in the league with the Windsor Spitfires, Sudbury Wolves and London Knights. The Flyers finished first during the regular season and took the Robertson Cup as the playoff champion. Eventuallly, the Flyers lost to the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Memorial Cup final.

Wayne played 62 NHL games with the Boston Bruins over the 1964-65 and 1965-66 seasons. During the horrible ‘Dead Wings’ era, Maxner was head coach of the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings for two seasons, 1980-81 and 1981-82.

Derek Sanderson totalled 101 points in 1966-67 and finished six points ahead of Mickey Redmond of the Peterborough Petes in the race for the Eddie Powers Trophy. 1966-67 was the fourth of four seasons for Derek in the OHA with Niagara Falls. The team finished tied for second in the league during the regular season and lost in the Robertson Cup semi-finals to the Hamilton Red Wings.

Sanderson was the Calder Trophy recipient as NHL rookie of the year in 1967-68. He played 598 NHL regular season games between 1967-68 and 1977-78 with the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tom Webster topped teammate Garry Swain by eleven points to earn the Eddie Powers Trophy in 1967-68 with 114 points. It was Webster’s final of three seasons in the OHA with the Flyers. Niagara Falls finished fourth in the OHA during the regular season. However, the team played giant killers, beating the Kitchener Rangers to capture the Robertson Cup then moving on to become Memorial Cup champions.

Webster was a fourth round pick of the Boston Bruins at the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft, 19th overall. He played in 102 NHL regular season games between 1968-69 and 1979-80 with the Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and California Golden Seals. In between, he played 352 games in the World Hockey Association with the New England Whalers from 1972-73 to 1977-78, contributing 425 points.