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LONDON LIONSICEHOCKEY CLUB

UPDATED 22 FEBRUARY 2012 Some new photos, including a partial team photo (below) In 1971, Detroit Red Wings-owner Bruce Norris presented plans for a European professional league with the best teams being able to participate in the Stanley Cup play-offs. Norris envisaged European club teams with working agreements with an NHL club and spent $300.000 on his European team, the London Lions. The league was planned to start in the autumn of 1973 but Russians and Czechs protested as professional athletes would stop all participation in the Olympic Games. The main stumbling block concerned the availability of players for the World Championships, which were played in March and April when the European League would be approaching the playoffs. Even if the idea of a league was off for the 1973-74 season, Norris decided to go ahead with the London Lions, which toured Europe like an icehockey equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters. This is a presentation of the legendary London Lions... left to right: Bibeau, Pyatt, Korney, Sterner McCutcheon, Johnson, Simpson, Shaw McCarthy, McCann, Holmqvist, McQuiston

In traditional heraldry, the Winged Lion was the symbol of St. Mark, adopted as the heraldic device of Venice. The special icehockey version combined the British Lion of Wembley with the Red Wings of Detroit (see Red Wings-affiliates). European Ice Hockey League London Lions team roster Player profiles Fixtures & results Before and after Management Reminiscing Match programmes and souvenirs Red Wings-affiliates Other Icehockey Lions in London Articles: Scottish interlude About the game vs Scottish Select Eindrucksvolle leistung About the game vs HC Salzburg Down and out in Deeside Written by Rick Drennan ...and the meek shall inherit Qatar Written by Steve Marantz A moment in the sun Written by Chuck O'Donnell A skate down memory lane Written by Mark Spector European replay for Polonich Written by Bob Duff

Sources
Hockey historians Martin C. Harris (UK) and Bo G. Wallin (Sweden)
The Internet Hockey Database
A to Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey
"Flashing Blades" by Phil Drackett
"Professional hockey in England", article by Norman de Mesquita in "Total Hockey - the Official Encyclopedia of NHL"
Lee Valley Lions Nostalgia Site by Julianne Bonner
Streatham Ice Hockey
Various Swedish hockey- and sports annuals from 1973-76
Correspondence with some of the ex-Lions (see Reminiscing)