Once-in-a-lifetime team won the 1980 OHA title

By C. Scott Holland

The 1979-80 Leamington Flyers were a powerhouse Jr. C team which was filled with highly talented players and were unstoppable once they won the Great Lakes Jr. C title.

That team — under the coaching leadership of Reg Mulholland — won 12 straight games in the OHA Jr. C playdowns to capture the provincial championship.

Their ability to win was already evident in regular season.

In their Great lakes Jr. C semi-final, the Flyers faced the Blenheim Blades and won the series 4-1 including a 9-0 whitewash.

One of their few playoff downsides occurred in that series as defenseman Rob Willan was sidelined with apparent ligament damage.

After losing Willan to injury, General Manager Rob ‘Specs’ Johnston signed 20 year-old forward Bill Brown who had played for the Petrolia Jets. Brown was claimed off waivers.

Next up in their quest for the title was county rival Essex 73’s. It was a tougher series but the Flyers prevailed, winning the set 4-2 and claiming their second straight Great Lakes crown.

The provincial quarter-final playdowns had hampered the Flyers the previous year and as Great Lakes convenor Ted Hannigan noted, “It’s a better start this year!”

In that ‘78-79 round, the Flyers had been knocked out by Kincardine four games to one. However, it was no contest in the 1980 round as the Flyers cruised past the Port Elgin Bears 4-0. The Flyers won two of the four contests by lopsided scores.

The semi-final series was against the Flamborough Colts who – like the Flyers’ previous opponent – fell 4-0, setting up a Leamington berth in the Jr. C finals against the Bradford Blues.

Like the other two series, Bradford found it hard to contain the powerful Flyers’ offense.

Leamington won the series 4-0 to sweep three OHA Jr. C series to capture the Schmalz Cup.

At the time, OHA records had no other Jr. C championship team completing this feat and as someone stated shortly after the provincial title, “This was a once in a lifetime team.”

Team members were Bill Brown, Mark Johnston, Todd Hodgson, Scott Omstead, Dave Balakowski, Jim Horvath, Bob Clifford, Gary Gayer, Ed Thiessen, Rob Willan, Gary Ferguson, Rob Serviss, Mike Wladarski, Keith Lindsay, Dwayne Boudreau, Tim Oliphant, Don Campbell, Dave Drummond, Mike MacKinnon, Kevin Leslie and Claire Gillanders. The staff consisted of Albert Jenkins, Carl Stadler, Murray Knox, Doug Vickery, Dr. Robert McGee, Bill Knox, GM Rob Johnston and Coach Reg Mullholland.