Junior Hockey Blog

In 1974-75 Billings had the Billings Blazers of the SWHL. They competed against teams from Butte, Albequerque, El Paso, and Amarillo. All the teams and the league are defunct. From 1976-82 The Billings Bighorns played in the WHL. Even though the Bighorns left town - there are still 5 teams playing in that same league today that played against the Bighorns. They are the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Regina Pats, the Saskatoon Blades, The Medicene Hat Tigers, and The Portland Winterhawks. In 1983-84 The Montana Magic played in the CHL. They played against Colorado, Tulsa, Salt Lake City, and Indianapolis. The league folded but the Tulsa Oilers played on and are still playing today in the ECHL. In 1985-86 the Billings Marlboros played briefly in the Continental Hockey League which had since folded. In 1993 The Billings Bulls came to town and even though they have been a part of 6 different leagues they have played 22 straight years in Billings. I may be missing a few but here are some of the teams that they used to play against that are still around. They competed against the Bismarck Bobcats in the old AWHL and the NAHL from 1996-2006 - Bismarck is still in the NAHL today. They competed against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs from 2000-2006 in the same leagues and Fairbanks is still in the NAHL today. The Wichita Falls Wildcats were with the Bulls in the NAHL from 2003-2006 and they are still in the NAHL today. From 1999-2002 The Kimberly Dynamiters wer in the old AWHL, and from 1999-2005 the Fernie Ghostriders were in the old AWHL and later the NAHL. Those two teams are still alive today. They both are playing in the KIJHL up in Canada. The Missoula Maulers played in the Nor Pac hockey league and the Newer AWHL with the Bulls from 2007-2012 and they currently play in the WSHL. Speaking of the Nor Pac hockey league they no longer have any teams that the Bulls played against, But former Billings Bulls player Brian Moon owns the Cheney Ice Hawks one of the current Nor Pac teams. Last but not least the Helena Bighorns, Bozeman Ice Dogs, and the Great Falls Americans still compete against the Bulls in the NA3HL hockey league. The Bighorns and Ice Dogs continuously since the 90s, where as the Americans played in the old AWHL and NAHL in the 90s and early 2000s then went dormant for 10 years or so and have been back with the Bulls for the last 3 years. If I missed anybody I am sorry - but hopefully I came close to covering most of the teams we played against that are still in existance today!!