Durham Thundercats The Durham Thundercats , originally the Durham 72 ' s , are a senior hockey team based out of Durham , Ontario , Canada . The Thundercats date back to the towns Centennial , 1972 , and have been an extremely successful team in all loops of the Western Ontario Athletic Association Senior " AA " Hockey League . The 72 ' s . During the 1972 Centennial celebration in Durham , locals decided a second Men ' s hockey club could succeed and thus put into place the formation of the current Durham Thundercats . Working alongside but playing out of different leagues as the towns established team , the Huskies , the town applied to and was accepted to enter the Western Ontario Athletic Association ' s Northern league . The organization of this second team allowed many talented local players a place to play competitive Senior Hockey , and would lay the foundation for 40 years of Championship calibre teams . The Durham 72 ' s , as they were named , were founded as members of the Intermediate " C " loop of the WOAA . Their competition would be found in other local teams like Arthur , Woodford , Thornbury , Elora , and Chatsworth . The 72 ' s finished their first season winning their loop but then lost the Major Intermediate " C " Championship to the Milverton Four Wheel Drives . The next season saw them finish first overall again with 14 wins 4 losses and 2 ties , but fall to Arthur in the loop final . A third attempt at securing a championship finally paid off as the 72 ' s won the 1975 WOAA Intermediate C championship . Unfortunately , the team would be required to take a two year hiatus until a new arena was planned & developed . Returning to the ice in 1977 / 78 , the 72 ' s were playing at the Intermediate " B " level and were led by current coach Bruce Marshall . ' Beagle ' as he is fondly known , led the league in scoring , ( a feat he would repeat in the 1985 / 86 season ) and the 72 ' s defeated Palmerston ( later known as the Palmerston 81 ' s ) to win the " B " Championship . The 72 ' s were challenged by the Intermediate " C " Champion Lion ' s Head Northstars for the WOAA Grand Championship and lost a hard fought battle that would lay the ground work for a tumultuous rivalry that would last for years to come . Over the course of the next three seasons , Durham would endure successes but fall short of the ultimate goal , including the 1981 defeat at the hands of the Mitchell Red Devils , in the Intermediate " B " final . During the summer of 1981 , the league underwent a major restructuring . The disbandment of two other local leagues ( Central Grey - Bruce League , CGBHL and the Central Ontario Hockey League , COHL ) increased the team numbers in The WOAA and required the creation of the Upper Tier Intermediate A Division and the Lower Tier Intermediate D Division . Changes in the league format proved to be a good thing for Durham as in 1982 , the 72 ' s won their first ever Intermediate " A " Championship , beating Lions Head in seven games . Led by the Leagues Leading scorer in Randy ' 12 ' Reay , the 7th and final game was played in Markdale , in front of a sold out crowd . The next season saw the 72 ' s lose the Intermediate " A " Championship to the Woodford Royals , who in turn lost the Grand Championship to Lion ' s Head . In 1986 , with coach Bev Nixon behind the bench , the 72 ' s were led again by two - time league scoring champ Bruce ' Beagle ' Marshall . Ultimately losing to Woodford in the play - offs , changes were again , on the horizon . With new coach Dennis ' Guido ' Graham now calling the shots , the 72 ' s moved to the newly formed Northern division with Lucknow , Ripley , Kincardine , Teeswater , and Lion ' s Head . After finishing first with 16 wins , 4 losses , and 2 ties , they won the Intermediate " A " Championship but lost the Grand Championship in 6 games . The 1987 - 88 season would see the end of an era in regards to the Durham 72 ' s . The lackluster season ended early with a record of 6 wins , 6 losses , and 4 ties and the winds of change soon came knocking . This marked the last season the team would be known as the Durham 72 ' s . The Thundercats . The summer of 1988 would prove to be a major change for the team known only as the 72 ' s , for the last 16yrs . Given a face lift , they traded in the " 72 ' s " for the " Thundercats " and switched the Green and Yellow for the Black and Silver . The effect was instantaneous as the Thundercats would terrorize the league for the next dozen years . Once again a change proved fruitful and the 1988 - 89 season had the T - Cats finish first in the league with 19 wins , 2 losses , and 2 ties . Solid goaltending from Scott MacMillan , Mark Taylor & Gord McGinnis , along with the 90pt seasons from Steve Reay and Todd Stoddart , they would defeat the Lucknow Lancers to win the Intermediate Grand Championship in their first year . They followed this up in 1989 / 90 with another winning season , but lost a memorable hard fought battle with Kincardine . Over the course of the next 8yrs , the Thundercats would dominate the WOAA . In the 1990 / 91 newly formed Senior " A " finals , they were challenged by the Tavistock Royals . A hard fought series ended when Brian Sweeney would score in overtime in the 6th game and allow the Thundercats to emerge victorious and Senior A Champions . Some members of the team took immediate vacations but halfway through they got word that the WOAA had been attempting to contact them to set up dates for a Grand Championship series with the Arthur Tigers , the Intermediate " B " champions . The 3 out of 5 series would go the distance with Arthur pulling off the upset to win the Grand Championship . The series of course was not without controversy . The two head coaches were longtime friends who would test that friendship severely . A questionable arena malfunction canceled game two in Arthur , which resulted in the series lasting an extra weekend longer . This resulted in the Cats losing the services of a couple of players for the last two games , due to prearranged trip commitments to Florida . Arthur would win game 5 in Durham in front the largest crowd ever ( 1 , 000 + ) people , to claim their only Sr . A Grand Championship . After the previous years controversy , the Thundercats began the first of two consecutive , three year runs as Champion . Beating Tavistock and Lakeshore respectively in 1992 & 93 ' , they were unopposed WOAA Senior Grand Champions . After winning a third consecutive title in 94 ' vs Tavistock , they were challenged by the Ripley Wolves . Durham swept the Wolves for their third straight Grand Championship . The once proud OHA Senior loop was now defunct and several teams now joined the WOAA . This required another level of league play and sson the Senior " AA " Level was adopted . The new teams and influx of OHA talent into the league also created an interesting challenge for the Thundercats , who only added 4 players from the now defunct OHA Durham Huskies . In 1995 , the T - Cats proved human and lost to the Tavistock Royals in the sixth game of the Senior " AA " championship . The rivalry of the late 70 ' s and early 80 ' s with Lions Head was now back seat to the dislike these two teams developed for each other over the course of the last 4 years . 3 Senior AA Championship series against each other would forge a lifetime of memories , and even a couple of friendships . The T - cats would come back with a vengeance though , returning to their winning ways and capturing Senior AA Championships in 1996 , 1997 , and 1998 . Over the course of the last 10 seasons , the Thundercats won eight league championships . Finding themselves once again in the finals in 1999 , they would suffer defeat at the hands of the upstart Milverton Four Wheel Drives . No longer playing but still feeling the competitive spirit , Todd Stoddart took over coaching duties in 2000 . Regular season success did not pan out in the play - offs as a seventh game loss to Palmerston in the semi - finals would put an end to the season . With future Mayor Kevin Eccles now behind the bench , the T - Cat ' s would knocked off the Hensall Sherwoods to win the Senior " AA " crown in 01 ' , but would lose to Milverton in 02 ' . Longtime 72 & T - Cat Rob Reed would take over coaching duties in 2002 / 03 and amassed and incredible regular season record of 22 wins and 2 losses , tying the record of 1989 . Again , regular season success proved to be fodder as the Cat ' s couldn ' t sustain their winning ways . In 2003 / 04 , the Thundercats , with Reed behind the bench again , would plough their way through the regular season and then carry - on to win another Senior " AA " championship , defeating the Clinton Radars in the league final . 2004 / 05 proved to be an interesting season . With the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout looming , the Thundercats openly allowed the Ottawa Senators Chris Neil to practice with the team . With the cancellation of the season , Neil joined his three older brothers and signed with the Thundercats . Unfortunately he signed without permission from the WOAA . In the only game he played , Neil recorded one assist in a 5 - 4 win over the Mildmay Monarchs . Asked about Neil playing against his team , Monarchs coach ' s mentioned that it was unfortunate they were unaware Neil was playing , or they would have promoted it better . Mildmays feelings however were not universal and soon after , the WOAA announced that they would not allow actively professional players compete in the WOAA regardless of the NHL lockout . For playing Neil without league permission , the win was taken away and awarded to Mildmay and Durham ' s coach Rob Reed was suspended . Without the ability to play with his brothers , Neil soon shipped off to the American Hockey League ' s Binghamton Senators , and they T - Cats were unable to duplicate the success of the previous year . The 2005 - 06 season saw a new Team President in Randy Reay , and a new Coach , in John Antonopolis . Antonopolis was already well known in the area , having already been suspended by the OHA after some successes but also for questionable coaching practices . With Reed in the Assistant coach ' s role , Antonopolis weaved his magic and once again the T - Cats were providing Durham fans with the kind of hockey they were used to seeing in the 1990s . After edging out the Elora Rocks for first place in the WOAA with 22 wins and 3 losses , the Thundercats plowed through the playoffs to defeat those same Rocks 4 - games - to - 1 to win another WOAA Senior " AA " championship . The 2006 - 07 was a winning season for the Thundercats with 15 wins , 8 losses , and a tie , but the Thundercats fell victim to a new system in the WOAA that segregates Senior " AA " from Senior " A " before the playoffs , not during the opening round . The T - Cats finished just out of reach for the Senior " AA " loop , but proved worthy by going on to add another Senior " A " title to the long list of Championships . In 2007 - 08 , the Cats limped through the regular season , both on the ice and off . Antonopolis was unable to revive the magic from previous years even while the core of the T - Cats remained virtually unchanged . Ending up 6th during the regular season the Cats won the first round of play - offs but lost in A Semi - Finals . 2008 - 09 proved much the same as the previous year , ending up 5th during the regular and losing in the A Semi - Finals 2009 - 10 , 5th , lost in A Finals Commemoration . In remembrance of two of the greatest teams in Durham hockey history , the 1989 Greater Ontario Senior " AA " champion Durham Huskies who made it to the Hardy Cup semi - finals will play off against the 1989 WOAA Intermediate Grand Champion Durham Thundercats on April 4 , 2009 in a 20th Anniversary Alumni game . Season - by - season record . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , OTL = Overtime Losses Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against " " ( * ) denotes that the results of the final nine games of 1983 - 84 are currently missing . " List of Championships . The 72 ' s " Runner - Up in : Int . " C " 1972 - 73 , Int . " B " 1980 - 81 , Int . " A " 1982 - 83 , 1983 - 84 " The Thundercats " Runner - Up in : Sr . " AA " 1994 - 95 , 1998 – 99 , 2001 - 02 , Sr . " A " 2009 - 10 "