The 1964-65 Niagara Falls Flyers: Total Domination

Before the IceDogs. Before the Thunder. Niagara Falls had a Junior ‘A’ hockey team called the Flyers. The 1964-65 version of the Niagara Falls Flyers dominated the OHA and then dominated the Memorial Cup.

The Flyers finished the 56 game regular season with 36 wins and atop the eight team OHA. Although not the top offensive team in the league, the Flyers allowed 29 less goals than the next best team, the Peterborough Petes. This was due to the goaltending tandem of Bernie Parent and Doug Favell. Both would play together again for the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers met the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Memorial Cup, which at the time was a best of seven series between just two teams. Of course, the current format features a round-robin tournament with four teams from across Canada. Niagara Falls won the series four games to one, despite Edmonton having home ice advantage throughout the series. The Flyers outscored the Oil Kings 25 to 11.

Of the players on the Flyers roster that season, Thirteen players moved on to play in the National Hockey League. Eight of those players also played games in the World Hockey Association. One player from the 1964-65 Niagara Falls Flyers played just in the WHA.

Teams didn’t carry as many players in 1964-65 than they do today. Only four regular players from that team did not move on to play professionally in the NHL or the WHA.

In all, the thirteen players totalled 6,987 regular season games in the NHL. The nine players that played in the WHA together totalled 1498 regular season games.

What follows is a list of those fourteen Flyers that played major league hockey:

Jean Pronovost played in the NHL from 1968-69 to 1981-82. Jean appeared in 998 regular season NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlanta Flames and Washington Capitals. The leading scorer of the 1964-65 Niagara Falls Flyers produced 774 total points in the NHL.

Derek Sanderson played 598 NHL games from 1967-68 to 1977-78 with the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. Sanderson had a short eight game career in the WHA with the Philadelphia Blazers. Two years following the Memorial Cup winning season, Sanderson won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the OHA’s leading scorer. The following year, Derek was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

Bill Goldsworthy appeared in 771 regular season NHL games from 1966-67 to 1977-78 with the Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and New York Rangers. He finished out his professional hockey career with a handful of games in the WHA over the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons with the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers.

Brian Bradley is the one player who only played in the World Hockey Association. Bradley appeared in 190 WHA regular season games from 1972-73 to 1974-75. Although, technically, he played all 190 games with the same franchise, he wore the jerseys of the New York Raiders, New York Golden Blades, Jersey Knights and San Diego Mariners.

Don Marcotte played 868 NHL games from 1968-69 to 1981-82, all with the Boston Bruins. Being a member of the Bruins during the 1970’s allowed Marcotte to play in 132 playoff games.

Ted Snell appeared in 104 NHL games over two seasons. It took seven years of toiling in the American Hoc key League before Snell finally got the opportunity. He played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1973-74 and followed that up with a season split between the Detroit Red Wings and Kansas City Scouts in 1974-75.

Rosaire Paiement was one of two players from the 1964-65 Niagara Falls Flyers to play the bulk of professional hockey in the World Hockey Association. Paiement played 190 games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks. He played another 455 regular season games in the WHA with the Chicago Cougars, New England Whalers and Indianapolis Racers.

Gilles Marotte played 808 regular season games in the NHL from 1965-66 to 1976-77. Marotte began his career with the Boston Bruins and also played with the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues during his NHL career. Gilles played the 1977-78 season with the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers and the following season with the Indianapolis Racers before retiring from the game.

Jim Lorentz played 659 regular season games in the NHL from 1968-69 to 1977-78 with the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. Between his OHA and NHL careers, Lorentz was selected as the Central Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year in 1967-68 and was the league’s Most Valuable Player the following year.

Barry Wilkins played 398 regular season games in the NHL from 1968-69 to 1975-76 with the Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. Wilkins totalled 130 regular season games in the WHA over two seasons, 1976-77 and 1977-78. His first in the WHA was with the Edmonton Oilers and his second was with the Indianapolis Racers.

Rick Ley was a member of the WHA’s New England Whalers for the duration of the league’s lifetime (1972-73 to 1978-79). Ley played in 478 regular season WHA games as well as an additional 73 playoff games. Over his NHL career, Rick played in 310 regular season games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Hartford Whalers. Of course, the games with the Whalers came in 1979-80 and 1980-81 when the team had merged with the NHL.

Steve Atkinson followed in Jim Lorentz’s footsteps and won the Central Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1968-69, while appearing in one game with the Boston Bruins that season. Atkinson played a total of 302 NHL games from 1968-69 to 1974-75 with the Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals. Steve appeared in 52 games with the WHA’s Toronto Toros during the 1975-76 season.

Bernie Parent is the only member of the playing roster to be selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted in 1984. Parent played 608 regular season NHL games from 1966-67 to 1978-79 with the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He also appeared in 63 WHA games with the Philadelphia Blazers.

Doug Favell went on to a 373 game NHL career between the pipes from 1967-68 to 1978-79. Favell was a magnet for expansion teams, starting his career with the Philadelphia Flyers from their inaugural season and ending with the short-lived Colorado Rockies. In between, Favell played three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.