The Memorial Cup: A History

[Scout]

with Gregg Drinnan

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Memorial Cup: A history . . . 1919

1919 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Patricias vs. University of Toronto Schools
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)

The Regina Patricias, having eliminated the Winnipeg Lutherans in the Western Canadian final for the Abbott Memorial Cup on March 10, 1919, were off to the Memorial Cup.
The Patricias won the two-game, total-goal series with Winnipeg 8-5, taking the second game 3-1 in front of 1,935 fans at the Regina Arena.
In the meantime, the University of Toronto Schools, backstopped by goaltender Joe Sullivan, who would go on to become a well-known physician and senator, were wrapping up the Eastern Canadian championship, whipping the visiting Montreal Melvilles 8-2 in a sudden-death game on March 17.
(Sullivan's son Frank would have a lengthy minor league career, and would get into six NHL games over the 1949-50 and 1952-53 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one each with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1954-55 and 1955-56 and Toronto Maple Leafs in the early 1950s. Frank's son Peter would be a key member of three WHA championship Winnipeg Jets teams and would play two seasons with the Jets after they were admitted to the NHL.)
And so it was that the 1919 Memorial Cup, a two-game, total-goal affair, was scheduled for Toronto, with games on March 19 and 22 at Arena Gardens on Mutual Street.
W.J. Finlay, sports editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, reported prior to the first game: “Toronto fans are greatly worked up over their juniors and they are just a little afraid that their favorites are going to get beaten.
“However, it looks like a great game and, in our opinion, should be in doubt right to the finish.”
It was anything but in doubt as the U of T opened with a 14-3 victory, causing Finlay to write: "Travelling at a dizzy pace from start to finish and uncorking team play that was revelation to the western fans, the University of Toronto Schools nifty young hockey machine cantered through the Regina Patricians in such a commanding style that they not only swamped the westerners 14-3 but outclassed them from stem to stern ...”
Toronto, coached by Frank Carroll, a noted coach in his time, led 2-0 after the first period and 7-2 after the second.
As Finlay noted: "The Toronto outfit has the six-man hockey system as used by the professionals down to a science and they have the ability to make use of the system to perfection. Coached by Frank Carroll, the noted Toronto professional pilot, the boys have developed team play that was really pretty to watch.”
Forwards Don Jeffreys and Jack Aggett scored six goals each for Toronto, with defenceman Dunc Munroe adding the other two. Regina got goals from two wingers — Laudas Dutkowski, who was known as Duke and who, late in his life, dropped the ‘k’ from his surname, and S. Conrad — and defenceman M.A. Wingham.
It's worth noting that the game was an hour and 15 minutes late in starting, as The Canadian Press reported, "to allow the fans to greet the 4th C.M.R., the first Toronto unit to come home in a body.”
The Canadian Press also reported: "It was not known tonight whether the Patricias would default the second game on Saturday night. It is a moral certainty that they cannot pull down the lead.”
Give the Patricias credit — they showed up for the second game on March 22. This time Toronto posted a 15-5 victory to win the series by a combined score of 29-8.
"Though the score was trebled on them the Pats played much better hockey than they did on the opening night and the score is no indication of the play,” wrote Finlay.
Getting glowing reviews was Mordecai Brown, the Regina goaltender who it was said was only 16 years of age.
Toronto, which led 8-4 and 10-4 at the period breaks, got five goals from Steve Greey, four from Munroe, and three each from Jeffreys and Aggett.
For the record, the Memorial Cup-winning goal was Toronto's ninth one in the opening game. It came from Aggett early in the third period.
It's also worth noting that Lou Marsh, a noted sports writer with the Toronto Star, officiated both games, while Finlay — yes, the same Free Press sports editor — teamed with Marsh for the second game.
As Finlay's report noted: "Two sporting scribes, Billy Finlay of the Free Press, Winnipeg, and Lou Marsh, of the Toronto Star, handled the game, which was very clean.“

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1920 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1920.html)

1920 MEMORIAL CUP
Selkirk Juniors vs. Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


The Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers squared off against the Selkirk Juniors, starring Joe Simpson, in the two-game, total-goal Memorial Cup final.

Games were played on March 23 and 25 in Toronto.
This was a high-powered Toronto Canoe Club team. Coached by Ron Carroll, the Canoe Club was captained by Billy Burch, who would go on to play in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Americans and Hamilton Tigers.
Also on the Toronto roster were goaltender Roy Worters (Pittsburgh Pirates, the Americans and the Montreal Canadiens); the immortal Lionel (Big Train) Conacher (the Americans, the Pirates, Montreal Maroons and Chicago); and, Wilfred White (the Philadelphia Quakers, the Pirates and the Americans).

En route to playing Selkirk, the Paddlers — paced by a line featuring Burch between White and Francis McCurry — had posted some impressive victories.
They lost 6-5 to the Stratford Midgets, a team that featured Howie Morenz, but then roared back with a 10-2 victory to win the two-game, total-goal affair, 15-8.

The Paddlers hammered the Quebec-champion Loyola College of Montreal 16-4, and beat the Fort William Beavers 16-1.
Prior to journeying east, the Selkirks, who were also known as the Fishermen or Fishtown lads, spent some time touring western Canada, using exhibition games — including two victories over the Eskimos in Edmonton — as tuneups for the Memorial Cup games.
This tour almost turned tragic, as reported by a March 15 dispatch from Calgary:
"Members of the Selkirk hockey team who have been on a tour as far as Victoria, B.C., returned to Calgary today and will remain until early Thursday morning (March 17) when they leave to play the Vics at Regina that night. En route here the Fishtown boys were delayed 22 hours, due to a snow slide at Sicamous. While there, Crutchie Morrison and Hammy Gillespie hired a skiff and had a narrow escape from drowning. When about 150 yards from shore, one of the oars slipped and the boat overturned. The hockey stars plunged into the ice-cold water where they remained for 10 minutes before being rescued.”

Prior to that game in Regina against the Victorias — it was played on March 18 — the Regina Leader reported: "Those who stayed away from last night's match should make it a point to see the Selkirk team in action for they will be assured of witnessing one of the classiest teams in the west. Joe Simpson has played here before and his corkscrew rushes are always worth seeing.”

The Selkirk roster for that March 18 game in Regina: Wall (goal), Gillespie and Joe Simpson (defence), Jocko Anderson (rover), Harry (Pee Wee) Oliver (centre), Ernie Anderson (left wing), Crutchie Morrison (right wing). Subs: Mitchell and Brandow.
The Selkirks lost that game, 5-3, and then began the trek home and, ultimately, to Toronto where they opened against the Paddlers on March 23.

Here's how Winnipeg Free Press sporting editor W.J. (Billy) Finlay began his report:

"After putting up a game battle for two periods, in which they displayed a lot of class against superior odds, Stan Kennedy's Selkirks faded badly in the final session, and were forced to submit to a 10-1 beating at the hands of Dick Carroll's hand-picked Canoe Club stars in the first game for the junior hockey championship of Canada.”

In front of about 3,000 fans, the Paddlers led 2-0 and 3-0 at the period breaks.

"Starting off badly, when they appeared to be affected by stage fright,” Finlay reported, "the Fishtown lads finally caught themselves and were unlucky to be two goals down on the first session, and when they came back and outplayed their heavier and older opponents though outscored 1-0 in the second session, the 3,000 fans began to take notice, and cheered them loudly for their plucky work. But they had shot their bolt in their strenuous efforts in the second session, as they were badly outplayed in the final spasm, when the locals ran in six goals, mostly by fast combination play, in which the scorer worked in on top of the net.”

As for the Canoe Club, Finlay wrote that Burch was especially sharp. "Burch, at centre, is a long, rangy boy, who is a wonderful backchecker and a wonder in carrying the puck,” Finlay wrote.

But Finlay pointed out that the Paddlers weren't too popular in the east.
"They are very unpopular here,'' he reported, "owing to the fact that they were picked up from different parts of the country and molded into one strong aggregation, and have such a big advantage over all the Ontario teams that they have killed interest in junior hockey.”

The Canoe Club wrapped up the Memorial Cup on March 25 with a 5-4 victory in a game that was described as listless.
"The canoeists showed little interest in the game,” according to one report, "and the handful of spectators expressed disappointment in the comparatively small score.”

NEXT: 1921 (Winnipeg Falcons vs. Stratford Midgets)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1921 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1921.html)

1921 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Falcons vs. Stratford Midgets
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


The Regina Victorias, or Vics as everyone called them, left for Winnipeg on March 14.

Having dropped the Calgary Beavers 11-6 in a two-game, total-goal series, the Vics were on their way to meet the Winnipeg Falcons of manager/coach Connie Neal.
The first game of the Regina-Winnipeg series was played March 15.
"Displaying remarkable form against a team that outweighed them in every position the Winnipeg Falcons, defenders of the Abbott Cup, emblematic of the junior championship of Western Canada, took the Regina Victorias into camp by a 5-3 score,” reported the Regina Leader.

The Falcons led 2-0 and 3-2 by periods.
Two nights later, on March 17, the Falcons wrapped it up, posting a 3-1 victory to win the series, 8-4.
That victory sent the Falcons on against the Fort William YMCA in the Western Canadian final.
The Falcons featured players like defenceman Harry Neil, who would later coach the Winnipeg Monarchs to the 1932, 1935 and 1937 Memorial Cup finals, winning the latter two titles. Another player, Art Somers, was a Falcons substitute who would go on to play seven seasons in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers.

The Falcons won the first game in Fort William 9-3 on March 20.
"The match was played in slush that interfered with the speed of both teams,” read one report.

One night later, the Falcons wrapped it up with an 11-4 victory, giving them the series by an aggregate of 20-7.
While the Falcons were dominating the west, the Stratford Midgets, featuring Howie Morenz, were romping to the eastern title, an honor they wrapped up on March 19 by beating Lower Canada College, the Quebec champions, 13-5 in a sudden-death game.
And so it was on to Toronto for the Falcons, a team that had been formed from the Young Men's Lutheran Club of the Icelandic Lutheran Church, the forerunner of junior hockey in Manitoba.
The Falcons came through, too, although not without surviving a real scare.

The series opened on March 24 with the Falcons posting a 9-2 victory. You would have thought it was in the bag.
It wasn't.
On March 27, Stratford, with Morenz scoring three times, roared to a 7-2 victory. But that wasn't quite enough and the Falcons won 11-9 on total goals.

"From the commencement of the game, the Midgets forced the pace,” read one report. "By close back-checking and heavy body-checking they stopped the rushes of the speedy westerners and bit by bit backed them into defensive tactics. At the end of the second period they had worn them to a shadow of the team which won in such an outstanding fashion Thursday night. In the third period, the Falcons got four shots on Ruston, while the Midgets bombarded the Falcons' net minutes at a time. All they could get past Comfort was three.

"(Wally) Fridfinnson, Somers and (Sam) McCallum were much in the limelight for the Falcons, though the bulk of the glory should go to (Freddie) Comfort. For Stratford, (Frank) Carson, Roth and Richards played excellent hockey, the former turning in one of the finest games of his career and being in a very large measure responsible for the great showing of Stratford.“

NEXT: 1922 (Regina Patricias vs. Fort William War Veterans)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1922 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1922.html/)

1922 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Patricias vs. Fort William War Veterans
at Winnipeg (the Auditorium)


On March 15, 1922, the Regina Leader reported: "For style and class the famed Vancouver Millionaires had nothing on the Regina Patricias as they left for Winnipeg last night where on Thursday and Saturday they battle the Manitoba champions in a pair of games for the Abbott Cup. All told, there were 13 in the party, but this jinx number did not bother the athletes one iota.”

Coached by Graham Reid, the Patricias lost the opener of the two-game, total-goal series 4-1 to the University of Manitoba.

Things looked bleak for the Patricias but two nights later, on March 18, they played one for the ages.

Going into the game three goals down, the Patricias tied the series. They led 3-0 after three periods and then struck for two overtime goals, by Harry Naismith and Sylvester (Sil) Acaster, to win the series 6-4.

Naismith and Acaster played on a line centred by Howie Milne, who would in time become one of the best-known hockey figures on the Prairies. He would also become well known on western gridirons.

The Patricias stayed in Winnipeg where they played the Fort William War Veterans -- they had ousted the Toronto-based Aura Lees in the Eastern final -- in a two-game, total-goal series for the Memorial Cup.
The series opened on March 20 with Fort William posting a 5-4 victory. Fort William led 3-1 after the first period but trailed 4-3 going into the third after Acaster struck for three consecutive goals to end the second.
But Clark Whyte, a speedy winger, provided Fort William with the victory by scoring the tying and winning goals, his second and third of the game. Walter Adams and Fred Thornes also scored for the winners, while Naismith had Regina's other goal.

Regina actually thought it had scored a tying goal late in the third period. The goal umpire ruled the puck had entered the Fort William goal; however, the referee overruled him. In hindsight, that would turn into a huge ruling.
Two nights later, the War Veterans played the Patricias to a 3-3 draw. That was enough to give Fort William an 8-7 series victory.
The Leader reported: "It was one of the most heartbreaking finishes ever seen in a cup final. The Thunder Bay champions had a difficult time holding the Westerners to an even break for two-thirds of the way ... Though the Fort Williams were returned the victors they were not the better team tonight. They did not look nearly so good as in the first combat.''

Whyte, again, proved Regina's undoing as he scored all three of his club's goals. Acaster scored twice for Regina, with Naismith getting the other.
In the end it was a second-period goal by Whyte that stood up as the Memorial Cup-winning score. It gave Fort William a 3-2 lead in the game (8-6 in the series) but turned into the winner a few minutes later when Naismith scored to tie the game 3-3.

"Regina went down to defeat with colors flying,'' reported The Leader. "There was a big demonstration at the finish, the Forts being carried off the ice.”

NEXT: 1923 (University of Manitoba Bisons vs. Kitchener Greenshirts)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1923 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1923.html)

1923 MEMORIAL CUP
University of Manitoba Bisons vs. Kitchener Greenshirts
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


The 1923 Memorial Cup would be contested between the University of Manitoba Bisons and Kitchener Greenshirts.

But before it came to that there was an incident on the Prairies that would throw fuel on the rivalry between Saskatoon and Regina.
It's a rivalry that is long and bitter, and one that encompasses all of life, from sports to politics to entertainment.
In the spring of 1923, the Regina Pats and Saskatoon juniors met in the Saskatchewan junior final. Saskatoon emerged victorious -- the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Feb. 27; Saskatoon won 2-1 on March 1.
But hold your horses -- a protest was filed.
And, on March 5, 1923, a decision was handed down.
As reported by the Regina Leader: "When the Pats' protest was discussed at the meeting of the committee, it was found that the Saskatoon team had never been properly organized. It was neither affiliated nor registered with the provincial body, and three of the players, Wilson, Phillips and Sillers, have played with the University team in the northern division of the senior league. Wilson, Saskatoon Phoenix files showed, has played five senior games this winter, and Phillips three.

"The protest was sustained by a unanimous vote, even C.H. Bolton, of Saskatoon, voting against his own club.”

Saskatoon counter-protested, claiming two Regina players, Howie Milne and Harry Naismith, were too old. But proof of age was offered and the protest was thrown out.
Needless to say, this news was not taken quietly in Saskatoon.
"Regina won't get away with its latest, that of disqualifying the Saskatoon Junior Hockey Club, which action cost the locals the Saskatchewan championship,” read an editorial in the Saskatoon Star. "Records at Division 1, of the SAHA headquarters, showed that these three players were properly registered and transferred as junior players and that only neglect on the part of Murray Thomson, of Moose Jaw, retiring secretary of the SAHA, allowed the protest committee to be misinformed and the arbitrary action taken ...

"The action of the Regina members of the protest committee in allowing the Pats' complaint to be upheld deserves severe censure.”

To which The Leader responded: "The Saskatoon Star doesn't think very much of Regina. To be more specific, the Saskatoon Star doesn't think very much.”

The decision, however, had been made and it was final. The Pats went on to meet the Calgary Canadians in a Western Canadian playoff series.
On March 7, Regina, playing at home in Exhibition Stadium, won the first game 3-1 over a Calgary team that had been in Saskatoon preparing to play there. The Canadians went virtually from the Regina train station to the Stadium for the game.
That same night, in Toronto, the University of Toronto and Kitchener played to a 3-3 tie in the first game of a home-and-home battle for the OHA's junior title. Kitchener led 3-1 until Sandy Somerville scored twice within 10 seconds during the last minute of the third period.
Kitchener would win that series at home three nights later.
The next night, in Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba, coached by Hal Moulden and captained by Murray Murdoch, qualified for the Abbott Cup final with an 8-1 victory over Brandon.
In Regina on March 9, Calgary roared back to defeat the Pats 6-2 and win the total-goal series 7-5. Calgary got a big game out of future Hockey Hall of Famer Herbie Lewis, who figured in four goals, scoring one and setting up three others.
Calgary traveled on to Winnipeg to meet the University of Manitoba.
On March 12, in the Amphitheatre, the university team won 5-4, the same night that Kitchener edged Iroquois Falls 3-2 in a one-game eastern Canadian semifinal.
According to one report from Toronto: "Near the close of the game, Dewar, Iroquois Falls defenceman, charged Maurice Schnarr and was given a match foul. Later he hit inspector Bond of the Toronto police force and was taken to the police station.”

Kitchener would later whip Montreal A.A.A. 10-4 in a sudden-death game to advance to the Memorial Cup final.
The University of Manitoba won the Abbott Cup on March 14, thanks to a 5-3 victory over Calgary. That gave the university boys a 10-7 advantage in the series.
And so it was on to Fort William to meet the Cubs, with the winners to meet Kitchener for the Memorial Cup.
The Cubs and Manitoba played to a 3-3 tie on March 18 in a physical game. "Clark Whyte, captain and star right winger of the Cubs, was laid out twice,” according to one report.

On March 19, Manitoba posted a 6-1 victory, winning the series 9-4.
The Memorial Cup opened in Toronto on March 22 with Manitoba, showing what was called "superior speed, and courage, uncanny checking and resourcefulness,” whipping Kitchener 7-3 in Game 1. The referee was Lionel Conacher.

The teams were tied 2-2 after one period, but the varsity boys banged in five straight goals in the second period to put it away.
Murdoch scored four straight second-period goals for Manitoba, with singles coming from Blake Watson, Nip Johnson and Jack Mitchell. Babe Siebert, Maurice Schnarr and W. Schnarr replied for Kitchener.
Four nights later, Manitoba wrapped up the Memorial Cup with a second consecutive 7-3 victory that gave it the round by a 14-6 aggregate. Murdoch's last goal in the first game, with 2:30 left in the second period, was the Cup-winning score.
"The westerners were superior in all departments and Siebert was the only Kitchener player to hold his opponents in check,” read one report.

Albert Charles (Babe) Siebert would go on to play in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. His life would come to an untimely end when he drowned on Aug. 25, 1939.
"In Murdoch, the University of Manitoba has one of the best players in the amateur ranks. He has ability to star in senior company next year,” stated one report.

Murdoch followed up his four-goal opening game by scoring five times and setting up another in Game 2. All told, he scored nine of Manitoba's 14 goals in the two games.
Watson and Mitchell also scored for the winners. Molson, W. Schnarr and Gross replied for Kitchener.

NEXT: 1924 (Calgary Canadians vs. Owen Sound Greys)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1924 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1924.html/)

1924 MEMORIAL CUP
Calgary Canadians vs. Owen Sound Greys
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


The Regina Pats -- formerly the Patricias, they now were commonly referred to as the Pats -- headed for Winnipeg on March 14. The duration of their stay was unknown at the time.
After lengthy negotiations, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association had ordered the Pats to Winnipeg. There, they would play the Winnipeg Tammany Tigers, the Manitoba champions, on March 18 and 20.
The winner of that series would play the Alberta-champion Calgary Canadians for the Abbott Cup on March 22 and 24.
And that winner would stay in Winnipeg to meet the Eastern Canadian champion in the Memorial Cup's two-game, total-goal final, March 26 and 28.
Regina opened with a 2-0 victory over the Tammany Tigers on third-period goals by Sil Acaster and Ken Doherty. But press reports credited the play of Regina defencemen Johnny Gottselig and Jack Gilhooley, along with goaltender Jack Cunning, who was described as "the elongated custodian.”

Regina wrapped it up two nights later, beating the Tigers 7-2 to win the round 9-2.
"Cunning played brilliantly in goal for the westerners and was largely responsible for holding the Bengals in check,” reported the Regina Leader.

Gottselig scored Regina's first three goals. Acaster and Eric Pettinger added two each. Winnipeg's goals came from Bun Stephenson and ???? Davis.

Prior to meeting Calgary in the western final, the Pats came up with a surprise -- they brought in the man known across the prairies as the Silver Fox.
As reported in The Leader of March 22, 1924: "When the Regina Pats step on the ice at Winnipeg tonight ... they will be taking their orders from Al Ritchie, the skipper who directed them in their final dash for provincial honors. Following continued requests from the players who have implicit faith in Ritchie's powers as a strategist, Al left for the 'Peg last night and will take over the reins this afternoon.”

There wasn't any mention of who had been coaching the Pats. But Ritchie would stay behind the bench for years to come.
However, in this instance, Ritchie's presence wasn't enough.

The Pats played strong defensively in beating Calgary 4-2 in the opener. But the series ended in protestations two nights later as Calgary won the game 5-2 and the series 7-6 thanks to an overtime goal by Johnny Loucks.

Of the protest, The Leader reported: "The Saskatchewan team is lodging its protest on the first goal scored by Calgary in the opening session. Herbie Lewis shoved a pass from behind the Regina net to (Vic) Ripley. Just as Ripley grabbed the puck, referee Bill Noble rang his bell. Ripley lifted the puck from the blue line and scored. Noble allowed the goal and it appears as if Regina has good grounds for its protest.”

Regina, of course, would lose the protest and Calgary went on to meet the Owen Sound Greys in the Memorial Cup final at the Amphitheatre in Winnipeg.
The Greys had split a two-game series with Kenora, winning the first 11-7 and losing the second 5-4, but won it all 15-12 on goals.
Scoring three times on rebounds, Owen Sound led 1-0 and 3-2 at the period breaks en route to a 5-3 first-game victory over Calgary on March 26.

Mel (Butch) Keeling and Ralph (Cooney) Weiland scored two goals each for the Greys, with George Elliott getting the single. Lewis, with two, and Ripley scored for Calgary.

Reports indicated that both teams gave it their all: "The players were pretty well ***ged and the last few minutes brought one scramble after the other.”

When the second game, on March 28, ended in a 2-2 tie, Owen Sound went home with the Memorial Cup, victors by a 7-5 two-game score. It was not a popular victory.
"No team escaped with a championship after being so badly outplayed as the easterners did,” read the game report. "For 50 minutes of the 60 they were behind their own centre, battling desperately to stave off the attacks of the western lads, and they succeeded though outclassed and outplayed.”

A lot of the credit for the championship was given to Hedley Smith, the Greys' 16-year-old goalkeeper. “This young lad staved off what looked like certain defeat by his marvelous stops,'' read one report.

It doesn't seem that shots on goal were counted during the game, but one report credited Smith with 24 stops in the third period alone.

Calgary was most disappointed, and claimed to have scored two goals which officials wouldn't allow.
Weiland gave Owen Sound a 1-0 first-period lead, before Irving Frew and Lewis sent Calgary into the third with a 2-1 lead.
It remained for Elliott to score what would be the Memorial Cup-winning goal some five minutes into the third period. The winner was a heartbreaker -- Elliott centred the puck from a corner and it went in off one of Loucks' skates.

NEXT: 1925 (Regina Pats vs. Aura Lee)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1925 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1925.html/)

1925 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Aura Lee
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


By the spring of 1925, the CAHA had decided to do away with the two-game, total-goal system. Instead, the CAHA ruled, the champions of East and West would meet in a best-of-three series.
That first series featured the Regina Pats and Aura Lee in the Toronto Arena Gardens.
Al Ritchie, the Pats' manager and coach, reported three of his players weren't up to par -- forward Sil Acaster was sporting a bandage to protect a head wound suffered in the last game of the western final against Fort William, forward Ike Morrison and defenceman Ken Doraty were fighting colds.

It was important that Morrison be healthy -- his assignment was to check Aura Lee sniper Johnny McPherson, a 19-year-old right winger, whose 17-year-old brother, Shrimp, centred his line.
Aura Lee was without defenceman Yip Foster, who suffered two cut tendons in a leg during the Eastern final against the Owen Sound Greys. Foster, at the age of 17, was already being referred to as "the coming all-round Canadian athlete, succeeding Lionel Conacher.”

William Marsden, the Aura Lee manager, said he was looking for a tough series.
"They're a clean-cut crowd of athletes, officered by good sportsmen,” he said after watching the Pats practice. "I look for a strenuous series. Their defence is what impresses me; they seem to have an edge on us in that department.”

"I like the solid, chunky build of the Pats,” said W.W. Davidson, an executive member of the Ontario Hockey Association. "Aura Lee figures the Pats can't use their body, but I have a feeling that every man out there can show the eastern champs something in that respect.”

Of interest was that Aura Lee did not include one right-handed shot on its roster.
Game 1, on March 23, was played before about 3,000 fans. The teams were scoreless through two periods before Acaster scored at 4:05 of the third period. It appeared Regina had it wrapped up, but, according to the Regina Leader, Johnny McPherson "dribbled a mean shot at (goaltender Jack) Cunning. The rubber bounced and jumbled over his feet.”

The Pats won it 2-1 on Frank Ingram's goal just 37 seconds into overtime.

Norman B. Albert reported to The Leader that "(Dick) Gossett, the Aura Lee defence player, really scored it against his own team. He turned Ingram's sharp pass out into the Toronto goal and from then on the Pats, aided by Cunning's uncanny ability to outguess the Toronto snipers and barrels of obvious luck, held on until the final gong brought victory to the plucky westerners.”

"We ought to get better Wednesday night,” Ritchie said, a huge smile plastered across his face.

One story out of Regina had the staff of the local Ford Motors plant collecting $200 "against a similar sum raised by the staff of the head office of the firm in Toronto. And the local men, all ardent boosters for the Pats, aren't losing any sleep over the chance of dropping the coin.”

The Pats won it all on March 25 when they downed Aura Lee 5-2 in a game marred by a second-period brawl.
Aura Lee led 1-0 when Reg McIlwaine was penalized for tripping Acaster. With McIlwaine in the penalty box, the Pats scored twice and never looked back. Although the game was later tied 2-2, the Pats dominated.

"The game was the fastest and most brilliant junior exhibition played in Toronto this season,” Albert reported.
The donnybrook started when Shrimp McPherson and Doraty began fighting and "before it was over every player on both teams including the subs was out on the ice standing toe to toe exchanging blows.

"The police finally went into the affair and when it was all over Shrimp McPherson and Doraty were in the penalty box, having a good laugh and apologizing to each other.”

The play-by-play, which in those days often made its way into the local newspapers, put it like this:

"Listen, there have been donnybrooks in professional and amateur hockey, but never anything like that which fell as a thunderbolt. Disgraceful is no word for it. Shrimp McPherson and Doraty got into a jam in front of the Regina goal and started punching one another. Then there was a general mixup that had the bloody battle of Bull Run walloped to a fizzle. Man for man, the teams picked one another and set to punching away their facial expressions.
"Just when it was pretty near over, Billy Gibson, the sub Aura Lee netminder, jumped over the boards and put Acaster down with a punch from behind. The melee started all over again. Three Aura Lee players made an onset on Acaster, though the western star knocked a couple down. There were eight different groups of battlers lying on the ice and then six policemen jumped onto the sheet.
"Big Jack Cunning, handicapped by his pads, stood up and traded punch for punch with any man that wanted to come at him. McPherson and Doraty, the two principals, drew major fouls for their share. The fight left both teams nervous and excited.“

Regina got two goals from Doraty and singles from Jack Cranstoun, Morrison and Acaster. Johnny McPherson and Alec Parks scored for Aura Lee.
The Memorial Cup winner? It came from Cranstoun, breaking a 2-2 tie at 16:01 of the second period.

NEXT: 1926 (Calgary Canadians vs. Queen's University Queens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1926 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1926.html)

1926 MEMORIAL CUP
Calgary Canadians vs. Queen's University Queens
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


The Calgary Canadians were back again in 1926, but they just made it, beating the home-town Winnipeg Tammany Tigers 3-2 on Paul Thompson's overtime goal to take the two-game, total-goal affair, 6-5.

In the meantime, the visiting Queen's University Queen's from Kingston were tying 3-3 and winning 2-1 to take the Eastern final 5-4 over Fort William.

Spirits ran high in the second game and umpire Harold Mitchell, according to one report, "had to be escorted under police protection to the YMCA with the crowd pelting him with ice and snowballs. Later, he was taken out of the building through an entrance in the rear of the basement and escorted to his hotel.”

Yes, even back then it was the fault of the officials.

As the report further noted: "The local fans were of the opinion that (Mitchell) had given the Fort William boys the worst of the penalties and had allowed the visitors to hold and trip without penalizing them.”

Mitchell was back on the ice on March 23 in Winnipeg as Queen's scored a 4-2 victory over Calgary in the first game of the Dominion final for the Memorial Cup -- a series that was once again a best-of-three affair.

Thompson was reportedly the best man on the ice, but Calgary "passed up numerous opportunities to score and found an almost insurmountable barrier in Taughter in the Kingston nets.”

Queen’s got first-period goals from Carl Voss and ???? Reid, with George McTeer replying for Calgary. ???? McPherson scored two second-period goals, giving the Kingston side a 4-1 lead. Thompson got Calgary's final goal in the third period. (Voss would go on to play for eight different NHL teams -- the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Eagles, New York Americans, Montreal Maroons and Chicago Blackhawks.)

As for Mitchell, well . . .

"Harold Mitchell of Toronto and Steamer Maxwell of Winnipeg handled the game and the former came in for the crowd's disapproval on several occasions for his strict interpretation of the rules,” read one report. "The fans, however, were probably more influenced by the reputation which had preceded him from Fort William than by his lack of fairness in tonight's game. A little less bell-ringing would no doubt have speeded up the game considerably.”

The Canadians won 3-2 on March 25 to force the first sudden-death game for the Memorial Cup.

"Kingston evened the score a few minutes from the close of the game, but Gordon Savage, the brilliant Calgary defenceman, skated clear through for the winning counter,” read a report.

Thompson and Donnie McFadyen gave Calgary a 2-0 lead with the only goals of the first period. After a scoreless second period, ???? Hartley scored twice in the third for Kingston. And, of course, Savage won it shortly thereafter for Calgary.

The very next night, on March 26, Calgary won it all, taking a 3-0 lead and hanging on for a 3-2 victory.

"Tonight's game was lightning fast,” one reporter wrote. "Calgary opened with a burst of speed which netted a goal in the opening session and two in the second. The Canadians completely dominated the play until Kingston put up their characteristic fighting finish in the last period. Calgary had increased their lead to three in the middle spasm and the Kingston rally only fell short of tying the count by the smallest of margins.

"Thompson of Calgary was again the outstanding player on the ice, being responsible for two of his team's tallies.”

Thompson scored the game's first and third goals, the latter standing up as the game- and championship-winning goal. Ronnie Martin also scored for Calgary. Hartley and Voss replied for Queen‘s.

NEXT: 1927 (Port Arthur West End Juniors vs. Owen Sound Greys)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1927 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1927.html)

1927 MEMORIAL CUP
Port Arthur West End Juniors vs. Owen Sound Greys
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


The Port Arthur West End Juniors’ trek to the Memorial Cup final started to get serious in mid-March, just about the time the ice in their home facility turned to slush.
So it was ruled that the West Ends, champions of the Thunder Bay Hockey League, would journey to Winnipeg where they would meet the winner of a series between the Regina Pats and Elmwood Millionaires.
The Pats and Millionaires were already playing in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre when the West Ends -- or Westies as their fans called them -- arrived.
Regina beat the Millionaires 3-2 on March 14 when Harold Shaw scored with 10 seconds left in the third period, finishing off a play engineered by defenceman Jack Cranstoun.
Regina wrapped up that series on March 16, posting a second 3-2 victory to win the series, 6-4.
Port Arthur's roster looked like this: goaltender Andrew Spooner, 16 years of age and 125 pounds; defencemen ‘Red' Cross, 19, Norman Friday, 19, and U. Seppaia, 19; and, forwards Jack MacKay, 19, Cliff Barton, 19, team captain Edward Monohan, 18, Earl Samec, 19, Brooks Dafoe, 17, and Roger Jenkins, 16.
While Port Arthur and Regina were preparing to meet in Winnipeg, the Owen Sound Greys won the eastern Canadian championship with a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in a sudden-death game played March 17 in Toronto.
Owen Sound's roster looked like this: goaltender Benny Grant, defencemen Alvin Moore and Hillis (Paddy) Paddon; and, forwards Harold (Shrimp) McDougall, Jack Markle, captain Martin Lauder, Johnny (Red) Beattie and John Grant.
The Pats and West Ends opened in the Amphitheatre on March 18 with Regina posting a 2-1 victory on Fred Metcalfe's goal late in the third period that beat Spooner through the legs.
Port Arthur erased the deficit on March 21, beating the Pats 4-1 to win the series 5-3.
"Port Arthur staged a great finish and on the play fully deserved the verdict,” stated one report.

Regina took a 1-0 lead into the second period only to have the Westies score the game's next four goals -- one of them in the second period and three in the third -- getting one each from Cross and Barton and two from Monohan.
The Memorial Cup final, a best-of-three affair, opened on March 25 in Toronto.
"In a thrilling, nerve-wracking game, Owen Sound Greys ... defeated Port Arthur 5-4,” according to one report. "The losers gave a rare display of courageous playing by coming from behind on three occasions to tie the score and by battling the Greys to a standstill in the closing minutes of the game, when they fought desperately to again even matters up.”

Owen Sound's McDougall scored the only goal of the first period.
Port Arthur tied it early in the first period on Barton's goal, only to have Paddon give the Greys the lead a few minutes later. However, McKay's goal pulled the Westies into a tie before the period ended.
Lauder scored twice in the opening minutes of the third period to give Owen Sound a two-goal edge. But Port Arthur roared back and tied it on goals by Cross and Monohan, before Lauder won it with 4:30 to play.
The series ended on March 28 with Owen Sound posting a 5-3 victory after 10 minutes of overtime before about 8,000 fans. The Greys outscored the Westies 3-1 in the extra session.
"The game commenced at a burning pace which was maintained throughout the entire game,” read a report.
The teams were tied 1-1 after one period, Owen Sound led 2-1 after two, and it was 2-2 after three.
McDougall struck for four goals for the Greys, including two in overtime.
Paddon had Owen Sound's other goal, the first score of overtime. Friday, Gross and Barton replied for Port Arthur.
McDougall was credited with the Memorial Cup-winning goal at 4:45 of the overtime period. It came off the rebound of a shot by Lauder.
The referee in both games of the final was Lou Marsh, a legendary sports writer after whom Canada's male athlete-of-the-year award is named.

NEXT: 1928 (Regina Monarchs vs. Ottawa Gunners)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1928 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1928.html/)

1928 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Monarchs vs. Ottawa Gunners
at Toronto (Arena Gardens and Varsity Arena)


The city of Regina, known throughout the Dominion for its Pats, sent another team down the Memorial Cup trail in the spring of 1928.
This team was the Monarchs -- formed from the ashes of two junior teams, the Pats and Falcons -- and it was coached by Howie Milne, who had starred as a player with the Pats in the 1922 Memorial Cup playoffs.
"Kid overconfidence has whipped some of eastern Canada's best amateur hockey clubs,” reported the Regina Leader from Toronto on March 20. "Will the same trick play havoc with the Western Monarchs? Eastern fandom has placed the Regina Monarchs as decided champions but they don't overlook the fact that the Ottawa Gunners, their opponents, whipped the Marlboros of Toronto who, up to last Friday night, were acclaimed the wonder team of the East.”

Later on the report noted: "Wisenheimers who patronize Toronto's battling icy emporium night after night assure themselves Monarchs will down the Ottawa Gunners.

"Eight thousand fans are expected to witness the Monarchs in battle against Ottawa, the latter being backed by special train from the Capital City. All Toronto is pulling for the boys from the West, successors to the Regina Pats, Canadian junior champions of 1925, who ended a sensational conquest by manly ability in the icy arena fighting with Aura Lee in old British fashion with bared hands.”

Another report noted: "Lithe, speedy and effective, the Gunners whipped Toronto Marlboros and the Queen City can hardly yet realize it.”

The Leader also announced: "The Morning Leader will megaphone a detailed account from the Leader office. It will come direct from the Toronto Arena, ringside as it were, and fans who choose to nibble the odd peanut and smoke the odd cigaret outside the building will be rewarded with a complete description of the play.“

On March 22, the morning after Game 1, The Leader didn't hold back.

"The Regina Monarchs will be the next junior hockey champions of Canada,” it started its report. "Before the largest crowd that has attended a hockey match in Toronto this season, the Saskatchewan boys won the first of the titular games by defeating the Ottawa Gunners 4-3.
"Regina won because they kept their heads under a vicious onslaught of deliberate dirty work, stayed on the ice and showed a little more experience than their heavier Ottawa opponents.“

The hero on this night was Regina winger Harold (Mush) March, who scored all four of his team's goals.
"His speedy, brilliant hockey earned him rounds and rounds of applause from the great crowd,” went the report. "As the game wore on, Mush's every appearance with the puck was the signal for applause.”

Ottawa got its first goal from defenceman ???? Armstrong and its last two from Syd Howe, a sub on this Gunners team but a player who would go on to play in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Eagles, Philadelphia Quakers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.
The Monarchs led 1-0 after the first period, 2-1 after the second and stretched it to 4-1 in the third before Howe scored twice in the period's last three minutes.
Despite the optimism shown by The Leader, the Monarchs weren't able to sweep the Gunners.

Goals by ???? Quinn and Tommy McInenly gave the Gunners a 2-1 victory on March 23. March continued his streak as he scored Regina's goal early in the second period, meaning he had accounted for all of the Monarchs' goals to this point in the series.
"A salient factor on the night's play was the strict attention that the eastern artillery men paid to Harold March, the right wing speedster from the prairies,” reported The Leader. "March was checked so closely and rigorously that it took everything he had to hold his own.

"A new star arose on the night's play. It was Syd Howe, the Ottawa substitute, who even overshone the western sensation in the last period. Resting up for the first two periods while March was burning up his stamina, Howe, time after time, passed the Regina front line with his neat stickhandling.”

The second game was played in front of a full house of 4,500 fans at Varsity Arena, which had a smaller ice surface than Arena Gardens, home to Games 1 and 3, and this "was another factor contributing to Regina's downfall.”

There was some controversy as the third period ended as Regina claimed it had scored. But the goal judge ruled that there were so many players in the goal area that he couldn't see whether the puck crossed the goal line.
However, The Leader noted: "Maddened by the fact that the referees and goal-umpire refused to allow the goal in the last few moments of this hectic game, the Monarchs confidently expect to win the championship.”

This time, The Leader called it right.

On March 27, the morning paper began its line story, written by Norman Albert, like this:
"Oh you Western speed hounds.
"Dust off a niche in Regina's most palatial ballroom because the Memorial Trophy, emblematic of the junior hockey championship of Canada, again goes West.
"Regina Monarchs, pride of the West, routed the Ottawa Gunners by the score of 7-1 in the third and deciding contest, settling the issue.”

March scored the game's first goal, the only goal of the first period, giving him Regina's first six goals in the series. He would score one other goal in this game, giving him seven of the Monarchs' 12 goals.
Harold Shaw made it 2-0 early in the second period with what would prove to be the Memorial Cup-winning goal.
Len Dowie, with two, Swede Williamson and Charles (Chuck) Farrow also scored for Regina. Armstrong replied for Ottawa with a second-period goal that cut the deficit to 2-1 but that was as close as the Gunners would get in front of around 9,000 fans who enjoyed the action inside the Arena Gardens while it poured rain outside.

"The Monarchs livened up the play and when the scrappy Gunners wanted to draw them into a donnybrook in the last stanza, the prairie lads from the Golden West just laughed at them, outspeeded them and outmanoeuvred them, and went in to ring an unmerciful whipping on the Capital City artillerymen,” wrote Albert.

(NOTE: If you know the missing first names, e-mail gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.)

NEXT: 1929 (Elmwood Millionaires vs. Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1929 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1929.html/)

1929 MEMORIAL CUP
Elmwood Millionaires vs. Toronto Marlboros
at Toronto (Arena Gardens)


The Elmwood Millionaires, a Winnipeg-based team, came awfully close to not making it to the Memorial Cup.
They met the Kenora Thistles in the two-game, total-goal western playoff series and were forced into overtime in the second game.
The Thistles brought a one-goal edge to the Winnipeg Amphitheatre and maintained that into the third period of the second game.
But ???? Burridge scored late in the third period for Elmwood to give the Millionaires a 2-1 victory in regulation time and force overtime.
Elmwood won it when substitute forward Billy Kendall, a speedster, scored at 7:30 of extra time in front of more than 6,500 fans.
That victory moved Elmwood into an Abbott Cup final against the Calgary Canadian-Falcons.
Game 1, played on March 20 in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, ended in a 1-1 draw.
Calgary held a 3-1 lead midway through the third period of Game 2 and seemed home free. But it wasn't to be.
The Millionaires, with Kendall scoring twice, struck for the game's last three goals to post a 4-3 victory and advance to the Memorial Cup final.
In the east, the Ottawa Shamrocks opened with a 4-3 victory over the visiting Toronto Marlboros on March 24. One night later, in Toronto, the Marlboros outscored the
Shamrocks 3-1, with captain Charlie Conacher scoring all three goals, to win the series 6-5.
The Memorial Cup, a best-of-three affair, opened on March 29 at the Arena Gardens in Toronto.
The Marlboros, coached by Frank Selke, won the opener 4-2 in overtime.
Toronto's line of centre Eddie Convey between left-winger Harvey (Busher) Jackson and Conacher -- known as the Three Musketeers -- led the way.
Max Hackett put Toronto on the board at 11:50 of the first period. ???? McQuade tied it at 1:20 of the second, but Convey put the Marlies out front at 18:45.
Elmwood's ???? Gill scored the only goal of the third period to force overtime.
And Toronto scored the only two goals of the extra period, Jackson getting them both off of perfect passes from Conacher.
Two nights later, the Marlboros posted a 4-2 victory before 8,000 fans to sweep the series.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the opening period, Convey scoring for Toronto, ???? Duncanson for the Millionaires.
Conacher scored the only goal of the second period, giving Toronto a 2-1 edge going into the third.
Conacher scored his second goal at 4:02 of the third -- the goal would stand as the Memorial Cup-winning score -- and Hackett gave Toronto a 4-1 lead at 9:21.
Bobby Kirk, who would coach the Flin Flon Bombers to the 1957 Memorial Cup title, had Elmwood's other goal, late in the third period.

