Whitley Warriors 1987–88 – The Dream Season

There are seasons remembered because a team won everything.

And there are seasons remembered because something happened that changed the way a club was regarded forever.

For Whitley Warriors, 1987–88 belongs firmly in the second category.

The Warriors didn't finish the season as British champions. They didn't leave Wembley carrying the championship trophy. But for supporters at Whitley Bay Ice Rink, this was the season when their club went from being a respected name in British ice hockey to genuine contenders at the very top of the game.

They finished runners-up in the Heineken League Premier Division, won 27 of their 36 league games, scored an extraordinary 371 goals and reached Wembley for the first time.

At the centre of it all was a remarkable mixture of local experience, British talent and three Canadian imports who would leave very different marks on British hockey.

And leading them was the man eventually named Premier Division Coach of the Year — Terry Matthews.

A Team Ready to Dream

Whitley entered 1987–88 with plenty of home-grown experience.

Alfie Miller had seemingly been part of the furniture at Whitley Bay Ice Rink forever. Alongside him were players including John Iredale, Paul Whitehouse, Terry Ord, Stephen Smith, Colin Davison, Dave Ross, Martin King and Ivan Bibby.

But it was the overseas contingent that transformed the possibilities.

Defenceman Mike Babcock arrived from Canada. Up front was Scott Morrison, while Luc Chabot would join the Warriors during the season after beginning the campaign with Ayr Bruins.

It proved to be quite a combination.

Whitley Warriors 1987–88 – the team that produced one of the greatest seasons in the club's history.

Morrison Sets the League Alight

If one set of numbers sums up just how extraordinary Whitley's season became, it is this:

36 games. 108 goals. 116 assists. 224 points.

Scott Morrison didn't merely lead Whitley's scoring.

He led the entire Premier Division.

More remarkably, Morrison wasn't simply a goalscorer. His 116 assists actually exceeded his 108 goals, giving Whitley a player capable both of finishing chances and creating them for others.

The contemporary Ice Hockey News Review summed him up perfectly when it described him as being just as good at making goals as scoring them.

Morrison's 224 points put him ahead of Solihull's Rick Fera on 216 and Murrayfield superstar Tony Hand on 192.

For a Whitley player to finish above names of that calibre said everything about the season he was having.

Whitley Winner – Scott Morrison dominated Premier Division defences in 1987–88, scoring 108 goals and adding 116 assists for an incredible 224 points.

The Canadian Connection

Morrison wasn't doing it alone.

Mike Babcock provided quality and composure from defence, recording 34 goals and 98 assists for 132 points in 36 league games.

Then came Luc Chabot.

Chabot had started the season with Ayr Bruins but was signed by Whitley during the campaign. It proved an inspired move.

In only 26 league games for the Warriors, Chabot scored 89 goals and 79 assists for 168 points.

His arrival gave Whitley another devastating offensive weapon alongside Morrison.

Contemporary reports described Chabot as the ideal partner for the “workaholic” Morrison, and the statistics certainly support that description.

Morrison, Chabot and Babcock gave Whitley three outstanding imports — but what made the Warriors dangerous was the talent surrounding them.

Three Warriors who helped turn 1987–88 into a dream season: Luc Chabot, Mike Babcock and Scott Morrison.

More Than Three Imports

It would be easy, looking at those enormous scoring totals, to assume Whitley's success was simply built around three Canadians.

It wasn't.

John Iredale contributed 37 goals and 51 assists in the league. Terry Ord recorded 62 points, Alfie Miller 49 and Paul Whitehouse 40.

There was also Bruce Stanley, another Canadian who appeared in eight league games and scored an eye-catching 25 goals and 16 assists.

But the backbone of the side remained unmistakably Whitley.

That mattered.

This was still a team containing players with deep roots in the club and the North-East hockey scene.

And nobody represented that better than Alfie Miller.

Alfie “The Gent” Miller

At the end of the season, Miller announced his retirement after 19 years with Whitley Warriors.

He was 34.

By then he had played approximately 550 games for the Warriors, scoring at an average of a goal a game and accumulating 1,265 points.

Yet perhaps the most remarkable statistic concerned penalties.

Just 197 penalty minutes.

It explained the nickname by which he became known:

“The Gent.”

Miller wasn't particularly fond of the description — he maintained that being gentlemanly didn't win hockey games — and those who saw him play knew he wasn't afraid of the physical side of the sport.

