Hamilton Tiger Cubs

Not to be confused with Hamilton Tigers or Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Hamilton Tiger Cubs were a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1953 to 1960. The team was based in Hamilton, Ontario.

Hamilton Tiger Cubs
City	Hamilton, Ontario
League	Ontario Hockey Association
Operated	1953 (1953)-60
Home arena	Barton Street Arena
Franchise history
1946–1953	Windsor Spitfires
1953–1960	Hamilton Tiger Cubs
1960–1974	Hamilton Red Wings
1974–1978	Hamilton/St. Catharines Fincups
1978–1984	Brantford Alexanders
1984–1988	Hamilton Steelhawks
1988–1996	Niagara Falls Thunder
1996–present	Erie Otters

History

The Hamilton juniors which they were called initially in the early part of 1953. At the time Hamilton had the historic senior OHA team still called the "tigers" in the city but the popularity of the team was fading

The best season for the Tiger Cubs was 1958. The team reached the OHA finals for the J. Ross Robertson Cup. They were defeated by the Toronto Marlboros 4 wins to 1, with 1 tie game.

There were also previous OHA Jr. teams in Hamilton. The Hamilton Szabos played from the early 1940s to 1947. In the 1930s Hamilton had an OHA Jr. team known as the Bengal Cubs. In the 1920s there was a Junior Tigers team at the same time as the NHL Tigers team.

The Tiger Cubs played home games at the Barton Street Arena, then known as the Hamilton Forum.

Players

Award winners

• 1957-1958 - Murray Oliver, Red Tilson Trophy, Most valuable player
• 1953-1954 - Dennis Riggin, Dave Pinkney Trophy, Lowest team goals against average.

NHL alumni

Alumnus Brian Kilrea became one of the most notable names ever in Canadian junior hockey, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach. Fellow alumnus Pat Quinn coached in the NHL, most recently with the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as the Canadian national men's hockey team.

• Dave Amadio
• Don Blackburn
• Cummy Burton
• Bob Dillabough
• Lloyd Haddon
• Jack Hendrickson
• Larry Hillman
• Larry Jeffrey
• Brian Kilrea
• Lowell MacDonald
• Pit Martin
• Billy McNeill
• Stu McNeill
• Hillary Menard
• John Miszuk
• Dan Olesevich
• Murray Oliver
• Pat Quinn
• George Ranieri
• Dennis Riggin
• Wayne Rivers
• Len Ronson
• Brian Smith
• Bob Wall
• Carl Wetzel
• Howie Young

Yearly results

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	Pct %	Goals For	Goals Against	Standing
1953-54	58	31	24	3	65	0.560	222	208	3rd OHA
1954-55	49	21	23	5	47	0.480	181	173	5th OHA
1955-56	48	13	30	5	31	0.323	171	250	7th OHA
1956-57	52	24	26	2	50	0.481	170	191	5th OHA
1957-58	52	27	18	7	61	0.587	200	176	2nd OHA
1958-59	54	11	35	8	30	0.278	167	229	7th OHA
1959-60	48	10	34	4	24	0.250	158	251	7th OHA