The Thunder Bay Bombers were a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Senior

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

team from

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population i ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. They played an independent schedule under the supervision of

Hockey Northwestern Ontario Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) is the governing body of all ice hockey in Northern Ontario, Canada. Hockey Northwestern Ontario is a branch of Hockey Canada. Jurisdiction Empowered by Hockey Canada, Hockey Northwestern Ontario has control ...

. They were 2005 Allan Cup Canadian National Champions.

History

The Twins were founded in 2003. A year later, under different management, they changed their name to the Bombers. The name Bombers was inspired by the hockey movie Youngblood and colours by that then worn by the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

. In 2005, after shocking Major League Hockey's Aylmer Blues 2-games-to-none to win the

seed and Renwick Cup, the Bombers went out to

Lloydminster Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrati ...

and captured the 2005 Allan Cup. This marked the first Allan Cup championship by an Ontario team since 1989 by the original

Thunder Bay Twins The Thunder Bay Twins were an Amateur Senior and Professional ice hockey team from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The Twins won five Allan Cups as National Senior Champions from 1970 until 1991. Origin On 1 January 1970, the City of Thunder Bay w ...

. The Bombers spent much of the 2005-06 season touring Europe as representatives of Hockey Canada, only to get quickly ejected from the playoffs by the

Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League The Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League, or EOSHL, is a top Senior ice hockey league in Eastern Ontario that operated from 2003 to 2008, merged into the Major Hockey League in 2008 and resumed its operations from 2019 onwards. The EOSHL is gov ...

's Whitby Dunlops. In Europe, they competed in a tournament for the Pannon GSM Cup in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. After tying the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

National Team 1-1, they lost 6-1 to the

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

National Team and 6-4 to the

National Team. The team went home with an 0-2-1 record and the tournament's Bronze Medal. Losing a lot of money from the European trip, the teams suspended operations for the 2006-07 season, opening the door for a new regional team to take their playoff spot, the

Kenora Thistles The Kenora Thistles, officially the Thistles Hockey Club, were a Canadian ice hockey team based in Kenora, Ontario. Founded in 1894, they were originally known as the Rat Portage Thistles. The team competed for the Stanley Cup, the ice hock ...

2005 Allan Cup run

Winning roster

''Goalies:'' *Cory McEachran *Scott Sutton ''Defence:'' *Barry McKinlay *Mike Jacobsen *Matt Kenny *Jeff Ricciardi *Tyler Williamson *Albert Drake *Ed Atwill Head Coach - Vern Ray Assistant Coach - Dave Joubert General Manager - Albert Drake Equipment Manager - Rob Monty ''Forwards:'' *Mike Figliomeni *Jeff Adduono *Joe Ritson *Robert Hillier *Craig Preistlay *Derek Levanen *Bob MacPhail *Neal Purdon *Kevin Hoogsteen *Steve Dumonski *Sean McEachran *Tyler Bruno *Omer Belisle *Trevor Abraham *Steve L'Ecuyer *Carl Racki

External links

Hockey Thunder Bay
{{OHA Senior Hockey Northwestern Ontario Senior ice hockey teams 2003 establishments in Ontario 2006 disestablishments in Ontario Ice hockey clubs established in 2003 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2006 Ice hockey teams in Ontario