The connection to the Quesnel Kangaroos goes deeper than hockey. The Central Interior Hockey League team isn’t a professional club that has contracted players come and go. The people who suit up as Roos are mostly from the Cariboo region, primarily Quesnel residents. Mike Flanagan came from away but stayed, and he’s still proud to wear the white and maroon.
He was between jobs, when he got a chance to try out for the team. He was playing amateur hockey in Alberta. The Roos then represented a promotion, and he had to audition earnestly to make the 1967-68 roster. He became the rookie of the year, that season, wearing No. 16, and stayed with the team through the 1971 season.
“I remember the speed they had,” he said.
They were so skilled that they won the Coy Cup that 1968 year, as tops in B.C.’s Senior-AA amateur hockey ranks.
Flanagan went back to Calgary after that season ended, but “I was starting to wonder where home really was,” as he recognized the love he had for the girl he’d met in Quesnel. He moved back to carry on with the Roos, but most importantly “I got the right gal,” and they remain married to this day.
“I was a lumber trader for West Fraser,” he said, regarding his profession upon moving permanently to Quesnel. “I worked a couple of other jobs, that first year, and altogether I was on the Kangaroos four or five years. But I had the habit of skating with my head down, and I ended up thinking I needed to back off. So I was equipment manager for a couple of years after that. I couldn’t leave the team. It was always a rush for me.”
He was impressed by the most recent Coy Cup victory, winning the 2022-23 championship on home ice. Flanagan doesn’t get to many games, anymore, but still loves coming to see some Roos games from time to time. He enjoys seeing the advancements in game tactics and modern equipment.
“You’re always moving somewhere, out there,” he observed. Back then, you could be more conservative of movement, on the ice, but the team was always moving off the ice instead. His seasons were 40 games, not today’s 16 matchups. They often played three times a week.
That commitment to the team, to the game, is why so many former players came back on opening night, this season, for Quesnel Kangaroos Alumni Night.
“It’s pretty impressive that so many guys came, some from far away. And a lot are now playing on another field,” said Flanagan.
Another point of his pride, today, is the name on the arena. He loves that West Fraser Centre represents his passionate hockey avocation and also a professional career he appreciated deeply.
These days he spends his time working on their longtime hobby ranch near Dragon Lake. “It’s something for me to do until my last day,” he said, with a grateful smile.
READ MORE: On-ice reaction from your Coy Cup champion Quesnel Kangaroos
READ MORE: Kangaroos win it all on Quesnel ice