(NOTE: If you know the missing first names, e-mail gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca)

NEXT: 1930 (Regina Pats vs. West Toronto Athletic Club Nationals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1930 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1930.html)

1930 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. West Toronto Athletic Club Nationals
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


While the West Toronto Athletic Club juniors were scraping by the Ottawa Rideaus to earn Eastern Canada’s berth in the Memorial Cup final, the Regina Pats were running amuck in the West, swatting aside their opponents the way a swather knocks down wheat.

In Toronto, the Rideaus won the first game of the East's two-game, total-goal final, 4-3. But West Toronto won the second game 3-1 on March 23 to take the series by a combined score of 6-5.

In Winnipeg, on March 24, the Pats blanked the Elmwood Millionaires 5-0 to win that two-game, total-goal series 8-0.

As noted sports writer Dave Dryburgh wrote in the Regina Leader: "Many records have been set by hockey teams, professional, senior, amateur and junior, and many of these same records will stand for years, but one which can probably be termed the peer of them all was set at the Amphitheatre rink when Al Ritchie's spirited band of young hockeyists, the Regina Pats, hung up another shutout over the Elmwood Millionaires.


"Four times in as many games the Regina puckchasers have skated off the ice without a tally being registered against them in the playoffs to decide which team would represent the prairies against the best that the East could produce in junior hockey.”

The Pats scored 14 goals in four games, while blanking the Calgary Canadians and the Millionaires in all four games.

Furthermore, Regina goaltender Kenny Campbell went into the Memorial Cup having posted five straight shutouts.

With West Toronto, under coach Bill Hancock, having survived a tough playoff grind and having had to ride the train to Winnipeg, site of the Dominion final, the Pats -- well-rested and on a roll -- were understandably the favorites.

After Game 1, which was played on March 27, Dryburgh wrote: "Out of the East came a mighty junior hockey machine, West Toronto, piloted by the astute Bill Hancock, bent upon retaining the Memorial Cup, won by the flashy Toronto Marlboroughs last spring, but at the Amphitheatre Thursday night, pitted against that fiery little Regina Pat aggregation, Western champions, and the wonder team of 1930, the redmen fought a plucky but futile battle, and when the smoke of the combat had cleared away, Al Ritchie's band of speed merchants were found to be on the long end of a 3-1 score.”

Wordy, yes. But it made the point.

The Pats were the speedier of the two teams. The result was an offence that pressed throughout the game and a system of backchecking that foiled the easterners.

Campbell seemed on his way to yet another shutout until Bob Gracie scored midway through the third period. By that time the Pats were out front 2-0 thanks to a second-period goal by Ken Moore and one early in the third by Clarence (Yates) Acaster. Shortly after Gracie got West Toronto on the board, Len Rae scored Regina's third goal.

It was all over on March 29.

Again, here's how Dryburgh started his story:

"Forty seconds to go and the score tied; to one team a goal would mean the Dominion junior hockey championship; to the other an opportunity to force another contest before the holders of the Memorial Cup for 1930 could be decided.

"That was the situation which faced the Regina Pats and West Toronto at the Amphitheatre rink on Saturday night in the second game of the title series. And it was a tense moment for over 5,000 spectators who jammed the ice palace to capacity.”


And it was Moore, who had scored the first goal of the series, who became the hero.

"Suddenly two blue-and-white clad figures emerged from the midst of a horde of players at the Regina blue line and darted toward the opposing citadel as fast as steel blades would carry them. It was (Gordon) Pettinger and Moore who had taken opportunity of this break. There was hardly a sound as they neared the defence. Pettinger slid the disc over to Moore on the right boards -- the winger seemed to skate too far into the corner but eventually took a shot which (Ronald) Geddes, the Toronto goalie, saved with his pads. Darting in after the rebound, the dusky Regina winger picked it up and slipped it across the goal mouth -- it was hardly more than a tap, and the puck stopped dead less than three feet from the goal mouth. There was nobody on hand to pick it up and it seemed for a second that the opportunity was lost -- but everyone had forgotten about Moore. Skating around the cage at top speed in order to get back in the play again, the winger grabbed the rubber that he himself had slid across the mouth of the citadel and back-handed it over the prostrate form of Geddes to make the score 3-2 and to win for the Regina Pats the junior hockey championship of Canada after one of the most sensational finishes ever seen in the puck pastime.”

Whew!

But wait. There's more.

"The game was almost over, but not the excitement. Gracie, Toronto right winger, took possession of the rubber from the faceoff and wended his way toward the Regina goal, only to end up in the corner of the rink where he and Moore came to blows. In an instant every player on the ice was implicated, along with a few spectators, but, fortunately, no serious injury had been occurred to anyone when they were finally separated by police.''

Thirty seconds into the second period, West Toronto had led this game 2-0, thanks to goals by Gracie and Norm (Dodger) Collings. But Acaster scored before the second period ended and Pettinger, a starry defenceman, tied it three minutes into the third.

That set the stage for Moore, a 19-year-old right winger who was a product of the Regina minor hockey system and who weighed 130 pounds.

NEXT: 1931 (Elmwood Millionaires vs. Ottawa Primroses)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1931 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1931.html)

1931 MEMORIAL CUP
Elmwood Millionaires vs. Ottawa Primroses
at Toronto (Arena Gardens) and Ottawa (Auditorium)


The defending-champion Regina Pats were the favourites again as the series to decide the Abbott Cup and the West's berth in the Memorial Cup series opened on March 18 at the Amphitheatre in Winnipeg.

Again, the Pats were up against the Elmwood Millionaires in the two-game, total-goal affair.

The experts were of the opinion that this Pats team was "even a greater club than that which swept through all opposition to win the Dominion championship last year.”

The previous season, the Pats went up against Elmwood having shut out the Calgary Canadians in back-to-back games. And the Pats proceeded to shut out Elmwood in two straight games.

This time, Regina rode a six-game shutout streak into Winnipeg. That's right -- the Pats hadn't given up a goal in six straight playoff games.

And this series started the way the 1930 one ended -- goaltender Kenny Campbell and the Pats blanked the Millionaires 1-0 on a goal by left-winger Ralph Redding.

"Halfway through the second period,” reported the Regina Leader, "Redding tore half the length of the ice and planted a beauty behind (Art) Rice-Jones. That one tally made the Pats favorites to win the series.”

It wasn't to be, however.

The March 21 Leader ran this headline: Fighting Elmwoods Eliminate Pats in Epic Hockey Match.

And epic it was.

"The fighting Millionaires humbled Regina's widely famed Pats, defeating them 4-2 in a dramatic 20-minute overtime struggle,” reported The Leader.

Regina's Art Dowie opened the scoring early in the third period. But Elmwood led 2-1 after the third on goals by Bill McKenzie and George Brown, the latter scoring at 18:15 of the third to tie the total-goal series, 2-2.

That sent the teams into overtime -- two 10-minute periods played in their entirety.

Redding scored at 1:40 of the first extra session, only to have Kitson Massey answer for Elmwood at 9:45. And then, at 3:25 of the second overtime, Bert (Spunk) Duncanson scored what turned into the winning goal.

Elmwood won the series 4-3 on goals and advanced to meet the Ottawa Primroses in the Memorial Cup final, which opened March 23 in Toronto. The Primroses had split two games with the Niagara Falls Cataracts, winning 4-0 and losing 2-1, to win the Eastern final 5-2.

Game 1 of the best-of-three final, played before more than 5,000 fans, was won 2-0 by the Primroses, who were representing a city that had never had a Memorial Cup winner.

The first goal, late in the first period, came courtesy of the Cowley brothers, Bill and Dan. They broke away, with Bill passing to Dan, who bounced a shot off one of Rice-Jones' skates and into the net.

Bill Cowley upped the lead to 2-0 some 15 minutes into the third period, ripping a shot off Rice-Jones' pads and into the goal.

According to one report: "Bill MacKenzie, fast travelling Elmwood defence star, was the pick of the western champions and his work savored of senior calibre. (Duke) McDonald, at centre, showed bundles of ability.”

The second game, played March 25, went to Elmwood by a 2-1 count and forced a third and deciding game on March 27.

Elmwood is reported to have held a wide edge in play in the first two games "but again the close checking of the gallant Ottawa band in their defensive zone prevented the Millionaires from carrying their flashing thrusts right to the goalmouth.

"The contest was not brilliant but the close score and frequent penalties kept the fans in constant excitement.”


Duncanson opened the scoring at 3:10 of the first period. Bill Cowley tied it just over three minutes later. And after a scoreless second period it remained for Brown to net the winner for Elmwood.

"Brown picked up the disc after (Gordie) McKenzie had lost it and snapped a low shot in behind (Rick) Perley,” The Leader’s report read.

Having played the first two games in Toronto, the teams headed to Ottawa for the third and final game. This one would be played in the Ottawa Auditorium.

Elmwood wasn't too fussy about suddenly moving to Ottawa, but its management said the game was transferred by the authorities and the team was prepared to make the best of it.

Which is exactly what it did in blanking the Primroses 3-0 before 9,000 fans, the largest crowd ever to watch a game in Ottawa to that point.

"The Winnipeg Elmwoods, a battling band of sturdy youths with skating speed galore, are enthroned today as Canada's junior hockey monarchs,” began one report. "They won the title by handing the Ottawa Primroses a 3-0 defeat that left no doubt as to their superiority.”
McDonald got what turned into the Memorial Cup-winning goal when he took a pass from MacKenzie and rifled it home midway in the second period.

MacKenzie made it 2-0 before the close of the second, and Massey rounded out the scoring halfway through the third.

The game was delayed at times in the third period by unruly fans who chose to throw vegetables, crumpled newspapers and eggs onto the ice.

Elmwood's victory meant that the Memorial Cup had been won by the west seven times in the past 13 seasons.

NEXT: 1932 (Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Sudbury Cub Wolves)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1932 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1932.html)

1932 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Sudbury Cub Wolves
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


The 1932 Memorial Cup championship is perhaps best remembered because of the participation of Hector (Toe) Blake.
A star with the Sudbury Cub Wolves of 1931-32, Blake would go on to a memorable career, as a player and coach, with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens.
But winning the 1932 Memorial Cup was no easy task; in fact, it was in doubt right down to the final moments.
The 1932 final would feature the Cub Wolves against the Winnipeg Monarchs.
The Monarchs were coached by Harry Neil and Fred (Steamer) Maxwell. Neil had played for the Winnipeg Falcons, a team that beat the Stratford Midgets to win the 1921 Memorial Cup. Maxwell was a familiar face in junior hockey circles and had even done a fair amount of refereeing.
The Monarchs featured the likes of defenceman Robert (Pinkie) Davie, who would play with the NHL's Boston Bruins before he became a well-known and well-liked recreation director in Manitoba; captain Norm Yellowlees; goaltender Art Rice-Jones; forward George Brown; and, defenceman Cam Shewan, who would play for the 1935 world champion Winnipeg Monarchs and later become the city's fire chief.
Four of the Monarchs -- the line of Yellowlees, Brown and Archie Creighton, along with Rice-Jones -- played with the 1931 Memorial Cup-winning Elmwood Millionaires.
The Cub Wolves were coached by Sam Rothschild. Born in 1899, Rothschild played on the 1925-26 Stanley Cup-champion Montreal Maroons. He also played with the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Americans before he suffered a career-ending knee injury.
Besides Blake, who would coach the Habs to eight Stanley Cups, Cub Wolves like Max Bennett, Adelard LaFrance Jr., and Dalton J. (Nakina) Smith went on to play in the NHL.
That this season was something special was never more evident than in mid-March when the Monarchs played the home-town Saskatoon Wesleys. At least 4,000 people were expected in the 3,400-seat Saskatoon Arena for Game 1. The series was to conclude in Winnipeg, thus the hockey fever in Saskatoon.
The Wesleys posted a 1-0 victory in Game 1, handing the Monarchs their first loss of the season (game reports did not indicate how many games the Monarchs had played to that point). Clint Smith, a future Hockey Hall of Famer, scored the game's only goal just four minutes into the first period.
The series moved to Winnipeg for the second and final game on March 28. The Monarchs, who went into the game down a goal, rebounded for a 3-1 victory to win the series, 3-2. Shewan's goal with 1:45 left in the third period put the series on ice for the Monarchs and sent them on against the Cub Wolves.
On March 21, Sudbury defeated the home-town Ottawa Shamrocks 3-2 to win the two-game, total-goal series 5-2 and advance against the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Winged Wheelers -- they were known as the Montreal A.A.A. Winged Wheelers -- in the eastern Canada junior final.
The first game of the eastern final was played on March 25 in Montreal with the teams settling for a 1-1 tie.
One report had the Cub Wolves "famed speed crashing on the rocks of a rugged and powerful Montreal A.A.A. defence.”
That series continued in Toronto on March 28 before more than 11,000 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"A fighting young band of hockeyists, Sudbury Wolves are today headed for Winnipeg in quest of the Memorial Cup and Dominion hockey championship laurels,” read the report in the Regina Leader-Post.
The Cub Wolves won the second game 3-0 -- Anthony (Ant) Healey got the shutout -- to take the series, 4-1. The final game, according to the report, was "a terrific struggle -- an epic of puck chasing and a classic of roaring hockey.”
All of which set the stage for the Memorial Cup, which would be played in the Amphitheatre in Winnipeg.
It was a best-of-three series and the Monarchs were the favorites. As one report put it: "Outweighed 10 pounds a man, the Wolves plan to upset the Monarchs with the speed and cohesive perfection of their attack.”
The series opened on March 31 with the Monarchs skating to a 4-3 victory.
"It took all the defence power the Monarchs possessed to stave off the Wolves, and all the 6,000 fans who saw them do it are wondering if they can repeat (in Game 2),” one report read.
Sudbury led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by LaFrance.
But Winnipeg scored three second-period goals to take command -- Johnny Templeton, Yellowlees and Brown pulling the trigger.
LaFrance scored again early in the third but Davie put it away six minutes into the third.
"Because they won't be slowed up, the Wolves are an even money choice with bettors to even the series,” stated one report prior to Game 2.
And even the series they did.
Sudbury posted a 2-1 victory on April 2, losing a 1-0 lead late in the third period and winning it in overtime on another goal by LaFrance.
After a scoreless first period, Sudbury took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Gordon Grant. But with less than three minutes left in the third period, Shewan got through the Wolves defence to pick up his own rebound and score the tying goal.
That set the stage for LaFrance to score the winner at 2:20 of overtime.
The game was highlighted by a brawl in the middle of the second period.
Here's what happened, according to one writer:
"Rough for a period and a half, the game settled down to a drama of straight hockey after a wild free-for-all in the second stanza. George Brown, 180-pound Monarch left winger, and Adelard LaFrance came to blows and started a general fist fight in which every player on both squads, with the exception of goaltenders, took part.
"LaFrance's stick cut Brown across the face as the two fought for the puck at centre ice. Brown pulled off his gloves and went after the Sudbury forward with his fists. Without delay their teammates dropped sticks and took sides, picked opponents and started to throw punches. It was several minutes before police quelled the player riot.”
Sudbury was without defenceman Bob McInnes and Smith. McInnes had injured an arm in the first game; Smith left Game 2 early in the first period after a bone-jarring check from Davie. Smith was left with a sore face thanks to a sprained jaw.
Smith was well enough to play in the third and deciding game on April 4.
And he scored the game- and Memorial Cup-winning goal as the Wolves, behind Healey's goaltending, posted a 1-0 victory.
"The Wolves from Sudbury, crafty beyond their years and dead game as they come, sit proudly atop the junior hockey world today,” read the story in the Regina Leader-Post. "Nakina Smith, slight Sudbury centre, who went back into action after being knocked out in the second game, placed a neat shot past Art Rice-Jones in the Winnipeg cage to climax the first Wolf raid. He picked up Adelard LaFrance's pass at the Monarch defence, swept around ‘Pinkie' Davie and drove the score shot from a few feet out.
"Ant Healey played a remarkable game for the rest of the night.”
It should be pointed out that Blake, a star throughout the season, was a substitute player in all three games of the final series.
And how did the folks of Sudbury handle all of this?
According to one report: "There was a hot time in the hometown when word was flashed from Winnipeg that Sudbury had triumphed ... Scenes reminiscent of Armistice Day were enacted as the entire populace thronged into the downtown section to shout acclaim to the courageous little hockey band.
"Even undertakers' hearses bore emblems of rejoicing.”

NEXT: 1933 (Regina Pats vs. Newmarket Redmen)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1933 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1933.html)

1933 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Newmarket Redmen
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


For the fourth time in eight years Regina would be represented in the Memorial Cup final, Al Ritchie's Pats having won the Abbott Cup in a thrilling three-game series with the Brandon Native Sons.
The first two games were ties before Regina won the series with a 2-1 victory on March 30 before a soldout crowd of 5,025 fans at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre. (Howie Milne, former Regina junior star player and coach, was one of the referees used in this series.)
Meanwhile, in the East, the Newmarket Reds and Montreal Royals played to a 2-2 tie in front of 11,000 fans at the Montreal Forum. Two nights later, in front of 8,000 fans in Toronto, Newmarket won the two-game, total-goal series with a 1-0 victory on centre Normie Mann's goal on a long shot early in the second period.
Coach Bill Hancock's Redmen went into the best-of-three Memorial Cup final in Toronto without left-winger Howie Peterson, who had suffered a knee injury against Montreal. And defenceman Gar Preston would see limited duty because of a shoulder injury.
Game 1, played on April 5 before 8,250 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens, was won 2-1 by Newmarket.
Willis Entwistle, writing in the Regina Leader-Post, called it a "thrilling struggle.”
Newmarket goaltender Randall Forder received rave reviews for his work in the opener, especially in the second and third periods when the Pats owned a wide territorial edge.
Mann opened the scoring early in the first period when he beat Regina goaltender Jimmy Franks (who wore a blazing red cap) from the blue line.
Regis (Pep) Kelly scored early in the second to up Newmarket's lead to 2-0 before Reg Strong counted Regina's lone goal about seven minutes later.
Ritchie, writing in The Leader-Post, had this to say: "Newmarket has the fastest junior hockey team I have seen for many a year. They skate like the old 1925 Pats ... just like lightning.”
Entwistle wrote: "Comparisons are odious but, at first glance, the present Pats are hardly as electrical as their predecessors. They are, however, a hard-working, smooth combination and should fare much better in the second game.“
There were almost 8,000 fans in the Gardens for Game 2 on April 7 and they watched the Redmen win the Memorial Cup with a 2-1 overtime victory (they played 30 minutes of extra time).
Again, Mann opened the scoring, this time batting in his own rebound in the last minute of the opening period.
Les Cunningham tied it on a solo effort late in the second period.
The winner came with less than two minutes left in the third 10-minute overtime period when Don Wilson scored a power-play goal with Regina defenceman Moose Stinson and centre Murray Armstrong -- he would later coach the Pats -- in the penalty box.
After which the stuff hit the fan.
Here's Entwistle's description: "The only untoward incident was at the close of the second game when one or two players adopted an ugly attitude after Newmarket had triumphed following 30 minutes of overtime. However, what looked like an ugly scramble was really nothing more than a few players throwing their arms around some of their comrades who appeared less able to control their feelings.
"The teams were soon rushed to their dressing rooms although someone, not a player, hit referee Johnny Mitchell in the face. Mitchell was a little exasperating. The penalties tell their own tale -- 13 Regina, 8 Newmarket.”
In the Toronto Star, the respected Lou Marsh wrote: "Al Ritchie, force Majeur de Sport in the west, is through with amateur sport -- sick and disgusted after his team's defeat last night.”
Marsh quoted Ritchie as blaming Mitchell for being "gypped” and adding that his players could hardly be blamed for "losing their tempers.”
"I never saw a more partisan official in my life,” Ritchie said. "He gave us penalties we did not deserve and let Newmarket get away with things for which they should have been punished.”
Marsh also wrote: "There is no excuse for any player attacking an official and Kerr as instigator is about sure to be asked to be paraded on the official carpet: He may get a suspension.”
Mitchell suffered a cut lip in the scuffle. Alex (Curly) Kerr, the Pats' captain, was hit with a suspension. He had been penalized three times by Mitchell during the second game.
In fact, four of the Pats -- Kerr, Franks, Cunningham and Bill Cairns -- were immediately suspended by the CAHA.
A week after returning home, Ritchie was still seething.
"Kerr certainly did not hit Mitchell,” Ritchie said. "It was a well known hockey player that did the damage. As far as Jimmy Franks, Cunningham and Cairns being implicated, that is a joke. The true facts will all come out through time.”
Asked if he still felt "gypped“, Ritchie said: "Certainly. And that is no losers' squawk. I have taken beatings before, many of them. Just to show you what I mean, Chief Justice J.T. Brown of Regina and Joe Caulder, now of Toronto, saw the game. They were disgusted by the officiating of Mitchell ... Lester Patrick and his New York Rangers openly stated they had never seen anything like it in their lives before. Nor had Dick Irvin (Sr.).”
Finally, on May 25, the CAHA made its long-awaited announcement.
Kerr, who now had used up his junior eligibility, was suspended until Feb. 1, 1934. By the time the suspension was announced he had joined the Prince Albert Mintos, a senior team. He would miss six weeks of the 1933-34 season.
Cunningham, Franks and Cairns were given warnings.

NEXT: 1934 (Edmonton Athletics vs. Toronto St. Michael's

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1934 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1934.html)

1934 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Athletics vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


It was on March 21 when hockey fans who were paying attention must have known that the St. Michael's Majors out of Toronto were destiny's darlings for this season.
It was that night in Toronto when the boys from St. Michael's, the Irish Catholic school, opened a playoff series with the Ottawa Shamrocks.
Despite the Shamrocks being referred to as "one of the most tenacious checking teams” St. Mike's had little trouble skating to an 8-2 victory. Nick Metz, a Saskatchewan lad, pumped in three goals for the winners.
St. Michael's then posted a 9-3 victory in Ottawa to win the series, 17-5.
St. Mike's featured the likes of Bobby Bauer, Reg Hamilton, Art Jackson, Regis (Pep) Kelly, Metz, Don Wilson, Mickey Drouillard, Jack Hamilton and goaltender Harvey Teno. Kelly and Wilson had come over from the Newmarket Redmen, the 1933 Memorial Cup champions.
The Toronto team was coached by Dr. W.J. (Jerry) LaFlamme, a dentist who had quite a hockey history. He had refereed in the NHL in the 1920s. That was after he had played defence on the Allan Cup winners from St. Michael's in 1909-10 and captained the Allan Cup-winning Dentals of Toronto in 1916-17.
St. Mike's would ultimately advance to the eastern final against the Charlottetown Abegweits, who took a two-game, total-goal series from the Montreal Cranes, 12-5.
The eastern final, played in Toronto, was a blowout.
St. Mike's opened with a 12-2 victory.
"The Toronto team, called the greatest aggregation of junior puck chasers gathered together in a decade, smothered Charlottetown,” The Canadian Press reported of Game 1, played on March 27.
Game 2 was no better, as St. Mike's romped 7-2 to take the round, 19-4. The Majors were without Drouillard, who centred the second line. He had suffered a charley horse in Game 1.
Meanwhile, out west, it was to be the season of the Edmonton Athletic Club (known as the Athletics), featuring captain Dan Carrigan, brothers MacNeil and Matthew Colville, and Bill Carse.
Edmonton got rid of Trail 10-0 and 7-0, and then sidelined the Saskatoon Wesleys 10-5 (winning 6-0 and losing 5-4). It's of interest that the Wesleys, a first-year junior team, were managed by Charlie McCool, who had been a good friend of war hero Lyman (Hick) Abbott after whom the Abbott Cup is named.
Included in the Saskatoon lineup: Doug Bentley, Peter Leswick and Mel Hill, who would go on to earn the nickname ‘Sudden Death' during his NHL days with the Boston Bruins, Brooklyn Americans and Toronto Maple Leafs. Bentley played with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers; Leswick would play with the Bruins and New York Americans.
While Edmonton was rolling along, the Port Arthur West Ends -- they were known as the Westies -- beat the Kenora Thistles 9-8 (they tied 5-5 at Port Arthur and the Westies won 4-3 at Winnipeg, with Sammy Gigliotti scoring the winner halfway through the third period).
Kenora was coached by Sandy Sanderson and featured defenceman Walter (Babe) Pratt -- he had three goals and two assists in the 5-5 tie -- and forward Jake Milford. Years later, Milford would be at the forefront of the European invasion when, as the general manager of the Brandon Wheat Kings, he brought in Juha Widing, a stylish centre, from Finland.
The western final was all Edmonton, however. Played entirely in Winnipeg, Edmonton won 7-3 -- Carse scored three times -- and 4-0, with Fred Layetzke earning the shutout with a 47-save effort before "a handful of fans who braved a March drizzle.”
The Memorial Cup final, a best-of-three affair, opened April 3 at the Amphitheatre on Whitehall Avenue in Winnipeg.
"Four hundred curious railbirds watched the Toronto Irish go through their paces for nearly an hour at the Amphitheatre rink, and there was scarcely a spectator who was not visibly impressed with the skill and hockey ability of the easterners,” reported The Canadian Press after watching a workout.
"Not having a spare goalie along,” continued the report, "St. Michael's invited ‘Turk' Broda, net custodian of the Winnipeg Monarchs, to guard one cage. After being blazed at from all sides during the practice, ‘Turk' seemed inclined to pick St. Mike's for two straight victories.”
St. Mike's opened with a 5-0 victory over the Athletics.
"The smooth-skating, sharpshooting Irish from the Queen City downed the western champions with a torrid attack in the second period but in the first and third periods the Edmontonians put up a better attack,” reported The Canadian Press.
Kelly opened the scoring halfway through the first period, scoring on a backhand. Kelly would close the scoring early in the third period.
In between, however, is where St. Mike's won it, thanks to three power-play goals. Johnny Acheson, with two, and Jackson scored the goals.
There was one interesting incident in the second period. As CP reported: "With Bill Carse and Gordon Watt in the penalty box, Neil Colville grabbed the puck at centre ice in a brilliant effort to give Edmonton their first goal. Nick Metz gave chase. They bumped and Colville went through with only Harvey Teno in the St. Mike net to beat. Metz tore after him and threw his stick to stop the goal.
"Both went down. Metz was chased for 10 minutes and Colville drew a minor for the scuffle on the ice. Peanuts were pitched onto the ice as the fans roared and the game had to be called while the ice was swept.”
More than 4,500 fans showed up for Game 2 on April 5. And what a game they saw.
It would end with St. Mike's winning its first Memorial Cup championship (the school would win three more), thanks to a 6-4 victory. But it wasn't decided until after 20 minutes of overtime.
"The husky lads who wear the double blue of St. Michael's college in Toronto are the kings of junior hockey in Canada,” wrote Sam G. Ross, a staff writer for The Canadian Press. “The boys from the Alberta capital never quit trying, and they matched the hockey skill of the easterners all through the 80 minutes of hockey that left every player nearly exhausted.”
Kelly scored twice for St. Mike's, as he was on the Memorial Cup-winning side for the second straight season. Acheson, Metz, Drouillard and Jackson also scored.
The Colville brothers each scored once for Edmonton, as did Carse and Andy Maloney.
Maloney's goal with 30 seconds left in the third period tied the score 4-4 and forced the overtime.
"Jackson took Acheson's pass in the second overtime period to give St. Mike's all they needed for victory,” reported Ross in describing the winning goal. "Kelly made the victory certain when he rapped in St. Mike's sixth goal with only half a minute of the overtime to play.”
The victory by St. Mike's left the east and west with eight victories apiece in Memorial Cup competition.

NEXT: 1935 (Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Sudbury Cub Wolves)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1935 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1935.html)

1935 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Sudbury Cub Wolves
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


The Sudbury Cub Wolves, Memorial Cup champions in 1932, were back in the final in 1935.
So, too, were the Winnipeg Monarchs, the team the Cub Wolves defeated in the 1932 final.
They would meet in a best-of-three final in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, just like they had in 1932 when the Monarchs won the opener but then lost the next two games.
This time around, Sudbury featured the likes of defenceman Charles (Chuck) Shannon, who would play in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans; and, forwards Wilbert Carl (Dutch) Hiller (New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens) and Don (The Count) Grosso (Detroit, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston).
The Sudbury defence was sparked by a pair of players who were quite big for those days. Shannon, only 18, weighed 195 pounds, while Roy Swanson, 19, weighed 175.
Coach Max Silverman -- he had been the manager in 1932 -- went with 19-year-old Dave Kemp as his goaltender.
Sudbury, which went into the Memorial Cup final without a playoff loss, averaged 18 years of age and 160 pounds.
In Winnipeg's lineup were the likes of captain Pete Belanger, who played on a Monarchs' forward unit that featured Romeo Martel and Paul Rheault and was known as the Flying Frenchmen, Wilf Field (Montreal Canadiens, Chicago, and the Brooklyn and New York Americans), and Joe Krol (Brooklyn and the New York Rangers). The goaltender was Paul Gauthier.
Winnipeg was coached by former player Harry Neil and was managed by Bill Webber.
The Sudbury bunch wasn't favored to come out of the east. It had been expected that the Ottawa Rideaus would survive there.
But it didn't happen.
Ottawa had trampled the Moncton Red Indians 11-3 and 13-5 to move into the eastern final. At the same time, Ottawa was sidelining the Verdun, Que., Maple Leafs, 9-4 and 11-7.
The Cub Wolves met Sudbury in a best-of-three eastern final series that opened on March 30 in Toronto.
Sudbury surprised everyone by whipping Ottawa 3-0 in the opener, and then put it away with a 7-4 victory on April 1 in Ottawa before more than 6,000 fans.
"The mighty Sudbury Cub Wolves, who have in a systematic fashion bowled over all former opposition, finally overcame the last obstacle in eastern Canada,” reported The Canadian Press. "The youngsters from northern Ontario never left a doubt with Ottawa fans as to their superiority. Time and again the Cub Wolves went up three men abreast and the Rideau defence had to give way.”
In the west, the Saskatoon Wesleys made a move as they defeated the Vancouver King Georges 7-0 and 4-2, and then dumped the Edmonton Canadians, 6-2 and 4-0.
At the same time, Winnipeg was hammering the Fort William Maroons 8-0 and 6-2 to advance against the Wesleys in a series played in its entirety in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre. Winnipeg won the first game of the best-of-three western final, 5-4, lost the second 5-3 and wrapped it up with a 3-2 victory. Each game was played before about 4,500 fans.
Saskatoon came awfully close -- awfully close -- to winning against the Monarchs.
The opener, played in Winnipeg on April 2, was decided in the last two minutes of the third period. Saskatoon actually led 4-3 when Bill Clubb was penalized for pulling down a Winnipegger on a breakaway. With Clubb in the box, Johnny (Ike) Prokaski tied it with 1:34 to play and Krol, a speedy left winger, won it with just two seconds left on the clock.
Two nights later, the Wesleys' Pete Leswick scored two shorthanded goals as Saskatoon erased a 2-0 first-period deficit en route to a 5-3 victory that evened the series at 1-1.
The Monarchs led 3-1 midway through the second period only to have Saskatoon tie it before the period ended and score the only two goals of the third.
The western final ended on April 6 when Belanger, a speedy centre, scored the game-winner at 11:01 of the third period with Rheault in the penalty box to give the Monarchs a 3-2 victory.
The Memorial Cup final opened on April 9, with the Monarchs posting a 7-6 victory before more than 4,500 fans.
"Thirteen times the red light flashed on as the high-scoring band of youngsters traveled at full clip and sought goals and still more goals,” reported Herbert A. Honey of The Canadian Press.
Winnipeg led 3-1 after the first period and 6-5 after the second. In fact, Sudbury never led in this game as the scores went like this, always with Winnipeg in the lead: 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4, 6-4, 6-5, 7-5, 7-6.
When it was over, Winnipeg had three goals from Krol, two from Burr Keenan, and singles from Rheault and Field. Sudbury goals came from Shannon (2), Jock Smith, Art Stuart, Grosso and Len Webster.
"A game fighting band, the sturdy Winnipeg boys were given only an outside chance against the highly favored Wolves,” Honey wrote. "A little more finish to Sudbury's sweeping attack in the waning minutes of the final period might have reversed the score.”
The Wolves finished well in Game 2, played on April 11 in front of more than 4,000 fans.
Stuart, a sleek left winger, scored four times to lead Sudbury to a 7-2 victory that wasn't as lopsided as first glance would seem to indicate.
"A quick-thinking, puck-following pack of Cub Wolves from Sudbury concocted hockey magic,” reported The Canadian Press.
Sudbury led 2-1 after one period and 3-2 after two. Winnipeg trailed only 4-2 as the third period wound down. But Sudbury put it away with three goals in the last two minutes 30 seconds.
Hiller, with two, and Grosso also scored for Sudbury. Keenan and Krol replied for Winnipeg.
"Monarch fans were dissatisfied with referees Alex Irvin, of Winnipeg, and Harry Shouldice, of Ottawa,” reported The Canadian Press. "They showed their displeasure at frequent minor penalties meted out to the Manitobans by showering peanuts and programs on to the ice. Play was halted several times in order to clear the ice.”
There were 15 penalties handed out, with Winnipeg taking seven of them.
When it was over, Silverman was crying the blues. Or, was he just playing a game?
As CP reported: "A keen-eyed bunch of Sudbury Wolves insist podgy (sic) Max Silverman looks better in a brown fedora than a black bowler and so the coach of the eastern junior champions will wear it into battle Saturday night against Winnipeg Monarchs.
"Wolves lost the first tilt 7-6, and that night he wore his ‘christie' -- in fact one fan threatened to pull it over his ears when he halted play to argue with the referee.
"Wolves won (Game 2) 7-2 while Silverman bellowed orders from the bench under a natty felt that matched his coat. It's plain as a pikestaff Max will be fedora-topped Saturday night.”
"The boys hit their stride,” exclaimed Silverman when Game 2 was all over. "We'll outskate and outsmart those westerners Saturday night the same way.”
Then Silverman started the mind games. Referring to the penalties in Game 2, he said: "What's the matter? Can't they take it? It was the worst display of poor sportsmanship I've seen.”
In the Winnipeg dressing room, Neil wouldn't stand for any criticism of Shouldice, the referee known as ‘Hap' who would also become a fine CFL official.
"He's a square referee who calls 'em as he sees 'em,” Neil stated.
Irvin and Shouldice were the referees for Game 3, too. It was played on April 13 before more than 4,500 fans.
"The mantle of dominion junior hockey supremacy today was draped around the slim shoulders of Winnipeg Monarchs,” wrote Honey. "A flying band of skating youth, the western champions joined a host of amateur hockey greats by defeating Sudbury Cub Wolves 4-1 in the third and deciding game of the Memorial Cup final series ...
"Harry Neil's brigade, with the artistry of master swordsmen, parried a slower but more rugged eastern offensive with spectacular netminding and lightning raids to bring Canadian supremacy to the west.”
Keenan scored three times for Winnipeg, two of them set up by Prokaski, who scored the Monarchs' other goal. Keenan's second goal, at 8:33 of the second period, would go into the books as the Memorial Cup-winner.
Stuart scored for Sudbury, but by the time he found the range, midway through the third period, it was 4-0.
If Keenan was one star, Gauthier was the other.
As Honey wrote: "Gauthier put the Indian sign on Chuck Shannon, Bill Hiller and other high-scoring eastern sharpshooters with an amazing display of net wizardry.”

NEXT: 1936 (Saskatoon Wesleys vs. West Toronto Nationals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1936 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1936.html)

1936 MEMORIAL CUP
Saskatoon Wesleys vs. West Toronto Nationals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


On the way to the Memorial Cup final, the West Toronto Nationals did some heavy damage, including a 16-4 rout of the visiting Quebec Aces on March 31 in an eastern semifinal game.
The series was never played to a conclusion. Two nights later in Quebec City, West Toronto was leading 6-4 about three-quarters of the way through an overtime period when a free-for-all resulted in the game being ended.
West Toronto then bounced the Pembroke Little Lumber Kings to qualify for the final.
Out West, coach Hobb Wilson's Saskatoon Wesleys played the Winnipeg-Elmwood Maple Leafs in a best-of-three series for the Abbott Cup and a spot in the Memorial Cup final.
Playing in Winnipeg, Saskatoon won the opener 4-2 on April 2 and then took the series with a 4-2 overtime victory before 5,000 fans on April 4.
Wilson was quoted as saying: "I think our team is just as good as any western outfit in the past years. We have a big, fast team and we're going to try awfully hard to take the mug back west.”
The best-of-three Memorial Cup series opened on April 10 in Toronto with the Nationals, "a smooth-working, powerful band of youngsters,'' according to The Canadian Press, skating to a 5-1 victory over Saskatoon in front of 4,500 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"Wesleys, not as polished as the eastern Canada titlists, lacked finish around the net,” CP reported. "Many times, especially in a thrilling last period, the speedy Saskatchewan youngsters had no one to beat but Red Hall in the Nationals' nets. Their shots were either inches wide or blocked by the sorrel-top.”
Hall, who was also known as Torchy, had spent the previous summer tending goal for the Orillia Terriers, the Canadian senior lacrosse champions.
Toronto defenceman Bobby Laurent opened the scoring 41 seconds into the first period, only to have the Wesleys' captain, Paul Kowel, tie it less than a minute later.
But after that it was all Toronto, which got two goals each from Robert (Red) Heron and Carl Gamble. Left-winger Roy Conacher, a member of one of hockey's most famous families, earned an assist on one of Gamble's goals.
More from CP on Game 1: "It was one of the greatest junior battles here in several years. Both clubs backchecked fiercely but the eastern titlists' plays showed more finish when they barged past the heavy Wesley rearguards. The Saskatchewan huskies seemed to find difficulty in controlling the puck.”
It ended three nights later, on April 13, with West Toronto posting a 4-2 victory and winning its first Memorial Cup, one more than the Wesleys.
"Fighting fiercely all the way, Wesleys outplayed the Nationals through most of the hard-fought struggle and a crowd of 3,500 -- disappointingly small for a Dominion final -- will not soon forget the western huskies' dazzling attack,” reported CP. "Most of the spectators were solidly behind the Saskatoon lads.”
Saskatoon's Frank Dotten got his side on the board first with the opening period's lone goal.
Jack (Bucky) Crawford tied it for Toronto and the teams headed for the third period tied at 1-1.
Laurent and Johnny (Peanuts) O'Flaherty put Toronto out front 3-1, before Dotten narrowed the deficit to one at 3-2. It remained for Conacher to score the final goal of the series.
O'Flaherty's goal, at 14:02 of the third, stood up as the one that won the Memorial Cup.
The Nationals were coached by Clarence (Hap) Day, with Harold Ballard as manager.

NEXT: 1937 (Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Copper Cliff Redmen)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1937 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorial-cup-history-1937.html/)

1937 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Copper Cliff Redmen
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


The year was 1918 and the First World War was drawing to a close.
Two Saskatchewan athletes -- Lyman (Hick) Abbott and Charlie McCool -- were good friends who were eagerly awaiting war's end. But before the end came there were battles to be fought.
Abbott lost his life in one of those battles; McCool lost an arm in another.
Shortly after the war's conclusion, the Abbott Memorial Cup, in memory of Hick Abbott, was put into play. It would go to the winner of the western Canadian junior hockey championship.
In the 1930s, McCool found himself as the manager of the Saskatoon Wesleys. They won the Abbott Cup in 1936 and were back to defend it in 1937.
The Wesleys, coached by Dunc Farmer and featuring goaltender Charlie Rayner and centre Sid Abel, defeated the Edmonton Rangers, 4-0 and 5-1, and then got past the Trail Smoke Eaters, 5-0 and 5-1.
Meanwhile, coach Harry Neil's Winnipeg Monarchs capped off a stretch of nine games in 15 days by ousting Port Arthur, 8-2 and 8-0.
That set up a best-of-three western final between Winnipeg and Saskatoon, with all games played at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre.
The Monarchs would prevail, winning the opener 5-2 (Winnipeg's Remi Vandaele tied the score 2-2 on a penalty shot), losing the second game 6-5 on an overtime goal by Eddie Martinson, and then taking the series with a 6-1 victory.
At least three players off that Winnipeg team -- captain Alf Pike, Pete Langelle and Johnny McCreedy -- would play in the NHL. Pike and McCreedy were on the Monarchs' top line, along with Dick Kowcinak. Also on this team was left-winger Paul Rheault, a star on the 1935 Memorial Cup-champion Monarchs. Rheault would suffer a cut thigh in the second game of the western final, however, and his impact was negligent afterwards.
In the meantime, the Copper Cliff Redmen were headed for a date with the Ottawa Rideaus in the eastern final.
The Redmen defeated Timmins 5-3 and 11-2 to win the Copeland Cup as champions of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. They then ousted St. Michael's College of Toronto, 5-2 and 8-2, and the Montreal Victorias, 4-1 and 10-4.
The Rideaus advanced to the eastern final by dumping Amherst, N.S., 5-4 and 7-5.
Copper Cliff made quick work of the Rideaus, however, hammering them 12-3 and 12-1. At that point, the Redmen had outscored their playoff opponents, 67-19.
The Redmen, coached by Max Silverman, featured goaltender Mel Albright and players like Jack (John) Shewchuk, Robert (Red) Hamill and Pat McReavy. Copper Cliff's big line featured McReavy, Hamill and Roy Heximer -- they totalled 21 points in the 12-1 victory over Ottawa.
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association announced that all games in what was now a best-of-five Memorial Cup final would be played at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, and that the referees would be Clarence Campbell of Edmonton and Cecil (Babe) Dye of Toronto.
"I don't know much about the eastern junior teams,” said Neil, whose club entered the final with an overall record of 25-5-3. "But I believe we have a good chance.”

