History
Their franchise was granted in 1966 as the Estevan Bruins in Estevan, Saskatchewan. In 1971 it moved to New Westminster, British Columbia and was known as the New Westminster Bruins. It moved to Kamloops in 1981 and were known as the Junior Oilers until 1984 when they were given their present name. They moved from the Kamloops Memorial Arena to the new Riverside Coliseum (since renamed to Interior Savings Centre) in 1992.
The team has won the most Memorial Cups of any team in the WHL with five cups; two as New Westminster (1977 and 1978) and three as Kamloops (1992, 1994 and 1995). The CHL record is seven cups, held by the Toronto Marlboros, who are now the Guelph Storm. In addition, since moving to Kamloops, the Blazers have missed the playoffs just twice in 30 seasons.
The franchise began in 1946 as the Humboldt Indians of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and moved to Estevan to become the Bruins in 1957. The franchise has won the President's Cup a record eleven times: once in Estevan, four times in a row in New Westminster and six times since coming to Kamloops. The Blazers hosted the 1995 Memorial Cup, although they went in the "front door" by also winning the WHL championship that year.
Notable coaches in the history of the Kamloops Blazers include, Ken Hitchcock, Tom Renney, Don Hay, Marc Habscheid, and Dean Evason.
The team was featured as a plot element in a book called "Blazer Drive" by Sigmund Brouwer.
Read more about this topic: Kamloops Blazers
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