In the present day, the J. Ross Robertson Cup final commences tonight, between two historic franchises by way of a showdown between the juggernaut of contemporary times – the London Knights – and the league’s most decorated team in the form of the Oshawa Generals. This is a rematch of last season’s sweep by the Knights. It feels all too familiar, but throughout the OHL’s history, there have been some interesting names to insert themselves in the title picture. This story of an example of that might be my favorite one to read about, albeit a somewhat frustrating one to investigate due to a relative dearth of immediately available primary sourced information on it. However, as luck would have it, I have been able to stitch something together.

This will be no one-off, either. This month, I will publish a plethora of noteworthy chapters of success in the CHL as the Memorial Cup chase approaches its end. There are many inspiring stories to look back on, including ones that touch upon somewhat saddening or controversial territory. This one to kick things off is quite curious, as, akin to my Lewiston Maineiacs retrospective, the team in question had much success on the ice, but the business/operations side had some question marks surrounding it. It was a very short chapter in the OHL’s history, but a fascinating one.

The beginning of this story goes back not to 1992 or even to 1990, but truly, to 1978, when influential software company executive Peter Karmanos Jr. of Compuware and his business partner Thomas Thewes launched the Compuware Youth Hockey Program. Per the history section of the program’s official website, the objective of Compuware Hockey was “providing a local program where young players could develop to the height of their potential.” Considering the sheer volume of NCAA and major junior-bound alumni the program has produced on various levels (including some noteworthy NHL names including but not limited to Eric Lindros, Pat LaFontaine, Mike Modano, Al Iafrate, David Legwand, Derian Hatcher, Doug Weight, Brian Rolston, Pat Peake, James Wisniewski, Andy Greene, Torey Krug, and many more), I would wager the goals they set to achieve were attained. For a more detailed list, see here. Additional info on their alumni can be found here.

One component you will notice of this history includes Compuware getting a foot in the OHL game. The first endeavor of this type was Karmanos purchasing the Windsor Spitfires in 1984. Renamed the Windsor Compuware Spitfires, they had some ebbs and flows in on-ice fortunes in the five seasons under Karmanos’ ownership, but they reached an impressive zenith by sweeping the Peterborough Petes to capture the OHL championship in 1988. Windsor subsequently won all three of their Memorial Cup round robin games to earn a direct berth into the CHL’s vaunted final game of the season, but lost to the Medicine Hat Tigers by a score of 7-6 as MHT captured their second consecutive Memorial Cup title. Following the next year, Karmanos sold the team to construction executive Steve Riolo. However, this would not be the end of the Compuware OHL story.

In 1990, the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors were launched as an expansion franchise. They spent their first season at the Cobo Arena in Downtown Detroit, not faring very well with a league-worst record of 11-50-5. This would be their only season at Cobo, marking the last time the arena (now known as Huntington Place) has had a full-time ice hockey tenant. They subsequently moved to the Joe Louis Arena, home of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. They fared a bit better, more than doubling their win total and making the playoffs and lasted seven games against the Niagara Falls Thunder (now known as the Erie Otters). The second season under the Compuware Ambassadors branding would be the last, though, and they would undergo a radical transformation.

In 1992-93, the team began play as the Detroit Junior Red Wings. Success under this new identity was immediately apparent, as they leapt from seventh in the Emms Division to second. The team had impressive offensive firepower, with four skaters totaling over 100 points on the season (Bob Wren, Pat Peake, Kevin Brown, and Todd Harvey) and defeated the Guelph Storm and London Knights in five games each in the postseason before falling to the Soo Greyhounds in five in the divisional final, the last stop before the OHL championship. Moving on from the services of Tom Webster (who also coached in Windsor under the Karmanos regime) to those of new bench boss Paul Maurice (yes, that one – He actually played for Windsor Compuware under Webster, then joined Windsor’s coaching staff after his playing days had ended including working with Webster as an assistant there before bolting for Detroit Compuware when they started up, reuniting with Karmanos and surviving a few different Ambassadors/Junior Red Wings coaching changes), the Junior Red Wings took it up a further notch in 1993-94, with Brown and Wren running it back with another set of 100 point campaigns and the team capturing the regular season Emms Division crown. After having a bye from the division quarterfinals, Detroit swept the Owen Sound Platers (now the Owen Sound Attack) in the semis and achieved vengeance against the Greyhounds by defeating them in six games in the divisional final before facing the North Bay Centennials (currently, and fittingly enough, the Saginaw Spirit). The series was a classic, going the full seven games, but saw them fall short.