Winnipeg goaltender Zenon (Zeke) Ferley, 18, was just thrilled to be in the national final.
"Ever since I was a little kid playing on corner lots, I dreamed of the day when I would turn aside pucks for the Western Canadian champions,” he said.

Two days before the series was scheduled to open, Alphonse Therien, registrar and secretary-treasurer of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association, charged the Redmen with violating the "true ideals of junior eligibility” by using ineligible players.

In a letter to the CAHA, Therien wrote:
"We wonder if you have any new developments on the ages of the Copper Cliff players?

"Do we have to wait until said team participates in the finals before the investigation is complete?
"We in Quebec are in a position to satisfy anyone on our junior groups. We have made careful researches and are informed that player Shewchuk is using a different name than in Brantford, Ont. Dick Perry did not arrive up in the north in time to qualify for the residence rule.”
The CAHA refused to hear a protest from Quebec and the series opened in amazing fashion on April 10.
"Redmen, in a spectacular finish, drubbed the young westerners 4-3 in overtime and after the game a large crowd cheered conquerors and conquered alike,” reported The Canadian Press.
As incredible as it may sound, Winnipeg held a 3-0 lead with less than two and a half minutes to play in the third period.
"We were lucky to win -- it must have been heartbreaking for those Winnipeg kids,” said Silverman. "But our boys showed they had the fight -- I never saw anything like it. I know Redmen can play much better -- if Monarchs can play any better, boy, what a series this will be.”

McCreedy scored in the first period and goals by Pike and McCreedy in the first two minutes of the third gave Winnipeg the 3-0 lead.
Copper Cliff's comeback began when Heximer scored at 17:39 of the third. He added a second goal at 18:30 and then drew an assist when McReavy tied it at 19:16.
The winner, from Hamill, came 4:59 into overtime.
Still, Neil wasn't too concerned.
"Say,” he said, "this Copper Cliff isn't in it with Portage la Prairie. And look what we did to Portage. They beat us 7-2 in the first game and then we came back to win two straight and take the series.

"Copper Cliff will be just a pushover from now on.”

The Monarchs, described as "courageous purple kids from Winnipeg,” evened the series on April 12, winning 6-5 after two periods of overtime before more than 8,000 fans.

Copper Cliff led 2-0 early in the second period on two goals by Alf Webster. But Winnipeg went ahead 3-2 on goals by McCreedy, Jack Fox and Kowcinak (who would have two goals and three assists), only to have the Redmen tie it when Walter Zuke scored.

Heximer and McCreedy traded third-period goals to force the overtime.
The Redmen took a 5-4 lead 34 seconds into the second extra period. But Winnipeg roared back, tying it at 2:31 on Kowcinak's second goal and winning it on Fox's goal at 5:47.
To this point, the Monarchs had yet to use two injured players -- Rheault and right-winger Jack Atcheson (bruised ankle) -- both of whom were well-known as scorers. Rheault would return to action in the third game; Atcheson would miss the entire series.
The third game, played on April 14, was a goaltending duel between Ferley, who stopped 17 shots, and Albright, who blocked 20.
Ferley emerged on top, however, as the Monarchs won, 2-1.
Langelle scored the only goal of the first period, with Webster pulling the Redmen even at 7:08 of the second period.
Pike's goal, on a one-timer off a give-and-go with Kowcinak, with four minutes left in the second period stood up as the winner.
"Winnipeg's jubilant Monarchs crowded into a rousing, cheering dressing room,” reported The Canadian Press, "with the song and battle cry ‘We Don't Give a Damn for All the Rest of Canada.' ”

The series ended on the afternoon of April 17 before 11,455 paying customers.
"Climaxing one of the most spectacular junior series in history,” The Canadian Press reported, "the Winnipeggers whitewashed Copper Cliff Redmen 7-0.”

Copper Cliff had a distinct edge in play in the first period but wasn't able to score.
When the Monarchs erupted for three goals in the first period the writing was on the wall.
McCreedy, a 20-year-old playing his final junior game, scored four times. His first, at 5:24 of the second period, proved to be the winner. Singles came from Vandaele, Martell and Rheault.

"We were beaten by a better team,” Silverman said. "I can speak now and I can say these Monarchs are just about the best junior team I've seen.

"You can take it from me we lost to a honey of a club.”

Ferley, who stopped 25 shots for the shutout, said: "I don't know what to think or what to say.”

It's worth noting that Langelle is one of three Winnipeg-born players to play on a Memorial Cup-winner and score the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The others: Cal Gardner and Andy Bathgate.
Langelle scored the winner for the Leafs in the spring of 1942. Gardner, who won the Memorial Cup with the 1942-43 Winnipeg Rangers, got the Stanley Cup-winning goal in the spring of 1949. Bathgate, a member of the Memorial Cup-winning Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters in 1952, had the 1964 Stanley Cup-winner for the Leafs.
Other prominent Memorial Cup graduates to score Stanley Cup-winning goals include: Harold (Mush) March, 1927-28 Regina Monarchs, 1933-34 Chicago Blackhawks; Lawrence (Baldy) Northcott, 1940-41 Winnipeg Rangers coach, 1934-35 Montreal Maroons; Bobby Bauer, 1933-34 St. Michael's Majors, 1940-41 Boston Bruins; Toe Blake, 1931-32 Sudbury Cub Wolves, Stanley Cup-winners for the Montreal Canadiens in 1944 and 1946; Dickie Moore, 1948-49 and 1949-50 Montreal Junior Canadiens, 1956-57 Montreal Canadiens; and, J.C. Tremblay, 1957-58 Ottawa-Hull Canadiens, 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens.

NEXT: 1938 (St. Boniface Seals vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1938 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1938.html/)

1938 MEMORIAL CUP
St. Boniface Seals vs. Oshawa Generals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


It could be argued that the two best players on the ice during the 1938 Memorial Cup were defenceman Wally Stanowski of the St. Boniface Seals and centre Billy Taylor of the Oshawa Generals.
Stanowski was a colorful defenceman who loved to carry the puck. Taylor was a pure sniper, who would go on to rewrite the record book in the 1939 Memorial Cup final.
In the 1940s, they would be teammates with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But this was 1938.
Billy Reay was a player with St. Boniface. He would later co-coach, with Sam Pollock, the 1949-50 Montreal Junior Canadiens to a Memorial Cup title.
Defenceman Bert Janke captained the Seals, who were coached by Mike Kryschuk. The Generals were under the guidance of Doc Rowden.
In the west, the Edmonton Athletic Club made some early noise by eliminating the Trail Tigers, 4-2 and 8-0, and then bouncing the Saskatoon Chiefs in three games (Edmonton won the opener 7-3, lost the second game 2-0, and then won the series with a 6-3 victory).
St. Boniface, meanwhile, took care of the Port Arthur West Ends, 4-3 and 3-2, setting up the Abbott Cup final.
St. Boniface took the first two games, 7-3 and 8-3, lost the third 3-1 and then wrapped it up with a 6-5 victory.
In the east, the legend of Billy The Kid was starting to build.
Taylor, once the mascot for the NHL's Maple Leafs, was 18 years old and had led the Generals past the Toronto Marlboros and Sudbury Cub Wolves. He went into the eastern final against the Perth Blue Wings having scored 15 times in his last 12 games.
"We should take them all right,” Taylor said of the impending series with the Blue Wings.
Taylor had help with Oshawa's scoring, primarily from right-winger Doc Dafoe.
Sudbury had beaten Oshawa 3-2 in the first game of an eastern semifinal. But Dafoe scored twice in a 7-1 Oshawa victory and then added three more as Oshawa won the series with a 4-2 victory.
Perth had beaten the Halifax Canadians, 7-6 and 8-5, and the Verdun, Que., Maple Leafs, 6-4 and 5-3.
The Generals did just what Taylor said they would, rolling past the Blue Wings 6-2 in Perth and 7-5 in Oshawa. Taylor scored three times in the first game, including two 38 seconds apart in the third period. He added two goals and two assists in a second game marred by a donnybrook involving Ottawa rink manager Clare Brunton, two policemen and some spectators.
The Memorial Cup final, a best-of-five affair with all games at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, opened on April 9. The referees were Hap Shouldice of Ottawa (he would go on to be a longtime Canadian Football League official) and Russ McBride of Winnipeg.
Neither the Generals nor Seals had been in a Memorial Cup final.
After Game 1, The Canadian Press reported: "It was the east's victory but the west drew the hosannas when Oshawa Generals defeated St. Boniface Seals 3-2 in the first game of the Memorial Cup junior hockey finals.
"And most of the huzzahs that burst from the throats of the 9,500 present were evoked by whirling Wally Stanowski, Seals' 18-year-old defenceman. Even the rabid Oshawa rooters were compelled to cheer this demon speedster, whose ghost-like rushing left the fans gasping.”
While Stanowski left folks agape -- they were comparing him to the great Eddie Shore -- Taylor was in on all of Oshawa's goals. He scored once and set up the other two, by Whipp Shortt. Centre Herb Burron scored both of the Seals' goals.
Oshawa suffered a key loss when defenceman Dan McTavish fractured his right wrist in the first period. He was perhaps the Generals' most dependable defenceman. Ross Knipfel dropped back to fill in for McTavish.
The beginning of Game 1 was delayed when St. Boniface protested the length of Oshawa's sticks. From one to two inches was sawed off a half-dozen sticks before the game was allowed to begin.
After which Oshawa clamoured for new referees.
St. Boniface manager Gil Paulley was quick to point out his club thought the officiating had been "excellent.”
Oshawa claimed it was concerned about the presence of McBride, who had officiated at regular-season games involving the Seals.
Yes, Shouldice and McBride were back for Game 2 on April 12 before 10,413 fans, the largest crowd ever to watch a junior game.
This time the hero was St. Boniface goaltender Doug Webb, a first-year junior, who blanked the Generals, 4-0.
Reay, a left winger, scored twice, with Janke and George Gordon getting the others.
St. Boniface's speed was the big difference, and Oshawa was having problems on defence. Already without McTavish, the Generals' other top defenceman -- Ab Tonn -- was playing with what was described as a septic throat.
Stanowski wasn't nearly as effective after being on the receiving end of a crunching body check by Red Krentz. Stanowski limped off and was left with a bruised leg.
Ed Fitkin, who would go on to become one of the country's first TV stars on Hockey Night in Canada, wrote in The Globe and Mail:
"Those who install the Seals as favorites for teen-age puck honors aren't basing their predictions on the score of last night's tussle but by the decisive manner in which the western champions outplayed the Generals over most of the route.
"They're not a great team. They're not in the same hockey society as Winnipeg Monarchs because of their lack of smoothness. But they are a great hockey machine.”
The Generals didn't pay much attention to the experts as they went out and won the third game 4-2 on April 14, the night before Good Friday.
"Main reason for Seals downfall, however, was an eagle-eyed, nimble-footed goalie, Bob Forster,” reported The Canadian Press. "Forty-three shots were fired at him in the Oshawa net and only twice was he beaten.”
Taylor scored twice and set up another, with Tonn and Shortt adding one goal each. Burron and Stanowski scored for St. Boniface.
Brick Calhoun, who was put into the Oshawa lineup to replace McTavish, went down with a broken shoulder with three minutes left in the game.
St. Boniface was without right-winger Jack Messett who was down with pneumonia.
Before Game 4 on April 16, Shouldice and McBride were replaced by Montreal's Bill Bell and Ottawa's Jack Dugan.
St. Boniface forced a fifth game by beating the Generals 6-4.
The Generals outplayed the Seals for 50 minutes and actually held a 3-1 lead more than 12 minutes into the third period. Five goals in the last half of the third period propelled St. Boniface to the victory.
The Seals got goals from Burron, Paul Couture, Hermie Gruhn, Bill McGregor, Janke and Gordon. Shortt scored twice for Oshawa, with Taylor and Dafoe adding singles. Taylor also had three assists as he again figured in all of his team's goals.
Shortt's second goal gave Oshawa a 4-3 lead at 15:12 of the third period. But McGregor (16:28), Janke (17:40) and Gordon (19:59) gave victory to the Seals, who fired 25 third-period shots at Oshawa goaltender Bob Forster.
"As unpredictable as any cock-fight, the series to date has supplied a full quota of thrills to the record crowds attending the games,” reported The Canadian Press prior to the fifth and deciding game.
Another referee, the fifth of the series, was pressed into action when Bell pulled out because of a business commitment. So Game 5 on April 19 was handled by Dugan and George Bonnemere of Montreal.
And the Seals put it away, winning 7-1 before 15,617 fans, the largest crowd to witness a hockey game -- any hockey game -- in Canada. The crowd was about 300 more than attended Game 2 of an NHL playoff series between Toronto and the Boston Bruins some three weeks earlier.
The Seals took a 3-0 first-period lead on two goals by Reay (the second would be the Memorial Cup-winner) and one from Burron and never looked back. Oshawa scored the first goal of the second period -- by Don Daniels -- but trailed 5-1 when the period ended.
Gruhn, with two, Janke and Burron scored for the Seals in the second and third periods.
Taylor was smacked in the nose by an errant stick in a first-period collision with McGregor and wasn't the same afterwards. Still, he set up Daniels' goal.
Taylor totaled four goals and seven assists in the five games, figuring in 11 of Oshawa's 12 goals.
Still, the hockey world hadn't seen anything yet.
The 1939 Memorial Cup championship would really belong to the flashy, cocky skater known as Billy The Kid.
There was one interesting sidelight to the 1938 Memorial Cup final.
After the final game, it was revealed that, as The Canadian Press reported, Stanowski had "received a bribe-letter -- which may or may not be from a crank -- suggesting he ‘lay down' “ in that last game.
The Winnipeg Free Press reported: "A sensational development took place in the St. Boniface Seal camp when Wally Stanowski received a letter offering him $100 if he would lay down after the first period.”
The Canadian Press report added that "Stanowski, who draws the usual $6 a day expense allowance, was unperturbed and those closest to the club preferred to believed the letter a joke.”
The letter was typewritten but the sender "wasn't so strong on spelling,” reported The Canadian Press.
The writer apparently promised Stanowski $100 if he would bail out with a sore leg in the first period. There was also an additional $50 in it for Reay if he "takes it easy and draws a few penalties.”
The writer described himself as a 6-foot, 200-pounder wearing a light grey overcoat and dark brown hat.
"They must think I'm crazy,” Stanowski said. "We'll give all we have against Oshawa and we expect to win.
"As for the letter, well, I guess I'll frame it.”

NEXT: 1939 (Edmonton Athletic Club Roamers vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1939 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1939.html/)

1939 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Athletic Club Roamers vs. Oshawa Generals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


It will forever be known as The Billy Taylor Show.
The 1939 Memorial Cup featured the Edmonton Athletic Club Roamers against the Oshawa Generals.
Everyone but Taylor was simply a bit player in this production.
A year previous, Taylor had figured in 11 of Oshawa's 12 goals as the Generals lost the Memorial Cup's best-of-five final in five games to the St. Boniface Seals.
Would it be a different story this time around?
The Generals began the season with Doc Rowden -- Donald Walker Rowden -- behind the bench. But he was replaced late in the season by Tracy (The Fox) Shaw. Their manager was the legendary Matt Leyden after whom one of the Ontario Hockey League's divisions would be named.
Other than Taylor, the Generals' attack featured the likes of William Earl (Nick) Knott, who would go on to play with the NHL's New York Americans; brothers Norm and Jud McAtee (Norm would play for the Boston Bruins, Jud for the Detroit Red Wings); and, defenceman Jim Drummond (New York Rangers).
In the eastern playdowns, Oshawa swept the North Bay Trappers, but needed overtime to win both games -- 7-5 and 5-4. As well, Oshawa swept best-of-five series from the St. Michael's Majors and Harold (Baldy) Cotton's Toronto Native Sons.
The Perth Blue Wings took a best-of-three series from the Charlottetown Royals, winning the opener 6-2, losing the second game 7-4 and then winning 7-6 in overtime. But Perth would be swept in a best-of-three with the Verdun Maple Leafs, 3-1 and 5-2.
In the east final, with all games played in the Montreal Forum, Oshawa prevailed but not before losing the first game 2-1. The scores in the next two: 6-1 and 4-2 with Taylor totaling a goal and five assists.
Edmonton was coached by Lowell (Lefty) Grove and the roster included Bobby Carse, Ken (Beans) Reardon, George Agar and Elmer Kreller. The latter became known as The Shadow during the championship final's last two games.
Out west, Edmonton was blowing away the Trail Tigers, 16-3 and 14-1, and the Moose Jaw Canucks -- 4-1, 6-0 and 9-2.
At the same time, the Brandon Elks, behind goaltender James (Sugar Jim) Henry, defeated the Fort William Columbus Club, 8-2 and 8-3.
In the western final, Edmonton defeated Brandon -- which was coached by Jimmy Creighton who would later be the mayor of the Wheat City and whose son, Fred, would coach in the NHL. The Roamers won the first two games -- 6-0 and 6-0 -- before losing Game 3, 5-0. But Edmonton won the fourth game 9-3 to advance to the Memorial Cup final.
Agar missed the final two games of that series after being suspended for hitting Brandon centre Chuck Taylor over the head with his stick during Game 2.
Edmonton went into the final having won 10 of 11 playoff games and having outscored its opposition, 81-15. In 42 games, Edmonton had scored 310 goals while allowing 80 -- and the Roamers played in two leagues, junior and intermediate. They went 12-2-0 in the junior league's regular season and 11-3-0 in the intermediate circuit.
And then they ran into the skater known as Billy the Kid.
The Roamers arrived in Toronto for the best-of-five series with an injury-riddled roster. So banged up were they that they brought 19 players to Toronto even though they could dress only 12 per game.
Defenceman Harry Pardee (ankle) and centre Kreller (hip) were the most serious injuries.
The Memorial Cup opened on April 10 with Taylor, fighting off a slight charleyhorse, scoring five times in a 9-4 victory before more than 7,000 fans.
Edmonton led 2-0, on goals by Carse and Agar, when Taylor and Gerry Kinsella scored in the final two minutes of the first period to tie it.
Johnny Chad gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead early in the second period, only to have Taylor score back-to-back goals. Carse scored again, at 12:35, but Jud McAtee put Oshawa out front before the period ended.
The Generals put it away in the third on two goals by Taylor and singles from each of the McAtee boys.
The crowd got to Edmonton goaltender Cliff Kilburn near the end. He had to be restrained by teammates as, stick waving in the air, he headed towards the crowd.
Afterwards, the Roamers said they were having problems adjusting to the atmospheric conditions.
"I could hardly breathe after I had been on the ice a minute or so,” Agar said. "Whew, it was hot.”
Eddie Shore, the great NHL defenceman who farmed north of Edmonton, claimed that the heavy, moist Toronto air was tough to deal with, particularly for players from the west where the higher altitude leads to a dry climate.
Prior to Game 2, The Canadian Press reported: "Roamers will discard their underwear and change goalies in an effort to even the series, club officials said. The westerners, used to a dry climate, wilted in the heavy, moist Toronto air. Bill Dreyer will replace Kilburn in goal.”
Meanwhile, Shaw was sounding optimistic.
"We knocked off a lot of good clubs in the east this year,” he said, "and despite the Roamers' imposing scoring record I never had any doubt about beating them.”
The second game, played on April 12, also belonged to Taylor.
This time, Billy the Kid scored four goals and set up five others as the Generals won 12-4 before 7,612 fans.
The Canadian Press called the game "one of the greatest scoring orgies ever witnessed in championship hockey.”
The teams were tied 2-2 after one period but Oshawa ran away and hid with three goals in the second and seven more in the third.
Knott, Drummond and Jud McAtee added two goals each, with Orv Smith and Kinsella scoring one each. Carse, Paul Steffes, Bruce MacKay and Dave Farmer scored for Edmonton.
“No sir, they weren't any tougher than in the first game,” Taylor said. "Better tell them to send back to Edmonton for another goalkeeper.”
Elmer Dulmage, writing for The Canadian Press, had this to say: "In all its 21-year history, or since the 1919 night when a young fellow named Dunc Munro plunged into the hockey picture, the classic Memorial Cup series probably has never had such a dazzling figure as Billy Taylor presents in the current bout.
"Billy the Kid, 19 years old and marked for delivery to Toronto Maple Leafs, has the Edmonton Roamers and the paying clientele by the ears. The Roamers can't stop him and the fans can't get over him.
"He's so amazingly good that Eddie Shore, Bill Cowley, Art Ross, Conn Smythe, Dick Irvin, Lester Patrick and the likes of these Stanley Cup characters refuse to believe what they see. Billy has the National league nobility rubbing its eyes.”
Taylor's performance was second, Dulmage reported, "only to that of Murray Murdoch. In the 1923 series between University of Manitoba and Kitchener Greenshirts, Murdoch scored 10 goals as the Manitobans won a total-goals round 14-6.”
Patrick, the general manager of the New York Rangers, called Taylor "the greatest junior I have seen in 20 years.”
"The way Taylor passes is incredible,” Patrick added. "I will venture to say there aren't more than half a dozen centres in the National league who lay down passes as well as he does. And he does everything else well. He should have a great career.”
Taylor's nine-year-old brother, Buddy, served as the Generals mascot. He would put on his uniform and skates and hit the ice between periods.
In an interview after Game 2, Buddy suggested that he would eventually be a better player than his older brother.
"Why? What have you got that Bill hasn't?” reporters asked.
Buddy replied: "Brains.”
Edmonton jumped back into the series with a 4-1 victory in Game 3, before 11,698 fans on April 15.
Steffes, with two, Chad and Pardee scored for Edmonton, which led 2-1 after one period. The teams played a scoreless second period. Drummond scored an unassisted goal for Oshawa.
"Outstanding in the victory was Elmer Kreller, a chunky speedster who handcuffed Billy Taylor, the Oshawa ace who had to be stopped if Roamers were to win,” reported The Canadian Press. "The way Kreller did it -- even if he fails to repeat the performance in the fourth game -- will live long in Memorial Cup history.
"I was never so happy in all my life,” offered Kreller, who was from Lumsden, Sask. “And I don't think I ever worked so hard before. It was the toughest job I've ever had.
"All I thought of was Taylor. I didn't even think of the puck. I didn't care whether I scored. But I was determined to keep Taylor from scoring. At times he was going to bite off my head but I didn't care.”
The Canadian Press reported: "It was funny at times. Taylor, in disgust, sometimes would stay back at his own goal and Kreller would stay right with him as the play surged around the Edmonton goal.”
Taylor said: "I told him in the first period I was going out for a drink and asked him to come along and hold the glass.”
He then added: "We'll take them the next game. We'll get that first goal and they'll never catch us.”
Oshawa ended it on April 17, winning 4-2 before 11,326 fans after trailing 2-1 going into the third period.
In Oshawa, some 15,000 fans sang, danced and built bonfires in the streets in the biggest celebration the city had seen since the armistice some 21 years previous.
The McAtee boys, from Stratford, Ont., led the way for the Generals in the final game. Jud scored at 7:54 of the third period to tie the game. Then Norm scored twice, at 16:43 and 17:30, to put it on ice.
Drummond had Oshawa's other goal. Agar and Chad scored for Edmonton.
Taylor was shadowed again by Kreller and was held to one assist, that coming on Drummond's goal. Taylor finished with nine goals and six assists in the four games.
When it was over, Taylor praised Kreller, calling him a "honey of a checker, a darn nice guy and a clean player -- you can't take anything away from him.”
"Who said we were a one-man hockey team?“ asked Oshawa goaltender Dinny McManus.
Billy Taylor would go on to play for Toronto, Detroit, Boston and the Rangers, totalling 87 goals and 180 assists in 323 games over seven seasons.
His NHL career, which began in the fall of 1939, ended on March 9, 1948, when NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended him for life.
Campbell's explanation was terse -- Taylor and Don Gallinger were hit with "life suspensions for conduct detrimental to hockey and for associating with a known gambler.” That gambler was apparently James Tamer, a paroled bank robber.
Taylor was 29 years of age when it all came crashing down.
He was an outcast until the summer of 1970 when the NHL's board of governors reinstated he and Gallinger.
Taylor then dabbled some in coaching and did some scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But he never played the game again.

NEXT: 1940 (Kenora Thistles vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1940 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1940.html/)

1940 MEMORIAL CUP
Kenora Thistles vs. Oshawa Generals
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


This was it for the Kenora Thistles.
Never before had a team from the north-western Ontario community qualified for the Memorial Cup final.
Nor would it happen again.
Coached by Bobby Benson and managed by R.H. (Shorty) Elliott, the Thistles played out of the 1,800-seat Thistle Rink.
Benson was well-known in amateur hockey circles. He had played for the 1920 Allan Cup-winning Winnipeg Falcons, who had won the gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Antwerp, Belgium. Benson had also coached the 1932-33 Brandon Native Sons who lost the western Canadian junior final to the Regina Pats.
The Kenora lineup included the likes of goaltender Charlie Rayner, who was also the team captain, and defenceman Bill (The Beast) Juzda, who would go on to play in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers and earn the reputation as one of the toughest body-checkers the game has known.
In the western Canadian playoffs, it came down to the Thistles and the Edmonton Athletic Club.
Edmonton defeated the Trail Tigers 11-1 after which the remainder of the best-of-three series was cancelled. Edmonton advanced into a best-of-five series against the Regina Abbott Generals, winning the first game 6-4, losing the second 5-4 and then taking the next two, 6-2 and 6-2.
Kenora, meanwhile, was defeating the Port Arthur Juniors. The Thistles actually lost the opener 5-4, before winning the best-of-three series with 5-4 and 4-0 victories.
Edmonton and Kenora, which arrived by train just five hours before game time, opened a best-of-five series in Edmonton on April 4 with Rayner turning in an outstanding effort in a 2-2 tie.
The E.A.C.'s roared back with a 7-1 victory on April 7 in a game that featured, according to one report, "three free-for-alls, 31 minor penalties, eight majors and three penalty shots against Charlie Rayner ... Ten policemen rushed on the ice to end the biggest of the brawls.”
The series moved to Winnipeg where Kenora won it, winning 3-1 before more than 5,000 people on April 10, scoring a 6-5 victory on two goals by each of Dick Milford and Walter (Pinkie) Melnyk on April 12, and then earning a 2-2 tie on April 13.
The Thistles stayed in Winnipeg, as the Memorial Cup was to open there on April 16.
Oshawa was in the final for the third consecutive season.
Tracy (The Fox) Shaw was again coaching the Generals, while Matt Leyden was back as the Oshawa manager.
Among those returning players who had been on the 1939 Memorial Cup team were Buddy Hellyer, brothers Norm and Jud McAtee, and goaltender Dinny McManus. Jud McAtee was the captain.
The eastern final featured Oshawa and the Verdun, Que., Maple Leafs. Oshawa had ousted the Toronto Young Rangers and Toronto Marlboros, and then had thrashed the South Porcupine Dome Miners (they were known as the Porkies), 10-1 and 10-1, sweeping the best-of-three series. Verdun had done the same to the Perth Blue Wings, winning 9-4 and 7-5.
Oshawa won the opener against Verdun, 6-3 in Toronto on April 5, and then wrapped up the best-of-three series with McManus posting the shutout in a 4-0 victory in Montreal on April 10.
"Kenora seems to have plenty of speed and a fairly strong defence but our polish and finish around the nets will beat them,” predicted Shaw.
Milford, Kenora's starry centre, stated: "We'll be outweighed in this series but that's nothing new for us -- it's been the same all year.
"Those McAtee boys looked good out there, but Benson will have them figured out for us by game time.”
The series opened in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre on April 16, with Oshawa posting a 1-0 victory behind McManus's goaltending and a goal by centre Roy Sawyer 31 seconds before the end of the second period.
"Dinny's a good boy,” Shaw said of his goaltender, "and has played some good games for us in the past two seasons but he never gave us more support than he did out there tonight.”
The game also featured a brawl, as reported by Charles Hood to the Regina Leader-Post:
"Play was rough in the early minutes. Hard play between the two teams came to a head late in the first session when Juzda, trying to bodycheck Jud McAtee of Oshawa, sent him flying into the boards. The pair rose with their fists flying and a brief free-for-all broke out.
"Six policemen rushed on the ice as the trouble started ... only the 12 players on the ice were involved.”
Elliott, the Kenora manager, wasn't concerned with the loss. After all, his boys had been hammered 7-1 by Edmonton in Game 2 of the western final.
"If we can come back from a licking like that, we're not worrying about our one-goal defeat tonight,” he said. "We'll go home with the Memorial trophy yet.”
Juzda, however, was in tears. He had been beaten by Sawyer for the game's only goal.
"I stood still as he stepped around me,” Juzda sobbed.
Oshawa went up 2-0 with a 4-1 victory on April 18, scoring twice with Juzda in the penalty box early in the first period.
Jud McAtee, at 4:11, and Orville Smith, at 5:30, counted early in the first period, both on passes from Norm McAtee with Juzda off.
Ron Wilson scored another power-play goal for Oshawa before the first period ended, this one coming with Vince Jorgenson in the penalty box.
Sawyer scored Oshawa's other goal, in the second period. Melnyk, who was back in the lineup after missing the third period of Game 1, scored for Kenora early in the third period.
"Generals have a good club but they're certainly no better than the clubs the western champs have beaten out in former years,” offered Harry Neil, who had coached the Winnipeg Monarchs to national junior titles in 1935 and 1937. "If Kenora can produce the hockey (in Game 3) that they showed us a month ago, they'll be sure of one game in the series at least.”
Kenora wasn't dead yet. The Thistles posted a 4-3 victory on April 20 before 4,500 fans to cut the Generals lead to 2-1.
"We beat 'em, boy, we beat 'em,” shouted Kenora defenceman Vic Lofvendahl, as the pain of a bruised ankle brought tears to his eyes. He had played through the pain to score twice and provide his mates with leadership.
"The boys played their best hockey in years, even if they did seem a little shaky near the end,” said Benson, "and if we can take this next one we'll be home-free.”
Melnyk and winger Eddie Dartnell also scored for Kenora, which was beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Melnyk suffered a slight concussion and was taken to hospital. Lofvendahl bruised his right ankle near the end of the first period and hardly played afterwards. Winger Nick Knott didn't play, thanks to a knee injury suffered in Game 2.
Jud McAtee figured in all three Oshawa goals, scoring twice and setting up Orville Smith for the other.
Kenora led 3-1 after the first period and 4-1 after the second. Smith and McAtee pulled the Generals to within one with eight minutes left and the Thistles were hanging on at the end, with Rayner the difference.
However, the Thistles' dream ended on April 22 with Oshawa posting a 4-2 victory in front of fewer than 3,000 fans, far short of the capacity crowds of at least 4,500 that had watched each of the first three games.
With the victory, the Generals became the first team to win the Memorial Cup in back-to-back seasons.
"Their class overcame the greater aggressiveness of the Thistles,” wrote Charles Edwards.
After a scoreless first period, Melnyk opened the scoring at 13:24 of the second period. Don Daniels tied it for Oshawa at 14:45.
Hellyer sent Oshawa out front at 2:45 of the third period, only to have Milford pull the Thistles even at 11:10.
Then, with Milford in the penalty box, Daniels, a veteran of five seasons with Oshawa, scored what proved to be the Memorial Cup-winning goal at 15:02. Sawyer added the insurance on a breakaway some 59 seconds later.
When it was over, the teams mixed and mingled in the Kenora dressing room.
Reported Hugh C. Chatterton: "Thistles hardly had time to unlace their skates before Generals rushed in to laud the fighting spirit of the Kenora boys.
"The cry of ‘three cheers' rang out for each individual player and when the turn came for Bill Juzda, the hardy Thistle blueliner, the Oshawans, many of them bearing bruises from Bill's jolting bodychecks, discarded words and hoisted the 185-pound defenceman off his feet.”
Mayor Percy Williams of Kenora, a star with the Thistles around 1910, was last seen with Sawyer's helmet on his head. Sawyer was left with a slightly oversized fedora.
"Winning Memorial Cups is just like olives -- the more you get the more you want and it gets better every time,” Shaw said.
Strangely, the Generals journeyed from Winnipeg to Regina where on April 24 they played an exhibition game against the Regina Abbott Generals.
Some 1,500 spectators gathered in the Queen City Gardens to watch Regina hammer the newly crowned champions 12-4 with speedy Grant Warwick scoring three goals and setting up two others.
As Dave Dryburgh pointed out in the Regina Leader-Post: "Of course, (Regina) had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Perhaps the Generals realize today the folly of these late-season exhibitions. No championship squad likes to take a 12-4 drubbing and it's safe to bet that Oshawa hadn't considered the possibility of such a crushing setback.”
Oh well ... the Generals traveled on to Banff for a few days of rest before they took home the spoils of victory -- the Memorial Cup.

NEXT: 1941 (Winnipeg Rangers vs. Montreal Royals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1941 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1941.html)

1941 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Rangers vs. Montreal Royals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens) and Montreal (Forum)


The reign of the Oshawa Generals was over.
The Generals, having lost in the 1938 Dominion final and having won the Memorial Cup in 1939 and 1940, came awfully close to getting to the final for a fourth straight spring.
But the roadblock was in the form of the Montreal Royals, a team led by centre Ken Mosdell, who would go on to play in the NHL with the Brooklyn Americans, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, and featuring goaltender Ross Ritchie.
The Royals drilled the Ottawa Canadians 6-1 and 12-2 to sweep a best-of-three series and advance to the best-of-five eastern final against Oshawa.
Montreal, coached by Lorne White, won the opener 7-4 on April 5 but Oshawa, getting three goals each from Roy Sawyer, Ron Wilson and Ron Nelson, hammered the Royals 10-2 in Toronto two nights later.
On April 9, the Generals were jolted 7-4 in Toronto as the Royals, as they had done in Game 1, scored five times in the third period. But Oshawa roared back to win 7-1 on April 12 before 6,500 fans in Toronto to even the series 2-2.
It all ended for the Generals on April 15 when they lost 7-4 (all three of Montreal's victories were by the same score) to the Royals, half of whom had become ill on the flight to Toronto earlier in the day, before 8,000 fans in Maple Leaf Gardens.
Amazingly, the Royals became the first team from Quebec to advance to the Memorial Cup final. This would be the 23rd Memorial Cup final.
Montreal suffered three injuries in the fifth game against Oshawa -- defenceman Bob MacFarlane was left with a badly bruised side, defenceman Bruce Ward twisted a knee and forward Buddy Farmer was scheduled for surgery to repair a broken cheekbone.
The Royals had also won the east despite having four players writing exams at McGill University during the series. Those players flew between Montreal and Toronto after each game.
Because of that situation, the Royals hoped to have the entire Memorial Cup final played in Montreal. There was even talk that the Royals wouldn't be able to ice a team if the final was held in Toronto as was being discussed.
The west, meanwhile, was represented by the Winnipeg Rangers, a team that featured Bill Mortimer who would go on to play for the 1941-42 Oshawa Generals who would lose the Memorial Cup final to the Portage la Prairie Terriers. The Rangers were captained by Hugh Millar and coached by Lawrence (Baldy) Northcott, who had played in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons and Chicago. Among the top players were Doug Baldwin (Toronto, Detroit, Chicago) and Glen Harmon, a native of Holland, Man., who would play for the Canadiens.
It came down to the Saskatoon Quakers and the Rangers in the western final for the Abbott Cup.
Saskatoon, featuring the likes of Keith Allen, Hal Laycoe, Harry Watson, Mike Shabaga and Pete Leswick, had beaten the Edmonton Athletic Club in a best-of-five series, losing Games 1 (5-2) and 4 (7-2) and taking the others, in order, 3-1, 6-5 and 2-1.
Winnipeg swept a best-of-three affair from the Port Arthur West Ends, 6-3 and 9-1.
The western final would go seven games and enthrall a lot of hockey fans.
It opened in Winnipeg on April 4 with the Rangers winning 6-4. The Quakers won 4-1 on April 7 to tie the series. On April 9, the Rangers got goals from Les Hickey and Dave Livingstone 41 seconds apart early in the second period and went on to a 3-1 victory.
The series continued in Saskatoon, with the Quakers posting a 10-5 victory -- Ken Ullyot scored four times for the home side -- on April 12. Two nights later, the Rangers won 4-3 on centre Bill Robinson's goal at 19:33 of the third period. The Rangers lost Hub Macey (back) for the rest of the season in Game 5. Bill Mortimer, out since Game 3 when he injured a shoulder, was still on the shelf. As well, spare forward Lou Medynski suffered a deep facial cut in practice and was believed lost for the season. Medynski, however, would resurface and play a crucial role before the season was done.
The Quakers evened the series on April 16, with Shabaga scoring three times and Laycoe twice in a 10-2 victory in front of fewer than 2,000 fans. That decision set up a Game 7 in Winnipeg on April 18.
And the Rangers finally won the Abbott Cup, posting a 7-3 victory before more than 5,000 fans, the largest crowd in Winnipeg that season. The Rangers scored three power-play goals en route to taking a 4-0 lead by early in the second period. Mortimer returned to action with two goals. Macey also dressed but was used sparingly.
Education was still front and centre with the Royals as the teams prepared to open the best-of-five final in Toronto.
"Four R's blocked the path that Montreal Royals hope leads to the Canadian junior hockey championship with three of them those oldtimers -- reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic -- and the fourth a Ranger team from Winnipeg,” reported The Canadian Press.
When the final opened on April 21 in Montreal, the Royals were without three players -- Ritchie, Ward and left-winger Grant Morrison -- all of whom still were writing exams.
Leith Dickie would start in place of Ritchie, with Allan Hall taking Ward's place. Johnny Horman, who would in later years become a force in Quebec junior hockey at the executive level, played in Morrison's spot.
Of more urgency was the injury to Farmer. His broken cheekbone would keep him out of the entire series. That put Allan (Bunny) Glover into the lineup, but broke up Montreal's first line of Farmer, Morrison and Bob Carragher.
The Rangers won the opener 4-2 on April 21, scoring twice in each of the first and third periods.
A 36-hour train ride got Winnipeg to Toronto just 12 hours before game time, but the Rangers showed few ill effects from their journey.
Sam Fabro, with two, Robinson and Les Hickey scored for the Rangers, with Carragher getting both Montreal goals. The Royals led 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period before Robinson tied it with 11 seconds left in the frame. The teams played a scoreless second and Winnipeg won it on goals from Fabro and Hickey in the third.
"You know,” said Fabro, who played on a line with Robinson and Hickey, "I'm only out there to do the backchecking. I scored only twice in the seven-game series with Saskatoon, although I did pick up quite a few assists. However, I suppose every guy has to have his night, and it was my turn tonight.”
Robinson, meanwhile, felt this would be a long series.
"They're unlike anything we've met so far, and we're in for a tough series,” he explained. "And we've never been bumped around quite so much.”
The scene shifted to Montreal for Game 2, which meant the Royals had all of their students back in the lineup. But there was concern about the future -- Games 3, 4 and 5, if necessary, were scheduled for Toronto. The third game was to be played on a Saturday, which wouldn't pose a problem, but the students would miss Games 4 and 5. As it turned out, it wouldn't be a problem -- all hands were on deck for the rest of the series.
On April 24, the Royals earned Quebec's very first victory in a Memorial Cup final series -- posting a 5-3 triumph on a pair of goals from Mosdell and singles from Glover, Jim Planche and Carragher, and superb goaltending from Ritchie.
Bob Ballance, Millar and Harmon replied for Winnipeg, which trailed 2-1 after one period, but led 3-2 after the second.
Millar and Harmon scored early in the second to put Winnipeg out front. But Montreal won it on third-period goals by Mosdell (at 3:35 and 6:30) and Glover (at 7:45).
"The Royals, bolstered by the return of three players who missed the first game ... through college examinations were much stronger than the club which bowed 4-2 in the initial meeting,” reported The Canadian Press.
The Rangers resumed the series lead with a 6-4 victory on April 26 before almost 9,000 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Medynski, thought done for the season when he suffered a severe facial cut during a practice prior to a game in the western final, was the hero.
Playing despite the gash not being completely healed -- a photo published in the Regina Leader-Post on April 29 shows Medynski with a huge dressing wrapped around his head -- Medynski scored the winning goal, breaking a 4-4 tie at 18:36 of the third period.
According to writer Robert Clarke: "Medynski's payoff goal came on a passing play with Bob Ballance and was fired while Royals were resting their main defence star, Bill Southwick, due to the indication that the game would go into overtime.”
Fabro put it on ice, scoring on a breakaway at 19:38.
Winnipeg also got goals form Hickey, Babe Hobday, Ballance and Millar.
Montreal got two goals from Glover and singles from Jimmy Peters and Southwick.
Clarke also reported that the two real stars were goaltenders Ritchie and Hal Thompson.
It had been decided to move the series to Montreal, rather than finish it in Toronto, and the Rangers came back to tie the series on April 28 in Montreal, scoring a 4-3 victory on goals from Morrison, with 49 seconds left in the third period, and Roland Bleau, with 25 seconds left.
There were 3,826 fans in attendance and they watched as the Rangers scored at 16:52 of the third period to take a 3-2 lead and move to within three minutes of winning the Memorial Cup.
Carragher had scored for the Royals in the first period, which preceded a scoreless second period.
Peters gave Montreal a 2-0 lead at 1:07 of the third period and the Royals seemed on their way.
But Winnipeg got three goals -- from Medynski (4:54), Mortimer (8:20) and Fabro (16:52) -- to close in on the championship.
But Fabro's tripping penalty with two minutes remaining gave Montreal its chance and the Royals didn't waste it.
Morrison stickhandled through a crowd and beat Thompson with a waist-high shot at 19:11. And Bleau scored from a scramble seconds later.
The series was back in Toronto for a fifth game on April 30 and the Rangers won it all, thanks to a 7-4 victory -- Winnipeg won the three games played in Torono, Montreal won twice at home.
It was the 12th Memorial Cup championship for the west, versus 11 for the east.
According to The Canadian Press: "The Rangers gained their triumph on the great offensive play of Bill Robinson, centre on their first line, and one of his linemates, Les Hickey. Although they couldn't have won without the work of the Robinson-Hickey combination, it was just as true that Royals would have won had it not been for the spectacular goaltending throughout of Hal Thompson of the Rangers.”
The Royals held an edge in play through two periods but trailed 4-3 thanks to Thompson's play.
Robinson, with two goals, and Hickey gave Winnipeg a 3-1 first-period lead, Morrison having scored for Montreal.
Bleau and Planche pulled the Royals even in the second before Hickey, from Robinson (who set up two goals), sent Winnipeg out front at 10:36.
That set the stage for the third period and three straight Winnipeg goals -- by Mortimer, Millar and Ballance. Carragher counted for Montreal in the game's final two minutes.
Mortimer's goal, at 9:37 of the third period with MacFarlane off for charging, proved to be the series winner.
Carragher and Hickey led the championship in points, each with nine. Carragher had five goals, and Hickey four.
"It doesn't seem real,” Thompson said.
"We had 18 good men to start with,” Northcott stated, "and we were able to throw in replacements at any time without weakening our team. Our defencemen were better because they could score. On the whole, however, the balance of power rested in goalkeeping.”
Farmer played in the final game, wearing a helmet to protect his cracked cheekbone.
"We were all pretty tired, and in my opinion that explains everything,” Farmer said.