His strengths, however, were skating, stickhandling and speed.

At just 5ft 5in, Miller had spent nearly two decades proving that size wasn't everything.

Whitley coach Terry Matthews described his captain as:

“The thinker on this team, an inspiration to the others.”

Four Great Britain appearances and numerous England caps added to a remarkable career.

And when Miller finally stepped away from playing, club secretary Peter Kirk made Whitley's feelings clear.

There would always be a place for him.

After all, as Kirk put it:

“He is the Whitley Bay club.”

Alfie “The Gent” Miller – one of Whitley's great servants, pictured during his final season alongside Terry Ord, Colin Davison and coach Terry Matthews.

Matthews Builds a Contender

Behind it all was Terry Matthews.

Whitley's transformation wasn't accidental.

Matthews blended the spectacular scoring of his imports with a group of British players who understood the club, the rink and each other.

By November, his work was already being recognised when he received the Heineken Coach of the Month award.

He won it again in December.

At the end of the campaign came the bigger accolade:

Premier Division Coach of the Year.

It was deserved recognition for the man who had taken Whitley into a genuine championship race.

Terry Matthews masterminded Whitley's challenge and was named Premier Division Coach of the Year for 1987–88.

Chasing Murrayfield

There was just one problem.

Murrayfield Racers were also having a tremendous season.

The defending champions possessed Moray Hanson in goal, Paul Hand on defence and Tony Hand leading an outstanding British attack.

For much of the season the two clubs fought for supremacy.

Whitley kept winning.

And scoring.

By the end of the league campaign the Warriors had scored 371 goals in 36 games — more than ten goals per game.

Their final record was:

Played 36
Won 27
Lost 7
Drawn 2
Goals For 371
Goals Against 256
Points 56

It was a championship-quality record in almost any season.

Unfortunately for Whitley, Murrayfield were just that little bit better.

The Racers finished with 58 points.

Whitley finished with 56.

Two points separated them.

The Weekend the Dream Slipped Away

For Whitley supporters, one weekend in March proved decisive.

On 12 March, Durham Wasps travelled to Whitley Bay.

The BBC television cameras were there.

So was a huge amount of pressure.

Durham won 7–6.

It was a result that helped bring Whitley's championship challenge to an end.

The following night the Warriors travelled to Murrayfield and lost again.

After months of chasing the title, the race had finally slipped away.

Yet even that disappointment couldn't disguise what Whitley had achieved.

They had pushed the reigning champions virtually all the way.

And their season wasn't finished.

There was still Wembley.

Whitley Go to Wembley

For the first time in club history, Whitley Warriors reached Wembley.

Their semi-final opponents were Fife Flyers.

For the travelling Warriors supporters, simply seeing Whitley skate onto Wembley ice represented another landmark in an already unforgettable season.

But the dream ending wasn't to be.

Fife won the semi-final, bringing Whitley's championship hopes to an end.

The Flyers themselves would then lose the final to Murrayfield Racers.

Wembley 1988 – Whitley Warriors reached Wembley for the first time, where their season finally ended against Fife Flyers in the semi-final.

A Season Without a Trophy — But Not Without a Legacy

Look only at the honours list and 1987–88 might appear to have ended in disappointment.

Murrayfield won the league.

Whitley lost at Wembley.

But statistics and trophies don't always tell the whole story.

Whitley Warriors had won 27 league games.

They had scored 371 goals.

They had finished just two points behind the champions.

Scott Morrison had produced one of the great individual seasons of the Heineken era with 224 points.

Terry Matthews had been named Coach of the Year.

And Whitley had reached Wembley for the first time.

Perhaps most importantly, a generation of Warriors supporters had been given a season they would still be talking about decades later.

The contemporary Ice Hockey Annual called it a “Dream Season.”

Nearly forty years later, it's difficult to think of a better description.

Were You There?

Were you following Whitley Warriors during that incredible 1987–88 season?

Did you see Morrison, Chabot and Babcock at Whitley Bay Ice Rink?

Were you there for the 7–6 defeat against Durham — or among the Warriors supporters who made the journey to Wembley?

And for those who watched Scott Morrison that year:

Was his 224-point season the greatest individual season you've ever seen from a Whitley Warriors player?

We'd love to hear your memories.

Old Time Hockey UK — Reliving British Hockey's Golden Years.