The 1967 Conception Bay CeeBees was the first team from Newfoundland and Labrador to advance into Allan Cup competition. Seeking Canada’s top amateur hockey award, the CeeBees opened the Atlantic playoffs with a 6-4 overtime win over the host Moncton Hawks, but lost 6-2, 5-3 and 3-2 in a best-of-five series.
In 1968, the Corner Brook Royals was the first team from this province to win an Allan Cup series as they lost 7-4, but rebounded with 6-4, 4-1 and 10-0 home victories over the Morrisburgh Combines of Ontario for a three-games-to-one decision. In the Eastern Canada playoffs, the Royals had a 6-1 win but lost 15-1, 9-2 and 3-0 to the Victoriaville Tigers and were eliminated three games to one.
The Gander Flyers lost the 1969 Eastern Canadian Allan Cup playoffs to the Galt Hornets of Ontario, four games to one. Gander won 6-5 as J.C. Garneau scored two goals. Galt had wins of 4-3, 7-4, 6-4 and 9-1.
In 1970, the St. John’s Capitals hosted the Victoriaville Tigers of Quebec in the Eastern playoffs but lost three games to one. St. John’s had a 3-1 win, but it wasn’t enough to go against losses of 6-5 in overtime, 4-2 and 7-3.
The Grand Falls Cataracts went the full five games against the Galt Hornets in the 1971 Eastern finals but were edged three games to two.
With great goaltending from Jean Guy Morrissette, who had starred for Victoriaville in its 1970 win over St. John’s, Grand Falls won 6-3 and 3-1, but Galt took 4-2, 5-3 and 6-3 victories. Morrissette was the Most Valuable Player for the series.
Grand Falls lost the 1972 Eastern Allan Cup series in four-straight games to the Barrie Flyers of Ontario. Scores were 3-2, 8-2, 4-1 and 6-2.
The St. John’s Capitals lost the 1973 Eastern series three games to one to the Thunder Bay Twins of Ontario. St. John’s won 6-3, but lost 6-4, 6-2 and 9-0.
The Twins eliminated St. John’s in three-straight games in the 1974 Eastern playoffs. Despite stellar goaltending by Tols Chapman, St. John’s lost 4-3, 9-1 and 9-1.
The 1975 Allan Cup play started with the St. John’s Capitals sweeping the Dalhousie Tigers of New Brunswick in three-straight wins of 14-4, 9-1 and 12-3. That sweep brought the Barrie Flyers of Ontario to St. John’s for a series that was filled with penalties, plenty of controversy, and a tremendous amount of bad feelings and biased mainland media coverage. Barrie won 8-4 and 6-5 in overtime with animosity building quickly between the two teams, and between Barrie and the overflow crowds at St. John’s Memorial Stadium. A bench-clearing brawl and Barrie refusing to finish the third game had it awarded to St. John’s. Barrie won the fourth game 4-3 and took the series.
Gatineau, Quebec faced St. John’s in the 1976 Eastern series and swept the Capitals in three-straight games with wins of 5-2, 11-4 and 6-4.
There was a special playoff between the Corner Brook Royals and the St. John’s Capital for the right to represent the province in 1977 Allan Cup competition. This was agreed because St. John’s had divided its players into two provincial senior hockey entries to maintain a sound league. St. John’s won 8-7 in overtime and 5-4 to move on.
The 1977 Allan Cup competition opened with St. John’s winning 7-4 and 11-4 over the Shediac club from New Brunswick. The third game went to Shediac 6-5. The fourth game was awarded to St. John’s when Shediac refused to finish the contest when trouble with the ice-making machine left the surface less than perfect.
The Brantford Alexanders from Ontario slipped past St. John’s three games to two in the Eastern finals. Brantford opened with 9-1 and 7-4 wins, but the Capitals came back with 9-3 and 2-1 victories to force the fifth and deciding game, which the Alexanders won 5-3.
In 1978, the St. John’s Blue Caps traveled to Brantford, Ontario for the Eastern finals and were eliminated three games to one. The Capitals won 8-5 but lost 11-3, 10-4 and 8-1.
In 1979, the Mike’s Shamrocks from St. John’s lost their Eastern Allan Cup playoffs three games to one as they hosted a team from Petrolia, Ontario. The Shamrocks’ victory was 6-4, while Petrolia won 5-3, 10-4 and 3-1.
The Gander Flyers were the Newfoundland and Labrador representatives at Allan Cup play in 1980. They went out of the Eastern finals 9-1, 10-2 and 10-4 to Ontario’s Thunder Bay Twins.
The 1981 Allan Cup format was a four-team round robin playoff in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Grand Falls Cataracts opened with a 3-2 win over St. Boniface of Manitoba, but lost 9-4 to Thunder Bay and 10-2 to Petrolia, Ontario. In the semifinal game, Petrolia, the eventual champion, stopped Grand Falls 6-3.
The Grand Falls Cataracts hosted and eliminated the Thunder Bay Twins of Ontario in the first round of the 1982 Allan Cup playdowns. Thunder Bay won the opener 6-5 in overtime and won Game 4 4-1 to tie the finals. The Cataracts won Game 2 7-4, took Game 3 5-2 and emerged as winners 3-1 in Game 5. In the Cup semifinals at Sarnia, Ontario, the Cataracts went out in three straight as the Petrolia Squires won 6-1, 6-3 and 8-0.
The Stephenville Jets made their first trip to Allan Cup competition in 1983 and three of their five games with the Cambridge Hornets of Ontario required overtime to decide. Stephenville won 3-2 and 5-4 as the Hornets had wins of 4-3, 5-2 and 3-0 to take the series three wins to two.
It was the Stephenville Jets again in the 1984 Allan Cup playoffs. The Jets won Game 3 of the best-of-five series 5-4, but the Cambridge Hornets of Ontario had 10-2, 16-2 and 6-2 wins to move on.
The Corner Brook Royals enjoyed considerable success in the 1985 Allan Cup competition, but was unable to gain the Cup itself. The Royals started by eliminating the Riverview Trappers from New Brunswick in three-straight games with wins of 4-2, 7-4 and 12-4. Ontario’s Hamilton-Dundas Hawks next fell victims as the Royals won the Eastern Canadian crown and the G.P. Bolton Trophy with four-straight victories by scores of 9-8 in overtime, 10-2, 6-4 and 6-5.
In a final series that went the full seven games at Humber Gardens in Corner Brook, the Royals had three-straight wins over the Thunder Bay Twins of Ontario, but the Twins came back with four-consecutive victories to capture the Allan Cup. The Royals won 9-5, 3-0 and 9-5 prior to the Ontario club winning 4-2, 8-3, 2-0 and 5-4.
The Corner Brook Royals won the 1986 Allan Cup.
The St. John’s Capitals earned the right to represent Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1986 Allan Cup competition, the final time the province would send a team after Canada’s top amateur hockey prize.
The Capitals hosted the Charlottetown Islanders from Prince Edward Island in the Atlantic playoff and took the series three games to one. St. John’s won 9-1, 7-0 and 3-2, while the Islanders had a 4-3 win in Game 2. The Capitals fell to Ontario’s Brantford Mott’s Clamatoes four games to two as the Clamatoes won the final three games of the series.