NEXT: 1942 (Portage la Prairie Terriers vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1942 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1942.html)

1942 MEMORIAL CUP
Portage la Prairie Terriers vs. Oshawa Generals
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)


Guess what?
Yes, the Oshawa Generals were back in the Memorial Cup final in 1942 . . . for the fourth time in five years.
This time, the Generals were under the guidance of manager Matt Leyden with help from Charlie Conacher. They took over during the 1941-42 season after Tracy Shaw ran afoul of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association -- he got into an altercation with a referee -- and was hit with an indefinite suspension.
Shaw's suspension would last until May 1, 1943.
The Generals featured veterans like Red Tilson, Ron Wilson, Ron Nelson and Floyd Curry. While the Generals weren't exactly strangers to Memorial Cup play, their opponents were.
The Portage la Prairie Terriers, under coach Staff-Sgt. Addie Bell and manager Jack P. Bend, emerged as champions of Manitoba and then all of western Canada.
The Terriers, playing out of a city of 6,500 people located 56 miles west of Winnipeg, featured goaltender Gordon Bell and forward Joe Bell -- yes, they were Addie's sons and both would later play in the NHL. Bend's son, John (Lin), was also on the team; in fact, he was an alternate captain and had set a Manitoba junior scoring record with 57 regular-season points. Jack McDonald, who would also play in the NHL, was team captain.
Other Terriers who would eventually play in the NHL included Bill Gooden, Don Campbell and Billy Heindl, who had seen some action with the 1940-41 Winnipeg Rangers.
The Terriers swept past the Fort William Hurricane Rangers, 7-6, 11-4 and 15-11, while the Edmonton Maple Leafs were getting past the Regina Abbotts -- the first game was tied 2-2, Edmonton won the second 5-4, Regina took the third 7-6 and Edmonton wrapped it up with a 4-0 victory in Game 4.
The best-of-five western final for the Abbott Cup opened in Winnipeg on April 6 with Portage thumping Edmonton 13-3 before 5,000 fans. McDonald led the way with four goals and Gooden added three.
The Terriers ran their winning streak to 21 games on April 8, dumping the Maple Leafs 6-4 before 3,000 fans. This time it was Joe Bell who was the hero. Despite fighting the flu, he scored four goals. The Terriers lost Heindl, perhaps their best defenceman, when he left early with an injured leg.
The Terriers completed their sweep two nights later, posting a 7-6 victory in front of 3,000 fans. Trailing 5-4 midway in the third period, Portage scored three straight goals to take the victory. It was the Terriers' 22nd straight victory -- 11 of them in the playoffs -- and sent them to the Memorial Cup final for the first time in their 10 years of existence.
The Terriers, though, were without two of their best players -- Heindl (leg) and Joe Bell (flu) were both in hospital. With Heindl out of the lineup, Portage defencemen Jack O'Reilly and Bud Ritchie played the entire 60 minutes.
"With Ritchie and O'Reilly playing their hearts out in front of me, I couldn't let them down ... those 60-minute boys really gave me wonderful protection,” offered Gordie Bell.
In the east, meanwhile, Oshawa rolled past Ottawa's St. Patrick's College, 6-4, 7-4 and 11-5, while the Montreal Royals hammered the Halifax Canadians 12-3 after which the rest of the series was cancelled.
Oshawa then swept Montreal in the best-of-seven eastern final, winning by scores of 3-2, 4-3, 7-2 and 6-4. Game 3, played in Montreal on April 6, featured a wild donnybrook near game's end. It began with Nelson and Montreal's Bob MacFarlane banging around behind one net and turned wild when defenceman Bep Guidolin rushed in to help Nelson.
The Memorial Cup would be held in Winnipeg, opening on April 14, and Heindl and Joe Bell were expected to be ready for the Terriers.
The Generals were slight favorites when the best-of-five affair opened but it wasn't long before the Terriers had turned things around.
The Terriers opened with a 5-1 victory on April 14, surprising the more than 5,000 fans with the ease in which they won.
"The battling Terriers, minus their starry winger, Joe Bell, went all out against the Generals and went into a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period, increased it to 3-0 in the second and skated off with a convincing win,” reported The Canadian Press.
It seems no one kept track of shots on goal, but Gordie Bell, just 16 years of age, was credited with almost 50 saves in a brilliant performance.
McDonald, with three, Bend and Bobby Love scored for the Terriers. Nelson had Oshawa's lone goal, that at 6:54 of the third period with Portage out front 3-0.
"That Oshawa goal cost me $27,” said Gordie Bell, pointing out that some Portage fans had put together a shutout collection for him.
"We've won 23 straight and we're not going to quit now,” Heindl said. "We can do better than we did tonight.”
Wilson, Oshawa's veteran right winger, said: "I think we will win the series and I think it will go only four games.”
Joe Bell's bout with the flu now was a bladder infection. "The kid cried when he couldn't play,” said his dad.
Of note was this addition to the CP report: "Under new Canadian Amateur Hockey Association rules, the ice was flooded in between periods, enabling the players to skate their fastest on a smooth sheet.”
The Terriers kept on rolling when they got past the Generals 8-7 before more than 5,000 fans on April 16.
Gooden was easily the star on this night, striking for five goals and setting up two others for the Terriers.
"Oh baby! I'll never be that lucky again,” said Gooden, who also found time to get into a fight with Oshawa's Jim Galbraith. The Generals defenceman left for repairs when it was over, too.
Gooden continued: "Five goals and two assists in a game is something to dream about ...”
The Terriers got all eight goals from the line of Gooden, McDonald and Wally Stefaniw. McDonald had two goals and an assist, while Stefaniw had one goal.
Tilson scored four times for Oshawa, with singles coming from Ken Smith, Ken McNaught and Wilson.
By now, Addie Bell was feeling confident.
"We're going to finish the series (in Game 3),” he stated.
Asked why he was so confident, the coach replied: "We'll have Joe back and that will give us our two regular forward lines. That will make plenty of difference.”
The Terriers had an off-day skate the following day. They didn't really work on any weaknesses because, as Addie Bell pointed out, "we haven't any.”
The Terriers' winning streak ended at 24 games when the Generals posted an 8-4 victory on April 18 before another capacity crowd of more than 5,000 fans. It was the first time in 32 games the Terriers had lost by more than one goal.
"Facing elimination after dropping the first two encounters, Charlie Conacher's eastern titlists outchecked, outskated and trimmed Terriers at their own game of a good offensive is better than cautious defensive action,” wrote Marshall Bateman.
Defenceman Bill Mortimer, who had played with the Cup-winning Winnipeg Rangers in 1941, scored three times for Oshawa. Curry, a flashy right winger, scored twice, with singles from Smith, Wilson and Guidolin.
Joe Bell marked his return with two goals for Portage. Love and Stefaniw added one each.
Conacher used Nelson, Buck Davis and Wilson to check Stefaniw, Gooden and McDonald, with two former Regina juniors, Tilson and Smith, handling Bend, Joe Bell and Love. It paid off with McDonald and Gooden held to one assist each, while Tilson found time to set up three goals.
"We'll do the same in the next game,” offered Mortimer, the Oshawa captain. "Terriers have a good team, but I think we are a little better.”
Gooden felt that the end of the winning streak would turn out to be a good thing.
"Now we don't have to worry about that 25 games straight,” he explained. "We'll play a lot better next time. I think the boys were concentrating too much on that and it sort of got them down.”
On April 20, H.A. Jones of Winnipeg arrived at the Amphitheatre at 4 a.m. He wanted to be first in line for tickets. By 9 a.m., 2,000 people were in line. When the box office opened a short time later, an estimated 4,000 people were there.
And there were more than 5,000 people in the Amphitheatre on April 21 as the Terriers whipped the Generals 8-2 to win the series, 3-1. It was the west's 13th cup victory, to 11 for the east.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period, with Portage taking a 3-1 lead into the third.
McDonald and Bend scored three times each for Portage, with McDonald getting three in a row in the third period. Joe Bell and Stefaniw scored once each, with the latter's goal, at 18:31 of the second period, standing up as the Memorial Cup-winner.
Tilson and Smith scored for Oshawa.
Schools closed and business establishments declared a holiday as Portage la Prairie celebrated.
"Citizens trooped to the railway station, waving flags,” reported The Canadian Press. "And downtown, the city's largest theatre congratulated coach Addie Bell and his kids by flashing colored lights on a sign board.”
"A great hockey team won,” Conacher said. "They were really flying out there.”
Tilson added: "They were just too good for us and they deserved to win.”
Guidolin, Oshawa's superb 16-year-old defenceman, offered: "Our club is OK and most of us will be together again next year, so we have plenty to look forward to.”
Time would prove him correct.

NEXT: 1943 (Winnipeg Rangers vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1943 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1943.html)

1943 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Rangers vs. Oshawa Generals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


Yes, the Oshawa Generals were back in 1943.
It was their fifth visit to the Memorial Cup final in six years, although they had only the victories of 1939 and 1940 to show for their troubles.
This time, the Generals would find themselves up against the Winnipeg Rangers, a team that had last appeared in the Memorial Cup final in 1941 when it had won it all.
Oshawa again was coached by Charlie Conacher. He had stepped in as the interim coach the previous season when Tracy (The Fox) Shaw was suspended after an altercation involving a referee. During the 1943 Memorial Cup final, the CAHA would announce that Shaw's suspension would be lifted as of May 1, 1943.
In the eastern playdowns, the Montreal Junior Canadiens advanced to the final by sweeping Sydney, N.S., 14-3 and 5-3.
Oshawa, meanwhile, had sidelined a team from Hamilton and then the Brantford Lions. The Generals then dismantled Ottawa's St. Patrick's College, 12-1 and 7-2, to earn the other berth in the best-of-five eastern final.
That final was no contest, Oshawa winning three straight -- 9-2, 6-4 and 9-1.
The Rangers were coached by Bob Kinnear. Their best player was arguably Cal Gardner, who would go on to a solid NHL career. Bill Boorman was the team captain.
Also on the roster were the likes of Church Russell, Frank Mathers (a broken ankle kept him out of the final), Eddie Kullman, goaltender Doug (Stonewall) Jackson and Tom Fowler, all of whom would play in NHL. Ben Juzda -- Bill's brother -- played for the Rangers, as did Bill Tindall, who would later play for the Winnipeg Monarchs, a team that would qualify for the 1946 Memorial Cup final.
As a note of interest, most of the Rangers players came out of the ranks of the midget Winnipeg Excelsiors, who were coached by legendary Winnipeg newspaperman Vince Leah.
On the western playoff trail, the Edmonton Canadians swept the Trail Tigers, 5-2 and 4-3, and then lost 3-2 and 4-2 to the Saskatoon Quakers. At the same time, the Rangers swept the Fort William Hurricanes -- 7-5, 7-3 and 5-4.
The Rangers then sidelined Saskatoon -- winning Games 1 and 2 by scores of 12-8 and 7-2, losing 12-4, and then wrapping it up with a 3-2 victory.
The Memorial Cup final, a best-of-seven affair, was played in its entirety at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Oshawa right-winger Floyd Curry (knee) was the only regular player in doubt for the opener.
Conacher admitted he didn't know much about the Rangers.
"We don't need to scout them anyway,” he said. "They'll have to be pretty good to catch up to my kids, I think.”
Conacher refused to name his starting goaltender, an oddity for a period in hockey when virtually every team played one goaltender almost all of the time. This season, however, Conacher had alternated Regina native Harvey Bennett and Johnny Marois. Under that rotation system, it was Marois' turn, but Conacher wasn't saying anything. (Bennett, however, would start all six games.)
The Rangers, the 11th Manitoba team to represent the west in the final, included seven players who were in the navy -- Russell, Ritchie McDonald, Bill Vickers, Joe Peterson, Jack (Smiley) Irvine (he replaced Mathers in the final), Jackson, and Bill Boorman -- and one -- Eddie Coleman -- awaiting his call from the RCAF.
Also helping out was Lawrence (Baldy) Northcott. The coach of the Rangers when they won the 1941 Memorial Cup, Northcott joined the Rangers in an advisory capacity for the 1943 final.
The Rangers didn't make a lot of noise before this series started, preferring to let the Generals do the talking.
"This may not be the best Generals team to ever go into a Memorial Cup final,” offered Oshawa manager Matt Leyden, "but in my opinion it's the best-balanced club we've ever had.”
Conacher added: "Our formula will be speed and plenty of it when we meet the Rangers. Just keep pouring it on will be our motto.”
Red Tilson and Ken Smith, two former Regina juniors, combined with Curry on Oshawa's top line. The second line featured Charles (Chuck) Scherza, Nelson and Bill Ezinicki.
Ed Reigle, Ross Johnstone and Frank Bennett got most of the work on defence.
"Regardless of all the reports we have heard about Oshawa's power,” Kinnear said, "our boys are certain to make it a real series.”
Which is just what they did.
Suffice to say the Generals were stunned when the Rangers won the opener 6-5 before 12,739 fans in Maple Leaf Gardens on April 17.
"The fast-skating Winnipeg squad back-checked the powerful eastern Canadian champions dizzy almost from bell to bell and cut loose with an all-out offensive in the second period of a thrill-packed game to score four goals which clinched the victory,” reported The Canadian Press.
Coleman and Russell scored twice each for Winnipeg, which trailed 2-1 after the first period but scored the only four goals of the second period. Boorman and Gardner added one each for the Rangers. Oshawa got two first-period goals from Scherza, while Nelson, with two, and Smith scored in the third.
The Generals were without Curry and now were admitting his knee injury might keep him out of the entire series.
"The fans saw a real hockey game out there and we're glad,” offered Winnipeg manager Scotty Oliver. "We just came down here to do our best. We haven't got any big ideas. That's about all there is to say.”
Conacher felt his club had a bad case of overconfidence.
"They probably thought all they had to do was to go through the motions,” he said, "particularly after they moved into a 2-0 lead in the first period.”
After the game, a telegram was read in the Rangers' dressing room: "Win this one for Ronnie Ward.”
Ward, a former Rangers player, was in hospital with severe burns suffered when his RCAF trainer crashed 10 months previous near Dafoe, Sask.
A hush fell over the room as the telegram was read. Then, someone said: "Well, we did, didn't we?” And then the cheering started.
Oshawa got back on track on April 19, whipping the Rangers 6-2 before 9,402 fans.
Tilson scored twice and set up another for the Generals, who got singles from Ezinicki (he also had two assists), Russ Johnstone, Scherza and Smith. Oshawa also had Curry dressed but he didn't play much.
Peterson and Gardner scored for Winnipeg, which trailed 3-1 and 4-2 at the period breaks.
By now, the Generals had decided not to do their bragging out loud.
"Wait until we win that Memorial Cup and then you'll hear some real shouting,” Conacher said. "(The Rangers) have got a real good team and don't let anybody kid you about that.”
Kinnear, meanwhile, was planning the next day's practice.
"We played a terrible game,” he said. "Work is the only thing to get them back clicking again.”
The Generals had Curry's leg examined on the off-day and it was discovered it wasn't healing all that well. Conacher then chose to use Don Batten in Curry's place. Batten was the only Oshawa native in the Generals' lineup.
The Generals went up 2-1 on April 21, posting a 5-3 victory in front of 10,872 fans.
Ezinicki, a Winnipeg native who would make a name for himself with the Toronto Maple Leafs, struck for three Oshawa goals, while Batten got the other two, scoring them six seconds apart late in the second period to put his mates up 3-0.
Irvine, Boorman and Coleman replied for Winnipeg in the third period, cutting Oshawa's lead from 4-0 to 4-3. But Ezinicki put it away with seven minutes left to play.
"Despite the loss,” reported The Canadian Press, "the Rangers whooped it up for a full 15 minutes. In contrast, the Generals took the victory that moved them ahead in the series calmly.”
"That was a real hockey game out there,” Conacher said. "You couldn't have watched better hockey in a Stanley Cup final. I'm proud of the way my kids came through. But they've still got a tough fight on their hands. These Ranger boys don't quit -- they fight until they're ready to drop.”
Oshawa was starting to look a little worn. Already without Curry, Bennett, a defenceman, and Scherza, a winger, were now nursing sore knees. (Scherza’s son, Ron, would be the general manager of the Selkirk Steelers who would win the Centennial Cup, as Canadian junior A champions, in 1974.)
There were 13,868 fans in Maple Leaf Gardens for Game 4 on April 24 and they saw the free-wheeling Rangers roar to a 7-4 victory.
Oshawa led 1-0 on Nelson's first-period goal when Winnipeg exploded for three quick goals early in the second period. Irvine, Boorman and Gardner scored before the period was half over and the Rangers were on their way.
Smith narrowed the lead to 3-1 at 11:30, but Vickers and Coleman replied and the Rangers led 5-2.
Vickers and Irvine scored again in the third period to up the lead to 7-2, before Smith and Tilson pulled Oshawa to within three.
Oshawa tried to use Curry again, but it didn't work out. Batten would be back in the lineup for Game 5.
"The Rangers held an edge in the offensive exchanges all the way and were bulwarked by Jackson's brilliant display in goal when the Generals did get close,” reported The Canadian Press. "Ticketed for future delivery to the Chicago Black Hawks of the National league, the teen-aged youngster performed in big league fashion.”
"That's one of the hardest games I've ever played,” Jackson said. "They've certainly got a good team, but we whipped them and we can do it enough times to win the series.”
Which is just what happened on April 26 when the Rangers won 7-3 in front of 12,420 fans to take a 3-2 lead.
Winnipeg led 1-0 after the first period on Gardner's goal, and 2-1 after the second as McDonald and Reigle exchanged goals. Ezinicki tied it early in the third before Winnipeg exploded, getting a goal from Gardner and a pair from Russell in less than six minutes to go up 5-2.
Tilson cut the lead to 5-3 only to have Coleman and Gardner score in the game's final minute.
"I'm so darn tired I can hardly stand up,” Kinnear said. "We really showed them out there, didn't we? I think we'll take it now. Possibly not in the next game. But we'll take it.”
And that's just what happened on April 28 as the Rangers won 6-3 before 14,485 fans.
"The western Canada champions won the game in the third period with a scoring outburst which produced three goals, while the Generals faltered in the closing minutes before the relentless offensive,” reported The Canadian Press.
Coleman scored three times and Gardner added two for Winnipeg. But it was Peterson who broke a 3-3 tie in the third period with what turned out to be the Memorial Cup-winning goal.
Johnstone, Ezinicki and Tilson replied for the Generals.
"Boy oh boy, wouldn't it have been awful if I'd missed that shot,” said Peterson, who finished off a brilliant rink-length dash by whipping the puck past Harvey Bennett.
Paid attendance for the six games was 73,867 -- an average of 12,311, which was a record for amateur hockey in Canada.

NEXT: 1944 (Trail Smoke Eaters vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1944 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1944.html/)

1944 MEMORIAL CUP
Trail Smoke Eaters vs. Oshawa Generals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


Bob Kinnear, who had coached the Winnipeg Rangers to the 1943 Memorial Cup title, didn't mince any words prior to the 1944 event.
"Oshawa by a mile,” Kinnear said. "Junior hockey in western Canada is not what it used to be. Most junior teams of previous years would have beaten either one of the two teams, Trail or Port Arthur, who have just concluded the western Canada playoffs.
"When you stop to think that most of these kids still have two or three years of junior hockey left, and that Oshawa is about two years older per man, is it any wonder I say Oshawa?”
It was the Trail Smoke Eaters and, yes, the Oshawa Generals for the 1944 Memorial Cup, with all games played at Maple Leaf Gardens. Oshawa won the Ontario title for the seventh straight season and was into its sixth national final in those seven seasons.
This Oshawa bunch was arguably as good as any junior team ever to arrive on the scene.
Coached by Charlie Conacher and with Matt Leyden still the manager, these Generals were loaded with talent.
Left-winger Ken Smith, originally from Moose Jaw, would play seven seasons with the Boston Bruins. Goaltender Harvey Bennett of Edington, Sask., played with Boston in 1944-45. The other goaltender, Johnny Marois, saw action with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks. Defenceman Bob Dawes of Saskatoon played for Toronto and the Montreal Canadiens. Right-winger Floyd Curry ended up spending 10 seasons with the Canadiens. Defenceman Bill Ezinicki spent nine seasons in the NHL, with Toronto, Boston and the New York Rangers.
On top of all that, the Generals added three players from the St. Michael's Majors -- left-winger Ted Lindsay, who would play 17 seasons in the NHL, 14 with the Detroit Red Wings and three with Chicago; defenceman Gus Mortson, who would spend six seasons in Toronto and seven in Chicago; and, David Bauer, who is today better remembered as Father David Bauer and who had a longtime involvement with Canada's Olympic hockey program.
Oshawa didn't have a whole lot of trouble qualifying for the Memorial Cup, although the Montreal Royals were able to at least keep the games close.
Oshawa took out St. Mike's, winning a best-of-seven series 4-1, and then whipped the University of Ottawa, 10-3 and 11-1 to sweep a best-of-three affair. That put the Generals in the east final against the Royals, who had advanced when the Amherst, N.S., Ramblers forfeited.
In the east final, a best-of-five affair, the Generals won the first two games, 6-3 and 3-2, lost the third 5-4 when Montreal scored twice in the last five minutes of the third period, and wrapped it up with a 5-3 victory.
Meanwhile, the Trail Smoke Eaters were stumbling along the western playoff trail.
Coached by Gerry Thomson, and starring 16-year-old goaltender Bev Bentley, nephew of Chicago scoring ace Doug Bentley, the Smoke Eaters were anything but dominating.
They swept a best-of-three series from the Edmonton Canadians, winning 6-3 and 6-1, and moved on to meet the Regina Commandos.
Trail ended up winning a best-of-five series in five games, even though the teams played eight games. That's right -- eight games.
The first three games of the series ended up being tossed out when Paul Mahara, a Trail player, was found to be ineligible. In fact, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association ended up suspending Mahara from organized hockey for three years for "twice falsifying baptismal papers.” Only a signed confession by Mahara kept the CAHA from hitting him with the maximum five-year suspension.
The Commandos then came awfully close to ousting Trail, winning the first two games, 4-3 in overtime and 1-0, only to have the Smokies roar back to win three in a row -- 7-2, 6-4 and 5-0.
In the meantime, the Port Arthur Flyers were eliminating a St. James Canadians team that included future NHL coach Fred Shero. St. James won the opener of the best-of-five series 7-4, but Trail then won three in a row, 5-2, 6-2 and 4-2.
In the best-of-five west final, it was Trail over Port Arthur in straight games -- 4-2, 4-3 and 3-2 -- and the Smoke Eaters headed for Toronto having won seven straight games.
With an average age of 17.5 years, it was said that the Smokies were the youngest team to ever represent the west. They were also the first team from B.C. to reach the Memorial Cup final which was about to be contested for the 26th time.
"I'd like to look over this Oshawa club before saying how we'll stack up,” Thomson said. "We've heard a lot about them and I'm anxious to see what they've got.”
One report prior to the series opening noted: "The Trail team has astounded many who have watched them on their way to the Canadian finals. They are a strange team in these days of strange ‘military replacements' -- the Smokies haven't added a single player since they started their hockey campaign in November.”
Still, the Smoke Eaters went in on a high note as they were wearing brand new sweaters and socks. When Thomson took the jerseys into a Toronto sporting goods store to have new numbers sewn on, Charlie Watson, a prominent Toronto sportsman, "noticed the ragged sweaters and donated 15 new sweaters and 15 new pairs of stockings to the team.”
The best-of-seven final opened on April 15 in front of 14,643 fans.
Ezinicki scored just seven seconds into the game and that pretty much set the tone, not only for the first game, which the Generals won 9-2, but for the series.
"Oshawa Generals had too much power, speed and polish . . .,” reported The Canadian Press. "Smoke Eaters fought gamely, but appeared nervous and were unable to keep up with Generals on their fast, ganging attacks.”
Oshawa held period leads of 4-1 and 7-2.
Smith led Oshawa with three goals, while Bob Love scored twice. Lindsay, Curry and Bill Barker added one each, while Ezinicki chipped in with three assists.
Jake McLeod and Lorne Depaolis replied for Trail.
When it was over, though, they were singing the praises of Bentley.
"Star of the game,” read the CP report, "was 16-year-old Bev Bentley in the Trail goal. He held off the smooth-skating Generals almost single-handed, kicking and batting away dozens of shots that poured at him from all angles . . . without Bentley the score probably would have been doubled.”
In the Oshawa dressing room, Conacher went out on a limb.
"I think we can take them in four straight,” he said.
The Generals went up 2-0 on April 17, thanks to a 5-2 victory before 7,474 fans.
Eddie Miller got Trail on the board first, early in the first period, but Smith tied it for Oshawa before the frame ended.
After that it was all Oshawa -- Ezinicki and Curry scored in the second period, and Lindsay and Mortson found the range in the third before Depaolis ended the night's scoring late in the third.
"It seems they're in on me all the time,” Bentley said. "Their shots aren't so tough, but when everybody piles in front of the net I can't see the puck. Oh well, you can't stop them all. And 5-2 wasn't bad.”
Thomson said: "You can tell the folks back home we're not beaten yet. The Generals have a strong club, but we were in a tough spot against Regina when we had to win three straight and the kids came through.”
Except that the Smokies hadn't seen anything yet.
Dave Dryburgh, writing in the Regina Leader-Post, noted: "Oshawa has finally come up with a team that isn't faltering on the home stretch. This bunch of Generals can wheel and have the poise of National leaguers.”
And wheel they did. The score on April 19, in front of 7,138 fans, was 15-4.
The Generals, who had 67 shots on goal, held a slim 3-2 lead after one period but erupted for nine second-period goals, including four in a 70-second stretch.
Thomson took out Bentley at that point, and inserted backup Howard Wilson.
"Generals found him just as much to their liking as Bentley,” The Canadian Press reported, "and out of three shots they pasted at him two went in for goals.”
Bentley was back in for the third period.
Smith led the scoring parade with three goals and four assists. Love and Dawes added three goals each, with Curry scoing twice. Singles came from Lindsay, Barker, Ezinicki and Johnny Chenier as everyone in the Oshawa lineup, with the exception of goaltender Harvey Bennett and defenceman Bert Shewchuck, figured in the scoring.
Roy Kelly, Frank Turik, Harvey Ross and Dick Butler scored for Trail.
"All I can say is that we'll be in there battling again (in Game 4),” Thomson said. "The team is too young and inexperienced, but I'm not at all disappointed in them. In fact, I'm quite proud of them. They've got lots of guts.”
The Smokies ran out of players before Game 4. Injuries to Turik (arm), Depaolis (ankle) and Mark Marquess (shoulder) left Trail short of players. So the CAHA allowed the Smoke Eaters to add three players from St. Mike's. Coming on board: Johnny McCormick, Jim Thomson and Bobby Schnurr.
They didn't help.
Oshawa wrapped up the Memorial Cup with an 11-4 victory before 7,929 fans on April 22.
The teams were tied 3-3 after one period and Oshawa led 4-3 heading into the third as the Smoke Eaters tried to hang in there. But they ran out of gas and were outscored 7-1 in the third period.
Smith was the big gun, again, this time with three goals and three assists (he totalled 10 goals and eight assists in the four games). Curry, Love and Lindsay scored twice each, with singles coming from Ezinicki and Don Batten.
Kelly, McCormick, Schnurr and Butler scored for Trail.
The Memorial Cup-winning goal went to Smith. His goal at 4:46 of the third period put Oshawa out front 5-3.
Oshawa outscored Trail 40-12 in the series.
Kinnear had been right.
About the only thing missing from Oshawa's victory was Albert (Red) Tilson. He had been part of six consecutive OHA championships with the Generals (1938-43), but missed 1944 because he was overseas. Tilson never came home.
The Red Tilson Trophy, established by The Globe and Mail, has gone annually to the regular season's most outstanding player since 1945.

NEXT: 1945 (Moose Jaw Canucks vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1945 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1945.html/)

1945 MEMORIAL CUP
Moose Jaw Canucks vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


A couple of well-known NHL veterans met up in the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final which was played in its entirety at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Joe Primeau, a member of the Kid Line that had sparked the Toronto Maple Leafs to the 1932 Stanley Cup title, was at the helm of Toronto St. Michael’s Majors (St. Mike's as they were known), while Roy Bentley, one of the famed brothers from Delisle, Sask., worked the bench for the Moose Jaw Canucks.
The pressure was on the Canucks as Saskatchewan hadn't won a Memorial Cup since 1930, the last time the Regina Pats turned the trick.
"Is this Moose Jaw club good enough to win down east?” asked Ted Allan of the Winnipeg Tribune. "Well, all I can say is that Canucks are a very good buy at the 3-1 odds which St. Mike's supporters are said to be offering. Unquestionably, Canucks are better equipped to go up against St. Mike's than our Monarchs.”
Moose Jaw went in to Maple Leaf Gardens with a playoff record of 15 wins against just one loss, having scored 110 goals and allowed 40.
St. Mike's advanced by bumping off the Montreal Royals in six games in the best-of-seven eastern final. They won the sixth game 7-4 behind Joe Sadler's three goals in front of 10,548 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens on April 11.
Five of the St. Mike's players had junior experience in the west -- Jimmy Thomson, Bob Gray and Johnny Arundel were from Winnipeg; Frank Turik had played the previous season for the Trail Smoke Eaters; and, Johnny McCormack was from Edmonton.
Going into the final, the Canucks were concerned that they had lost Gerry Couture, their best player. A medical student at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, it was expected he would stay behind to write exams.
But darned if he didn't show up in Toronto ... in the red-and-white of the Detroit Red Wings. Couture, 19, played on a line with centre Jud McAtee, a former Oshawa Generals star, and 18-year-old rookie left-winger Ted Lindsay in a 1-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Stanley Cup final game.
"He is a good boy and we were hard up,” explained Detroit coach Jack Adams, adding that Couture was free to return to the Canucks if he wished.
Bentley said he would use Couture so long as the CAHA felt he was still eligible.
St. Mike's won Game 1 by an 8-5 count before 12,420 fans on April 14.
"Beaten only four times in 38 previous starts this season, coach Joe Primeau's class-laden collegians struck swiftly for two goals in the first eight minutes, held Moose Jaw at bay through a bristling second period and sealed the issue with three rapid-fire goals early in the third,” reported The Canadian Press.
Tod Sloan and Thomson sent St. Mike's out front 2-0, before Bert Olmstead got Moose Jaw on the board. Turik's goal sent St. Mike's into the second period with a 3-1 lead.
Olmstead promptly scored twice to open the second period, only to have St. Mike's regain its two-goal lead on scores by McCormack and Gus Mortson.
Len Costello, Mortson and Sadler upped St. Mike's lead to 8-3 in the third before Moose Jaw made it respectable on goals by 17-year-old Metro Prystai and Frank Ashworth.
Couture was not in Moose Jaw's lineup; instead, he played with Detroit in a 5-3 victory over Toronto. It was Detroit's first victory, after three losses, in the Stanley Cup final.
Moose Jaw turned the tables on April 16, dazzling 12,399 spectators with a 5-3 victory to even the series 1-1.
"Saturday's horrible nightmare was completely erased on Monday as Canucks took charge of the traffic lights, stared Toronto's fancy St. Mike's in the eye and challenged them to do their darndest,” wrote Dave Dryburgh in the Regina Leader-Post. "The eastern champs didn't have it and Canucks scampered home with a 5-3 decision that wasn't exactly easy to pick up. But it wasn't a toughie, either.”
Sadler and Prystai exchanged first-period goals, with Frank Ashworth giving Moose Jaw a 2-1 lead midway in the second. Sloan tied it at 17:34 only to have (Hurricane) Lou Hauck put Moose Jaw ahead, off a pretty feed from Prystai, at 18:13.
Clarence Marquess upped the Canucks' lead to 4-2 in the opening minute of the third. Sloan cut into the deficit midway in the third period, but Marquess wrapped it up just 17 seconds later.
"We haven't much to talk about but I think we'll come back Wednesday,” Primeau said.
He was right.
On April 18, before 14,032 fans, St. Mike's overwhelmed Moose Jaw in taking a 6-3 victory and a 2-1 edge in the series.
McCormack struck twice for St. Mike's in the game's first eight minutes. Thomson added two more before the first period ended and St. Mike's took a 4-0 edge into the second.
Doug Toole and Ashworth got Moose Jaw back in it, only to have Sloan make it 5-2 at 11:34. Hauck, however, struck before the period ended and it was 5-3 going into the third.
Costello finished the scoring midway in the third.
Officials with Maple Leaf Gardens were so pleased with the attendance to date that the Canucks were handed a bonus cheque for $500. They would have preferred a victory or two.
By now, the Canucks were saying they had forgotten all about Couture. He was still with the Red Wings, who now had two wins in the Stanley Cup final.
And by now the Canucks had been bitten by the injury bug -- Ashworth (leg), Toole and Dick Butler (back) were all shelved.
Noted Dryburgh of Ashworth: "The wizard of stickhandling from Notre Dame is a hopeless cripple.”
With the junior final and the Stanley Cup final on at the same time, Dryburgh noted: "Despite injuries and what not, the ticket situation hasn't improved. It is a vexing and exhausting problem.
"As of this time, a person might secure a ducat for the junior matinee that would enable him to climb on the Gardens roof and view the proceedings through a periscope. For the Stanley Cup game in the evening, the closest standing room available is at the corner of Yonge and Carlton streets, two blocks away from the main entrance.
"But still the telephones ring.
"The Royal York switchboard operators are threatening to install a direct line to our quarters and have laid a charge of unfair tactics to the management. We're taking the punishment in two-hour shifts up in the rooms and outlasting the operators who are toiling on six-hour stretches.
"By actual count, well, almost, on Friday, 39,000 former Moose Jaw citizens, 339 Dryburghs, who all claim relationship, 416 Hendersons, who swear they rocked Cliff on their knees when he was a youngster, and 117 sundry individuals with even more elaborate stories, placed a bid for ducats.
"New York's Grand Central Station is a lonesome spot compared to this.”
St. Mike's took a 3-1 series lead on April 22 with a 4-3 victory over the Canucks, who had taken an early 2-0 lead.
St. Mike's, which hadn't won the national title since 1934, thrilled the crowd of 12,740 with the come-from-behind victory.
Jackie Miller gave Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead in the game's first minute and Ralph Nattrass made it 2-0 some 13 minutes later. Turik, who would score three times, cut into the deficit before the period ended.
Thomson and Turik scored in the second period to give St. Mike's the lead. Hauck tied it at 17:56, only to have Turik put St. Mike's back out front with 15 seconds left in the stanza. The third period was scoreless.
By this time the Leafs had won the Stanley Cup in seven games. Couture was still with the Red Wings. He never did return to the Moose Jaw lineup.
The very next night, April 23, St. Mike's wrapped it up with a 7-2 victory before 13,715 fans.
Dryburgh wrote: "Canucks knew they were at the end of the trail very soon after the puck was dropped. They tried to break into a gallop, found that the old zip was missing and all the encouragement that 14,000 spectators provided failed to produce the spark that would make the red-and-white Moose Jaw flyers flame again.”
CP wrote: "Before 13,715 paid admissions, Leo Gravelle paced the powerful Irish machine to its first national championship since 1934 with three goals. Frank Turik, 19-year-old Trail, B.C., product, accounted for two and the others went to Gus Mortson and Johnny McCormack.”
Olmstead got Moose Jaw's first goal but by that time the Canucks trailed 5-1 in the final minute of the second period. Marquess had Moose Jaw's other goal.
The Memorial Cup-winner? It came from Gravelle just 34 seconds into the second period.
Paid attendance for the five games was 65,437, which exceeded the Maple Leaf Gardens junior record for five games (59,301) that had been set in 1943 when the Winnipeg Rangers tangled with the Oshawa Generals. That 1943 series still held the six-game record of 73,867.

