History
The Midland Athletics were formed in 1980 in the Major Intermediate A Hockey League. They lasted in the league for three seasons, until in 1983 when the league was promoted to Senior "A". Instead of joining Senior, the town thought it would be better to focus on their younger players and drop the team down to the Georgian Bay Junior C Hockey League. The teams name was changed to the Midland Centennials. The gamble paid off as in their second season the Centennials won the Georgian Bay championship and wheeled their way through to the Clarence Schmalz Cup final where their ran into the Great Lakes Junior C Hockey League's Belle River Canadiens. The Canadiens took the All-Ontario final 4-games-to-1.
In 1994, the Georgian Bay Junior C Hockey League merged with the Mid-Ontario Junior C Hockey League to create the Georgian Mid-Ontario Junior C Hockey League. That same year, the Midland Centennials decided to change their name to the Midland Flyers.
In 1999, the team chose to change its name to the Midland Thunder. The team was very competitive. Despite not winning any league championships, the Thunder maintained a winning record and kept near the top of the league.
The 2002 seasons saw two things happen. In 2002, the Midland Thunder once again became the Midland Flyers. Also, 2002 was the year where the franchise's winning ways seemed to have disappeared. In the five seasons since Midland became the Flyers, the team has not won ten games in one season.
The 2005-06 season saw the team bottom out with a completely winless season. The eighth seeded Flyers drew the wrath of the first seed Penetang Kings who swept the Flyers in their first of six rounds of playoffs to win the Clarence Schmalz Cup as All-Ontario Champions.
The 2006-07 was a mild improvement, but barely enough to know that the Midland Flyers are in a healthy place. For the second year in a row, the Flyers drew the Penetang Kings in the first round of the playoffs. The result was much of the same as the Kings beat the Flyers 4-games-to-none to win the league quarter-final. Again, the Kings went on to win the league and another Clarence Schmalz Cup.
Read more about this topic: Midland Flyers
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