In 1977, the Bombers formed a Junior B team as a feeder system. The Jr. B Bombers would eventually win the Baldy Northcott Trophy as Manitoba Provincial Junior B Champions. In the summer of 1978, the ownership sold the Junior A Bombers WCHL rights to Edmonton (where the team would become the ill-fated Edmonton Oil Kings). The Flin Flon ownership, along with the owners of the Thompson King Miners, banded together with people from The Pas, Manitoba and Snow Lake, Manitoba to create a rival Jr. B league to the Manitoba Jr. B League - the NorMan Junior Hockey League (NJHL). After one season, the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association granted the league Tier II Junior A status and the right to compete against the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for Turnbull Cup for a chance to win the Anavet Cup, Abbott Cup, and Centennial Cup.