NEXT: 1946 (Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1946 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1946.html/)

1946 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


The 1946 Memorial Cup drew to a conclusion the first hockey season following the end of the Second World War.
Canada lost a lot of young men, many of them hockey players, on the battlefields of Europe. And as the 1945-46 hockey season wound down, it was as though a country had decided to rediscover itself in its arenas.
The 1946 Memorial Cup would feature the old Irish college from Toronto, St. Michael's, against the Winnipeg Monarchs.
But the road to Maple Leaf Gardens, site of what would be a thrilling best-of-seven series that would go the distance, was quite interesting.
In Eastern Canada, St. Patrick's College of Ottawa swept a best-of-three series from Halifax St. Mary's, 9-5 and 11-2, only to fall 11-3 and 10-6 to Montreal Junior Canadiens, coached by Wilf Cude, in a best-of-three semifinal.
St. Mike's ousted the Oshawa Generals of coach Charlie Conacher in six games in a best-of-seven series. The Generals actually held a 2-1 lead before losing three straight -- 4-2, 4-2 and 9-0.
That put St. Mike's, coached by former NHL star Joe Primeau and now oftentimes referred to as the Saints, into a best-of-three provincial final with the Copper Cliff Redmen, coached by Jim Dewey.
The Redmen had sidelined the Porcupine Combines, the first junior team they had played all season. Copper Cliff had played in a senior league in Sudbury, finishing with a 3-5-1 record. You're right ... it was no contest. St. Mike's won this one 13-2 and 8-1 and then won the eastern final from Montreal, winning a best-of-five series in straight games.
St. Mike's took the opener 7-2 before more than 7,000 fans in Montreal. Tod Sloan scored three times as St. Mike's won the second game 8-2 before more than 12,000 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens. St. Michael's took Game 3, 6-5, as Johnny Blute, on passes from Leonard (Red) Kelly and Fleming Mackell, broke a 5-5 tie late in the third period before 6,934 fans.
In Western Canada, it appeared for a while that the Edmonton Canadians were going to grab the Abbott Cup.
The Canadians first took a best-of-five series from the Nanaimo Clippers in four games, losing the opener 4-3 and then taking three in a row _ 4-1, 7-0 and 6-3.
Edmonton, under coach Earl Robertson, then took five games to eliminate the Moose Jaw Canucks from a best-of-seven series. Edmonton went up 2-0 with 7-4 and 7-6 victories, lost 10-4, and then finished off the Canucks, 5-4 and 4-3.
That last game was played in Regina's Queen City Gardens and draw a paid crowd of 6,672 fans (officials estimated there were at least 7,000 fans in the building), the biggest crowd in western Canadian junior hockey history. A 12-coach special train brought in some 900 Moose Jaw fans. The previous single-game record, of 6,300, had belonged to Edmonton.
Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Monarchs, of coach Walter Monson, advanced to the Abbott Cup final against Edmonton by winning a best-of-seven series from the Port Arthur Flyers. Port Arthur took the opener 5-4, only to lose the next four -- 5-4, 7-3, 5-4 and 8-3.
The Abbott Cup final, a best-of-seven affair, belonged to Winnipeg, although Edmonton took Game 1, 4-2. The Monarchs won the next four -- 5-1, 6-3, 5-3 and 9-2.
During the western final there was talk, perhaps for the first time, that these games should be available on radio throughout western Canada.
"As it stands,” wrote Dave Dryburgh in the Regina Leader-Post, "Foster Hewitt has the contract to sell all rights for Memorial and Allan cup games. He handles the job on a percentage basis and probably does all right down east where he is on the inside track. But Foster doesn't know the western picture and nothing is done about it.
"Even if it costs money, the CAHA should make an effort to broadcast all its important games. The association has an obligation to the public. It takes overall provincial winners and moves them around the country -- often to centres where rich gates are gathered in. The fans back home are entitled to some compensation.
"After all, the fans built the hockey teams that made the CAHA the powerful and wealthy organization it is today.”
The Monarchs were sparked by four University of Manitoba students -- forwards Clint Albright, Don McRae, Al Buchanan and Hy Beatty. Buchanan was the team captain. And as they prepared for the Memorial Cup they were uncertain as to whether defenceman Bill Tindall would be able to get time off from his job.
McRae and Albright didn't travel to Toronto with their teammates. They stayed home to write exams, but got to Toronto in time for Game 1.
Tindall got there too, as he was finally able to arrange for time away from his job. Tindall keyed a defence corps that included Tom Rockey and Laurie May. They relied on goaltender Jack Gibson.
Winnipeg's top forward line featured McRae, Harry Taylor and Gord Fashoway.
Prior to the series a Winnipeg report noted that Monson "expects the series to go close to seven games while confident that he has a squad that is capable of winning the prized mug.”
Primeau's club, meanwhile, could boast of Pat Boehmer in goal, defencemen like Kelly, and forwards like Mackell, who was but 16 years of age, Les Costello and Sloan.
The two teams had played two early-season games, with Winnipeg winning the first 2-1 and St. Michael's taking the second 5-4. It seemed, then, that these were two evenly-matched teams.
In fact, about all that was certain was this -- hockey fever had Toronto by the throat. Before the series even began there was talk of a new Memorial Cup attendance record. More than 30,000 ticket applications had been received for Game 1. A year earlier, St. Mike's and Moose Jaw had drawn 65,437 fans to five games, an average of 13,087. The Maple Leaf Gardens attendance record for a junior game was 15,065, set when St. Michael's and Galt Biltmores closed out the 1945-46 regular season.
In case you were wondering, the CAHA, according to a Canadian Press report from Toronto, "provides transportation and berths for the travelling teams and allows $120 a day while the club is staying in a hotel and $90 a day while travelling. The home team is allowed $100 per game and the visiting club $50 per game for incidental expenses.
"In the final series ... the clubs will receive a bonus of $500 for qualifying. In addition, they share in division of the profits, with each club participating in the series receiving an allowance in accordance with the number of games played in CAHA competition.”
Just prior to the start of Game 1, Canadian Press reported that one Winnipeg supporter "had $4,000 in cash to back up his belief and was overjoyed when he found the odds were two to one against the Monarchs in the first game.”
Monson felt his charges were ready.
"We're better than we were at Christmas,” he said. "We're sharp right now, and I'm not worrying about their performance. They'll do all right.”
St. Mike's had made two previous Memorial Cup final appearances, beating the Edmonton Athletic Club in 1934 and Moose Jaw in 1945.
The Monarchs also had two titles to their credit, having beaten the Sudbury Wolves in 1935 and Copper Cliff in 1937.
The series opened on Saturday, April 13, and the Monarchs scored a 3-2 victory before "a roaring crowd of 14,000.”
Experts, according to one report, "had set pregame odds of 8-5 on the east for the 28th renewal of the cup final.”
Winnipeg scored the first period's only two goals, those coming from Taylor (6:48) and McRae (14:58), who was set up by Taylor.
Eddie Sandford scored for St. Mike's in the second period, the only shot to beat Gibson who would later say: "I sure was lucky half-a-dozen times. Hope it holds.”
Winnipeg took a 3-1 lead at 4:40 of the third period when George Robertson, on assists from Taylor and McRae, beat Boehmer from a scramble.
Sloan, the Ontario Hockey Association's regular-season scoring champion, rounded out the scoring at 14:07.
"Gee, I'm tired,” Sloan said afterwards, echoing the sentiments of both players who had participated in what was a speedy, hard-fought battle.
"It's a keen series and a tough game to lose,” Primeau said. "They play a close-checking, fast-skating game and never seemed to tire.
"But I honestly think we can take them. It may have to go the limit, but I think we'll retain the cup.”
Monson offered: "They're a solid team and there's still a whole series to play. The lads fought hard -- the way they should -- and I've every reason to believe they'll come through again.”
Two nights later, on April 15, St. Michael's evened it up with a 5-3 victory before 14,263 fans.
"That's the best thing that could have happened,” Monson said of his club losing the game. "Now they know how they've got to play to win. That's probably the best hockey St. Mike's ever played and there's a good chance they won't do it again.”
The Monarchs, who fell behind 2-0 in the first period and trailed 4-1 in the second, got back into this one on goals by Eddie Marchant and Robertson near the midway point of the third period.
Only a goal by Sloan at 19:01 of the final period thwarted the Winnipeg comeback.
Sloan finished with two goals and an assist, while Mackell scored once and set up two others.
Blute and Bobby Paul had the Saints' first-period goals, before Taylor halved the deficit at 18:35.
Mackell and Sloan upped it to 4-1 late in the second period and set the stage for Marchant (who replaced Gordon Scott in the Winnipeg lineup) and Robertson.
Canadian Press reported: "Although the game was bruising, with the Toronto team especially trying to bodycheck Monarchs and cut down their speed, only two minor penalties were called -- one to each team -- and both were in the first period.”
Maurice Smith of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote: "St. Mike's pulled every trick they could on Monarchs and got away with a lot of stuff that would have drawn penalties in Winnipeg. St. Mike's, apparently under orders, really roughed it up.”
An off-day followed -- the Monarchs were back in Maple Leaf Gardens anyway as Monson took them to watch Willie Joyce and Jimmy Hatcher battle in a lightweight boxing match.
Game 3 was played on April 17, with St. Mike's winning 7-3 to take a 2-1 edge in games. Suddenly, the Saints were seen as distinct favorites.
Winnipeg outshot the Toronto team 38-26, before what was said to be just under 15,000 fans, but St. Mike's got a big game from Boehmer and had a lot more polish around the net.
"If you play aggressive enough hockey, you make the breaks for yourself,” Primeau said. "And we sure had the breaks (in Game 3).”
The teams were tied 1-1 midway in the first period -- Costello having scored for St. Mike's and Clint Albright (he wore glasses while he played) for the Monarchs -- when the Saints struck for two goals 24 seconds apart to take control. Again, it was Mackell (10:17) and Sloan (10:41) scoring the key goals.
McRae pulled the Monarchs to within one at 7:29 of the second period, only to have Sloan and Sandford up the Toronto team's lead to 5-2 going into the third. The goal was Sloan's fifth of the series.
Taylor scored for the Monarchs early in the third period. But the Saints won going away as Blute and Paul found the range.
There was some concern in the Winnipeg dressing room because McRae was limping on a gimpy knee. The right winger, nicknamed Red, developed water on his right knee in February and took a shot on it in Game 1. The knee was now swollen.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->And for the first time there was criticism of -- guess who? -- the officials.
The criticism came from Jim Primeau, Joe's brother and an NHL linesman. Asked about the officiating in the series, Jim replied: "It's crummy.”
Monson agreed, but said he wasn't complaining because "the refereeing hurt both sides.”
The CAHA was still using the two-referee system and Monson said he felt it was time to go to two linesmen for the final and "let the referee look after his own job.”
The two officials for the first three games were Stan Pratt of Ottawa and Port Arthur's Harold Guerard.
The teams took two days off before playing Game 4 on Saturday, April 20.
The talk before Game 4 was that Monson would drop Cam Millar, the fourth defenceman, and add forward Hy Beatty. Millar had gone in for Beatty for Game 3.
And the Monarchs took Game 4, scoring three power-play goals and posting a 4-3 victory before 14,371 fans to even the series, 2-2.
The story this night was the Winnipeg line of McRae, Taylor and Robertson. Taylor scored twice and set up another by McRae. That gave Taylor nine points in the series, one more than Sloan, who drew two assists.
Rockey opened the scoring for Winnipeg at 9:36 of the first period. Blute tied the score at 13:20.
St. Michael's took a 2-1 lead at 13:06 of the second period -- its only lead of the game -- when Sandford scored and Taylor tied it at 19:21.
The Monarchs won it in the third on goals by McRae (5:44) and Taylor (11:19). Eddie Harrison pulled the Saints to within one at 17:16, after which Gibson held the fort.
"There's no doubt about it,” Joe Primeau said, "this series is going the full seven games. I can't see either team winning two straight now.
"It's down to a best-of-three series now, and it's going to be a mighty tough proposition.”
Both coaches did have one common complaint -- "too much holidaying and partying.”
Said Primeau: "Easter holidays are no good for my boys. They're getting too lax.”
Monson admitted he was afraid his players would be "killed by kindness” with all the parties thrown on their behalf.
Two nights later, with 14,264 fans looking on, Sloan pumped home five goals and St. Michael's won 7-4 to close to within one victory of the Dominion championship.
According to The Canadian Press, "A near free-for-all in the final period produced four major penalties, and a penalty shot against goalie Jack Gibson of Monarchs, who participated in the battle. Sloan scored his fifth goal by beating Gibson on the penalty shot.”
That goal, at 11:13 of the third period, gave St. Mike's a 7-3 lead.
The Toronto lads jumped out to a 4-0 first-period on goals by Ted McLean, Paul and two from Sloan. Robertson got Winnipeg on the board before the period ended.
Sloan scored again early in the second period, before Robertson and Tindall cut the deficit to 5-3. That was as close as Monarchs would get as Sloan scored at 19:40 of the second.
Sloan, on the penalty shot, and Rockey exchanged third-period goals.
That lifted Sloan's points total to 13, tops in the series. In the regular season, Sloan, a 155-pounder from Falconbridge, Ont., had won the OHA scoring title with 132 points in 49 games.
The third-period donnybrook featured Rockey, Tindall and Gibson of Winnipeg against Harrison and Costello. Gibson and Costello paired off and came to blows.
After the game, Pratt and Guerard, the two officials, came under heavy fire from both teams.
But Monson admitted: "There was a heck of a lot wrong with our playing. We lost control of the puck and ourselves completely.”
And now the fans of the St. Mike's boys were expecting a six-game series victory.
McLean, the team captain, cautioned: "After we took them 7-3 in the third game, they came back to wallop us. We'd better watch ourselves or we'll be flat on our seats again.”
McLean then yelled across the dressing room to Sloan: "Take two Cokes. You deserve them.”
The Monarchs had played without Albright, who needed stitches to close a gash in his left leg that he incurred in practice earlier that day. He would return for Game 6.
Before Game 6, word got out that Guerard would be replaced as one referee by Geroge Hayes of Ingersoll, Ont.
Before Game 6, Monson was heard to say: "I'll sure be glad to go home, but I want to stay around at least until Saturday (April 27).”
He got his wish.
The Monarchs won Game 6 on April 24, posting a 4-2 victory in front of 14,970 fans, the largest crowd of the series so far.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->The attendance was a record for a six-game Memorial Cup final, surpassing the mark of 73,867 from 1943 (the Winnipeg Rangers beat the Oshawa Generals in a six-game series in Maple Leaf Gardens).
The Monarchs took period leads of 2-1 and 4-1.
Rockey and Buchanan got Winnipeg off to a 2-0 lead with goals 12 seconds apart, at 17:30 and 17:42, in the first period. Costello pulled St. Mike's to within one when he scored, after being set up by Sloan, with 56 seconds left in the opening period.
McRae and Albright scored the only goals of the second, before Sloan rounded out the scoring with his second penalty-shot goal in two games.
Hayes, reffing his first game, award Sloan the shot after ruling that Rockey had held the puck in the Winnipeg crease with his hand.
"Two factors were mainly responsible,” Monson said of the victory. "We had Clint Albright back in the lineup and that George Hayes as a referee.”
Primeau didn't see it quite that way.
"Sure (Hayes) galloped around a lot,” he said, "and blew his whistle. But he let an awful lot of rough stuff go.
"There's no doubt about it. We were off our game and were outplayed.”
The teams then took two more days off before playing Game 7 on Saturday, April 27, before a record-breaking crowd of 15,803.
(Because it was a Saturday night, the teams would have played just one 10-minute overtime period had they been tied after three periods. If they were still tied after OT, an eighth game would have been played on Monday, April 29.)
"Two sensational goals by a truly great right winger, Georgie Robertson, provided the third-period victory margin that gave the west the coveted cup for the 15th time in 28 years of competition,” reported The Canadian Press.
The pregame odds were 7-5 against Winnipeg, but the Monarchs didn't pay that any mind.
They fell behind 1-0 when Mackell scored at 6:38 of the first period, an ominous sign for the westerners as the team that had scored first had won each of the first six games. But Albright tied it at 10:59.
May, with his first goal of the series, gave the Monarchs the lead at 1:55 of the second period. Paul tied it at 3:05.
The teams went into the third period tied 2-2, at which point Robertson took things into his own hands.
CP reported: "Robertson, who gathered 10 points during the series, took the puck at centre, shifted the two-man Irish rearguard out of position, and fired a waist-high shot from 15 feet out and to the side. Goalie Pat Boehmer never touched it.
"Then, the ubiquitous Robertson did it again, with the clincher just 47 seconds before the end, and at a time when it appeared certain the desperate, ganging Saints were about to at least score the deadlocking goal.”
In a wild Winnipeg dressing room, there was one calm individual. Lefty Laird, a commerce student at the University of Manitoba and a huge Monarchs fan, said he wasn't worried.
"They always win on Saturday nights,” he explained. "In two years, they've only lost one Saturday night game -- that was to Moose Jaw Canucks last year.”
The Game 7 attendance set a record for a junior hockey game in Canada, breaking the previous record of 15,659 set at Maple Leaf Gardens for a 1938 Memorial Cup game between the St. Boniface Seals and Oshawa Generals.
All told, the series drew 102,575 fans, a record for a seven-game amateur series in Canada.

NEXT: 1947 (Moose Jaw Canucks vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1947 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1947.html/)

1947 MEMORIAL CUP
Moose Jaw Canucks vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre), Moose Jaw (Arena) and Regina (Queen City Gardens)


This was a rematch of the 1945 Memorial Cup final. But while that one was played in its entirety in Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, this best-of-seven series, featuring the Moose Jaw Canucks and Toronto St. Michael's Majors, was played in the west -- in Winnipeg, Moose Jaw and Regina.
Joe Primeau was still the coach of St. Mike's. Former Regina Pats star Ken Doraty was running the Moose Jaw operation.
Edmonton also had wanted to play host to a game in the final but that never happened, perhaps because Primeau said he didn't want his team "to be any part of a travelling circus.“
The Canucks earned their berth by winning a thrilling Abbott Cup final series from the Brandon Elks. This best-of-seven affair actually didn't end until the eighth game, won 6-4 by Moose Jaw before 6,320 fans in Regina's Queen City Gardens.
Brandon actually won the first two games of the series and tied the third. When the next two games were split, Brandon was one point from winning the series but that one point proved terribly elusive.
The Memorial Cup's best-of-seven final opened in Winnipeg on April 15 with St. Mike's hammering Moose Jaw 12-3.
"Heralded as the smoothest team to come out of the east in years, Toronto St. Mike's lived up to all the nice words said about them by waltzing to a 12-3 triumph over Moose Jaw Canucks,” wrote Scotty Melville in the Regina Leader-Post. "A milling crowd that had literally clawed its way to the wickets in an all-day demand for pasteboards saw a disappointing Moose Jaw outfit hold on for one brief period before the magic sticks of the eastern powerhouse went to work with a vengeance.”
The first period was very loosely played and ended with the Toronto lads out front 4-3. After that it was no contest -- the Canucks were outscored 2-0 in the second and 6-0 in the third.
Toronto's line of Ed Sandford, Les Costello and Fleming Mackell owned this game.
As Melville wrote: "(They) passed the disc around like a hot biscuit to collect a baker's dozen in scoring points.”
Sandford, the centre and team captain, set up five goals. Costello, who would later play with the Toronto Maple Leafs but gain more renown as the man behind the Flying Fathers, scored three times. Mackell, who would go on to a fine NHL career, had two goals and three assists.
Ed Harrison added two Toronto goals, with singles coming from Bob Paul, Benny Woit, Rudy Migay, John McLellan and Leonard (Red) Kelly.
Harvey Stein, Herbie Lovett and Angus Juckes scored for Moose Jaw.
"St. Mike's have a good team,” Moose Jaw's Metro Prystai said, "but we can do better. They're very fast and play a rougher style of hockey than Brandon.”
The teams then headed for Moose Jaw, where Game 2 was to be played on April 17. Only the site was different.
"They donned their fighting trunks and went out punching, but Ken Doraty's Moose Jaw Canucks simply didn't have enough on the ball as they yielded a 6-1 edge to the polished Toronto St. Mike's in a robust, exhausting struggle,” read one report.
Sandford struck for three goals as Toronto grabbed period leads of 3-0 and 5-0. Harrison scored twice and Costello added the other.
Vic Kreklewetz had Moose Jaw's lone goal in front of 3,700 fans who witnessed the first national final game ever to be played in Moose Jaw.
Wrote Vince Leah of the Winnipeg Tribune: "Joe (Primeau) has the softest job in the world. My four-year-old son could lead St. Mike's to the Memorial Cup. That's how competent the youthful easterners are.”
Game 3 was played in Regina's Queen City Gardens in front of 5,959 fans. It was started but never finished.
St. Mike's was awarded an 8-1 victory in a game that was halted because of bottle-throwing fans with six minutes 55 seconds left in the third period.
Moose Jaw was able to hang in there until the game's midway point. In fact, Moose Jaw took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Amos Wilson into the game's second half.
Harrison had three more goals for Toronto. Ray Hannigan, with two, Costello, Paul and Migay also scored for Toronto, with Migay adding five assists.
But the talk was all about incidents involving fans.
The first occurred with less than two minutes left in the second period. It followed a Moose Jaw penalty.
"The remaining time was carried into the final session while sweepers collected the fragments of broken glass,” wrote Melville. "The hoodlums took over again after seven minutes in the third period, another Moose Jaw penalty bringing several bottles over the boards. One Canuck and two players from the Toronto club were struck glancing blows by the missiles.
"The ice was cleared, but again bottles and other odds and ends were heaved to the ice while the referees tried vainly to face off in the southeast corner of the rink. After nearly 15 minutes delay, the face off took place at the Moose Jaw blue line. A few minutes later another bottle came out from the stands and Al Pickard, vice-president of the CAHA, then gave warning over the loudspeaker that the game would be called and awarded to St. Mike's if anything further was thrown. Seconds later, just as play started and less than seven minutes of time left, the ice again was littered and the officials stopped the game and gave the victory to the collegians.
"The ice was swept four times and half an hour in all was needed to clean up the debris. Hundreds of fans, ashamed and disgusted at the stupidity of the irresponsible few, streamed away from the national final long before it was halted.”
Vic Lindquist of Winnipeg and Ken Mullins of Montreal were the referees involved.
In an editorial headlined "We hang our heads in shame” Dave Dryburgh of The Leader-Post wrote: "In Brooklyn they'd call it a rhubarb, but Regina simply branded it the most disgraceful and humiliating episode in the city's sports history. Saturday's Memorial Cup shambles at the Gardens gave Regina a pair of the blackest eyes you ever saw.
"Thousands of sportsmen from all over Saskatchewan were at first disgusted by the bottle-tossing demonstration, then became boiling mad to think that a handful of scatter-brained hoodlums could cause such scenes and break up a national hockey final.
"This was worse than the Stanley Cup riot we saw in Chicago in 1944. It was definitely more vicious.”
Three nights later attendance in Regina was just 2,186. The fans saw St. Mike's wrap it up with a 3-2 victory.
The Toronto boys scored the only goal of the first period and added another early in the second. But Moose Jaw scored before the second was up and then tied the game early in the third.
St. Mike's won it all when Sandford scored later in the third period.
Mackell and Paul also scored for St. Mike's, with Stein and Lovett scoring for Moose Jaw.
It was a sad ending to the junior career of Moose Jaw goaltender Bev Bentley. He had appeared in three of the last four Memorial Cups -- one with the Trail Smoke Eaters and two with Moose Jaw -- and wasn't on a winning team.

NEXT: 1948 (Port Arthur West End Bruins vs. Barrie Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1948 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1948.html/)

1948 MEMORIAL CUP
Port Arthur West End Bruins vs. Barrie Flyers
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


It was a powerful Port Arthur West End Bruins team that qualified for the 1948 Memorial Cup final.
Coached by Ed Lauzon, the Bruins were sparked by two players who had spent the 1947-48 season with the Memorial Cup-champion Toronto St. Michael's Majors -- Rudy Migay and Benny Woit. Migay, in fact, was the Bruins' captain.
Also in the Port Arthur lineup was flashy Danny Lewicki, who had been added to the roster from the Fort William Columbus club. And the Bruins featured goaltender Lorne Chabot, one of the best around in those days.
The Bruins would meet the Lethbridge Native Sons in the western Abbott Cup final.
The Native Sons, under coach Scotty Munro, had advanced to that point by winning a six-game series from the Moose Jaw Canucks, a team that featured the likes of Jackie McLeod, Jim Bedard, Hugh Coflin and Larry Popein.
The Native Sons featured the highest-scoring line in junior hockey that season. Eddie Dorohoy, Freddie Brown and Bill Ramsden accounted for 418 points in 63 games, including Ramsden's mind-boggling 107 goals and Dorohoy's 86 assists.
Lethbridge would finish the season with a 50-10-3 record (six of those losses were in the playoffs), but with Dorohoy on the limp and not nearly as effective as he had been earlier in the season.
Playing in Moose Jaw, the Canucks won the opener 3-2, lost the second game 8-5 and won the third 3-2. The scene then shifted to Lethbridge and the Native Sons won three straight, 4-3, 5-2 and 7-2.
At the same time, Port Arthur was needing six games to oust the Winnipeg Monarchs. The Bruins won 12-3 and 6-4 at home and then traveled to Winnipeg where they won 10-4, lost 7-5 and 5-3, and won 7-2.
The western final -- now pay attention here -- opened with two games in Lethbridge. The next four were played in Port Arthur. And the seventh game was played in -- yes -- Maple Leaf Gardens, a purely logical site to decide the western Canadian junior hockey championship.
Actually, in those days they preferred to play a seventh game at a neutral site. In this instance the Winnipeg Amphitheatre was tied up with an ice show, and with the Memorial Cup scheduled to open on April 24 in Maple Leaf Gardens, there wasn't time to move Lethbridge and Port Arthur as far west as Regina and then have the winner get to Toronto.
Anyway, the Native Sons won their home games, 6-1 and 7-6. Port Arthur won its first home game, 7-4, lost the second, 5-4, and then won three in a row, 5-0, 6-4 and 11-1. That last game, in Toronto, was played on April 21 in front of about 1,200 fans.
And so it was that Port Arthur advanced to the Memorial Cup final for the first time in 21 years. In 1927, Port Arthur had lost to the Owen Sound Greys.
This time the opposition would be supplied by the Barrie Flyers. Coached by Leighton (Hap) Emms, a man on his way to becoming a hockey legend in the east, Barrie had never before reached the final.
On the basis of what they had seen in Game 7 between Port Arthur and Lethbridge, the so-called experts were quick to establish the Flyers as heavy favourites.
So you can imagine the shock and dismay when the Bruins opened the best-of-seven final with a 10-8 victory before 13,075 fans on April 24.
Port Arthur held period leads of 2-0 and 8-3 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score would seem to indicate.
Migay scored three times for the winners, with Lewicki and Alfie Childs adding two each. Dave Creighton, Fred Bacarri and Bart Bradley added one each.
Barrie got two goals from each of Billy Barrett and Whit Mousseau, while Rusty Aikin, Stan Long, Bruno Favero and Alfie Guarda added one each.
And already Emms was crying the blues, something that would become a trademark of his, not only in this series but in the years to follow.
"We can't come back,” he moaned. “The team has too many injuries ... No, I don't think we can come back and I wouldn't be saying so if I thought differently.”
Barrie's Jerry Reid (ankle) and Paul Meger (leg) were listed as doubtful starters for Game 2.
Across the way, Lauzon was all smiles.
"We may take the series in straight games and then again it may go the full seven,” he said. "The outcome will depend on the boys themselves.”
Writing for the Regina Leader-Post, Dave Dryburgh reported: "Barrie's gaudily attired Flyers looked for two periods as if they had reached the Memorial Cup final by false pretenses; but Port Arthur Bruins were good sports about it all and proceeded to give a 20-minute show of how a good hockey team shouldn't peform ...
"If the guys out west who holler about rough play had seen the game, they'd seek a court injunction to halt the series. Barrie has a character named (Ray) Gariepy who makes Moose Jaw's Jim Bedard look like a Lady Byng Trophy winner. But Mr. Gariepy made one mistake on one of his wild sallies and was flattened like a rug by Port Arthur's Benny Woit, who has been around a while, too. It was the bodycheck of the decade ...
"Even those who like their hockey in the raw thought there was too much charging and boarding and the referees (Vic Lindquist of Winnipeg and Montreal's Ken Mullins) have been instructed to clamp down.”
The Bruins romped 8-1 in Game 2 before 11,828 fans on April 26 and the sniping started.
"We can't complain, but I've seen better officiating,” Lauzon said. "It was the first time I have ever seen a player banished for taking a swipe at the puck and clipping an opponent's boot tops in the process.”
The Flyers dressing room was closed to reporters. Emms would be heard from later.
Lewicki and Creighton led the way with two goals each. Robbie Wrightsell, Bacarri, Bob Fero and Childs added one each. Only Favero was able to score for Barrie.
The Flyers were without Reid (ankle), while the Bruins played without forward Bill Johnson (bruised hip, knee).
The Bruins closed to within one game of the title with a 5-4 victory in front of 11,555 fans on April 28.
"The eastern champion Flyers surprised the fans by coming up with their best game to date,” reported The Canadian Press. "They kept pace with the slick Bruins almost throughout and came from behind three times to tie the score.
"Flyers, however, didn't have the extra punch and drive to take over the lead any time. Bruins did not play as well as they did in the first two games and their defence suffered lapses at times while their forwards did little back-checking.”
Bacarri, Childs, Lewicki, Pete Durham and Allan Forslund scored for the Bruins. Gil St. Pierre had two goals for Barrie, with Mousseau and Aikin adding one each.
Forslund's goal, at 15:54 of the second period, broke a 4-4 tie. The teams played a scoreless third period.
After the game, Emms announced to the world that his Flyers wouldn't play the Bruins in a fourth game without a change of referees. Lindquist and Mullins handled the first three games.
"If they don't give us different referees, we won't show up,” Emms said. "They can suspend me or do anything they want, but we won't play.”
The next day, Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Al Pickard of Regina announced: "The fourth game will go on as scheduled ... and with the same referees.”
Dryburgh wrote: "It doesn't matter if (Emms) does drop out because he won't win the cup anyway. But why he should insult the referees is beyond us. They've been extremely lenient with his Flyers who play in such robust fashion that it is evident they gave the rule book only a cursory glance.
"What is annoying Emms is that Port Arthur Bruins have taken a liking to playing it he-man style, too. Ray Gariepy, the terror of the OHA, doesn't visit Benny Woit and Pete Durham any more. They've shown him a few tricks about carpet-laying and Bruins are calling all the shots in the series. Some papers said they were outclassed on Wednesday. That's all bosh. The Bruins were so over-confident that they hauled themselves down to Barrie's level. The Ports were flying on one wing and still won. They're home free in the series and they know it -- that's all that ails them.”
When Game 4 began, the Flyers were without Long, a solid defenceman who had separated a shoulder in Game 3.
The Bruins won the Memorial Cup on May 1, beating the Flyers 9-8 in overtime before 13,053 fans.
"The game was the most bitterly contested seen in Toronto junior hockey in years,” reported The Canadian Press. "The lead changed hands several times as both clubs went all out for victory. Tempers flared and sticks crept high and referee Vic Lindquist of Winnipeg was attacked by a Barrie player in the overtime session.”
Yes, indeed, Lindquist was given a going over by Guarda.
Here's CP's report: "Early in overtime, Creighton put Bruins up 8-7 while both teams were at full strength. At the four-minute mark, referee Lindquist was rushed by Guarda of Barrie when the official tried to call a penalty against Barrie's (Sid) McNabney. Guarda threw several soft punches at the official, but players soon separated them.
"Guarda was given a match misconduct penalty while (Ray) Mayer, who also did a little shoving, drew a misconduct and McNabney a minor at the same time.
"Flyers would not resume play until the officials finally gave them two minutes to ice a team.”
The Flyers were a man short when Mousseau tied the score 8-8. But Lewicki scored what turned out to be the winner at 8:37 of the overtime period.
Creighton totalled four goals and two assists, while Lewicki and Bradley had two goals each. Childs scored Port Arthur's other goal. Reid had three goals for Barrie, while Mayer added two. Sid McNabney, Guarda and Mousseau added one each.
"It was a tough game to win and a tougher one to lose,” Lauzon said. "I figure I should really head for the showers. I'm soaking wet.”
Emms, meanwhile, was still talking about the officiating.
Oh yes, he also found time to announce that he wouldn't be returning to the Flyers next season.

NEXT: 1949 (Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Montreal Royals)

[canes77]

The Bruins would meet the Lethbridge Native Sons in the western Abbott Cup final.
The Native Sons, under coach Scotty Munro...

Anyway, the Native Sons won their home games, 6-1 and 7-6. Port Arthur won its first home game, 7-4, lost the second, 5-4, and then won three in a row, 5-0, 6-4 and 11-1.


Boy, Leth was up 3-1 in the series and lost the series. Im dissappointed even though it happened decades before I was born. ;)

Great articles though, I enjoy reading them.

Does anyone know...Is that coach (Scotty Munro) the same guy for which the one WHL trophy is named after?

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1949 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1949.html/)

1949 MEMORIAL CUP
Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Montreal Royals
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre) and Brandon (Wheat City Arena)


The three most prestigious trophies in hockey are considered by many people to be the Stanley Cup, Allan Cup and Memorial Cup.
Brandon, Manitoba's Wheat City, is the only community in the world to have had a team in the Stanley Cup final, the Allan Cup final and the Memorial Cup final. And it has yet to win either of those trophies.
The Wheat Kings would come close to winning the Memorial Cup in 1949.
The Wheat Kings of 1948-49 were affiliated with the Minneapolis Millers of the United States Hockey League who, in turn, were hooked up with the American Hockey League's Cleveland Barons.
Bill MacKenzie, who had played in the NHL with the Montreal Maroons, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Montreal Canadiens, was the Brandon coach. He had captained the 1930-31 Memorial Cup-winning Elmwood Millionaires.
The Wheat Kings' roster included some familiar names -- captain Frank King, goaltender Ray Frederick, Joe Crozier, Bob Chrystal, Glen Sonmor and Reg Abbott.
This edition of the Wheat Kings was able to develop a special relationship with its fans. Every time the team headed out on a playoff road trip, fans would gather at the station and serenade the players with ‘(I'm Looking Over A) Four Leaf Clover‘.
The western final for the Abbott Cup would come down to a series between Brandon and the Port Arthur West End Bruins.
The Winnipeg Canadians, later the St. Boniface Canadians, sidelined the Winnipeg Monarchs from a best-of-five series in straight games. The Canadians, coached by Bobby Kirk, then fell to Brandon in a seven-game series -- the Wheat Kings won four, lost two and tied one.
At the same time, the Calgary Buffaloes were taking six games to finish off the Moose Jaw Canucks. Calgary lost the opener (3-2), won the next three (5-1, 5-0 and 6-2), lost Game 5 (7-2) and finished the series with a 5-2 victory in Game 6.
The Wheat Kings took five games to finish off Calgary, losing the opener (3-1) and then winning four in a row -- 4-1, 5-3, 5-2 and 4-1. The first three games were played in Calgary, the last two in Brandon.
Brandon and Port Arthur opened the best-of-seven western final at the Wheat City Arena on March 31. The Wheat Kings won that night, 6-2, and then romped 6-0 on April 2.
The scene shifted to the Lakehead but the results weren't much different. Brandon won 5-2 on April 4, lost 7-4 on April 6 and finished off the series with a 6-4 victory on April 8.
While this was going on, the Montreal Royals were rolling through eastern Canada. They would win 16 of 17 playoff games -- the last 13 in a row -- in qualifying for the national final.
The Royals were coached by J.T. (Tag) Millar who, coincidentally, had played with the Ottawa Primroses, the team that opposed MacKenzie's Elmwood boys in the 1931 Memorial Cup final.
The Royals were managed by Gus Ogilvie and their roster featured the likes of captain Bobby Frampton, goaltender Bobby Bleau and skaters Fred (Skippy) Burchell, Dickie Moore, John (Bert) Herschfeld, Tom Manastersky and Roland Rousseau.
On the eastern playoff trail, the Inkerman Rockets, a team from the Ottawa district, swept a best-of-five series from Halifax St. Mary's, 13-3, 8-0 and 13-1, only to lose 10-2, 7-4 and 8-1 to the Royals.
Montreal then swept the best-of-seven eastern final from Hap Emms' Barrie Flyers -- 3-1, 6-5 in overtime, 3-1 and 5-4. Emms was back despite having said after the 1948 season that he was through.
The Royals left Montreal on April 26 and headed for Brandon, knowing full well that Quebec had never been home to a Memorial Cup champion. They were only the second Quebec team in 31 years to advance this far.
"We have something the west has yet to see -- a gang of the fightingest, never-say-die bunch of kids that ever came out of Quebec,” Millar said.
Montreal's top line featured Gordie Knutson, Matt Benoit and Moore, who was nicknamed Chirpy. A second line comprised Herschfeld, Neal Langill and Frampton, with Burchell, Gordie Armstrong and Bill Rattray on the third line. Manastersky, Rousseau, Vic Fildes and Lou Appleby patrolled the blue line in front of Bleau.
The Wheat Kings used Crozier, Bill Allison, Chrystal and Johnny McLean on defence. King, Walt Pawlyshyn and Mac Beaton played on one line, with Alf Francis, Jack McKenzie and Sonmor on another. A third line featured Abbott, Brian Roche and Angus Juckes.
The final, a best-of-seven affair, opened on April 28 at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre. When it began, no one could have known that this would turn into one of the great series in hockey playoff history.
The teams would end up playing eight games in what was to have been a best-of-seven series. One game would end in a tie. Four games would be decided by one goal, two by two goals and the other by four.
Some of the games were carried on CBC Radio, with the legendary Foster Hewitt calling the play. Jim Keilback, whose son Curt would later call the play for games involving the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and Phoenix Coyotes, did the same on Brandon radio station CKX.
There were more than 5,000 fans on hand for the opener, won 3-2 by the Royals.
Burchell and Menoit gave Montreal a 2-0 first-period lead, only to have Brandon tie it in the second on goals by Beaton and Juckes.
Montreal won it in the third when Herschfeld's short shot was deflected past Frederick.
This was a grueling, hard-hitting affair that featured 17 minor penalties and a misconduct. The game was delayed for four minutes in the third period when fans littered the ice with peanuts and programs, and one fan was ejected for throwing a bottle onto the ice in reaction to a penalty that was given to Chrystal.
When it was over the Wheat Kings were concerned about the condition of Abbott. He came into the series on a bum knee and then hurt it more when he crashed into the boards. Mike Duban of Portage la Prairie would dress in Abbott's place for the next game.
The series shifted to Brandon for Game 2 on April 30.
Frederick's brilliant goaltending and two goals from McKenzie sparked Brandon to a 3-2 victory before more than 4,700 fans. The loss ended Montreal's winning streak at 14 games.
Benoit and King exchanged first-period goals, and McKenzie and Rousseau did the same in the second period.
That set the stage for McKenzie to win it midway through the third.
"McKenzie slapped Alf Francis' passout into the Montreal cage,” The Canadian Press reported. "Bleau caught a piece of the wobbling shot but couldn't hold it.”
Prior to Game 3, The Canadian Press reported that Abbott's knee was responding to treatment (although he would miss a second straight game) and that "bookies are finding customers hard to locate . . . Bettors on the contest are few and far between . . . They report money sent to Montreal for even-bets was returned without a taker.”
The third game, played in Brandon before more than 4,800 fans, ended in a 3-3 overtime tie.
Montreal led 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Moore. Brandon then scored three straight in the second period -- King, Juckes and Pawlyshyn finding the range -- only to wilt in the third as Montreal tied it on two goals by Knutson.
The overtime period was scoreless.
Each team had 40 shots on goal and both goaltenders, Frederick and Bleau, continued at the top of their games.
Still, Millar wasn't impressed.
"This Brandon club is the luckiest team I've seen,” he said. "One of these days we'll get a break and it will be all over.”
Millar was referring to Brandon's first goal, by King, which hopped over Bleau's stick.
"When we come back from a two-goal deficit we can take these birds,” Fildes said. "It was a moral victory for us as we've seldom had to come from behind.”
MacKenzie, the Brandon coach, offered: "Well, we didn't lose the game. But I hope this thing is soon over; I can't stand much more of it.”
The series returned to Winnipeg for Game 4 on May 5. Abbott was back in the Brandon lineup but it didn't make much difference as the Royals won 1-0 on a second-period goal by Frampton.
More than 5,000 fans enjoyed every minute of this one. It featured numerous end-to-end rushes and, again, superb goaltending.
"Good Lord, are they all going to be like this?” muttered Millar. "I simply can't go through many more of these.”
As Millar talked, strains of ‘Four Leaf Clover’ could be heard coming from the Montreal dressing room as the Royals needled the Wheat Kings.
Game 5 was played in Brandon (Games 5, 6 and 7 would be played in Brandon) before more than 4,700 fans, many of them in shirtsleeves as temperatures on May 7 climbed to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
For the fifth straight game the Royals scored first. Then they went on to a 7-4 victory and a seemingly commanding series lead.
Knutson and Frampton each scored twice for Montreal, which held period leads of 1-0 and 4-2. Langill, Herschfeld and Moore added one each. King, with two, Beaton and Abbott replied for Brandon.
One of King's goals came on a penalty shot that was awarded after Bleau was given a major for getting involved in a fight inside the Montreal blue line.
"Well, that's better,” Millar said. "Now we're playing hockey.”
King begged to differ.
"We're not beat yet,” he said.
He was right.
Brandon rebounded with a 2-1 victory before more than 4,800 howling fans on May 10.
Juckes opened the scoring at 3:30 of the first period -- the first time in the series Brandon had scored first -- only to have Rattray tie it 1:20 later.
King scored what proved to be the winning goal at 6:25 of the second period.
The star, however, was Frederick. He kicked out 37 shots, seven of them in the game's final two minutes.
There was some excitement in the second period when a couple of fights broke out on the ice and Knutson became involved with a fan near the penalty box. Police arrived, escorted the fan from the premises and peace prevailed.
"Now we're playing hockey and it's about time,” King said.
As for Sonmor, well, he gave all the credit to his having changed numbers -- from 16 to 9. "It's the sweater that did it,” he said.
"We weren't skating and that's the only answer,” Millar stated.
Prior to Game 7, the scalpers were having a field day -- asking $5 for tickets originally priced at $1.75 and $2.
And, on May 12, Brandon forced an eighth game with an amazing 5-1 victory in Game 7 before more than 4,800 fans.
King again led Brandon, this time with a goal and two assists. Francis, Crozier, Abbott and Beaton also scored. Langill scored for Montreal.
Francis scored the lone goal of the first period and Crozier upped Brandon's lead to 2-0 at 10:40 of the second. But Langill's goal at 11:34 of the second period got Montreal back into the game.
However, Brandon struck for three goals in less than three minutes midway in the third to put it away.
"The boys did a wonderful job,” MacKenzie said. "I'm proud of them. We've got 10 first-year juniors on our club and they deserve a world of credit.”
And the series headed for Winnipeg -- the deciding game would be played on neutral ice.
"Well, we've beaten them twice on Winnipeg ice and we can do it again,” Rattray said.
This was the first Memorial Cup final to go eight games. And it would end on May 16, the latest date for a champion to be crowned to that point in time.
And if the teams were to play to a tie -- through three regulation periods and three 10-minute overtime periods -- a ninth game was scheduled for May 18.
But a ninth game wasn't needed.
Brandon led 4-2 three minutes into the third period but couldn't hang on. Montreal scored the game's last four goals and won 6-4 before more than 5,000 fans.
Quebec had its first Memorial Cup champion in the 31 years the trophy had been contested.
Herschfeld scored three times for Montreal, with Frampton adding two and Knutson one. Crozier, Chrystal, McKenzie and Abbott replied for Brandon.
Frampton and Herschfeld gave the Royals a 2-0 lead by the 12:14-mark of the first period. Crozier narrowed the gap before the period ended.
Chrystal tied it at 13:43 of the second and McKenzie put Brandon out front at 14:13. Abbott gave the Wheaties a 4-2 lead at 2:20 of the third.
But that's when Montreal exploded. Knutson scored at 3:53, Herschfeld tied it at 8:29 and Frampton got what proved to be the winner at 11:13.
"Son of a gun! What do you know? This is what we've been dreaming about for years,” yelled Moore as he hoisted the trophy in the Montreal dressing room.
Millar added: "It was a great series and, boy, am I glad we won. And we won from a great club, too. That's all the comment you need from me.”
The Wheat Kings wouldn't make it back to the Memorial Cup final for 30 years. And when they returned, in the spring of 1979, they would lose another close one -- 2-1 in overtime to the Peterborough Petes.

NEXT: 1950 (Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1991 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1991.html)

The Spokane Chiefs play their first game in the 2008 Memorial Cup on Saturday, 17 years after they won it all. So let's break away from the chronological order we've been following and take a look at that 1991 tournament . . .



