Winnipeg Blues | |
---|---|
City | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
League | Manitoba Junior Hockey League |
Founded | 1930 |
Home arena | MTS Iceplex |
Colours |
Blue, Gold, White |
Head coach | Billy Keane |
Media |
Winnipeg Sun Winnipeg Free Press |
Franchise history | |
1930-1976 | Winnipeg Monarchs |
1976-1977 | Assiniboine Park Monarchs |
1977-1978 | Winnipeg Monarchs |
1978-1984 | Fort Garry Blues |
1984-2010 | Winnipeg South Blues |
2010-present | Winnipeg Blues |
Blue, Gold, White
The Winnipeg Blues are a Manitoba Junior Hockey League team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The team was founded in 1930 and formerly known as the Winnipeg Monarchs, Fort Garry Blues, and Winnipeg South Blues.
The Blues/Monarchs franchise has won 17 Turnbull Cups as MJHL champions, two Anavet Cups, and six Abbott Cups. As the Monarchs were also three-time Memorial Cup champions. The 1995 Winnipeg South Blues have been inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame under the team category.
The Winnipeg Monarchs won the Memorial Cup as Canadian junior hockey champions three times: in 1935, 1937 and 1946. In 1946, George Robertson scored the winning goal in the seventh game of the 1946 Memorial Cup Final before a sell out crowd at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. The Monarchs were also finalists in 1932, losing to Sudbury Wolves in the final, and 1951, losing to the Barrie Flyers.
In addition to the three Memorial Cup titles, the Monarchs won ten Turnbull Cups as MJHL champions and five Abbott Cups as Western Canadian junior hockey champions.
In 1978, the Monarchs relocated to Fort Garry in south Winnipeg and adopted a new name, the Fort Garry Blues. Six years later, the team rebranded itself as the Winnipeg South Blues, although the team continued to play out of the Century Arena in Fort Garry. During their tenure in Fort Garry, the Blues won six league championships.