The zenith of the team would occur the following year. Helped in no small part by a defensive core featuring the team’s sole 100-point scorer that season Bill McCauley and eventual 1995 NHL Entry Draft first overall pick Bryan Berard, the Junior Wings won the regular season division title again (this time known as the West Division), capturing four more points than they did in 1993-94. They swept the London Knights and Peterborough Petes in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively, then defeated the Sudbury Wolves in seven to book a spot in the final. They defeated the Guelph Storm in six games, clinching the title at home on May 8th, 1995, with a 5-4 victory to capture the OHL title and send themselves to the Memorial Cup in Kamloops, BC. In the first round robin game, they defeated the WHL representatives/runners-up Brandon Wheat Kings by a score of 4-3. They would drop the second game to the dynastic Kamloops Blazers (who were both hosts and WHL champions in back-to-back seasons and the third time in four years, alongside being a vaunted program that had won the Ed Chynoweth Cup six times since/including 1984) 5-4, but defeated the Hull Olympiques 5-2 to get the second seed and a spot in the semifinals. They beat Brandon again by a score of 2-1, but were overpowered by Kamloops as one of the greatest dynasties in CHL history served a crushing victory with a final scoreline of 8-2 to capture, coinciding with their WHL dominance, their third Memorial Cup in the past four seasons and their second in a row. The Junior Red Wings did receive some individual tournament honors, including netminder Jason Saal receiving the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy for best goaltender and a tournament all-star nod, while LW Sean Haggerty made the all-star team at his position. It was a memorable year, and a nice cap off to things for Paul Maurice before his NHL coaching career commenced. He’s definitely done quite a bit since then, in a manner that I am sure needs no elaboration. I have a feeling, though, that he would still remember this chapter fondly if you asked him about it today.

Off the ice, things weren’t so pretty. A feud existed between Karmanos and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch related to professional hockey business matters. The team were forced out of the Joe, rebranded into the Detroit Whalers (since Karmanos had purchased the Hartford NHL club in 1994), and became semi-nomadic, splitting time between two venues (the Oak Park Arena and the now-demolished former Detroit Pistons’ home of The Palace of Auburn Hills. They would relocate to Plymouth, MI (near Ann Arbor) once Compuware Sports Arena (now known as USA Hockey Arena, serving as the home of the US NTDP) was finished being built. The team re-branded into the Plymouth Whalers for the 1997-98 season, launching another story filled with success, including three OHL final appearances and one J. Ross Robertson Cup championship, three Hamilton Spectator Trophies, and the development of eight first round draft picks (including 1998 2nd overall pick David Legwand, 2001 fourth overall pick Stephen Weiss, 2010 2nd overall pick Tyler Seguin, and 2012 16th overall selection Tom Wilson). In 2015, Karmanos sold the team to IMS USA, Inc., and they subsequently relocated to Flint and began play as the Firebirds in the 2015-16 season.

There are other interesting moving parts that have existed since. A little over half a year prior to its closure, the Joe Louis Arena hosted an “OHL at the Joe” celebration when the Saginaw Spirit rented it for one night for a game against the Windsor Spitfires, which also included commemoration of the 1995 OHL Championship win by the Junior Wings. This was definitely a fantastic way to honor the legacy of major junior hockey in the Detroit metro area. Karmanos additionally had something of a “professional” run-in with Ilitch on the NHL stage, as his Carolina Hurricanes (who became such after the controversial relocation of the Whalers from Hartford in 1997) faced the Detroit Red Wings in the 2002 Stanley Cup Final. As is well-known, however, the juggernaut, very richly price tagged Wings had their moment, winning in five games to capture their third title since 1997 and 10th overall. Karmanos would eventually have some celebrations, though, as the Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final (the first after the lockout that eliminated the 2004-05 season) in seven games. Since then, Karmanos has sold his stake in the Hurricanes to Tom Dundon (initially his majority share in 2018, then his remaining interest in 2021), as well as sold his ECHL club the Florida Everblades in 2019. As such, Karmanos’ direct involvement in hockey now lies solely in the Compuware youth hockey program. However, the impact of his involvement in hockey on multiple levels was – and remains – tremendous. Yet, there is perhaps no more interesting chapter in his story than the one dedicated to the Detroit Junior Red Wings – A team that was tremendously popular and accomplished incredible feats on the ice, but wrangled with outside forces for reasons beyond the boundaries of its existence and was forced to burn out quickly.