On this day in 1934, the Bottineau Courant announced to its readers that the Bottineau Flyers, the community's senior men's hockey team, had won the first North Dakota Amateur Hockey League state championship.
The Road to the Championship started when Bottineau Flyers coach Harold Ferguson pointed out that in 1934 the Flyers won more games than any other independent men's hockey team, defeating some teams. It started in early March when the Flyers were declared state champions. The best team in the state, Minot Winter won the Northwestern championship at his carnival. With his statement, Ferguson challenged other teams in the state who felt differently.
The Grand Forks Dragons accepted the challenge. The team is ranked No. 1 in the state's Eastern Division and has agreed to play a three-game championship series at Bottineau Arena.
The action was hot from the beginning. In the first period of the first game, the Foy brothers both scored for Grand Forks. Not to be outdone, Shorty Davis started the scoring for Bottineau, followed by Duke Davis and team captain Dan Gillies.
In the second period, Walt Foy added another point for Grand Forks, but Bud Smith scored his first goal, Duke Davis, Dan Gillies, and Bud Smith each scored their second goals, and the rest of the game was dominated by the Flyers. It was a point. Final score 7-3.
In the second game, the Dragons and Flyers were evenly matched for a scoreless first period. But in the second period, Bottineau's Sig Leifer scored the first goal of the game with an unassisted shot from the blue line. The royal battle continued throughout the period and there were no other goals.
Dan Gillies started the game in the third period with two quick goals from Bottineau, followed by goals from Bud Smith, Julius Davis, Shorty Davis and Alex Gillies. The final score was 7-0. The Flyers were the only team to shut out the Dragons in the last four years. The last team to accomplish this was the 1930 Minnesota powerhouse Everett Elks.
Dakota's Datebook by Scott Wagar
source:
- Bottineau Courant March 7, 1934 Page 1A
- Bottineau Courant, March 21, 1934, page 1A
- Bottineau Courant March 28, 1934 Page 1A
