Denver Invaders
Encyclopedia
Western Hockey League (minor pro)
The Western Hockey League was a minor pro ice hockey league that operated from 1952 to 1974. Managed for most of its history by Hockey Hall of Fame member Al Leader, it was created out of the merger of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Canada Senior Hockey League...
(WHL) during the 1963-1964 season. They were the Spokane Comets
Spokane Comets
The Spokane Comets are a defunct minor professional ice hockey team that was located in Spokane, Washington. They played in the Western Hockey League from 1960 to 1963.The 1962-63 team was coached by Roy McBride who piloted the team to a 30-38-2 record....
before they moved to Denver. They played their regular season games at the Denver Coliseum, and their playoff games at the arena at the University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
. The team moved after the '63-'64 season and became the Victoria Maple Leafs
Victoria Maple Leafs
The Victoria Maple Leafs were a minor pro ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League that played three seasons in Victoria, British Columbia, beginning in 1964. The previous season they had played as the Invaders in Denver, Colorado, winning the regular season with the best record in the Western...
.
The Denver Invaders were the farm club for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The head coach was Rudy Pilous, who had been fired the year before from the head coaching job with the NHL Chicago Black Hawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
.
In their one season in Denver coached by Rudy Pilous
Rudy Pilous
Rudy Pilous was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Pilous won a Stanley Cup coaching the Chicago Black Hawks in 1960–61, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985 in the builder category.-Playing career:Pilous played junior ice hockey in the Manitoba...
, the Invaders won the regular season championship with the best record in the Western Hockey League, and as such was awarded the WHL Governor's Trophy. The Invaders would lose to the Los Angeles Blades in the playoffs.