1956 - 57 Western Canada Allan Cup Playoffs Champions . British Columbia : Spokane Flyers " Note : There were minor pro teams in British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , and Manitoba in the Western Hockey League . This partly accounts for the lack of senior teams in western Canada . " Final . " Best of 7 " Spokane Flyers beat Fort William Beavers 4 games to 2 , 1 tie . Spokane Flyers advanced to the 1956 - 57 Allan Cup Final . Newspaper Story . From the : Spokane , WA Spokesman - Review Friday , April 10 , 1957 Flyers Are Western Champions ; Win by 4 - 2 Spokane Club in Allan Cup Finals ; Johnny Sofiak Great Special to the Spokesman - Review FORT WILLIAM , Ont . , April 9 - - The Spokane Flyers tonight reign as senior amateur hockey champions of Western Canada . Spokane earned the championship and the Patton Cup that goes with it by downing Fort William ' s Beavers , 4 - 2 , behind the brilliant goaltending of John Sofiak . It was the first time in senior amateur hockey history that an American team was able to win the Western Canada title . The victory advances the Flyers to the finals of Allan Cup play for the Canadian championship . Spokane will meet either Whitby or North Bay in the final series . The two Canadian teams are now playing off in the Eastern final with Whitby leading , 1 - 0 . Sofiak was the difference tonight as the Flyers took their fourth and deciding victory in the best - of - seven series . Zahara Hits Winner Fort William played its best hockey of the entire series in the first two periods . But the score was two - all when the second period was over . The Beavers couldn ' t cope with the Flyer goalie and finally weakened in the final 20 minutes . John Zahara , the swift rookie from Peace River , Alberta , got the winner for the Flyers with just 3 : 54 gone in the last period . Passes from Carl Cirullo and Doug Toole set Zahara up about 20 feet from the net and the Flyer forward caught Beaver goalie Paul Morin out of position with a shot that slid in on the short side of Morin . Tom Hodges added a " make sure " goal that virtually assured the Flyers of victory at 9 : 10 . Hodges " Home Free " The Beavers were pressing with everything they had at that time . Tick Beattie swiped the puck for the Flyers and whipped it to Dave Gordichuk . Gordichuk came through with his third big assist of the night when he put Hodges in for a breakaway that Morin had no chance of stopping . Sofiak ' s toughest moments came later in the first and second periods . Art " the dart " Jones put the Spokes in front , 1 - 0 , with 6 : 32 gone in the game on a wicked , waist - high eight footer . Then Fort William ' s Steve Black sneaked one past Sofiak to tie it at 8 : 41 . The Spokane goaltender was under heavy pressure through the rest of the period with the climax coming when Jones went off at 16 : 38 , and Larry Plante at 16 : 51 , to leave the Flyers two men short . Big John buckled down and a terific job of penalty skating by Beattie , Jack Lancien and Don McLeod pulled the Flyers out of the fire . Writing Out Loud by Bill Boni Spokesman - Review Sports Editor Thursday , April 11 , 1957 Sofiak Earns Credit for Much of Flyer Success Far back in February , the Spokane Flyers lost a play - off hockey game to the Rossland Warriors by a score of 7 - 4 . Even though one of those seven goals went into a net which large John Sofiak vacated some moments earlier so that the Flyers might " ice " an extra skater and thus try to pull even , it was a night on which the round man was not at his best . But ever since - - in four straight wins over Rossland that followed , the four straight over Grant Warwick ' s Trail Smoke Eaters which came after that ; the eight games of the Vernon titanic series and then the seven more against Fort William - - big John has been at his best almost every night . Sofiak is a lot like the little girl who had the little curl . There have been occasions when the Flyer defence sagged , the opposition got two or three quick goals ; and John promptly appeared to lose interest in the proceedings . There have been none of those nights in Spokane ' s historic progress to the final round of the Allan Cup series , from which the winner will emerge with what amounts to the senior hockey championship of North America . Instead , John has been at his best - - and , to get back to the little girl , when Sofiak is good , he is very , very good . How About Forming North American Association ? The powers - that - be of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association may be greeting the Flyers ' presence in this title round with mixed emotions . In fact , I ' d be willing to bet that they are . After all , the Allan Cup has been a purely Canadian prize ever since it was first put up for competition back in 1908 . But there should be some consolation for the CAHA in the fact that all of the Flyers , even those who have acquired or applied for United States citizenship - - are Canadian by birth . Over and above that , there might be a solution to the present oddity of having a United States - based team playing for a Canadian title . That would be a consolidation of the amateur hockey operation north and south of the world ' s longest unguarded frontier . West of Chicago , the Flyers are the only American team competing in senior hockey . East of Chicago there are a number of teams competing in what could be such hockey , or is comparable . There is the Eastern League , whose members include Charlotte , North Carolina , and Philadephia , both of which were anxious to play here this spring . There is the International League , with clubs ( I believe ) in Toledo and Indianapolis , to name just two . If all of this hockey on the United States side of the border could be amalgamated with the CAHA ' s senior leagues , which stretch from the Okanagan , east to Canada ' s Maritimes , it would be possible to set up a North American play - off which would be just that in name and in fact . Patrick ' s Prediction of " Death " Seems Odd It was odd to read , along with the account of the Flyers ' clinching win at Fort William , of Lester Patrick ' s decision to pull out of the Western League hockey operation at Victoria , because , he claimed , " the game is dying . " Perhaps the game is dying in Victoria . But what proof is that , as far as other cities are concerned ? The sport had been virtually dead in Seattle . In the last two seasons it has come back with a far - echoing bounce . Until the Flyers moved into the Coliseum , it was in danger of expiring here . No sports operation in the entire Northwest now is more solid - - and after what coach Roy McBride and his crew have accomplished this season , it ' s bound to keep flourishing . Los Angeles is in the process of building an 18 , 000 seat indoor arena . The Califorinans figure on having hockey in there . Portland , it is said , hopes to get back into the picture as soon as its red - tape - tangled Exposition and Recreation center gets off the drawing board and on the ground . The biggest boost the game has had in years came from this last winter ' s televising of National League games , which proved helpful from an instructional standpoint , even for a great many Spokane fans . Hockey dying ? It seems like an odd thing for Lester Patrick to say , since he is the one man who contributed as much as anyone in giving Canada ' s national pastime a solid foothold in the United States . Things Worked Out Well in the Long Haul At the risk of boring the nonhockey following readership , let ' s say it with a few more paragraphs . There was considerable indignation when the Flyers were rushed out of here for Fort William on such a tight schedule , that they ahd to step out of a group of Fort William automobiles and into their hockey suits to play the first game , and then had to play another about 28 hours later . But everything worked out well in the long haul . Bobby Kromm and Don McLeod arrived on the scene just in time to pick up the injury - caused slack . The Flyers left no doubt about their superiority in the last two games , and now have the opportunity - - unusual in play - off hockey - - of seeing at least two games of the series which will decide which team they play for the championship trophy . What ' s more , they should have at least a week in which to get in some practice time , as well as rest their bones from the rigors of the 24 play - off games that are behind them . Twenty - four games ? That ' s right . How many did they play at home in the regular season ? Twenty - four . It ' s making , what with one thing and another , for a long season . See Also . List of Western Canada Allan Cup Playoffs