Kelowna Packers

This article is about the senior team. For the junior team that played from 1986-87 to 1988-89, please see Kelowna Spartans.

The Kelowna Packers were a senior men's hockey team based out of the Kelowna Memorial Arena in Kelowna, British Columbia. The team was known as the Kelowna Aces for the 1947-48 season before adopting the Packers nickname.

An early team photo of the Packers (unknown date).

Team History

Packers logo

One of the Packers, Frank Bud Gourlie.

The photographs are courtesy of Barbara Champagne [littlechickie1@yahoo.ca]. The picture of the individual is her father, who is also third from the left in the back row of the team photo.

The Kelowna Packers were established in 1947 in Kelowna BC.

The Packers were guided by a bright young man by the name of Bob Giordano. It took him eight years to reach the top in district hockey.

After a brief stint as statistician for the Okanagan Senior League Bob Giordano was named as one of the six directors of the Kelowna Packers Hockey Club on May 13, 1957. Ten days later he was elected vice-president of the team that playing in the Okanagan Senior Hockey League along with the Penticton Vees, Vernon Canadians and Kamloops Elks.

The 1957-58 season was the most successful one for the Kelowna Packers, finish first place in the OSHL for the first time in their history.

In a seven-game series against the Kamloops Chiefs they won the OSHL championship. The Western Canada Championships came next as the Packers met the Winnipeg Maroons. The Kelowna Packers won the Patten Cup and the Western Canada championships.

The Kelowna Packers then entered the Allan Cup finals against the Eastern champion the Belleveille McFarlands. In a hard fought seven game series Kelowna bowed to the McFarland in seven games.

In May of 1958 the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association selected the Kelowna Packers to represent Canada on an international hockey tour. The Kelowna Packers of the Okanagan-Mainline Senior Amateur Hockey League became the first western sports team to be allowed behind the Iron Curtain to play a series of exhibition games. Outside Kelowna, there were critics of this decision and some predicted that the Packers would return without so much as a single win.

But the team would play five games against Russian teams and three in Sweden, and would tour for a period extending from November 9 to 30, 1958.

Previous to the Packers swing through the U.S.S.R. the team played three games in Sweden The Swedish National Team defeated the Packers 5-2, a loss that was attributed to the long trip just completed by the Kelowna team. The tables soon turned with the following games and the Packers emerged victorious winning 5-2 in both the second game and the final encounter.

The Packers lost their first game against the Russian Army 4 to 3. They tied the next two games 1 - 1 against the Wings of Soviet and 2 - 2 against the Moscow Dynamos. Kelowna Packers coach, Jack OíReilly, a fiery and outspoken Irishman, guaranteed victories for the Canadians in the last two games of the tour.

In the fourth game, against the Soviet Juniors, the Packers did indeed secure a win 4-3. Their record stood at one win, two ties, and one loss. In the final match, they faced Russiaís top team — the Moscow Selects. The Packers played well and won an overwhelming victory of 5-1 over the Selects. Jack O'Reilly had kept his promises. Despite the skepticism of their critics, the Packers returned to Kelowna as champions.

End of the road

In the 1959-60 season the Packers again captured the OSHL title. It would be the last year they were together. Senior hockey was dying in the Okanagan. The team would fold on December 8, 1960 becoming the third team to fold in the league in about a month's time following the Merritt Grand Luckies (November 7th) and the Penticton V's (December 1st). To keep the league going for the balance of the season and hopefully salvaging the league for the future the Kelowna-Penticton Combines were formed on December 18, 1960. They would play for the balance of the season. The team was created in to keep the league Allan Cup eligible with three teams when they were combined with the Penticton V's who had folded on December 1st. That team would lose the league final and the league would fold following the season.

Season by Season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime Losses,, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	League/Competition	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Playoffs
Kelowna Aces
1947-48	OMHL	12	1	10	1	3	39*	105*	3rd	Did not qualify
Kamloops Packers
1948-49	OMHL	32	12	17	3	27	143	181	3rd	Lost Semifinals
1949-50	OMHL	48	24	21	3	51*	214	198	3rd	Lost Quarterfinals
1950-51	OMHL	55	32	20	3	67	250	203	3rd	Eliminated in Interior round robin semifinal
1951-52	OkSL	50	22	25	3	47	-	-	3rd	Won Championship
1952	BC Sr. Playoffs	10	4	4	2	10	37	31	-	Lost Provinical Final
1952-53	OkSL	54	27	24	3	57	218	226	2nd	Lost Final
1953-54	OkSL	64	31	32	1	63	268	268	2nd	Lost Final
1954-55	OkSL	54	21	31	2	44	185	223	4th	Lost Semifinals
1955-56	OkSL	56	24	30	2	50	-	-	3rd	Lost Final
1956-57	OkSL	54	22	29	3	47	210	248	3rd	Lost Semifinals
1957-58	OkSL	54	33	19	2	68	242	184	1st	Won Championship
1958	BC Sr. Playoffs	5	4	1	0	8	21	11	-	Won Provincial Championship
1958	W. Can. Allan Cup Playoffs	5	4	1	0	8	19	9	-	Won Western Canada Championship
1958	Allan Cup	7	3	4	0	6	24	32	-	Lost Allan Cup Final
1958-59	OkSL	54	40	12	2	82	282	189	1st	Lost Final
1959-60	OSL	48	27	19	2	56	300	259	2nd	Won Championship
1960	BC Sr. Playoffs	6	2	4	0	4	29	39	-	Lost Provincial Final
1960-61	OkSL	23	5	18	0	10	111	172	N/A	cease operations December 8, 1960

Note:

1. *-denotes point percentage was used to determine standings for season due to unequal number of games played.
2. 1947-48 goal totals is missing three game scores

1949-50 team photo