1991 MEMORIAL CUP
Spokane Chiefs, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Drummondville Voltigeurs
and Chicoutimi Sagueneens
at Quebec City (Le Colisee)

Oh, yes, this was going to be the Memorial Cup to end all Memorial Cups.
Yes, a lot of people were waiting anxiously for this tournament.
The script had been written well in advance and it went something like this:
Centre Eric Lindros, now all of 18 years of age, would lead the defending-champion Oshawa Generals into Quebec City, home of the NHL's Nordiques.
You have to understand that the Nordiques were to have the first selection in the NHL's 1991 entry draft later that summer. Lindros was certain to be the first pick.
Except that Lindros was making noises about not wanting to be part of the Nordiques organization.
No matter.
All of the intrigue and anticipation was for naught. That's because the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, of head coach Ted Nolan, hadn't read the script.
The hockey fans in the Soo felt they had a vested interest in all of this, too. After all, the Greyhounds had selected Lindros in the 1989 OHL midget draft only to have him refuse to report.
"I have nothing against the city, just the location, the bus travel with the team and the proximity to my (Toronto) home,” Lindros would explain umpteen-dozen times. “They got five players, draft picks and cash in return, so they can't complain.”
The Greyhounds picked up right-wingers Mike DeCoff and Jason Denomme, goaltender Mike Lenarduzzi, left-winger Joe Busillo and defenceman Drew Bannister as part of the package for Lindros.
All five of those players would play in the 1991 Memorial Cup tournament. In fact, Denomme would play in back-to-back tournaments, while Bannister would appear in three consecutive tournaments as the 'Hounds made it to three in a row.
All eyes were on the OHL championship final, which pitted Oshawa against Sault Ste. Marie.
The teams split the first two games in Oshawa and headed for the Soo, where there were concerns about security and fans were asked not to go beyond the norm in their attempts to razz Lindros.
The 'Hounds thrilled 4,590 fans on May 2 with a 6-5 overtime victory, the winner coming -- ironically -- on a goal by Denomme at 2:29 of the extra session.
One night later, Sault Ste. Marie won again, this time by an 8-5 count, with DeCoff contributing two goals.
Fears for Lindros's safety proved unfounded, although he absorbed a lot of verbal abuse. And the Soo fans outdid themselves with signs and banners, one of which read ‘The Soo Wants The Cup, Eric Wants His Mommy’.
The series then shifted to Oshawa where the Generals posted a 4-2 victory on May 5 to stay alive and send the series back to the Soo. That loss was only the Greyhounds' second in their last 22 games.
And the Greyhounds had the last laugh on May 6 when they dumped the Generals 4-2 to take the series in six games. Busillo scored one of the Soo's goals.
Due to illness, Lindros saw only spot duty in Game 6.
"It's poetic justice,” offered Sherry Bassin, the Greyhounds' general manager. "We gave them Eric Lindros and they took him to the cup last year. We got the guys who wanted to be here.”
Lenarduzzi led the OHL with a 3.23 goals-against average -- he and Kevin Hodson combined to allow the fewest goals in the OHL that season, 217 for a goals-against average of 3.27. Busillo totalled 97 points, including 31 goals, while Denomme had 20 goals and 34 assists.
The Greyhounds had gone 42-21-3 -- Oshawa was 47-13-6 atop the Leyden Division -- en route to a first-place finish in the Emms Division.
They would go on to win their second OHL championship since the franchise was granted prior to the 1972-73 season. The other title? Terry Crisp coached them to the 1984-85 championship. At the 1985 Memorial Cup, they dropped an 8-3 semifinal decision to the eventual champion Prince Albert Raiders.
This time around, the Greyhounds roared through the OHL playoffs. They brushed aside the Hamilton Steelhawks in four games to earn a bye into the division final where they swept the Niagara Falls Thunder.
Next up was Oshawa in the championship final and, of course, the Greyhounds won that in six games.
This was a team built on goaltending and defence. Lenarduzzi was outstanding and Hodson's 3.22 GAA was the best of any first-year goaltender in the OHL.
Still, this was a team that had to fight for every ounce of respect it could get. The Greyhounds that season were virtually ignored when it came to postseason awards. In fact, only two players were named all-stars -- defenceman Adam Foote was on the first team, Lenarduzzi was the third team goaltender -- and Nolan was named coach of the second team.
While the Greyhounds were winning the OHL title, the QMJHL was deciding its championship but, with the Memorial Cup scheduled for Quebec City, both finalists would advance.
And both teams -- the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Drummondville Voltigeurs -- seemed worthy representatives.
Chicoutimi, in the Frank Dilio Division, had finished with the QMJHL's best regular-season record (43-21-6) and, with Felix Potvin getting the bulk of the playing time in goal, had allowed only 223 goals, the best defensive record in the league. It perhaps said something that Potvin and defenceman Eric Brule were the two Chicoutimi players named to the first all-star team, which also included head coach Joe Canale.
On the other side of the coin was an offence that scored 299 goals, the QMJHL's fourth-highest figure.
And while the Sagueneens didn't have a scorer in the regular season's top 10, centre Steve Larouche topped the playoff scoring parade with 33 points, including 13 goals, in 17 games.
Chicoutimi opened the postseason by ousting the Shawinigan Cataractes in six games and followed that up with a seven-game victory over the Laval Titan.
Drummondville, meanwhile, finished third in the Frank Dilio Division, its 42-25-3 record leaving it five points behind Chicoutimi.
The Voltigeurs, under head coach Jean Hamel, were led offensively by Denis Chasse. He finished fifth in the QMJHL points race, with 101, including 47 goals.
Still, defenceman Patrice Brisebois was the only one of the Voltigeurs named to the first all-star team. Defenceman Guy Lehoux was a second-team selection, with left-winger Rene Corbet being named a third teamer along with Hamel.
Drummondville opened the playoffs against the high-flying Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, who were led by QMJHL scoring king Yanic Perreault (187 points, including 87 goals) and runnerup Todd Gillingham (148 points, including 102 assists). The Voltigeurs won it in six games, outscoring the Draveurs 30-19 in the process.
In their semifinal series, the Voltigeurs took out Longueuil College-Francais in four games, giving up 18 goals while scoring 30.
And when it came to the final, it was no contest -- Chicoutimi beat Drummondville in four games. The Sagueneens scored 19 goals in the final, but surrendered only 11.
The Spokane Chiefs, meanwhile, were running roughshod through the WHL.
Under head coach Bryan Maxwell, the Chiefs put together a 48-23-1 regular-season record, second only to the Kamloops Blazers (50-20-2).
But when it came to the playoffs it was no contest.
The Chiefs opened with two best-of-nine West Division series, taking apart the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1 before sweeping Kamloops, 5-0.
Then, in the best-of-seven WHL championship series, the Chiefs swept aside the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
When all was said and done, the Chiefs had posted a 14-1 playoff record, while scoring 63 goals and allowing only 33.
Offensively, the Chiefs were sparked by the one-two punch of Ray Whitney and Pat Falloon.
Whitney won the regular-season scoring championship with 185 points in 72 games and followed that up by grabbing the playoff title, too, with 31 points.
Falloon's 138 points, in 61 games, left him fourth in the regular season. He added 24 points in 15 postseason games.
The Chiefs also got offence from Mark Woolf, who had 41 goals and 49 assists during a season in which, as would be revealed during the Memorial Cup, he had battled his own demons.
This was a Spokane team that had surrendered 275 regular-season goals, second only to Kamloops (247). But the Chiefs' figure perhaps was somewhat misleading because Spokane general manager Tim Speltz had swung a deal at the trade deadline to acquire goaltender Trevor Kidd from the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Chiefs went 31-6-0 after getting Kidd, who played every minute of every playoff game, going 14-1 with a remarkable 2.07 goals-against average.
"This time last year I was two months into summer vacation,” said Kidd who, along with Falloon, had helped Canada to a gold medal at the 1991 world junior championship in Saskatchewan. "Now it's nice and sunny out and I'm going to the Memorial Cup.”
Defensively, he got help from the likes of Bart Cote, who also was acquired from Brandon, Jon Klemm and Kerry Toporowski. It's also worth noting that Toporowski totalled 505 regular-season penalty minutes and 108 more in the WHL playoffs. He would then set a Memorial Cup tournament record with 63 penalty minutes. Add it all up and Toporowski incurred 676 penalty minutes that season.
Cote, for one, felt Kidd gave the Chiefs an edge.
"It's probably the best I've ever seen Trevor play,” Cote said.
As for Kidd, he said: "We have Pat Falloon and Ray Whitney, guys who can put the puck in the net, but we do it with everybody.”
The Chiefs would be the first American team in the Memorial Cup since 1986 when the Portland Winter Hawks were in as the host team.
The 1991 tournament opened on May 11 with Drummondville beating Sault Ste. Marie 4-2 in front of an estimated 3,000 spectators.
The teams were tied 1-1 going into the third period -- Hugo Proulx having scored for the Voltigeurs in the first period, Tony Iob for the Greyhounds in the second -- when Drummondville exploded for three goals.
Brisebois (5:39), Claude Jutras Jr. (7:23) and Ian Laperriere (8:09) gave the Voltigeurs a 3-1 lead before the Soo's Rick Kowalsky closed out the scoring.
Goaltender Pierre Gagnon made 34 saves for the Voltigeurs, while Lenarduzzi stopped 30 at the other end.
On May 12, Potvin proved his worth with a 33-save performance as Chicoutimi downed Sault Ste. Marie 2-1 in front of 9,297 fans.
And, before 5,675 fans, Spokane drubbed Drummondville 7-3.
Stephane Charbonneau got Chicoutimi on the board against the Greyhounds with a power-play goal four minutes into the opening period.
The teams played through a scoreless second period, before Iob forged a tie just 50 seconds into the third period. It remained for Sebastien Parent to win it at 2:59 of the third, the goal dropping the Greyhounds' record to 0-2.
The game between Spokane and Drummondville featured 206 penalty minutes -- 29 of them to Toporowski, who totalled two minors, three majors and a game misconduct -- as the teams went at it tooth and nail.
Falloon led the Chiefs, who were ahead 2-1 and 3-2 by periods, with three goals, all of them in the third period, and Woolf and Whitney added two each.
Chasse scored all three of Drummondville's goals.
The Chiefs were at the eye of the storm again on May 14 when they rocked Chicoutimi 7-1 in a game that featured eight ejections, 226 penalty minutes and a third-period line brawl just as CHL president Ed Chynoweth was issuing fines resulting from the Spokane-Drummondville game.
(The Chiefs and Voltigeurs were fined $500 each. At the same time, Chicoutimi and Sault Ste. Marie were fined $250 each for a pregame pushing incident prior to their game on May 12.)
"These types of incidents are not the type of game we are trying to sell,” Chynoweth said.
The Chiefs' victory over the Sagueneens clinched a berth in the final even though they had yet to play the Greyhounds.
"It will be my job to keep them focused and not let them think about the final,” said Maxwell, who was head coach of the 1987 Memorial Cup-champion Medicine Hat Tigers.
Whitney, for one, didn't think focus would be a problem.
"Everybody wants that ring on their finger and it's hard not to be thinking about it,” he said.
The Chiefs started quickly -- Toporowski, who had 17 penalty minutes and wasn't around at the end, scored 42 seconds into the game and Brent Thurston made it 2-0 at 3:27 -- and Chicoutimi was never able to recover in front of 9,320 fans, many of whom had travelled the 200 kilometres from the Saguenay region of Quebec to cheer on their favorites.
Thurston finished with two goals, as did Falloon, who now had five goals in two games. Woolf, a 20-year-old right winger, chipped in with a goal and four assists, the five points falling one short of the tournament's single-game record. Woolf now was leading the tournament in points, with eight.
Whitney had the other goal for Spokane, which outshot Chicoutimi 29-16.
Potvin stopped 18 of 23 shots before giving way to Sylvain Rodrique at 2:04 of the third period with the Chiefs ahead 5-1.
Larouche had Chicoutimi's lone goal.
An interested spectator at the game was George Brett, all-star third baseman and three-time American League batting king with baseball's Kansas City Royals. Brett and brothers Bobby, John and Ken owned the Chiefs.
The Brett brothers, who already owned the Class A Spokane Indians baseball team, had bought controlling interest in the Chiefs in 1990. They paid about US$700,000 and felt at the time that they had overpaid.
By the spring of 1996, it was believed that the Chiefs were the most valuable major junior franchise in the CHL. If they were for sale, and they weren't, the asking price would have been in the neighborhood of $5 million US.
In the spring of 1991, however, George Brett was on the disabled list with torn knee ligaments. He had been in Milwaukee with the Royals on May 12 when he had a discussion with teammate Terry Puhl, an outfielder from Melville, Sask. The subject of the Memorial Cup came up during the conversation, the first time Brett had heard of it.
"(Terry) said this was the biggest thing in these kids' lives,” Brett said. "That's when I knew.”
Brett wouldn't be able to stay for the entire week but said if the Chiefs were in the final he knew where there was a "Canuck bar” about two blocks from his home in Kansas City.
"I will be at the bar, sitting there with my friends, hopefully watching the Chiefs win,” he said.
Woolf, who admitted publicly to an alcohol problem during the tournament, scored again -- giving him four goals and five assists in three games -- in an 8-4 victory over the Soo on May 15 that eliminated the Greyhounds.
It was revealed that during the season Maxwell had sent Woolf home to Redcliff, Alta.
"I had a couple of beers and missed curfew five times,” said Woolf, who had played for Maxwell with the 1986-87 Tigers. "When I left, it was like my dog died.”
A unanimous vote by his teammates led to his return to the team.
"I screwed up and I am getting a chance to redeem myself,” Woolf said. "I hurt a lot of people and I know it.
"I was lucky to come back. You don't know how good you've got something until I was sitting at home and I wondered what I was going to do.”
He added: "I don't want to see it in the papers as an alcohol problem, but it is the truth. I haven't had a drink in months.”
The Chiefs buried the Greyhounds early, striking for the first period's only five goals in front of 5,277 fans.
Besides Woolf's goal, the Chiefs got two goals each from Whitney and Falloon and singles from Mike Jickling, Thurston and Shane Maitland.
DeCoff, Denny Lambert, Wade Whitten and Mark Matier replied for the Greyhounds, who were outshot 25-20.
Maxwell went the distance with goaltender Scott Bailey in this game. It was his first appearance since late in the regular season.
Falloon and Whitney now were tied for the points lead, each with 10, including five goals.
And what of Toporowski? Well, he added to his total by 14 minutes, thanks to two minors and a misconduct, all in the first period.
All of this led to a meaningless round-robin game in which Drummondville beat Chicoutimi 5-3 on May 16. The teams would meet again the following night in the semifinal game.
On May 16, the Voltigeurs, who held period leads of 3-0 and 3-2, got goals from Alexandre Legault, Proulx, Corbet, Laperriere and Brisebois. Danny Beauregard, Parent and Charbonneau scored for Chicoutimi in front of 5,875 fans.
One night later, before 8,156 fans, Drummondville earned the right to meet Spokane in the final by beating Chicoutimi 2-1 in overtime.
Drummondville, beaten in four straight by Chicoutimi in the QMJHL final, won the semifinal after 11:26 of overtime when Chicoutimi defenceman Steve Gosselin accidentally knocked a centring pass by Laperriere into his own net.
Proulx opened the scoring for Drummondville at 7:27 of the first period, Larouche replied at 11:29 and that was it until Laperriere was credited with the winner.
As it turned out it didn't much matter who was in the final, because there was no stopping the Chiefs.
On May 20, Spokane downed Drummondville 5-1. It marked the second straight season in which one team went through the tournament unbeaten. Oshawa had turned the trick in 1990.
This was the second time an American-based team had won the Memorial Cup, the other being 1983 when Portland won it.
"This feels better than winning the world junior,” said Falloon, who scored the game's final goal. He finished with eight goals, tying the tournament record (Dale Hawerchuk, Cornwall, 1981; Luc Robitaille, Hull, 1986). Falloon, the tournament's leading pointgetter with 12, one more than Whitney, was named the tournament's most valuable player.
Falloon, Whitney, also the most sportsmanlike player, and Thurston made it a Spokane sweep of the forward spots on the all-star team. The all-star team also included Brisebois and the Soo's Brad Tiley on defence, with Potvin in goal.
Jickling sent Spokane into the lead just 52 seconds into the game, but Dave Paquet tied it at 6:34.
"That was the only time anybody even tied Spokane,” said Hamel. "We came in through the back door and can leave through the front with our heads high.”
Murray Garbutt added two first-period goals for the Chiefs, the second coming with 19 seconds left in the first period. And Klemm added the other, with 19 seconds remaining in the second period.
Kidd made 30 saves. He finished with three wins in as many starts and his 1.67 GAA tied the tournament record set by Richard Brodeur of the Cornwall Royals in 1972.
The Chiefs finished the tournament with seven players having scored at least five points. From the other three teams, only Larouche and Charbonneau, both from Chicoutimi, had as many as five points.
Spokane, in winning all four of its games, scored 27 goals and gave up only nine. Drummondville scored 15 goals, Sault Ste. Marie and Chicoutimi managed only seven each.
It was complete and total domination.
And yet there was a touch of sadness in the Spokane dressing room. That's because Woolf didn't play.
"We don't have a lot of rules on this team,” Maxwell said, "but he broke one of them.
"I can remember when I was a kid and my dad would take my hockey, my baseball, my football away from me if I didn't show respect for the rules. That meant something to me.
"He has a problem. We will work with him this summer.”
Woolf skated in the pregame warmup but was then told he wouldn't dress for what was to have been the final game of his major junior playing career.
"I felt a big part of this team,” said Woolf, who it turns out had paused for a beer or two sometime during the week, "and I am a big part of this team. We did win. I was just sorry to see it end this way.
"This is not the way I wanted it to end.”

--30--

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1950 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1950.html)

1950 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens
at Montreal (Forum) and Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


The Regina Pats, having ousted the Port Arthur West End Bruins (they featured future NHL defenceman Leo Boivin) in five games in the Abbott Cup final, headed east to meet the Montreal Junior Canadiens in the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final.
This was a banged up Regina outfit -- linemates Eddie Litzenberger (ankle), Paul Masnick (charley horse) and Gordon Cowan (charley horse) were on the limp; and, Lorne Davis, who hadn't missed a game in his three years of junior hockey, would miss the first game with a facial infection believed to be a severe case of the mumps.
The Pats, of coach Murray Armstrong, headed east having won 14 of 18 playoff games against Moose Jaw, Lethbridge, Prince Albert and Port Arthur, winning seven out of nine at home and having an identical road record.
Montreal, coached by Sam Pollock and Billy Reay, had finished off the Guelph Biltmores -- featuring the Bathgate brothers, Andy and Frank -- in six games to earn a spot in the final, which opened on April 27 in the Forum.
The Canadiens came up with an 8-7 victory in the opener, a game in which 10,414 fans saw 10 third-period goals.
According to The Canadian Press, the first two periods "were played at a steady, close-checking pace, but the third broke wide open with the western champions staging a terrific rally to wipe out a two-goal lead and threaten to win the game.”
Dickie Moore, Art Rose and Don Marshall had two goals each for Montreal, with Kevin Rochford and Billy Goold adding one each.
Defenceman Morley MacNeill scored three times -- the first time in his hockey career that he had scored three goals in a game -- for Regina, which got two from Litzenberger and singles from Brian McDonald and Masnick.
Harvey Dryden, writing in the Regina Leader-Post, noted: "Art Rose, a speedster from the Lakehead, was the big man in the Montreal cast. But don't overlook this Dickie Moore. His most fervent admirers will admit he's a showoff and that he plays it rugged now and then, but there's no denying that he can dangle when he wants to.”
(It's worth noting that while the Memorial Cup final was being played, the Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Marlboros were playing for senior hockey's Allan Cup. Why is this of note? Because the Toronto coach was Joe Primeau, who had had such a glorious run with the junior Toronto St. Michael's Majors.)
Montreal came right back on April 29 to score a 5-2 victory and take a 2-0 lead in the series.
The Pats actually took a 2-1 lead into the third period but ran into penalty problems. They killed off the first two penalties but Montreal got the tying and winning goals with defenceman Al King in the penalty box midway in the third.
There were 10,000 fans in the Forum when defenceman Ernie Roche put Montreal on the board early in the first period. Cowan, in the first, and MacNeill, in the second, then put Regina out front 2-1.
But Montreal pounded four pucks past Regina goaltender Bobby Tyler in the third period.
Goold tied the score, Rose got the winner, and Goold and Jacques Nadon ended the scoring.
According to CP: "Dickie Moore, who turned a stellar performance in the first game of the series, was closely checked all night and was held to an assist on his team's first goal. This caused him to display his feelings, which netted him five trips to the penalty box including one major for roughing.”
Regina took six penalties to Montreal's one in that third period, something that caused the Regina organization much concern.
One penalty in particular had the Reginans livid. Early in the third period, with Regina leading 2-1, Davis, who had returned to the lineup, collided with Montreal goaltender Roger Morrissette in a race for the puck near a faceoff circle. The puck ended up in front of an empty Montreal crease from where Masnick knocked it into the net.
But referee Lorne Lyndon of Winnipeg disallowed the goal and penalized Davis for interference.
Pollock was not impressed with the play of his charges. With Game 3 scheduled for Toronto, he ordered his players to leave for Toronto immediately after Game 2 rather than spend the weekend with friends and family. Which left observers wondering what Pollock would have done had Montreal lost the game.
On May 2, Montreal went up 3-0 in games with a 5-1 victory before 8,429 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Again, the Pats had problems in the third period.
As documented by Dryden: "For two periods the Toronto crowd, which had come to cheer the Pats, thrilled to a gritty display by the youthful westerners who threw their best licks at the Montreal Canadiens. But their Sunday punch couldn't produce a goal and the crafty eastern champions capitalized on three quick openings early in the third period to walk off with a 5-1 victory. Three goals within 46 seconds did the trick and the game was won and lost right then and there. Pats had no answer for that outburst.”
Marshall led Montreal with two goals, while Rose, Herb English and Rochford added one apiece. Masnick scored Regina's lone goal at 18:13 of the third period.
"The game was then held up while the ice was cleared of paper thrown by the fans,” reported CP.
It was back to Montreal for Game 4 on May 4 and the Pats were able to save some face with a 7-4 victory in front of 8,100 fans.
This was an impressive victory as Montreal held a 4-1 edge midway through the game.
Davis scored three times and set up two others for Regina. MacNeill, Doug Little, Merv Bregg and Cowan also scored for the Pats. Rose, with two, Nadon and Marshall replied for Montreal.
"This time we'll have to do it the hard way,” said Davis, who would go on to play in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins. He would later return to Regina and coach the Pats. "We'll take one game at a time.”
It all ended on May 6 as Montreal, playing at home, skated to a 6-1 lead and hung on for a 6-3 victory.
The media noted that on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, also known as the Run for the Roses, Rose sparked Montreal with two goals six seconds apart -- at 17:31 and 17:37 -- in the second period. Those goals stretched Montreal's lead to 4-1 and the Pats weren't able to get back in it. Rose's second goal would stand up as the Memorial Cup-winning score.
Goold had three goals -- one in each period -- to finish the five games with six goals and seven assists. Rose led the series with eight goals.
Litzenberger, Bregg and McDonald scored for Regina.
"We were beaten by a better team and we have no alibis,” said Armstrong. "Our boys gave their best but the Canadiens were too good for us.”

NEXT: 1951 (Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Barrie Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1951 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1951.html/)

1951 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Barrie Flyers
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre) and Brandon (Wheat City Arena)


The Regina Pats, of coach Murray Armstrong, and coach Walter Monson's Winnipeg Monarchs hooked up in quite an Abbott Cup final in the spring of ‘51.
The best-of-seven final would go eight games.
It opened in Regina on April 12, before 3,642 fans at the Stadium.
Regina won the opener 3-1 as its rookie line scored two of the goals. Warren Dowie and Bill Papp, who played on that line with Doug Killoh, scored, as did Gordon Cowan. Laurie Mitchell replied for Winnipeg.
Two nights later, in front of 4,578 fans at the Stadium, Winnipeg goaltender Don Collins stole the show in a 5-5 overtime tie.
Collins was especially sharp in the third period when his side was outshot 16-3.
The Winnipegs were without one of their top forwards, captain Elliott (Specs) Chorley having suffered a charley horse in the opener.
Cowan was the hero for Regina as he scored twice, including the tying goal in the overtime period. Doug Killoh, Brian McDonald and Garry Edmundson also scored.
Jim Zarie scored twice for the Monarchs, with Ross Park, Mitchell and Don Johnston adding one each.
Regina had to come from behind three times, including in the overtime period after Zarie scored on a power play just 32 seconds into the extra session.
Game 3 was played before 4,793 fans in Regina on April 16 and Winnipeg came away with a 2-1 victory, thanks to a huge defensive stand in the dying minutes.
All of which left the series even, each team with one win, one loss and one tie.
Mitchell scored for Winnipeg in the first period and Dave Trainor, on a pass from Chorley who was back in the lineup, made it 2-0 at 17:37 of the second period. Eddie Litzenberger scored Regina's goal at 19:34 of the second.
The Pats, with goaltender Bob Tyler on the bench, forced six faceoffs in the Winnipeg zone in the game's final minute but weren't able to capitalize.
The scene shifted to Winnipeg for Game 4 and there was a soldout crowd of some 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre on April 19.
Winnipeg, with Collins continuing to play superbly, blanked Regina 2-0 in a game that featured, according to the Regina Leader-Post’s Harvey Dryden, "brawling and scuffling and other back-alley antics not in the hockey book.”
"A total of 79 minutes in penalties were meted out to the two clubs in the two hectic periods and the first 30 minutes of the game took one hour and 35 minutes to complete,” Dryden wrote. "The soldout crowd of 5,000 fans trooped wearily out of the rink at 11:15 Winnipeg time, two hours and 45 minutes after the first faceoff.”
Mitchell got Winnipeg on the board at 4:40 of the first period. Ross Parke got Winnipeg's other goal, into an empty Regina net at 18:48 of the third period.
The game was also marred by fans along the boards "taking swipes at the Pat players.”
The Monarchs moved to within one point of clinching the series when they beat the Pats 5-2 before 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre on April 21.
Again, it was a rough game with 20 penalties, including three majors, being handed out.
Winnipeg led 2-1 after one period and 3-2 after the second before scoring the third period's only two goals.
Zarie and Johnny Novak had two goals each for the winners, with Parke getting the other. Litzenberger and Bunny Smith replied for the Pats.
This game was notable for one other thing -- the junior debut of Gerry James, who would later become a Canadian sporting legend in hockey and football, and who would later coach the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors. As reported by Dryden: "Monarchs called up another juvenile, Gerry James, son of gridiron great Eddie. A defenceman regularly, James saw action on the wing. An aggressive youth, he tossed his weight around and stirred up things with the Pats.”
Regina began its comeback on April 23 by posting a 2-1 victory before 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre.
Cowan scored both Regina goals, with Johnston counting for Winnipeg.
"The boys played it well,” Armstrong said. "They were right on the bit. I thought they were skating better than at any time in Winnipeg.
"We'll just take 'em one game at a time and Wednesday is the next one.”
The comeback continued on Wednesday, April 25 as the Pats posted a 4-3 overtime victory before 5,000 fans at the Amphitheatre.
Litzenberger's second goal of the game, at 1:47 of overtime, stood up as the winner as the Pats evened the series at three wins each with one tie.
The Pats at one time trailed 3-0 as Winnipeg got goals from Bruce Bell, James and Trainor.
Tony Schneider and McDonald scored Regina's other goals.
Litzenberger scored the winner when he stepped out of the penalty box, took a pass from Billy Papp and cut in on goal, drawing Collins out of the net and tucking the puck past him.
The eighth game was played before another sellout crowd of 5,000 in the Amphitheatre on April 28.
It was no contest.
Chorley, who had been kept in check through most of the series, got untracked to score two goals and set up another in an 8-4 victory.
Winnipeg raced out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back.
Parke, used on a checking line with James and Ron Barr, scored three times. Trainor, Zarie and Bill Burega also scored for Winnipeg. Regina's goals came from Harvey Schmidt, Tony Schneider, Edmundson and Dowie.
The Monarchs then moved on to the Memorial Cup final and they knew they'd be in tough against the Barrie Flyers, a team that was coached by the legendary Hap Emms and featured the likes of left-winger Real Chevrefils, winger Jerry Toppazzini and centre Leo Labine, all of whom would go on to play in the NHL. The Flyers had gone the full seven games to eliminate the Quebec Citadels in a bitterly fought series.
One of Barrie's forward units featured two Emms boys -- Paul and Don -- on the wings with Bill Hagan. Paul Emms was Hap's son; Don was a nephew.
The Monarchs went in having won three Memorial Cups in four trips to the final.
And going into this final the West and East had each won 16 championships since the trophy was first put up for grabs in 1919.
The final opened on May 2 with Barrie winning 5-1 in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre.
CP reported: "The well-conditioned Barrie club passed the Monarchs dizzy for the first two periods and only in the last session did the Regals show any resemblance to the form which carried them to the western title.”
Jack White, Toppazzini, Jim Morrison, Labine and Danny O'Connor scored for Barrie, with John Riley getting Winnipeg's lone goal at 15:01 of the third period to spoil the shutout bid by Lorne Howes.
The Flyers were in the catbird seat; after all, since 1938 the team that won the first game had gone on to win the Memorial Cup in every instance.
The Flyers then recorded their second straight 5-1 victory in the Amphitheatre.
Morrison, a defenceman who would go on to a steady NHL career, had a goal and two helpers for Barrie, with singles coming from Labine, Don Emms, Doug Towers and Chevrefils. Toppazzini set up three goals. And, again, Riley kept Howes from the shutout, this time scoring eight minutes into the third period.
"Playing away above their heads,” Hap Emms said of his Flyers.
The teams moved to Brandon and the Wheat City Arena for Game 3 on May 5. But the outcome was the same as Barrie won 4-3 to close to within one victory of sweeping the final.
Chevrefils got the winner at 11:31 of the third period with James in the penalty box.
Labine, Hagan and Don Emms also scored for the Flyers. Winnipeg got two goals from Chorley and one from Zarie.
The sweep was completed on May 8 when the Flyers won 9-5 at the Amphitheatre.
It was Barrie's first Memorial Cup title. The only other time the Flyers had been in the final was in 1948 when they lost in four games to the Port Arthur West End Bruins.
The fourth game had been scheduled for May 7 but was postponed due to leaking ammonia fumes in the Amphitheatre.
Chevrefils sparked the Flyers with a goal and three helpers. Labine and Toppazzini had two goals and an assist each. White, Chuck Wood, Towers and George Stanutz also scored.
Parke got two Winnipeg goals, with singles from Mitchell, Chorley and Zarie.
Barrie roared out to a 6-0 lead and it was that sixth goal, by Stanutz, that stood as the Memorial Cup-winner. It came at 7:27 of the second period.
"Nothing to be ashamed of against a club like that,” Monson said.

NEXT: 1952 (Regina Pats vs. Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1952 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1952.html/)

1952 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters
at Guelph (Arena) and Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


Coach Murray Armstrong's Regina Pats advanced to the Memorial Cup final on April 19 with a 2-1 victory over the Fort William Hurricanes.
The Pats won the best-of-seven series 4-2.
The hero in the deciding game was Eddie Litzenberger, who played the final home game of his junior career in front of 4,586 fans. He gave them their money's worth as he scored both of Regina's goals.
Regina's opposition in the Memorial Cup would be supplied by the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of coach Alf Pike, a former NHL player who had appeared in the 1937 Memorial Cup as a centre with the champion Winnipeg Monarchs.
The Biltmores were owned by local businessmen Roy Mason (he was the team's general manager), Evan Brill, Jack Chambers, Bob Dawson, Vic Dennis, George Lasby, Dayt Marsh, Norm McMillan, Arnold Somerville and Eddie Williams.
Guelph's roster featured eight players who would go on to play in the NHL. Two of them -- team captain Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell -- would end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lou Fontinato, Dean Prentice, Ron Murphy, Bill McCreary, Ron Stewart and Aldo Guidolin would also play in the NHL.
Pike would also end up in the NHL, coaching the New York Rangers.
Also on their roster was Pete Conacher, whose father, Charley, was playing in the NHL. Their top scorer, however, was Ken Laufman, who totalled 53 goals and 86 assists as he set what was then an Ontario junior scoring record with 139 points in the regular season.
The Pats were led by Litzenberger, Doug Killoh and defenceman Bob Turner, who would go on to win five consecutive Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens.
The series opened in Guelph's new 4,247-seat arena -- tickets went for what was then the steep price of $3 so that the host committee could meet the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association's guarantee. In Game 1, on April 25, the Biltmores posted an 8-2 victory.
"Regina lacked the smooth team play of the Biltmores,” reported The Canadian Press. "They relied mostly on individual efforts and a great deal of the time they were overhauled by the flying Bilts.”
Ned Powers, writing in the Regina Leader-Post, put it like this: "Biltmores' edge on the scoreboard, 8-2, was a good indication of the play and the number of shots on goal told a much more detailed story. Guelph peppered Bob Tyler with 14 shots in the first period, 16 in the second and another 16 in the third for a grand total of 46. It took the Reginans all night to amass a total of 10 shots.”
Stewart, a defenceman who had been added to Guelph's lineup from the Barrie Flyers in a late-season cash transaction, scored the only goal of the first period and Guelph then outscored Regina 3-1 in the second. Stewart finished up with two goals, as did Laufman. Murphy, Prentice, Jim Connelly and Chuck Henderson added one each. Regina's goals came from Harvey Schmidt and Litzenberger.
For the remainder of the series, the teams moved to Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.
There were 7,333 fans in the pews on April 27 for Guelph's 4-2 victory in Game 2, a game in which Regina had two first-period goals disallowed.
According to CP: "Litzenberger got a breakaway near the nine-minute mark and streaked in to beat goalie Marv Brewer on a pretty effort but the officials ruled that the play had been stopped near the Regina blueline, nullifying the shifty right winger's goal.
"The other disallowed counter came in the closing moments of the period. Doug Killoh drilled a close-in drive past Brewer just as the frame ended and the officials ruled the closing bell had sounded a fraction of a second earlier.”
On the first disallowed goal, referee Lorne (Windy) Linden of Winnipeg ruled that he had called a penalty on Fontinato just as Litzenberger took off. Pats supporters were left to wonder why Linden hadn't called a delayed penalty.
Bathgate scored Guelph's first and last goals, with Murphy and McCreary, who had two assists, adding one each. Ted Yarnton and Litzenberger scored for Regina.
McCreary, a 16-year-old, was playing on a line with Bathgate, a three-year veteran, and Prentice. All three would go on to play in the NHL.
The Pats spent the next night in Maple Leaf Gardens -- watching Barbara Ann Scott's ice show.
The relaxation didn't help the westerners because, on April 30, they were bounced 8-2 before 4,270 fans to fall behind 3-0 in the series.
Powers wrote: "Currently in the process of presenting the Guelph Biltmores with their first Memorial Cup in history, Ron Murphy and Andy Bathgate are writing a glorious end to their junior hockey days before taking the expected big jump to National Hockey League warfare next winter.”
Murphy and Bathgate each scored three times as Guelph led 4-1 and 5-2 at the intermissions. Henderson and Laufman also scored.
Johnny Reeve and Brian McDonald scored for the Pats.
"With all the experienced men on this club, you wouldn't think they would turn sour like that,” Armstrong said. "I honestly feel that every man is trying as hard as he can but things just aren't working for us. Then we make those mistakes and get ourselves into deeper trouble.
"It is a tall order to win four straight from a good hockey club like Guelph but stranger things have happened.”
It wasn't to be. Guelph won 10-2 on May 2 to complete the sweep in front of 3,447 fans.
Prentice and Connelly each scored twice for Guelph which outscored Regina 30-8 over the four games. Stewart, Bill Chalmers, Bathgate, McCreary, Henderson and Howell added a goal each. Litzenberger and Gordon Cowan replied for Regina.
The Memorial Cup-winning goal, Guelph's third of the game, came from Bathgate at 18:16 of the first period.
"Boy, am I glad that's over,” Pike said. "Now I can go fishing.”
His team had won 18 of 23 playoff games.

NEXT: 1953 (St. Boniface Canadiens vs. Barrie Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1953 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1953.html/)

1953 MEMORIAL CUP
St. Boniface Canadiens vs. Barrie Flyers
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre) and Brandon (Wheat City Arena)


Yes, Don Cherry really did play in a Memorial Cup championship.
It was the spring of 1953 and he was a defenceman with the Barrie Flyers.
The Flyers, coached by Leighton (Hap) Emms, eliminated the Quebec Citadels, winning the fifth game of a best-of-seven Eastern Canadian final 7-3 to advance.
Among Cherry's teammates were Doug Mohns, Orv Tessier, Skip Teal, goaltender Marv Edwards, who was picked up from the St. Catharines Teepees, and captain Don McKenney.
(Wondering from where Cherry got his chutzpah? During a semifinal series against the Toronto-St. Michael's Majors, Emms sent Turk Broda, the opposing coach, a book -- How To Coach Hockey.)
The Flyers would travel west to meet coach Bryan Hextall's St. Boniface Canadiens, who won the Abbott Cup with a seven-game series victory over the Lethbridge Native Sons. The Canadiens won four games (including a 12-1 victory in Game 7), with two losses and a tie.
It was St. Boniface's first western junior title since 1938 when the Seals won the Memorial Cup.
The Canadiens featured Ab McDonald, Cec Hoekstra, Al Johnson, goaltender Hal Dalkie and captain Syd White.
The Memorial Cup final would be played at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, with the exception of Game 2 which was scheduled for the Wheat City Arena in Brandon.
Eastern teams had won the last four titles and the Flyers, winners in 1951 with Emms coaching, went in as 8-to-5 favorites.
The series opened on April 27 with Teal's two goals and two assists leading the Flyers to a 6-4 victory before a sellout crowd of 5,000.
Game 1 was carried on St. Boniface radio station CKSB, the first time in Manitoba history the national final had been broadcast in French.
The Canadiens led 3-1 after the first period and 4-2 after the second, but gave up four third-period goals.
McKenney, playing on Teal's wing, had a goal and three assists. Jim Robertson, Tony Poeta and Tessier added one each.
Gary Blaine, with two, Leo Konyk and Barry Thorndycraft replied for St. Boniface.
One highlight was a goal in which Blaine roared down the left boards, changed hands on his stick and rifled a low drive into the net at 2:47 of the first period.
The Flyers hadn't been on skates for more than three days and it showed as the Canadiens dominated early.
But once the Flyers got their legs, they took over.
"We're not licked yet,” said Edwin Hansford, the St. Boniface mayor.
In Game 2, played April 29 in Brandon, the Canadiens held a 3-2 lead early in the third period but gave up four straight goals and lost 6-3, leaving a crowd of 4,800 stunned with the outcome.
The roof fell in shortly after White took a cross-checking penalty at 12:56 of the third period with the scored tied 3-3. Barrie scored three times with White in the penalty box.
Centre Johnny Martan scored three times for the Flyers, including the goal that tied the score 3-3.
After White was sent off, Teal (13:53), Martan (14:28) and Poeta (14:35) put it away for Barrie. All three goals came on rebounds.
Poeta finished with two goals and two assists. Tessier checked in with five assists.
Blaine had two goals for St. Boniface with Thorndycraft getting the other.
"We beat ourselves in that game,” Hextall said, "and now we've got to get the next one.”
After Game 2, Emms got together with the city of Brandon and put in a request for Game 4 to be held there. But the CAHA turned that down, although it did say a Game 6, if needed, would be held in Brandon.
Back in the Amphitheatre, Barrie went up 3-0 on May 1 by winning Game 3 7-5 before more than 5,000 fans.
The Flyers led 1-0 after the first period. St. Boniface would forge a 2-2 tie in the second period but fell behind 4-2 before the middle frame ended.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->Edwards was spectacular in stopping 34 shots, many from right on top of him. At the other end, Dalkie blocked 41 but he wasn't as severely tested as was Edwards.
Tessier and McKenney led Barrie with two goals each. Teal, Poeta and Martan added one each, with Martan chipping in with three assists.
Blaine had two goals for St. Boniface for the third straight game. McDonald also scored twice, with Len Thornson getting the other. Thornson also had two helpers.
While most people were predicting a sweep, the Canadiens stayed alive with a 7-4 victory on May 4 that broke the east's 12-game Memorial Cup winning streak. The west hadn't won a game since Game 4 of the 1950 final when the Regina Pats beat the Montreal Junior Canadiens, 7-4.
Prior to the game, which was played before more than 5,000 fans, the Canadiens had received a telegram from Montreal Canadiens head man Frank Selke urging them to "go out and win.” Which is just what they did.
Konyk, Bill Short, Thorndycraft, Lou Marius, Gabe Pankhurst, Blaine and Thornson scored for the winners. Teal, with two, Cherry (on a long screened shot) and Mohns replied for Barrie.
The Canadiens owned this game from the outset, holding period leads of 2-0 and 5-1.
The Flyers were virtually without Poeta, a speedy winger who had suffered a knee injury in Game 3. Game but injured, he was limited to three short shifts in the first two periods of Game 4.
Emms, meanwhile, was blasting officials Ching McDonald and Louis Lecompte of Montreal as "the worst I have ever seen.”
Then, he hammered away at the Amphitheatre: "It was just a pool of water. In fact, the whole set-up at this barn is a disgrace.”
Sheesh . . . and he was leading the series 3-1.
It ended on May 6 with Barrie posting a 6-1 victory before another capacity crowd of more than 5,000.
The Flyers led 2-1 and 5-1 by periods and coasted to the title.
Robertson, with two, Mohns, Ralph Willis, Tessier and Cherry scored for the Flyers. Konyk had the Canadiens' lone goal.
The Cup-winning goal came from Willis at 4:43 of the first period on a screened shot from the blue line.
For the record, Cherry had one assist in Game 1, was kept off the scoresheet in Game 2, picked up one minor penalty in Game 3, had a goal in Game 4 (one report said he was "a standout“), and scored once in Game 5 during which he also picked up a fighting major and a minor.
The Cherry legend includes -- or doesn't include, depending upon to whom you are speaking -- an incident from Game 5 that included Blaine, a St. Boniface defenceman of immense potential whose career would fall victim to the demon rum, and Cherry.
Legend has it that Blaine actually chased Cherry around the Amphitheatre in an attempt to get him to fight.
As Winnipeg Free Press columnist Hal Sigurdson recounted in June of 1996, "Blaine's teammate, Ab McDonald . . . says it was Cherry. So does former provincial cabinet minister Larry Desjardins, who was general manager of Blaine's St. Boniface Canadiens at the time.”
As for Blaine . . .
"To be honest,” he told Sigurdson, "I'm not sure.
"Orval Tessier had just slashed our goaltender, Hal Dalkie, and I drilled him. When he went down I tried to pick him up, but he turtled. I'd never seen a guy do that before. Anyway, I heard another of their players chirping so I went after him. He took off and I chased him. When I asked our guys who it was they told me his name was Don Cherry.”
Cherry's totals for the series : 5 games played, 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 points and nine penalty minutes. Oh, and a Memorial Cup ring.

