The Seattle Ironmen were a minor pro ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 franchise based in Seattle, Washington. They played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League

Pacific Coast Hockey League

The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in several incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952.-PCHL 1928-1931:...

 from 1944-1952.

History

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Pacific Coast Hockey League was resurrected as a semi-professional loop. Seattle, known as a strong hockey town, was granted a franchise, the Seattle Ironmen.

The Ironmen won the PCHL championship

Lester Patrick Cup

The Lester Patrick Cup was the championship trophy of the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Hockey League from 1949 to 1974. Originally known as the President's Cup, the trophy was renamed in 1960 to honor pacific coast hockey pioneer and legend Lester Patrick following his death on June...

 in 1944-45, and then went on to win the 1944-45 United States National Senior Championship. They finished in first place in the league in 1948, while the league itself became fully professional in 1949.

In 1952, the league changed its name to the Western Hockey League

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...

, and the Ironmen themselves changed their name to the Seattle Bombers the following the 1951-52 season.

Notable players

• Joe Bell
  Joe Bell
  Joseph Alexander Bell is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 62 games in the National Hockey League. He played with the New York Rangers. He was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba...
  
  , future NHL player with the New York Rangers
  New York Rangers
  The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
  
  
• Eddie Dartnell, team's all-time leading goal scorer with 103 goals in 164 games
• Rudy Filion, team's all-time leading scorer with 249 points in 234 games
• Gordon Kerr, the team's all-time penalty minutes leader with 357 minutes in 244 games
• Al Rollins
  Al Rollins
  Elwin Ira Rollins was a professional Canadian ice hockey goaltender who played for the Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.-Playing career:...
  
  , future NHL star goaltender
• Fred Shero
  Fred Shero
  Frederick Alexander "The Fog" Shero was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager. He played for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League . However, he spent most of his playing career in the minor leagues...
  
  , future head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers
  Philadelphia Flyers
  The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...