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Hockey HistoryHamilton Lloyds Hamilton had a Junior A club in the OHA throughout the 1940s, and although the team’s name changed several times during the decade, the franchise was the same group of players which competed in its home games at the Barton Street Arena. The club was known as the Whizzers in the early 1940s, and featured such players as Walter Atanas and Stan Kemp during the 1942-43 season. It was then known as the Majors in 1943-44, and for two seasons, 1945-46 and 1946-47, the team’s name was the Lloyds. Several players of the club went on to careers in the National Hockey League, including Jack Stoddard, who went on with the New York Rangers. Ray Frederick played with the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1954-55 season. Steve Kraftcheck, a product of the Aerovox Midgets Junior B club in Hamilton, played with the Boston Bruins during 1950-51, and the New York Rangers for the 1951-52 and 1952-53 seasons, then went to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 1958-59 season. He also played six years with the Cleveland Barons of the AHL, and other AHL clubs including Indianapolis (one season), Rochester (four seasons), and Providence (two seasons) before retiring in 1964. Another former Lloyd, Glen Sonmor, played in the AHL also with Cleveland and Saint Louis, and divided his 1953-54 and 1954-55 seasons between Cleveland and the New York Rangers. Sonmor went on to coach the Minnesota North Stars from 1978 to 1987. Others depicted in the accompanying photo include Johnny Savicky, who played left wing with the Portland Eagles of the WHL from 1948 to 1950, and Bill Winemaster, who went east after Hamilton to play with Chicoutimi and Moncton, and then farther east to England to play with the Streatham and Harringay clubs in the British National League between 1952 and 1956. The Lloyds were coached by the Ambis brothers, Eddie and Hank. The team’s 1945-46 record was 3-25 for eighth place in the loop, and 6-32 in 1946-47 for ninth in the league.
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