NEXT: 1954 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. St. Catharines Teepees)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1954 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1954.html/)

1954 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. St. Catharines Teepees
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


When the Edmonton Oil Kings journeyed east for the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final they didn't leave anything to chance -- they even took their own water with them.
"We've got four gallons here now and six more are on their way from Edmonton,” coach Ken McAuley said. "The players claimed they suffered cramps in out-ot-town games from drinking other water and they didn't want to take any chances. I don't know if there's anything to it but if they want Edmonton water they can have it.”
While the Oil Kings were sequestered in a Toronto motel, the Quebec Frontenacs and St. Catharines Teepees struggled to declare a winner in a bitterly contested eastern final.
Prior to 1947, the St. Catharines junior team was known as the Falcons. But, in 1947, the team acquired its nickname -- Teepees -- from its sponsor, Thomson Products, a local firm that produced automotive and aircraft parts.
The Teepees would become one of the most recognizable nicknames in junior hockey. The organization hung on to the nickname through 1963, after which it changed to the Black Hawks and later Fincups.
Barry Cullen's three goals led St. Catharines to a 9-1 victory before 11,912 fans in Quebec City on May 5 as the Teepees took a 3-2 edge in the series. St. Catharines wrapped it up two nights later in Toronto, winning 4-2 before 6,669 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
"They're going to be really tough to beat,” McAuley said after watching the clinching game.
The Teepees, of coach Rudy Pilous, went into the best-of-seven final having already played 91 games in their season. They were also in their first Memorial Cup final since being born 12 years earlier. The Oil Kings, with an amazing 61 victories in 65 games, hadn't played in 16 days.
Game 1, played on May 9 before 4,790 fans, wasn't much. Jack Armstrong scored three times as the Teepees rolled to an 8-2 victory over the rusty Oilers.
The Canadian Press reported: "Teepees, clicking on every turn after winning the eastern junior title Friday night, put on the pressure from the opening and handed the Oil Kings their worst defeat of the season.”
Don McLean and Hughie Barlow added two goals each while Brian Cullen scored once. Edmonton's goals came from future NHLers Norm Ullman and Jerry Melnyk.
"We expect a lot of opposition yet,” Pilous said. "They're a good bunch of boys and they handle the puck well. And they should improve.”
The Oil Kings played better on May 11 but it still wasn't enough as they lost 5-3.
CP reported that the game was played before "3,680 fans, one of the smallest crowds in years to see a Memorial Cup playoff.”
After a scoreless first period, Edmonton took a 2-0 lead in the second on goals by John Bucyk and Ullman. McLean put St. Catharines on the board at 17:03.
St. Catharines then struck for four third-period goals, Barlow scoring twice and Barry Cullen and Hank Ciesla adding one each.
Edmonton's Ray Kinasewich, playing on a line with Bucyk and Ullman, ended the scoring at 14:19 of the third.
Edmonton goaltender Al Jacobson, who blocked 43 shots in Game 1, stopped 24 shots. The Teepees' Marv Edwards kicked out 25 shots, 11 more than he had been asked to stop in the opener.
There were only 3,030 fans in the stands on May 13 as St. Catharines took a stranglehold on the series with a 4-1 victory over what CP called a "ragged-looking band” of Oil Kings.
Brian Cullen led the winners with three goals and set up the other by Barlow, a 20-year-old centre who played with the Cullen brothers on his wings.
Kinasewich scored the game's first goal, at 14:20 of the second period, but the Oil Kings fell behind shortly thereafter and were never in it after that.
"My club will win Saturday night -- we'll win it in four straight,” Pilous said. "(The Oil Kings) just don't play in the same kind of a league. That club couldn't win 60 games in a season in the Ontario Hockey Association.”
McAuley fired back: "What do you expect? We went 16 days without a game before we started this series. The boys are making mental mistakes which could be cured, but they've been off the ice so long you can't talk them into it. The only way the east wins this thing is by stalling the west.”
Pilous was wrong. His boys didn't get their sweep as the teams played to a 3-3 tie -- they played one 10-minute overtime period -- on May 15. Kinasewich, Bucyk and Chuck Holmes scored for Edmonton. Barlow, with two, and Cec Hoekstra scored for the Teepees.
St. Catharines wrapped it up the next day, however, posting a 6-2 victory before 2,848 fans.
Brian Cullen led the winners with two goals and two assists in his last junior game. Barlow, Ciesla, Barry Cullen and Wimpy Roberts added one each. Ullman and Bucyk replied for the westerners.
Ciesla's goal, at 9:38 of the first period, gave St. Catharines a 3-0 lead and stood up as the Memorial Cup-winning score.
"It's been a good series,” Pilous said. "But I honestly believe we have the better hockey team.”
It marked the sixth straight season in which an eastern team had won the Memorial Cup.

NEXT: 1955 (Regina Pats vs. Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1955 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1955.html/)

1955 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Toronto Marlboros
at Regina (Exhibition Stadium)


It was a talented group of Toronto Marlboros that arrived in Regina on April 20 to meet the Regina Pats in the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final, with all games scheduled for Exhibition Stadium.
Coached by Turk Broda, the retired star netminder who had moved on to the NHL from the Brandon Native Sons and was in his first season as a head coach, the Marlies featured the likes of captain Al MacNeil, Bob Baun, Billy Harris, Gerry James (a two-sporter, he also played football with the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers), Mike Nykoluk, Bob Pulford and Gary Aldcorn.
The Marlboros had dumped the St. Catharines Teepees in a six-game eastern final.
Stafford Smythe was the Marlboros' manager; Harold Ballard was the president. Ballard wasn't in Regina long before he was complaining. It seems he didn't like the fact the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association had his club traveling tourist class on the train to Regina. It seems his club always traveled first class.
"The CAHA takes all the gate receipts as soon as a team gets out of its own province,” Ballard said, "but the governing body only allows $180 daily expenses for an 18-man team.”
Tom Melville had this to say in the Regina Leader-Post: "Mr. Ballard objected to traveling in a so-called tourist sleeping car and is reported to have paid the difference for a standard. Because Marlboros did most of their eastern traveling by bus, he may be forgiven for not knowing that eastern trains on the short hauls do not carry tourist cars. Western clubs, both in football and hockey, in the main use tourist cars. What is the difference between the two classes?
"A tourist car has 12 lowers and a drawing room; the standard has 12 lowers and a drawing room. The tourist cars are a little older than the standards, although not always, and on a tourist car the door is taken off the drawing room and a curtain substituted.
"If Mr. Ballard preferred a newer car and a door on the drawing room, surely he could have made arrangements for this without making a national issue out of it.”
The Pats, who had taken care of the Winnipeg Monarchs in five games in the western final, were coached by Murray Armstrong. Included on the roster were Bill Hicke and Bill Hay. Murray Balfour, an all-star defenceman, would miss the first two games as he recovered from a cracked kneecap suffered seven weeks previous.
Regina had added three players for the series -- defenceman Lionel Repka from the Edmonton Oil Kings and forwards Earl Ingarfield and Les Colwill from the Lethbridge Native Sons. Ingarfield, however, was injured and would miss the start of the series.
Ken Girard, the right winger on Toronto's first line, suffered a charleyhorse when checked by James during a practice and was on the limp when the series opened.
Prior to the opener, Broda said: "I haven't seen the Regina Pats in action, so I don't know just how the Marlboros will stack up against them. It takes a game in any series to sort things out. I hear the Pats are pretty fast and throw the puck around rather well. The Marlboros had to beat some pretty good teams to get where they are, so I guess I shouldn't be backwards in touting my own boys.
"Let's say this, though. If we don't win the series in five games I might be looking for a new job. The pattern lately has been the east in five and I might get thrown out if I let the side down.”
History shows that Broda didn't let the side down.
The Pats opened the series with a 3-1 victory before 4,756 fans on April 21.
"Pats were outshot and outweighed,” wrote Ernie Fedoruk in The Leader-Post. "But Armstrong's warriors didn't let the coach down in vital departments. He expected hustle and desire. He got that and an excellent defensive and backchecking display which proved to be the big factor in an important contest.”
Armstrong, so far, was refusing to use the three additions that were allowed under CAHA rules. Neither Ingarfield, who was hurt, nor Colwill dressed for the opener; Repka was dressed but never got off the bench.
Glenn MacDonald and Harry Ottenbreit, who played on Regina's third line with Hay, scored the first two goals, both on passes from Hay. Elmer Schwartz added Regina's other goal. Gary Collins scored for Toronto.
"We'll play it the same way Saturday,” Armstrong said, "with the same lineup. We'll have to keep with them all the way. When things got really bad, Joe Selinger came through. Joe's like the pitcher on a ball team. If you haven't got good pitching, you haven't got anything. It's the same think in goalkeeping.”
The Marlies tied the series on April 23, scoring a 5-2 decision thanks to four power-play goals before 5,478 fans.
Toronto, which outshot Regina 31-10, led 3-0 halfway through the game and Regina rarely threatened. Nykoluk scored twice for Toronto, with singles coming from Glen Cressman, James and Pulford. Regina's goals came from Danny Wong and Schwartz.
"It was a dandy hockey game,” Broda said. "Regina fans may never see another one as good.
"Still, the boys didn't play as well as they could. Their checking has improved and after another game, we'll be hard to beat.”
Immediately after the game, Armstrong announced that he would dress Balfour, Ingarfield and Colwill for Game 3. Repka finally had played halfway through Game 2.
To get in the replacements, Armstrong scratched defencemen Wayne Klinck and Fred Buchan, while forward Harvey Flaman bowed out with the flu.
After Game 3 on April 25, Fedoruk reported: "Pats outskated, outshot and outchecked the heavier Toronto team. Regina spotted Dukes a 2-0 first-period lead, then came back to stage a display that had Marlboros hanging on the ropes.”
However, the Pats didn't win. With 4,500 fans on hand, the Marlboros scored a 3-2 victory.
Still, the Pats were upbeat despite trailing 2-1 in the series.
"They're not half as tough as we're going to be,” Armstrong said.
Harris, Pulford and Nykoluk scored for Toronto, with Colwill and Hay scoring for Regina.
Broda, commenting on his team's play, said: "They were terrible. That was the worst game of hockey I've seen them play all winter.”
Toronto would play better on April 27 and earn a 3-2 overtime victory to go up 3-1 in the series.
"When the going gets tough and the games get bigger, then Billy Harris will get us the big goals,” Ballard had said back when the series was even at 1-1.
And that's exactly what happened.
"Harris dropped the Pats after 44 seconds of overtime action, scoring a pretty unassisted goal,” wrote Fedoruk.
Harris figured in all three Toronto goals as he set up MacNeil and Girard for the other goals.
The best of the Pats was Balfour, who sent 5,378 fans into hysteria when he forced overtime with 13 seconds left in the third period. It was his second goal of the game.
"Our boys couldn't get up for the overtime,” Armstrong said. "I thought when we tied it they'd rise and really go. But they were awfully tired. We had to make the game after Toronto got the goal but we couldn't make a go of it.”
Said Broda: "I think we played our best hockey game, but winning that way is awfully bad for the heart. Sure, we only need one more, but it'll be just as hard to get.”
It was hard, but the Marlies got it in Game 5, winning 8-5 in overtime in front of 5,718 fans.
"Pats, great in defeat, blew a 3-0 first-period lead and the hard-hitting Dukes exploded for three goals in a minute and 27 seconds midway in the third period to send the game into overtime,” read one report.
Harris, again, scored the winner. It came at 6:13 of overtime on Toronto's first good scoring chance of extra time. Cressman had two goals, the tying goal in the third period and an insurance score in overtime. Collins also scored twice, with James, Pulford and Bill Kennedy getting one each. Hay fired three goals for the Pats, with Ottenbreit and captain Bev Bell getting the others.
Armstrong finished the series the way he started it -- he didn't use any of the players who had been added from other teams.
"Pats were powerful,” Ballard said. "Make no bones about it. If the breaks in those three games fell in favor of Regina, all this noise you hear would be coming from the Pat dressing room instead of ours.
"It was your Pats, and not the Marlboros, who have regained for the Memorial Cup final the prestige it so rightfully deserves.”
The attendance at Game 5 brought the total to 25,821, almost 8,000 more than had witnessed the 1954 Memorial Cup final.
"Hold your heads up -- high,” Armstrong told the Pats. "You've got nothing to be ashamed of. You gave everything you had and I'm just as proud of you as I would be if you had won. There's no disgrace in losing a series like that and to a team like that.”

NEXT: 1956 (Regina Pats vs. Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1956 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1956.html/)

1956 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Toronto Marlboros
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


The Toronto Marlboros, a team full of future NHLers, would take eight games to eliminate the Montreal Junior Canadiens and advance to the Memorial Cup final.
Coached by Turk Broda, the former Toronto Maple Leafs great goaltender, and with the likes of Bob Nevin, Charlie Burns, Carl Brewer, Bob Pulford, Bobby Baun, Lou Angotti, team captain Al MacNeil and Harry Neale on their roster, the Marlboros blanked the Baby Habs 2-0 on April 25 in the eighth game of the eight-point Eastern Canadian final.
Toronto won the eighth game on goals by Jim Murchie and Burns, with the perfect goaltending supplied by Les Broderick, who made 14 saves in front of 12,339 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was Broderick's third shutout of the series.
The Regina Pats, the western Memorial Cup finalists, were in the stands for that game.
"I guess if you are big enough, tough enough and can skate, you can play hockey,” Regina head coach Murray Armstrong said of the game. "But the checking was very good. The players lean on one another and that type of hard checking doesn't enable a team to cut loose with pleasing, wide-open plays.”
Regina picked up three players for the final -- Len Lunde (Edmonton Oil Kings), Johnny Kowalchuk (Fort William Canadians) and Stewart McNeill (Port Arthur North Stars) -- and Armstrong put them together on one line.
The Pats' roster also included the likes of Bill Hicke, Murray Balfour, captain Harry Ottenbreit and goaltender Hank Metcalf.
The series opened on April 27 before only 3,855 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens, site of all games in this series. The Pats, coming off a 13-day layoff, held a 4-2 lead in the third period but had to settle for a 4-4 overtime tie.
After a scoreless first period, Regina led 3-2 after the second.
Bryan Whittal, Wayne Klinck, Joe Lunghamer and Johnny (Kayo) Kowalchuk scored for Regina. Left-winger Ken Girard got two goals for Toronto, with singles coming from Wally Boyer and Brewer. Girard's second goal, at 18:29 of the third, forged the tie. The teams played a scoreless 10-minute overtime period.
"I wasn't going to stay and see the series,” offered Toe Blake, head coach of the Stanley Cup-champion Montreal Canadiens, "but I think I will have to now.”
Two nights later, with 8,463 fans in the seats, the Marlboros breezed to a 5-1 victory. Toronto led 3-0 after one period and 5-1 after the second.
Pulford, who would turn into the star of this final, struck for two Toronto goals, with singles coming from MacNeil, Girard and Gary Collins. Balfour had Regina's only goal.
"The boys realize they have to toss the puck around a bit now,” Armstrong said. "They weren't shooting. They were hanging on too long. Our goalie, Hank Metcalf, admitted he should have had the first and third goals. The final goal was another gift. The clearing on the play was very weak.
"But that's the way the breaks fall. We should have scored more than one goal. We had a few good chances. Maybe we'll start getting some of these breaks the next time.”
Broda said: "Pats are getting better. They're starting to look like big leaguers. I did expect Regina would be a great deal stronger, and I still say it's going to be a good series.
"My club played better . . . although a few of the players are not too happy about their performances.”
The Marlboros won their second game in a row on May 2, beating the Pats 4-2 behind Pulford's two goals in front of 4,416 fans.
Pulford went into the final having struck for 18 goals in 14 playoff games. Ron Farnfield and Ron Casey also scored for Toronto. Whittal had both Regina goals. (Farnfield, from Winnipeg, was the only player on the Marlies' roster from outside of Toronto.)
"What can you say when you lose?” said Armstrong. "With any breaks we might have won.”
Toronto moved to within one victory of its second straight championship with a 6-1 whipping of Regina before 2,470 fans on May 4.
Broda said the Marlies "played their best game of the series.”
Armstrong was disappointed. "That was the key game and we weren't even in it. It was certainly a bad game.”
Toronto scored two goals in each period -- Pulford striking for three of them. Girard, Bill Kennedy and Burns added one each. Con Collie spoiled Broderick's shutout bid late in the third period.
Maple Leaf Gardens president Conn Smythe -- his son Stafford was the Marlboros' manager -- wasn't the least bit surprised the way the series was going.
"I defy any ordinary citizen to know what the Pats are supposed to be playing,” he said. "They're supposed to like this type of hockey in the west. That's why they keep losing the Memorial Cup. The Marlies play it like the pros and that's why they're winning.
"I don't blame the boys. It's not their fault because some of them show plenty of promise. It's the officials above them.”
The Marlboros wrapped it up on the afternoon of May 6, beating the Pats 7-4 before 3,601 fans.
Toronto led 4-1 after the first period, striking for three power-play goals in a 45-second span, and 6-4 after the second.
Pulford led the way with three goals, giving him 10 in the series. Baun, MacNeil, Kennedy and Boyer also scored for the winners. Whittal had two goals for Regina, with singles from Hicke and Kowalchuk.
"It was Regina's best showing,” Broda said. "They played a good game and have the nucleus of a good team. That kid Whittal was outstanding. He works hard. They tell me only two of the Regina players are overage for next season.
"If that's the case, then they could quite easily win the Memorial Cup next year. Isn't Saskatchewan supposed to be next year country?”
The Memorial Cup-winning goal came from Kennedy at 1:40 of the second period. It gave Toronto a 5-1 lead.
Broda became only the second coach to win back-to-back Memorial Cup titles. The other? Tracy Shaw, with the Oshawa Generals in 1939 and 1940.
Armstrong, meanwhile, was in his fifth Memorial Cup final, four of them as a coach. He now was 0-5. Counting regular-season and playoff games, Armstrong had 299 coaching victories with the Pats. He would have loved to have gotten No. 300 in the Memorial Cup. And now there were rumors that he was headed for Colorado College.

NEXT: 1957 (Flin Flon Bombers vs. Ottawa Canadiens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1957 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1957.html/)

1957 MEMORIAL CUP
Flin Flon Bombers vs. Ottawa Canadiens
at Flin Flon (Community Arena) and Regina (Exhibition Stadium)


The junior hockey world was amazed -- the Flin Flon Bombers would represent the west in the Memorial Cup final.
The Bombers, for heaven's sake, had never before won their league championship. This 1956-57 season, however, was unlike any that had come before it.
Coached by Bobby Kirk, the Bombers roared through the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with a 64-9-2 record, winning 43 of 55 regular-season games. They ousted the Humboldt Indians and Fort William Canadians from best-of-seven series in straight games and took six games to sideline the Edmonton Oil Kings and then the Prince Albert Mintos.
The Bombers, it was safe to say, owned the northern Manitoba mining town of 12,000 people.
The secret, according to Kirk, was "balance.”
"I have three lines and any one can come up with a goal,” said Kirk, noting that his team had eight players with at least 25 goals each.
Kirk, who replaced Alex Shibicky, was wrapping up his third season with the Bombers and had put three Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League titles under his belt in that time.
Included on the roster were centre Ted Hampson (the team captain, he was the SJHL's scoring champ with 118 points, including 48), Mel Pearson, Pat Ginnell (a 19-goal scorer in the playoffs, he had played for the Port Arthur North Stars the previous season and would later coach the Bombers) and Barry Beatty. Hampson, Pearson (another future Bombers coach), centre Ron Hutchinson and defencemen George Konik, Mike Kardash, Duane Rupp and Lyle Willey all came out of Flin Flon's minor hockey ranks. Goaltender George Wood, a native of Hartney, Man., had come over from the Lethbridge Native Sons, with whom he had spent the 1955-56 season.
Only Ginnell, Beatty (St. Boniface Canadiens) and Wood had been brought in for this season by the Bombers. The rest of the boys were homebrews, the product of an amazing minor hockey system.
For the Memorial Cup, the Bombers added centre Orland Kurtenbach from Prince Albert and two players from Port Arthur -- goaltender Lynn Davis and defenceman Jean Gauthier.
The series was scheduled to open in Flin Flon. If the first two games were split, a third would be played in Flin Flon, with the balance in Regina's Exhibition Stadium.
The rink in Flin Flon, which had been built in 1936 to house the senior Bombers, had had artificial ice since 1950. It seated 1,141 although an extra 200 seats were added for the Memorial Cup games by knocking out one end.
Flin Flon was in a furor when the Ottawa Canadiens, of coach Sam Pollock, didn't show up on time. The first game, scheduled for April 25, was postponed to April 26.
Ottawa showed up in Winnipeg on Monday, April 22, but chose to wait until April 24 to fly into Flin Flon. By that time the weather had closed in and its flight was grounded. The Canadiens boarded a train and rode the rails into the northern hinterlands.
Gordon Juckes of Melville, Sask., was the CAHA official in charge of the series. He said he would recommend to the CAHA that the Ottawa club be "severely disciplined” for causing the first postponement in the history of the Canadian final.
Flin Flon citizens are up in arms over criticism leveled at the town and its facilities by Ottawa officials who do not recognize, apparently, any part of Canada west of Ottawa,” said Bombers president Jimmy Wardle. "We feel that the nationally known, warm-hearted hospitality and a fine hockey club make up for the lack of a Chateau Laurier and what they amusingly call an ‘ice palace' in Ottawa.”
The arena manager in Flin Flon was none other than Robert (Pinkie) Davie, who had played in the 1932 Memorial Cup final with the Winnipeg Monarchs, who lost out to the Sudbury Cub Wolves. Davie, for one, was thrilled that the Ottawa boys weren't too happy about having to journey to Flin Flon.
"I hear those Ottawa characters are squawking,” Davie said. "That's great. I like to hear people squawk because it shows they are worrying about something.”
Upon arrival, the Canadiens were housed in the dormitories -- bunkhouses -- that usually were living quarters for miners.
On the ice, Ottawa was sparked by future NHLers Ralph Backstrom and Murray Balfour, the latter having played with the Regina Pats the previous two seasons and who was making his third straight appearance in the Memorial Cup final. Claude Ruel, a future coach of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, was on the Ottawa defence.
The Bombers won the opener 3-1 in front of more than 2,000 fans who packed into every available corner of the rink.
Konik, the SJHL's most valuable player, scored twice for the Bombers, with Hampson adding the other.
Backstrom opened the scoring at 4:49 of the second period, only to have Hampson tie it at 11:19 and Konik put the Bombers out front at 15:48. Konik wrapped it up with an empty-net goal at 19:45 of the third.
Wood was particularly outstanding, stopping 23 shots, including three clean breakaways.
"Ottawa's a good club and there are still a few more games to be played in this series, so why should I gloat?” Kirk said.
He was right about one thing. There were a few more games to be played.
Ottawa won Game 2 on April 28, scoring a 4-3 victory thanks to two goals in the final 33 seconds of the third period. A packed house of slightly more than 2,000 fans couldn't believe it.
Ginnell scored the game's first goal at 8:09 of the first period, only to have Bill Carter tie it before the period ended. Ginnell then scored the only goal of the second period, at 1:29.
Willey upped Flin Flon's lead to 3-1 at 3:06 of the third period and as play progressed the Bombers seemed on their way to victory.
But Mike Legace scored for Ottawa at 15:59 and then set up Carter for the tying goal at 19:27. Seconds earlier, the Bombers were guilty of icing the puck. Pollock pulled goaltender Claude Dufour with the faceoff in Flin Flon's zone. The puck was dropped. There was a mad scramble. Carter corralled the loose puck and fired it past Wood.
The Canadiens won the ensuing faceoff and moved the puck into Flin Flon territory. The loose puck slid toward Wood and he tried to beat Backstrom to it. But the Ottawa centre got there first and backhanded home the winner at 19:36.
"That was a break,” said Scotty Bowman, Pollock's assistant, of the icing call that preceded Ottawa's third goal.
Kirk agreed: "I sent out George Konik, who got the faceoff every time during the past season. He couldn't get the big one.”
Kirk also announced that he would keep Gauthier in the lineup (the defenceman was a standout in the first two games) and that Kurtenbach would see his first action in Game 3. Kurtenbach would play in place of Beatty who suffered a back injury in the second game.
Although he didn't announce it, Kirk would also sit out Wood and give Davis his first start in goal in Game 3 which, because the first two games were split, would also be played in Flin Flon.
Ottawa made it two out of three in Flin Flon with a 5-2 victory on April 29 as Balfour erupted for three goals.
"Well,” Pollock said, "Balfour came through tonight. Those were his first goals of the playoffs and they couldn't have come at a better time.
"His first one in the third was the turning point. It gave my boys a big lift. It also shows that we can come from behind in the worst places in the world.”
Ottawa scored three goals on breakaways and added two others when the Bombers got caught with just one skater back.
Both teams complained about soft ice when the game was over.
"That soft ice wasn't for us,” Kirk said. "It definitely had a lot to do with the outcome.”
It was the second time in a year that Balfour had come up big against the Bombers. The previous year, while with Regina, he had scored four times in a 9-6 Pats' victory in Game 7 of their western semifinal series.
Legace and Claude Richard, a brother of NHL star Maurice Richard and star-to-be Henri Richard, scored Ottawa's other goals. Konik and Hutchinson replied for Flin Flon.
The Bombers actually led 2-0 in the first period before Richard, in the first, and Balfour, at 1:25 of the third, tied it. Legace then got the winner at 6:12, with Balfour wrapping it up with goals at 14:48 and 15:58.
The teams then headed for Regina and the rest of the series.
Game 4 was played May 1 with the Bombers scoring a 3-1 victory to tie the series 2-2 in front of 5,118 fans.
Wood was credited with just 11 saves but one of them, a late second-period stop on Carter who broke in alone, was credited with sparking the Flin Flon boys to victory. Ottawa was leading 1-0 on a goal by Carter at 15:36 of the second period.
"That was the turning point,” Kirk said. "It was a key save. It kept us alive. That lifted my boys.”
Pollock agreed: "If we could have got another goal, then we would have won. It would have taken the heart right out of the Bombers for good.”
Flin Flon's big line -- Hampson between Pearson and Ginnell -- scored all three Bombers' goals, each skater getting one. Ginnell tied the score at 6:43 of the third, with Pearson putting the Bombers out front at 11:26. Hampson, who set up the other two goals, got the insurance marker into an empty net.
After Ottawa took those two in Flin Flon,” said New York Rangers general manager Muzz Patrick, "I thought, without seeing the teams, that it was the same old story ... too much balance by the eastern team. I changed my mind (May 1). This western club can win it.”
The Bombers took a 3-2 lead on May 3 with a 3-2 victory in front of 4,913 fans. Pollock wasn't around for the end of this one.
Ernie Fedoruk, writing in the Regina Leader-Post, explained: "The Bombers scored twice in the third period to settle the issue. Even so, the vociferous Mr. Pollock took the play away from the players. Sam, madder than ever, questioned the ancestry of the referees following the second period and wound up as a spectator.
"Assistant Ottawa coach Scotty Bowman took over after Pollock was ejected. Bowman managed to last the third period but he, too, took after the officials, Curly Brault and Dutch Van Deelan, as soon as the final buzzer sounded.”
Kurtenbach, Ginnell and Beatty scored for Flin Flon. Dick Damouchel got Ottawa's lone goal.
Dufour was outstanding in the Ottawa goal, turning aside 27 shots, while Wood stopped 17.
Ottawa had a new face in its lineup. Centre Gerry Wilson, originally from Winnipeg, had missed seven weeks while recuperating from a knee injury. (Wilson's career would be plagued by knee problems and he would eventually become a well-known Winnipeg doctor. His son, Carey, would later play in the NHL.)
It was thought that Pollock was getting Wilson some game experience because he thought he might lose Legace and Gilles Tremblay, both of whom were scheduled to return home to write university exams. In the end, Legace returned to Laval University while Tremblay stayed to finish the series.
Backstrom, 19, was the star of Game 6. He scored twice as Ottawa won 4-2 on May 6 in front of 4,949 fans.
Jean Marc Picard and Dumouchel, the latter into an empty net, also scored for Ottawa. Kurtenbach set up both Regina goals, by Ginnell and Konik.
And now the series was tied 3-3.
"It's too bad,” said Pollock, "that they can't divide the Memorial Cup. It's a shame. These two clubs out there both deserve it.”
One of the greatest Memorial Cup finals in history ended on May 8 in front of about 4,500 fans, the smallest turnout for any of the games in Regina. It ended with Flin Flon on top 3-2 thanks to Hampson's winning goal at 10:30 of the third period.
Hampson's linemates, Ginnell and Pearson, scored the game's first two goals. Ginnell beat Dufour at 17:23 of the first period and Pearson struck at 18:14 as the Bombers outshot Ottawa 13-2 in the opening period.
Legace, who had flown back to Regina but didn't arrive at the rink until after the first period, scored for Ottawa at 19:43 of the second period.
Hampson upped Flin Flon's lead to 3-1 at 10:30 of the third -- with rookie Bobby Rousseau in the penalty box -- before Legace scored at 19:59.
"It's the greatest thrill of my life,” Kirk said. ""We won the cup because an inspired, determined hockey club fought when the chips were down and never gave up.”
It was Flin Flon's 88th game of the season -- the Bombers won 72 of them.
It was the first time since 1948 (Port Arthur West End Bruins) that a western team had won the Memorial Cup and it left the east with a 22-17 edge overall.
And this victory really put Flin Flon on the map.
The mining community had never before been home to a national champion -- team or individual. The closest the community had come to national glory had been in the spring of 1938 when the senior Bombers got into a western semifinal series for the Allan Cup only to be ousted by the eventual champion Trail Smoke Eaters.
The junior Bombers began play in 1949 and had won six Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League titles. But, until the spring of '57, the Bombers had never gotten any further than that along the Memorial Cup trail.
The town's history went back as far as 1929 and there had always been hockey played there. The game started to take off there in 1935 when a Flin Flon team entered the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League.
Players from the south were enticed north to work in the mines and play hockey. It worked, too, and by 1957 Flin Flon had seen the likes of Sid Abel, Jimmy Skinner and Bobby Simpson wear its colors.

NEXT: 1958 (Regina Pats vs. Hull-Ottawa Canadiens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1958 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1958.html)

1958 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Hull-Ottawa Canadiens
at Ottawa (Auditorium) and Hull (Arena)


Regina, a junior hockey powerhouse in the early part of the century, hadn't won a Memorial Cup since 1930.
Hull-Ottawa -- or Ottawa-Hull -- had never won a national junior title, neither as separate entities nor as a combination. The Canadiens, however, had been to the final the previous spring when they had lost in seven games to the Flin Flon Bombers.
And in 1958 it was the Regina Pats and the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, both of whom were affiliated with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, in the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final.
Three members of Hull-Ottawa's front office would go on to become prominent NHL executives -- Lou Passador, later a long-time scout, was on the Canadiens' executive; Sam Pollock was the manager/coach; and, Scotty Bowman was Pollock's assistant.
The Canadiens were loaded with talent, from goaltender Bruce Gamble, who was picked up from the OHA's Guelph Biltmores, to captain Ralph Backstrom and beyond. Also on the roster: Terry Gray, Claude Richard (a younger brother of Maurice and Henri Richard), Bobby Rousseau, Gilles Tremblay and J.C. Tremblay.
Hull-Ottawa also picked up Wally Chevrier from Guelph to replace defenceman Claude Ruel who had lost an eye. Ruel and John Longarini served as the alternate captains.
The Canadiens, who weren't able to find a league in which to play, spent the winter playing exhibition games against senior teams, minor pro teams and some OHA teams.
Their season, then, really was the playoffs.
The eastern playoffs got under way with the Cape Breton All-Stars needing five games to sideline the Buckingham Beavers from a best-of-five series. Cape Breton won the opener 2-1, then lost twice (3-2 and 5-2), before winning 8-2 and 2-1.
Cape Breton then lost to Hull-Ottawa, 18-3 and 12-2, and the rest of the series was cancelled.
The Canadiens then ran up against the Toronto Marlboros of coach Turk Broda and general manager Stafford Smythe. The best-of-seven series went five games, the Marlies winning the third game, 3-1. The other scores: 8-3, 6-0, 4-3 and 9-0. The Baby Habs suffered a major blow in the last game against the Marlies when starry defenceman Andre Tardif suffered a broken arm.
The Pats, however, were no slouches themselves.
Coached by Frank Mario, they were led by the high-scoring line of Billy Hicke, Red Berenson and Joe Lunghamer. Mario used Gord Wilkie with Gary Butler and Jerry Kolb, and had Bill Kelly playing with Billy LeCaine and Max Geisthardt. Also in the lineup: Terry Harper, Aut Erickson, Jerry Serviss (added from the Estevan Bruins), John Palenstein, Dave Balon (he was picked up from the Prince Albert Mintos), goaltender Ken Walters, Emile Gilles (added from Flin Flon), and brothers Bill and Ken Saunders (the former from the Winnipeg Monarchs, the latter from the St. Boniface Canadiens).
Regina met the Edmonton Oil Kings in one western semifinal, winning the best-of-seven series in straight games -- 6-2, 9-7, 3-1 and 2-0. St. Boniface dumped the Fort William Canadians in five games in the other semifinal, losing the middle game 11-3 and winning the others, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 and 10-7.
The Pats then took six games to oust St. Boniface, playing the first three games in Winnipeg and the last three in Regina. Regina went up three games to one -- winning 7-5, losing 8-3, then winning 8-4 and 8-0 -- before St. Boniface forced a sixth game with a 5-2 victory. Regina wrapped it up on April 16 with a 4-0 victory.
The best-of-seven national final would be played in its entirety in the east, with Ottawa and Hull sharing the games.
"The Canadiens may have a little more scoring punch this year but they're weaker defensively compared to last year's team,” well-know sportscaster Tom Foley said before the final started.
With Tardif gone for the series, Pollock was experimenting with Backstrom and Gilles Tremblay on defence.
"The Habs are a free-wheeling bunch,” said Mario. "We're going to have to skate and check like mad if we hope to keep them in tow. Backstrom is the key man. That boy can skate and skate and skate, for three and four minutes at a stretch. But there is going to be tremendous pressure on him. He's their ace and he's expected to produce.”
Mario, though, seemed more concerned with transportation in the nation's capital.
"All the cabbies think they're on the Indianapolis Speedway,” he said. "The guy that took us to the rink this morning slowed down to 60 when he went through a school zone. To make matters worse, it always seems that I get stuck with the death seat (next to the driver). A cabby comforted me today by noting that 80 per cent of all persons killed in auto accidents are seated in the one I was cringing in. When I get in a cab now, I brace myself, shut my eyes and hope for the best.”
The series opened in Ottawa before 4,500 fans on April 25. The Pats won 4-3 behind Ken Walters' goaltending and three goals from Hicke.
"All the boys played a tremendous game out there tonight,” Mario said. "Walters and Hicke were outstanding but so were all the others. They checked and skated hard all the way. It was a fine team effort. I'm really proud of the boys.”
The teams played through a scoreless first period, with Regina getting two goals from Hicke to take a a 2-1 lead into the third. Hicke and Harper upped that to 4-1 before Gray and Billy Carter cut it to 4-3. Backstrom had the Canadiens' other goal.
"The performance by Walters was phenomenal, completely over-shadowing the work of his more publicized rival, Bruce Gamble, at the other end of the rink,” reported the Regina Leader-Post. "Time and again, the lean little goaler came up with spectacular saves to frustrate the efforts of a classy pack of enemy snipers. Walters kicked out 31 shots, while Gamble blocked 19.”
Prior to the game, the Pats were informed the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association had turned down their appeal pertaining to Gamble. The Pats wanted the CAHA to reconsider its decision allowing Gamble to move from Guelph to the Canadiens. The Baby Habs needed a goaltender after their regular puckstopper -- Claude Cyr -- was lost for the season due to illness.
With the Pats up 4-1, according to The Leader-Post, "many of the fanatically partisan cash customers experienced a change of heart and changed their chant from ‘go Habs go' to ‘go Pats go.' But they switched their allegiance once again when the Habs came through with a stirring finish that kept the outcome in doubt until the final whistle.”
The fans proved to be something else. At one point, someone tossed a bathroom plunger at Walters. And one other time a giant firecracker exploded on the ice in front of the Regina goaltender while play was in progress.
"When I heard that explosion in our end, I turned around to see if Kenny was all right,” Harper said later. "For a moment, I thought, ‘Good heavens, somebody just shot our goalie.' “
The Baby Habs evened things up, posting a 4-2 victory before 4,052 fans in Hull on April 27.
"Man, but we were dead out there,” Mario said. "The last thing I told the boys before they took to the ice was that they were going to have to hustle right from the opening faceoff. So what happens? Canadiens rap in four in a row before my boys realize they're in a hockey game. You can't spot any team four goals. It was awful.”
The Pats found themselves down 4-0 before the game was 12 minutes old on goals by Carter (1:35), Gilles Tremblay (2:34), Backstrom (5:39) and Carter again (11:13). Regina's goals came from Berenson, late in the first period, and Hicke, with seven seconds left in the third.
The Pats were outshot, 35-16.
"Sure, we came to life a bit for the last two and a half periods,” continued Mario. "But I can't get that first 10 minutes out of my mind.”
The Pats lost Serviss when he broke a bone in his right hand in the second period. Gilles would be inserted for Game 3.
The Leader-Post's Hank Johnson noted that Pollock was in a "better frame of mind after the game, taking the padlock off his dressing room door.”
"We should have kept pouring the coal to them but we let up badly,” Pollock said.
With Game 3 set for Ottawa on April 29, Mario made some changes.
Bill Saunders was inserted (in place of Serviss as Mario chose not to use Gilles) and centred Balon and Hicke, with Berenson moving between Butler and Kolb, and Wilkie between LeCaine and Geisthardt.
The moves didn't help, however, as the Canadiens won 6-2 before 5,500 fans.
Once again, a slow start hurt Regina.
The Canadiens jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals by Carter (2:28), Backstrom (12:12) and Carter again (12:22). Gilles Tremblay set up both of Carter's goals. Backstrom made it 4-0 early in the second period before Balon and Saunders narrowed the gap to 4-2. But Richard and Backstrom scored before the second period was out and the teams then played a scoreless third.
Backstrom and Carter now had five goals each in the three games.
"They just kept slaughtering us in that first period,” Mario said. "I thought we were going to be all right in this one, but our defence lets up and it's 3-0 before we know we're in a hockey game.”
Mario went into his juggling act again prior to Game 4, which was played on May 2 in Ottawa. He said he planned to move Hicke from right wing to the left side with Saunders at centre and Lunghamer on right wing. Hicke had four of Regina's eight goals but three of them came in Game 1.
"I think Billy will go better on the left wing because the Canadiens are ganging up on him on the right side and giving him a rough time,” Mario explained.
He ended up putting Saunders with Hicke and Kolb, using Berenson, Balon and Lunghamer together, and using LeCaine, Wilkie, Geisthardt and Butler on the other line. Kelly would sit out as Mario added Gilles to his defensive corps.
Neither team was able to skate on April 30 -- wrestling and bingo had the ice halls booked -- so the Pats' new combinations worked out together on May 1.
The Pats won that fourth game 4-3 in overtime before 3,500 fans in Ottawa.
"I was breathing easier when we came out of the first period with only a one-goal deficit,” Mario said.
Saunders scored the winner off a pass from Hicke at 2:13 of overtime. Balon, LeCaine and Lunghamer also scored for Regina. Bob Boucher, Rousseau and Carter counted for the Baby Habs, who led 2-1 after one period. The teams were tied 2-2 after two.
Lunghamer gave Regina a 3-2 lead just 39 seconds into the third period. But Carter forced overtime when he scored with only 55 seconds left in the third period.
Saunders, whose NHL rights belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs, came in for special praise.
"That boy has come along much better than I expected,” Mario said.
Walters continued to be sharp, especially in two one-on-one confrontations with Backstrom. The Pats were outshot, 42-26.
Carter tied the game from a wild scramble.
"Palenstein and I had the shot covered but the puck deflected off a skate and we looked on helplessly as it trickled into the net just beyond reach of my foot,” Walters said.
The winner came as J.C. Tremblay was about to be penalized for grabbing Hicke from behind. Hicke was able to swipe the puck toward Gamble and before the goaltender could get to it, Saunders swooped in and scored.
"It's a shame they couldn't play some of these games in Toronto,” said Maple Leafs coach Billy Reay. "A terrific game like that would pack the Gardens.”
Hull-Ottawa moved up three games to two with a 6-3 victory in Hull before 3,984 fans on May 4.
This time, the Baby Habs won it with three goals within a minute and 27 seconds late in the second period, two of them coming with the man advantage.
The teams were tied 2-2 after the first period, Lunghamer and Balon scoring for Regina around Montreal goals by Carter and Backstrom. It was the first time in the series that Regina had scored first.
Erickson put Regina out front 3-2 at 11:06 of the second period. And then the Canadiens exploded. Richard scored at 17:01, Gray at 18:17 and Gray again at 18:28.
Carter scored the only goal of the third period, an empty-netter with 15 seconds left to play.
Gray saw extra ice time after Boucher, Hull-Ottawa's leading point scorer during the season, was hit with a misconduct penalty, and it paid off with two goals.
Mario thought the game swung on two plays -- Hicke fired wide on a second-period breakaway and Balon hit a post with five minutes left in the third.
"We're starting to come along,” Mario said. "We should have won the game but we handed them their first three goals. All of them were outright gifts. The puck just wouldn't bounce the right way for us.”
The sixth game was no contest. Played before 4,800 fans in Ottawa on May 6, the Canadiens won it 6-1 to clinch the national title.
"I really thought we had a good chance to take it all,” Mario said. "But we got a little careless in the first period again and then couldn't come back. Two of the first three Canadiens goals were scored with the player having his back to our net.”
The Baby Habs got off to another fast start, going up 2-0 and leading 3-1 after the first period. They put it away with three third-period goals.
Gilles Tremblay, John Annable, Richard, Boucher, Gray and Jacques Begin scored for the Canadiens. Hicke had Regina's goal, his fifth of the series.
Annable's goal, his first of the series, at 18:05 of the first period -- he knocked in his own rebound -- stood up as the winner.
The game may well have turned in its early moments. Hicke broke in alone on Gamble, who came up with a superb stop. The Baby Habs went right back down the ice and Tremblay scored. The Canadiens poured it on from there.
"I'm very proud of every one of you,” Frank Selke, managing director of the Montreal Canadiens, told the Pats. "If this series had been played in the west, there isn't much doubt in my mind that the final outcome would have been different. I know how tough it is for a young man to have to play so far from home.”
It was Pollock's second Memorial Cup title. He also coached the Montreal Royals to the 1949 title.

