The Flint Generals were a minor professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team based in Flint, Michigan. They were a member of the International Hockey League and played their home games at Perani Arena and Event Center. The Generals won two league championship Colonial Cups in the

Colonial Hockey League Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

and

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor league, minor professional ice hockey league, with teams ...

History

Flint had been home to minor professional hockey in some incarnation since 1969, except a one-year break in the 1990–91 season. This incarnation of the Flint Generals came about in the 1993–94 season after the

's (CoHL)

Flint Bulldogs The Flint Bulldogs were a professional hockey team in Flint, Michigan, from 1991 to 1993. They were a part of the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL) and played their home games at the IMA Sports Arena. They compiled an overall record of 47–66–7 () ...

owner Skip Probst moved the Bulldogs from Flint to

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the foot ...

. The following summer, Dr. Khaled M. Shukairy was granted an expansion franchise in the CoHL to play in Flint. After a fan vote, "Generals" had been voted on by the fans to be the name of the new franchise after the original Generals' team that relocated to

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greate ...

in 1985. Flint won their first

Colonial Cup Colonial Cup may refer to: * Colonial Cup (ice hockey), the trophy for the post-season champion of the International Hockey League. * Colonial Cup (rugby league), an international rugby league football challenge match played between the United Stat ...

against the Thunder Bay Senators in the 1995–96 season, in which the Generals claimed the championship in a six-game upset and won the final game by a score of 9–0. This team included such players as Kevin Kerr, who would later break the all time minor league hockey scoring record and coach the Generals;

Robin Bouchard Robin Bouchard (born October 22, 1973) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played sixteen seasons of minor league hockey. He holds the modern-era minor league goal scoring record, scoring 687 goals while playing in the ECHL, C ...

, who was traded early the next season in a lopsided trade that did not favor the Generals; Andrei Mezin, the goalie who would go on to play for his native Belarus in the Olympics and upset Sweden; and female goaltender, Erin Whitten. The second Colonial Cup came in a 4–0 sweep of the Generals rival, the

Quad City Mallards The Quad City Mallards were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa that competed in the International Hockey League, Central Hockey League and ECHL. They were named after the Mallards team ...

, in 2000. The Generals were coached by former NHL player Doug Shedden and included former NHL players

Bobby Reynolds Robert Thomas "Bobby" Reynolds (born July 17, 1982) is an American retired professional tennis player who resides in Auburn, Alabama. He was named head men's tennis coach at Auburn University in June 2016. Professional career Reynolds, a nativ ...

, Mark Major, and

Nick Stajduhar Nick Stajduhar (born December 6, 1974 in Kitchener, Ontario) is a former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, 16th overall, a pick the Oilers received from th ...

, as well as two 100 point scorers in Ross Wilson and Don Parsons, UHL Defenseman of the Year Gary Roach, late season additions Cory Cyrenne and Vladmir Serov, and goalie Mark Richards. Serov and Cyrenne totaled 60 points in 37 regular season games, and in the 2000 finals, Serov scored the game-winning goal with 50 seconds left in game three, and the game-winning goal with 3:52 left in game four to preserve the victories for the Generals. After several years of mediocre hockey and questionable ownership, the Generals finished the 2009–10 season on a hot streak, clinching the final Turner Cup playoff berth on the final day of the season. The Generals faced the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the first round of the Turner Cup playoffs, and after falling behind three games to one, came back to win the series in seven games. The Generals then fell to the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inter ...

in a five-game series; the Generals only win in the series was a 7–6 overtime win in Game 3. Despite the turnaround in 2009–10 and rumors of more stable ownership taking over, the Generals folded when Perani Arena management decided to give the arena lease to the junior

Michigan Warriors The Michigan Warriors were a Tier II Junior A ice hockey team based in Flint, Michigan. The Warriors played in the North American Hockey League's North Division. Previously known as the Marquette Rangers, the Warriors played their home games ...

of the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternat ...

Championships

Season-by-season results

Retired numbers

* #1 —

Bob Perani Robert "Bob" F. Perani (August 7, 1942 – April 15, 2012) was a professional ice hockey goaltender for the Flint Generals in the International Hockey League. He was also the founder of Perani's Hockey World sports retail chain in 1976, and own ...

* #5 — Stephan Brochu * #16 — Doug Manchak * #20 — Kevin Kerr * #77 — Brett MacDonald

References

External links

Flint Generals official site
{{IHL Ice hockey teams in Flint, Michigan International Hockey League (2007–2010) teams Professional ice hockey teams in Michigan Ice hockey clubs established in 1993 Sports clubs disestablished in 2010 Chicago Blackhawks minor league affiliates New Jersey Devils minor league affiliates 1993 establishments in Michigan 2010 disestablishments in Michigan