NEXT: 1959 (Winnipeg Braves vs. Peterborough TPT Petes)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1959 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1959.html/)

1959 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Braves vs. Peterborough TPT Petes
at Winnipeg (Arena) and Brandon (Wheat City Arena)


Scotty Bowman, who would go on to an amazingly successful career as a National Hockey League coach (and sometimes general manager) with the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, was back in the Memorial Cup final in the spring of 1959.
It was Bowman's third straight appearance in the national junior final.
He was an assistant coach with the Ottawa Canadiens when they lost to the Flin Flon Bombers in 1957. That year, the final was played in the west.
And he was back as an assistant coach with the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens in 1958 when, playing the series in Hull and Ottawa, they beat the Regina Pats.
This time around, the final would be played in the west and Bowman, 26, was the head coach of the Peterborough TPT Petes, so named because of a major sponsor -- Toronto-Peterborough Transport.
The Petes were in their third season in Peterborough, having moved over from Kitchener. They finished seventh in a seven-team league their first season there, then moved up to fifth the following season under coach Teeder Kennedy. They finished second under Bowman.
The game of hockey was slowly changing, witness the fact that Peterborough defenceman Barclay Plager set a club record with 252 penalty minutes. People were starting to pay attention to that kind of stuff. Plager's record, by the way, would last until 1972-73 when it was broken by Bob Neely.
The Petes were captained by Bill Mahoney, who would later take a turn at coaching the Minnesota North Stars in 1982-83. Unfortunately, a broken ankle suffered against Hull-Ottawa -- in an eastern final that featured two Montreal Canadiens' farm clubs -- kept him out of this Memorial Cup final.
Wayne Connelly, a 19-year-old right winger, was Peterborough's leading scorer, with 36 goals and 90 points. He went into the Memorial Cup with 15 goals and 31 points in 26 playoff games. With Mahoney gone, Connelly played alongside centre Larry Babcock and left-winger George Montague.
Gary Darling, with 15 goals in 26 playoff games, centred Wayne Boddy and Freddy Dart, with Pat Casey, Tom Clark and Bob Rivard the other forwards. With Mahoney injured, Darling also served as captain.
The roster also included goaltender Denis Dejordy, who was added from the St. Catharines Teepees when Jacques Caron went down with a hip injury against Hull-Ottawa. On defence, the Petes had Plager, Tom Thurlby, Jim Roberts, Larry Kish and Chuck Hamilton, a converted forward.
The OHA final would last eight games that year. It featured Peterborough and the St. Michael's Majors from the Irish Catholic school in Toronto. St. Mike's posted two victories and three ties in the first five games and needed just one more tie to wrap it up. But the Petes wouldn't let that happen -- they won the last three games and the series.
Hull-Ottawa was a force again, and it advanced to the eastern final by swatting aside the Quebec Baronets, 8-1 and 6-0.
The eastern Canadian final lasted seven games, with Peterborough winning four, losing two and tying one. The Baby Habs won the first two (5-2 and 4-1), Game 3 ended in a 2-2 tie, and Peterborough won the next four games (5-2, 6-2, 2-1 and 2-1).
Out of the west rode the Winnipeg Braves.
They were managed by Bill Addison, later the genial long-time commissioner of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and coached by Bill Allum. Allum was a longtime minor pro defenceman, who had done time in the American Hockey League cities of Buffalo, Philadelphia, Cleveland and St. Louis. He had also had a couple of cups of coffee in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers.
Allum replaced the legendary Harry Neil as the Braves' coach during the 1957-58 season. That was the Braves' first season after Neil had put the organization together. Unfortunately, Neil died one day in November, shortly after a practice session.
Winnipeg featured Laurie Langrell, its leading scorer with 42 goals (including one six-goal game) and 63 points. Ernie Wakely was the goaltender and he was supported by the likes of Rene Brunel, Ted Green (an addition from the St. Boniface Canadiens), Doug Monro, Lew Mueller, Howie Hughes (another pickup from St. Boniface who would start the series as Connelly's shadow), Al LeBlanc, Gary Bergman, Bobby Leiter, and captain Wayne Larkin (who would die at the age of 29 on Sept. 10, 1968, after suffering a heart attack at the New York Rangers’ training camp in Kitchener). They also added right-winger Don Atamanchuk from the Transcona Rangers.
When the Memorial Cup opened, Allum had Leiter between Langrell and LeBlanc, the latter from Campbellton, N.B.; Hughes between Larkin and Atamanchuk; and, Brunel with Pat Angers and Al Baty. First-year player Ken King was the extra forward.
It's also worth noting that Braves fans, and there were lots of them, were able to follow their boys through play-by-play man (Cactus) Jack Wells on Winnipeg radio station CKY.
After bouncing St. Boniface in the MJHL final, the Braves ousted the Fort William Canadiens in five games, winning the opener (9-4), losing the second game (3-1) and then taking three in a row (4-3, 5-1 and 3-1).
At the same time, Flin Flon was sweeping the Edmonton Oil Kings -- 6-3, 8-3, 10-1 and 11-6.
The western final for the Abbott Cup lasted six games. The Braves fell behind by two games, losing 5-1 and 7-4, before roaring back to win four in a row -- 5-2, 6-4, 5-1 and 3-0. Wakely shone in that last game, stopping 37 shots before 9,018 fans, believed to be the largest crowd to witness a junior game in western Canada.
The Braves promptly added three players from St. Boniface to their roster -- left-winger Jerry Kruk, goaltender Paul Sexsmith and centre Johnny Rodger.
The Braves were the first MJHL team to win the west since St. Boniface did it in the spring of 1953. (Remember that Flin Flon played in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.)
"It's got to be hustle, hustle, hustle if we're going to win,” Allum said. "I don't know anything about this Peterborough team, but they must be pretty good to beat Hull-Ottawa. But we've got a pretty good team, too.”
The keys for Winnipeg as the series opened: 1. The Braves were counting on Hughes to stifle Connelly, just like he did to Flin Flon ace Cliff Pennington; and, 2. Wakely, the 157-pound goaltender, had to be at the top of his game.
The series was to open in Winnipeg on April 24.
At a practice on April 23, Bowman commented on the ice in the Winnipeg Arena.
"It's the best ice we've been on,” he said. Which is somewhat ironical considering the Winnipeg Arena would later become known for its poor ice.
Only 6,239 fans showed up for Game 1, thanks to a heavy, wet snowfall that plugged city streets. Those who couldn't make it missed a hard-hitting, fast-skating game which the Petes won, 5-4.
Peterborough trailed 1-0 after one period but scored four straight second-period goals and took a 4-3 lead into the third.
Boddy made it 5-3 at 1:06, before Langrell scored the game's last goal at 12:27.
Bergman had the only goal of the first period. Babcock, Thurlby, Rivard and Babcock again sent the Petes out front in the second, but Langrell and LeBlanc cut the deficit by two in the last 1:07 of the second period.
The Petes took seven of the 11 penalties handed out, with Plager getting four -- three minors and a misconduct, the latter for joining in a fight between Larkin and Darling.
The Braves tied the series on April 26, posting a 5-2 victory before 9,171 fans.
"Braves showed some of the speed up front that won them the western title as they beat the Petes to the puck while their defence and goalie Ernie Wakely left little to be desired,” reported The Canadian Press.
Langrell scored twice for the second straight game, while Winnipeg got singles from Leiter, Brunel and Angers. Tom Clark and Thurly replied for the Petes.
Leiter and Brunel gave the Braves a 2-0 first-period lead, before Clark and Langrell traded second-period goals. Angers and Langrell upped Winnipeg's lead to 5-1 before Thurlby closed out the scoring late in the third.
"All our forwards have got to check harder and we've got to start shooting better,” Bowman said. "We've been missing too many opportunities.”
Bowman also admitted the Petes were going to have to stop the Braves' ‘L' line -- Leiter, Langrell and LeBlanc had six goals and eight assists between them -- but, he said, "I'm not going to send any particular line against them.”
"Mahoney could have done the job,” Bowman said of his injured captain. "We really miss him.”
As for Connelly not having scored yet, Bowman said: "He's a streaker. He goes hot and cold. At one stage, he went nine games without scoring and then hit five in a row.”
The Braves went up two games to one on April 28, blowing a 2-0 lead before prevailing 5-2 before 7,939 fans.
Langrell had his third straight two-goal game, while Larkin also scored twice. LeBlanc got the Braves' other goal. Rivard and Boddy scored for the Petes.
Langrell and Larkin scored in the first period and the teams played a scoreless middle frame. Rivard, at 1:16, and Boddy, at 7:54, tied it in the third period, only to have Larkin get what turned into the winner just 15 seconds later. LeBlanc followed with a goal at 9:44 and Langrell wrapped it up at 17:12.
After the game, Ron Campbell wrote in the Regina Leader-Post: "For a Canadian final, the action left much to be desired and if it is any indication of things to come (both clubs are two of the weakest overall to have reached the final in the last decade -- an opinion shared by the experts) the National League will have trouble filling their ranks in the next few years. Without senior hockey the NHL could be in for plenty of grief.”
The Braves took a commanding 3-1 series lead on April 29, winning 5-3 before 8,375 fans.
"What can a guy do?” asked Bowman. "We play our best game of the series and a couple of bad breaks cost us a chance of drawing even.
"The winner was a really tough break. Our boy (Rivard) made a great play and had three of their men trapped. Then on a dubious call (Bowman felt a tripping penalty should have been handed out by referee Len Corriveau of Quebec) the puck bounces right on to the stick of their winger.”
The Braves trailed 2-0 after one period as Roberts and Rivard scored for the Petes. Larkin and Leiter tied it in the second, only to have Montague put Peterborough out front again at 14:11.
Leiter tied it at 7:40 of the third period, Baty got the winner at 15:12 and Larkin iced it at 18:19.
"We'll wrap it up on Friday,” Allum said, referring to Game 5 which would be played on May 1 in Brandon. "They had us on the run in the early stages but the fellows never quit trying and it paid off. You can't let up against them -- they proved it tonight.”
Toe Blake, head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, offered this analysis: "The Petes seemed to back into their own end too often in the final period. Their defence has a bad habit of dropping down on almost every shot and with the wide ice surface here they have trouble recovering.”
Bowman, meanwhile, was upset with Corriveau's work, saying he "called only the glaring trips, never the hooking or boarding.”
But Bowman had cooled off by the next day.
"I guess it wouldn't do any good any way to protest,” he said. "It wouldn't make that much difference to have a change in the referee; my boys will just have to work harder.
"Maybe my outburst will wake (Corriveau) up.”
The Braves wrapped it up on May 1 in the Wheat City Arena, getting three goals from Baty in a 6-2 victory.
Bowman, however, wasn't around for the end.
"The rugged game almost got out of hand in the third period,” reported The Canadian Press, “when coach Scotty Bowman of the Petes was first given a bench penalty for slapping a stick on the boards, then ejected from the rink for pulling out his wallet and appearing to offer money to referee Len Corriveau of Quebec City.”
Atamanchuk, Brunel and Larkin also scored for the Braves, with Darling and Boddy replying for the Petes, who didn't get one goal from Connelly during the entire series.
In giving Winnipeg its first Memorial Cup since the Monarchs won in 1946, the Braves blew a 2-0 lead in the first period before scoring the game's final four goals.
Baty scored at 3:53 and 4:08 of the first period. But the Petes tied it when Darling (7:28) and Boddy (17:09) counted.
Atamanchuk got what proved to be the winner at 3:08 of the second period, with Larkin and Green earning assists. Baty, Larkin and Brunel put it away with third-period goals.
It was the west's 18th Memorial Cup triumph, against 23 for the east.

NEXT: 1960 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. St. Catharines Teepees)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1960 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1960.html/)

1960 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. St. Catharines Teepees
at St. Catharines (Garden City Arena) and Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


Leo LeClerc, the manager of the Edmonton Oil Kings, was concerned from the outset.
"You've got to be 25 per cent better than the opposition in order to win out here and we just haven't got it,” he said.
LeClerc's Oil Kings were preparing to meet the St. Catharines Teepees in the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final.
The series would open in St. Catharines and then shift to Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.
"In order to win at the other end of the country you've got to have a powerhouse,” LeClerc continued. "I figure we have to be 25 per cent better, at least, and after watching that St. Catharines club in action I'm very doubtful.”
Was he blowing smoke? Only time would tell.
The Teepees, who were in last place in their league at Christmas and went on to finish fourth, had taken eight games to sideline the Brockville Canadians in the eastern final. The Oil Kings ousted the Flin Flon Bombers in six games and then took seven games to sideline the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Coached by Max Kaminsky, the Teepees featured the likes of goaltender Roger Crozier, captain Chico Maki, Vic Hadfield and Ray Cullen.
The Teepees got their name from their sponsor -- Thompson Products, a firm that manufactured automotive and aircraft parts.
The Oil Kings, of coach Harry Allen, were led by Ed Joyal, Cliff Pennington, Bruce MacGregor and Dunc McCallum, an addition from Brandon. Rookie Larry Lund, an 18-year-old sensation, wouldn't play due to a damaged knee.
Pennington, a pickup from Flin Flon, paid dividends in the opener on April 27. He got the winning goal at 11:40 of the third period as Edmonton won the first game, 5-3.
The hero, however, was Oil Kings' goaltender Russ Gillow. Cut for eight stitches over the left eye early in the game, Gillow returned to turn in a sparkling 35-save performance.
"This guy Gillow is the best goalkeeper the Teepees have faced all season,” offered Chicago Blackhawks coach Rudy Pilous, who owned and managed the Teepees.
The teams were tied 1-1 after one period, with Edmonton taking a 2-1 lead into the third.
MacGregor, with two, Joyal, and Bob Cox scored for Edmonton. St. Catharines got goals from Terry McGuire, Cullen and Maki.
The series moved to Toronto with the Teepees evening it up with a 6-2 victory in Maple Leaf Gardens on April 29.
The Oil Kings had to start goaltender Dale Gaume, who had hardly played in the last month, when Gillow experienced swelling around his left eye.
Defenceman Bill Speer scored twice for the Teepees, with singles coming from Duke Harris, Cullen, Bill Ives and Doug Robinson. Joyal had both Edmonton goals.
Gaume made 32 saves and was steady but the Teepees controlled the play. Crozier blocked 30 shots in front of 5,833 fans as his mates skated to period leads of 3-1 and 6-1.
"We played better in St. Catharines and lost,” offered Kaminsky after Game 2.
Two nights later, on May 1, there were 10,666 fans in Maple Leaf Gardens as the Teepees buried the Oil Kings, 9-1.
This was the largest crowd to see a Memorial Cup game since the Toronto St. Michael's Majors and Winnipeg Monarchs played a seven-game series in 1946.
"Too many things went wrong out there for us,” Allen said. "Our club has been up and down all year and I think we're at the bottom right now.
"But before this thing ends, St. Catharines will know they were in a series.”
The Teepees fired 54 shots at Gillow, scoring their first goal 42 seconds into the game and taking a 3-0 lead into the second period. They led 7-1 after two.
"I could hardly see out of my eye,” Gillow said. "Only two of those St. Catharines goals were good. The others were flukes.”
Cullen scored twice and set up two others, while Murray Hall also had two goals. Defenceman Pat Stapleton had a goal and two assists. Speer, Harris, Maki and John Brenneman also scored.
Left-winger Bobby Goebel, plagued by a groin injury in recent weeks, scored Edmonton's goal.
The Oil Kings roared back on May 3 to hammer the Teepees 9-3 before 2,344 fans in a game that featured plenty of rough play and fighting.
"When players try to maim other players there's something wrong with the management or the coach,” Allen said. "I can't believe Max Kaminsky would do that. It must have come from higher up.”
LeClerc said: "Junior players just don't play like that. They must be sent out. Our players have sticks, too, but we play hockey.”
The biggest concern to the Oil Kings was the condition of defenceman Wayne Muloin. He had been hit on the head by Maki's stick and needed five stitches to close the gash.
Game 5 was played on May 6 and for the third game in a row the winning team scored nine goals. This time it was the Teepees and they won 9-6 in front of 4,014 fans.
Gillow stopped 47 shots, while Crozier made 21 saves and that tells the tale.
Stapleton and Cullen had two goals each for the winners, with singles from Robinson, Ives, Carlo Longarini, Chico Maki and Hall. Maki also had four assists. Pennington scored twice for the Oil Kings, who got one each from MacGregor, Goebel, Don Chiz and Cox.
"They outhustled us,” Allen said. "But Sunday will be another game.”
It was that but the outcome was the same as the Teepees won the Memorial Cup.
St. Catharines won 7-3 in a game that featured brilliant goaltending by Gillow and Crozier.
The Teepees led 2-0 after the first period, on goals by Cullen and Ives, and took a 3-0 lead into the third after McGuire had the second period's lone goal.
Cox got Edmonton on the board only to have Robinson reply for St. Catharines at 7:12. Joyal cut the deficit to 4-2 but that was as close as the Oil Kings would get.
Maki, Harris and Robinson scored in a span of less than three minutes before Pennington ended the scoring at 17:37.
Robinson's first goal, at 7:12 of the third, stood up as the Memorial Cup-winning score.
The Teepees now were a perfect 2-for-2 in Memorial Cup appearances. They had beaten the Oil Kings in five games in their only other appearance, that in 1954.

NEXT: 1961 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1961 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1961.html/)

1961 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Toronto St. Michael's Majors
at Edmonton (Gardens)


Toronto St. Mike's, led by defencemen Terry O'Malley, the team captain, and Barry MacKenzie, two players who would become household names with Canada's national team, swept the Moncton Beavers -- 11-2, 6-2 and 11-2 -- in the East's best-of-five final.
That put St. Mike's into the final for the first time in 14 years. And it was on to Edmonton to face the Oil Kings in the Memorial Cup final.
Coached by Father David Bauer, the Toronto team featured the Draper twins, Bruce and Dave, along with the likes of Larry Keenan, Arnie Brown, Billy MacMillan, Terry Clancy, the son of longtime NHLer King Clancy, and goaltender Gerry Cheevers. During the regular season, Cheevers had spent eight games playing on left wing. He never scored a goal, but did pick up one assist.
The Oil Kings, of coach Buster Brayshaw, had won 16 of 19 playoff games against the Lethbridge Native Sons, Trail Smoke Eaters, Regina Pats and Winnipeg Rangers.
Edmonton added defenceman Ken Stephanson from Winnipeg and Brandon centre Bryan Hextall but Brayshaw said he would only use them in the event of trouble.
Don Chiz was particularly hot for Edmonton, having scored what was then a Canadian record 29 playoff goals. But, of late, he was bothered by a sore groin.
The series opened in Edmonton Gardens on April 25. Cheevers, a 20-year-old from St. Catharines, blocked 17 shots in posting a 4-0 shutout in front of 6,674 fans.
Bruce and Dave Draper, Keenan and Andre Champagne scored for St. Mike's, which scored twice in each of the second and third periods. Paul Sexsmith in the Edmonton goal stopped 24 shots.
"He's all they said he was,” Father Bauer said of Sexsmith. "I thought we should have been ahead 3-0 by the end of the first period but for him.”
Edmonton manager Leo LeClerc assured all who would listen that the Oil Kings "could not be that bad again.”
He was right. The next time out the Oil Kings scored one goal.
Toronto won the second game 4-1 in front of 6,112 fans on April 27.
Clancy scored twice as Toronto held period leads of 1-0 and 4-1. Tom Burgess scored Edmonton's goal at 13:25 of the third period, stopping Cheevers' shutout string at 113 minutes and 25 seconds. Cheevers stopped 31 shots, seven more than Sexsmith.
Hextall and Stephanson were both in the lineup for Edmonton, while regular forwards Owen Malley and Vince Downey were left out.
"I expect to win (Game 3) and with any sort of breaks at all we're going to make this a rough series yet,” stated Brayshaw, who added that forward Dave Richardson, a teammate of Stephanson's with the Rangers, would dress for Game 3.
St. Mike's was expected to have Sonny Osborne, one of its big guns in the playoffs, in the lineup. A University of Toronto student, he had been at home writing exams.
Still, Father Bauer wasn't expecting a sweep.
"No, no,” he said. "They're much too good a team for that.”
Brayshaw was upset that his big guns had been performing more like pop guns.
"Big guns who aren't doing anything aren't much good to you in a series like this,” he said.
Chiz scored 30 goals in 30 regular-season games and added 29 in 28 playoff games. Dennis Kassian had 29 regular-season goals, while Bobby Cox had 29 playoff assists. But they hadn't done much in Games 1 and 2.
On April 29, before 6,500 fans, St. Mike's pushed the Oil Kings to the edge with a 4-2 victory.
Osborne scored three goals and set up the fourth, by Keenan. Hextall and Chiz scored for Edmonton, which trailed 1-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks.
Cheever was brilliant again. This time he made 27 saves, five more than Sexsmith.
"It's hard to believe we could play like we have in the last two games and be three games down,” Brayshaw said. "They gave their best, but it wasn't enough.
"Win, lose or draw, I'm proud of every one of them.”
The Oil Kings prolonged the inevitable on May 1 when they scored a 5-4 victory before 4,864 fans.
Burgess, Richardson, Larry Lund, Bob Marik and Roger Bourbonnais scored for Edmonton. St. Mike's got goals from Clancy, Paul Conlin, Keenan and Bruce Draper.
The scoreless first-period was highlighted by a collision between Burgess and Cheevers after which the latter left the ice for repairs to his face.
He would return to make 27 stops. Sexsmith stopped 32 shots.
"We've certainly got our backs to the wall,” Brayshaw said, "but we looked a bit more like the old Oil Kings and if we carry on this way St. Mike's are in for a good series.”
Father Bauer credited the Oil Kings, saying: "From the coach out, they wanted to win more.”
The Oil Kings continued along the comeback trail on May 3 as they won 4-2 before 6,114 fans.
Kassian finally got untracked, scoring twice. Singles came from Chiz and Richardson. Bruce Draper and Champagne scored for St. Mike's.
Sexsmith, a 20-year-old out of Winnipeg, was superb in stopping 36 shots. Cheevers blocked 19 shots.
"We have no false illusions,” Brayshaw said. "We know it will take plenty of hard work but Sexsmith is our meal ticket. If he's hot, we just might force this series to seven games.”
Father Bauer, 36, praised Sexsmith, too: "You might say that Paul was great ... he handled everything we could throw at him.”
It ended on May 5 with St. Mike's scoring a 4-2 victory before 7,159 fans.
Jack Cole, Bruce Draper, Conlin and Champagne scored for the winners. Hextall and Lund replied for Edmonton.
Cole scored the only goal of the first period, at 2:47. Hextall tied the score at 9:44 of the second, before Draper, at 12:07, and Conlin, at 15:25, gave Toronto a 3-1 lead going into the third.
Champagne upped that to 4-1 at 13:15 before Lund cut it to 4-2 at 18:11.
Conlin's goal stood up as the Memorial Cup-winning score.
This was St. Mike's fifth Memorial Cup appearance. It now had won four championships, one more than the Toronto Marlboros, Oshawa Generals and Winnipeg Monarchs.
It was the fifth straight loss for Edmonton in the national final.
The east now held a 26-17 edge in Memorial Cup championships, including 14-5 since 1943 when the present best-of-seven format was adopted.

NEXT: 1962 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Hamilton Red Wings)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1962 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/05/memorial-cup-history-1962.html)

1962 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Hamilton Red Wings
at Hamilton (Forum), Guelph (Memorial Gardens) and Kitchener (Auditorium)


The Edmonton Oil Kings took seven games to finish off the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Abbott Cup final.
This was one close series; in fact, the seventh game, in Brandon on April 25, was tied 3-3 in the third period before the Oil Kings pulled out a 5-3 victory.
The Oil Kings then headed east to meet the Hamilton Red Wings -- coached by Eddie Bush and featuring Lowell MacDonald, Bob Wall, Earl Heiskala, Bryan Campbell, Ron Harris, Pit Martin, Paul Henderson, Wayne Rivers, captain Howie Menard and Jimmy Peters.
Edmonton was led by Glen Sather, captain Wayne Muloin, Roger Bourbonnais and Larry Hale.
Both teams were affiliated with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.
The fighting began before the Oil Kings arrived in Toronto.
Originally scheduled to be played in Maple Leaf Gardens, the CAHA announced the first game would be played in Hamilton, with the next three in Guelph. A fifth game, if needed, would be played in Kitchener.
All this because of a hassle over television rights involving Hamilton and Toronto stations -- the first time in Memorial Cup history that TV had reared its head.
The Oil Kings, by now en route to Toronto, had picked up Brandon defenceman Bob Ash and forward Ted Taylor, along with forward Norm Beaudin from the Regina Pats.
None of the three played in the opener, won 5-2 by the Red Wings before 3,275 fans in the 3,800-seat Hamilton Forum.
MacDonald sparked the Red Wings with three goals, as they jumped out to 1-0 and 4-1 period leads. Heiskala and Wall also scored for Hamilton. Doug Fox and Phil Dutton scored for Edmonton.
Dutton later left the game, blood streaming from his face after being high-sticked by Harris. Dutton needed eight stitches to close a cut over one eye and also had a broken nose.
The Oil Kings were travel-weary and had trouble keeping up with the Red Wings from the outset. The Red Wings had also enjoyed two more days of rest than had the westerners.
Hamilton goaltender Buddy Blom stopped 27 shots, while Edmonton's Harrison Gray stopped 30.
Bush had welcomed Edmonton as "the scruffiest-looking team I've ever seen in a Memorial Cup final.
"They all need haircuts, their uniforms were dirty and full of holes and on top of that they came to the arena in windbreakers.”
Meanwhile, Edmonton manager Leo LeClerc fired back, choosing as his target the 3,800-seat Hamilton Forum: "This place looks like a converted factory chimney.”
LeClerc wanted to play all the games in Maple Leaf Gardens. As he said: "You don't play the Grey Cup in a cow pasture.”
No matter. It was off to Guelph.
Guelph hadn't seen a Memorial Cup game since 1952 so Memorial Gardens was given a real facelift prior to Game 2 on May 1.
Dutton was out with a broken nose; Beaudin took his place.
And Beaudin scored once, but it wasn't enough as the Red Wings posted a 4-2 victory before about 3,000 fans.
The Oil Kings, despite being outshot 40-18, were in the game until the last five minutes when MacDonald scored the game's final goal. It was his fourth goal of the series and came via the power play.
Edmonton's John Lesyshen scored the game's first goal, but John Gofton tied it before the period ended. Martin scored the only goal of the second period.
Beaudin tied it for Edmonton three minutes into the third period. But Hamilton won it with goals from Menard, at 3:34, and MacDonald, at 15:20.
A newly formed line featuring Butch Paul between Marc Dufour, a late addition from Brandon, and Beaudin sparked the Oil Kings to a 5-3 victory in front of 3,175 fans in Game 3 in Guelph.
Beaudin scored twice, with Dufour, Harold Fleming and Bourbonnais adding one each. Harris, Rivers and Martin scored for Hamilton.
The Red Wings scored the game's first two goals, but Edmonton tied it 2-2 before the second period ended.
Hamilton took a 3-2 lead early in the third, only to have Beaudin tie it. Beaudin scored the winner at 1:41 and Bourbonnais iced it with an empty-net goal at 18:52.
"Edmonton played much better and we were due for a letdown,” Bush said. "The whole team had it all at once and I hope they got it out of their system.”
Across the way, Brayshaw felt his club was finally back in gear.
“They played more like the club that won the western championship,” he said. "If we play that well again (in Game 4) this could be a long series yet.”
By now, people were speculating that attendance was down because the game was being televised in the Toronto-Hamilton-Guelph-Kitchener area by CHCH-TV of Hamilton.
On May 5, the Red Wings moved to within one game of the championship, winning 3-0 in Guelph as Blom posted the shutout.
Hamilton scored two power-play goals 36 seconds apart in the third period, at 9:45 and 10:21, to put this one away.
MacDonald had the game's first goal, at 4:38 of the second period. He got his second in the third, with Martin scoring the other.
Hamilton used Peters, Heiskala and Rivers to check Paul, Dufour and Beaudin and the strategy worked as Edmonton was kept off the board.
The series shifted to Kitchener for Game 5 and Brayshaw promised changes -- Beaudin would play with Vince Downey and Bourbonnais; Dufour moved onto a line with Sather and Paul; the third line would feature Fleming, Dutton and Gregg Pilling.
The Red Wings had all but given up on having one of their stars, Larry Ziliotto, in the lineup. He missed the first three games with a foot injury, then tried to play in Game 4. But he collapsed on the bench during the game and again in the dressing room after the game. So Bush was considering dressing Jack Wildfong. In the end, he dressed both and sat out defenceman Bob Hamilton.
By now, the CAHA had gotten around to announcing that Games 6 and 7, if needed, would also be played in Kitchener.
"We played well enough to win (Game 4) but we didn't score,” Brayshaw said. "If we play that way we should take (Game 5). The breaks have got to come our way some time soon.”
Brayshaw also took a shot at the officiating.
"We need men who have refereed this type of hockey before,” he said. "The man we have (Gord Kerr of Winnipeg) is from Manitoba and he just hasn't been handling hockey played this way. We would have been satisfied with an OHA man even before the series started.”
There were 7,071 fans in the Kitchener Arena as Hamilton posted a 7-4 victory to win the championship.
The crowd greeted every score, according to The Canadian Press, "with a barrage of programs and other debris, and on one occasion a bottle of green ink, causing numerous delays in the contest.”
In the end, everyone was left talking about fights among spectators and "a bitter fistic battle involving Hamilton coach Eddie Bush, Howie Young, a former defenceman with the Detroit Red Wings, and Detective Sergeant Charles Bignell of the Kitchener police department.”
The CP report continued: "Young was taken away by police. Bignell, bleeding about the face, was carried on a stretcher to the first aid room and later removed to hospital.”
The game took three hours 15 minutes to play which, at the time, was believed to be a record for a Memorial Cup game that ended in regulation time.
MacDonald and Rivers scored twice for Hamilton, with singles coming from Menard, Martin and Henderson. Dufour, Bourbonnais, Paul and Downey scored for Edmonton.
Henderson and MacDonald gave Hamilton a 2-0 first-period lead. Dufour, Bourbonnais and Paul gave Edmonton a 3-2 edge by 13:22 of the second, only to have Martin tie it before the period ended.
Menard, MacDonald and Rivers struck for consecutive goals when the third period opened, before Downey cut the deficit to 6-4 at 14:55. Rivers wrapped it up with an empty-netter at 19:38.
The Memorial Cup-winning goal was MacDonald's second of the game at 8:40 of the third period.
The gross gate of $16,402 was a record for a single hockey game in the Kitchener Arena.
And now Edmonton had lost in all six of its trips to the Memorial Cup final.

NEXT: 1963 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Niagara Falls Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1963 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1963.html)

1963 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Niagara Falls Flyers
at Edmonton (Gardens)


The Edmonton Oil Kings were back in the national final for a fourth consecutive year. And coach Buster Brayshaw was all but guaranteeing victory over the Niagara Falls Flyers.
This, he said, was the best team he had brought to the championship. And furthermore, he said, this team had been taught to play "the eastern style of play.”
"This is the biggest club overall that I've taken to the final,” Brayshaw said. "It has more weight because I've found that our light clubs in past years have run out of oomph as the season wears on.
"The larger club may take more time getting started but they have the staying power.”
Considering the west had won but seven titles since 1940, the Oil Kings had their work cut out for them.
"In the past, (eastern clubs) have come out on top by clutching and grabbing, playing the man and shooting the puck a lot,” Brayshaw said. "We will play that way now, too. Any club that gets into a series with us now will know it as we can play as tough as anybody.”
The Oil Kings had made it to the final with best-of-seven playoff victories over the SJHL-champion Estevan Bruins (six games) and a five-game victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Abbott Cup final.
Included on the Edmonton roster were Bert Marshall, Pat Quinn, Glen Sather, Max Mestinsek, Bob Falkenberg, Gregg Pilling, Dave Rochefort, Ron Anderson, Jim Eagle, Butch Paul, goaltender Russ Kirk and captain Roger Bourbonnais. Marshall, Quinn and Sather would go on to coach in the NHL.
The Flyers, managed by the legendary Hap Emms and coached by Bill Long, had eliminated the Neil McNeil Maroons and Espanola Eagles in Ontario playoffs and then dumped the Notre Dame de Grace Monarchs 8-2, 7-1 and 5-0 in the best-of-five eastern final. The Flyers were led by Bill Goldsworthy, Wayne Maxner, Ron Schock, Ted Snell, Gary Dornhoefer, Don Awrey, Terry Crisp and goaltender George Gardner.
The championship, with all games played at Edmonton Gardens, opened on May 2 with Niagara Falls roaring to an 8-0 victory before 6,785 fans.
Snell and Maxner, with two goals each, Dornhoefer, Goldsworthy, Gary Harmer and Ron Hergott scored for the Flyers. Gardner, 20, posted the shutout.
The game was physical and featured 25 penalties, 14 to the Flyers.
"They had an off night,” Emms said. "It's going to be a tough series yet.”
Brayshaw added: "They certainly aren't eight goals better than us.”
Crisp was the only casualty from Game 1. He was left nursing a charleyhorse.
The Oil Kings rebounded on May 5 to even the series with a 7-3 victory in front of 6,845 fans.
Paul, an 18-year-old from Red Willow, Alta., scored twice and set up three other goals for Edmonton. Bourbonnais, Mestinsek, Harold Fleming, Butch Barber and Falkenberg also scored for the Oilers. Bill Glashan, with two, and Schock replied for the Flyers.
Crisp was in the lineup, while the Oilers dropped forward Jim Chase, who had joined the team for the playoffs from the juvenile ranks, in favor of Rochefort.
Gardner stopped 37 shots in this one, while Edmonton's Russ Kirk blocked 18.
On May 6, before 6,424 fans, the Oil Kings exploded for four second-period goals en route to a 5-2 victory.
Paul continued his superb play with two goals, while singles came from Mestinsek, Falkenberg and Bourbannais. Harmer and Glashan scored for the Flyers.
The teams played through a scoreless first period before Edmonton outscored the visitors 4-1 in the second.
Gardner was brilliant again in a losing cause, this time stopping 30 shots.
Dornhoefer was lost for the series when he suffered a broken leg when checked by Quinn, who was hit with a major penalty for charging.
This marked the first time in four years that the Oil Kings had a series lead during a Memorial Cup final.
The Oil Kings upped their edge to 3-1 on May 7 with a 3-2 victory before 6,300 fans.
Doug Fox's goal at 11:08 of the third period broke a 2-2 deadlock and gave Edmonton the victory. He was able to lift the rebound of a Falkenberg shot over Gardner for the winner.
The teams played to period ties of 1-1 and 2-2. Maxner scored both Niagara Falls' goals, with Edmonton getting its goals from Paul and Mestinsek.
Emms played the game under protest after his request to be allowed to select which end of the ice his team would first defend was denied. The start of the game was delayed 15 minutes while the request was considered.
As it turned out, Emms had filed an all-encompassing protest before the series started. This one was because he felt the CAHA rules dealing with the placing of goal nets out from the end boards was being violated.
The Flyers stayed alive on May 9 with a 5-2 victory in front of 6,746 fans.
According to The Canadian Press: "Flyers, showing much more drive than they have in any other game this series, took a physical beating from the hard-hitting and sometimes brutal Oil Kings.”
Crisp, with two, Harmer, Glashan and Awrey, who was having a superb series on defence, scored for the Flyers. Eagle and Fox scored for Edmonton.
More from CP: "The game almost turned into a donnybrook with less than two minutes to go. Greg Pilling of Oil Kings and defenceman Rich Morin of Flyers crashed against the boards and Morin, on the outside, bounced to the ice. As the play moved up to centre and with the referee watching the puck, Pilling brought his stick down across Morin's head. Morin was taken from the ice on a stretcher and it took five minutes to get play under way again.”
Earlier in the game, Barber had flattened Harmer at centre ice. Harmer was taken to hospital with what was believed to be a fractured right leg.
Gardner was excellent again, this time stopping 23 saves. Kirk blocked 19.
Emms, who came west with 19 players (17 skaters and two goaltenders), said before Game 6 that he had 10 players injured in the first five games, including Harmer and Dornhoefer, both of whom had broken legs.
The known injured: Rich Morin, 10-stitch cut to the head; Goldsworthy, torn stomach muscles; Crisp, charleyhorse; Glashan, 12-stitch cut to the chin; Hergott, 10-stitch facial cut; Awrey, concussion, forehead contusions, two black eyes; Gardner, mild concussion; and, Maxner, stretched muscles near the rib cage.
"I said if the Oil Kings lost the fifth game, they'd lose the series,” Emms stated. "Our boys appear more accustomed to the climate and the altitude and have regained their strength.”
But the Oil Kings wrapped it up on May 11, posting a thrilling 4-3 sixth-game victory before more than 6,700 fans.
The crowd swarmed on to the ice at the final siren and lifted Kirk, Quinn and Bourbonnais on to its collective shoulders.
The Oil Kings had this game in control until the last half of the third period.
Goals by Fox, Sather, Paul and Pilling gave the Oil Kings a 4-0 lead early in the third period. But Mestinsek took the game's only penalty shortly thereafter and seven seconds later Glashan put the Flyers on the board.
Niagara Falls swarmed around the Edmonton net for the rest of the game, getting goals from Schock and Crisp. But the Flyers weren't able to pull even.
Kirk made the game's biggest save on Maxner with about five minutes to play. Kirk stopped 27 shots, three fewer than Gardner.
Pilling scored what turned out to be the Memorial Cup-winning goal at 4:11 of the third period when he put a low backhander through Gardner's legs.
CAHA president Art Potter presented the Memorial Cup to Bourbonnais. That picture is one of the great photos in Canadian sporting history -- Bourbonnais is pictured wearing a cape and a crown, both of which had been placed on him by adoring fans.
"I never thought anything could give me the thrill I got last year when a bunch of fuzzy-cheeked kids carried us to the Memorial Cup final,” Brayshaw said. "But this club did. It's a great feeling, a better thrill than I got from anything I ever did as a player or coach anywhere.”
Edmonton won the Memorial Cup for the first time in seven trips to the final. The only other Alberta team to win the Memorial Cup was the Calgary Canadians in 1926.
This was also the first time a team from one of the three western provinces had won it all since the Regina Pats were successful in 1930.

NEXT: 1964 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Toronto Marlboros)

[canes77]

From Gregg Drinnan...http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/


"The game almost turned into a donnybrook with less than two minutes to go. Greg Pilling of Oil Kings and defenceman Rich Morin of Flyers crashed against the boards and Morin, on the outside, bounced to the ice. As the play moved up to centre and with the referee watching the puck, Pilling brought his stick down across Morin's head. Morin was taken from the ice on a stretcher and it took five minutes to get play under way again.”



Good thing that game wasn't 40-50 yrs later...it would constantly get replayed all week on our 24 hour sports TV stations, giving hockey another bad rep.

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1964 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1964.html)

1964 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Toronto Marlboros
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


When May of 1964 arrived, the Edmonton Oil Kings were in the Memorial Cup final for a fifth consecutive season.
This time, they added centre Fran Huck (Regina Pats) and wingers Larry Mickey (Moose Jaw Canucks) and Ron Boehm (Estevan Bruins) to their roster as they prepared to leave for Toronto where they would face the Marlboros.
The first five games in this series would be played in Maple Leaf Gardens. After that, if the series was still alive, the last two games would be played in London, Ont.
The Marlies advanced with an 11-3 victory over goaltender Rogatien Vachon and the Montreal NDG Monarchs to win the best-of-five eastern final in four games.
Toronto, owned by Harold Ballard and coached by Jim Gregory, featured Gary Smith in goal, Rod Seiling and Jim McKenny on defence and the likes of Peter Stemkowski, Mike Walton, Wayne Carleton, Ron Ellis and Brit Selby up front.
The series opened on May 3 with the Marlies, a bigger team, posting a 5-2 victory.
"This is the first time I've seen (Edmonton) play,” Gregory said. "But from what I've heard about them and what I saw today, I know they can play much better than they did.”
Ellis, with two, Seiling, Gary Dineen and Andre Champagne scored for Toronto, which led 2-1 and 4-2 at the period breaks. Reg Taschuk scored both Edmonton goals.
"We can play better hockey than you saw out there,” Edmonton coach Buster Brayshaw said, "and we'll have to if we want to beat the Marlboros.”
The best of the Edmonton players was Huck, the 18-year-old, 5-foot-6, 155-pound centre from Regina. An 86-goal scorer in 40 SJHL games (he added 22 more in the playoffs), they called him the Golden Hawk and he dazzled everyone with his skating ability.
"Huck is the type of hockey player who has lots of heart,” Brayshaw said. "He isn't big but the kid has a lot of guts. He carried that Regina club all season.”
Only 2,704 fans attended Game 2, won 3-2 by the Marlies, thanks to early third-period goals one minute 31 seconds apart from Walton and Stemkowski.
Stemkowski finished with two goals, his first tying the game 1-1 in the second period after Taschuk opened the scoring in the first. Boehm scored the game's final goal late in the third period.
Huck was sharp again and only superb play by Smith kept him off the scoreboard.
"I think (Game 3) will be a real tough one,” Gregory said. "It will take until tomorrow until the Kings are accustomed to Toronto. The three-hour difference in time can have a big effect on a team.”
Brayshaw felt his club had played better, but knew it still had a ways to go.
"If you don't shoot, how do you expect the puck to go in?” he said. "They just weren't shooting as much as I would have liked them to.”
Despite Huck's superb play, Brayshaw had, so far, declined to use him on the power play.
"He won't pass the puck,” Brayshaw explained. "All season long he was a lone wolf on the Regina team and it's hard to change after six months playing like that. He's a real digger but he won't pass the puck.”
Edmonton's Butch Paul summed it up like this: "We stopped playing hockey for a couple of minutes, they bang in two goals and that's the game.”
By now, the Oil Kings were hurting. Their top line -- Paul, Max Mestinsek and Glen Sather -- was on the limp. All three had leg injuries.
The Marlboros, playing without Seiling who was writing university exams, went up 3-0 on May 7 with a 5-2 victory in front of only 2,204 fans.
Toronto, with Stemkowski and Selby each scoring twice, held period leds of 2-1 and 4-2. Paul Laurent also scored for the Marlies. Paul and Bert Marshall replied for Edmonton.
Edmonton goaltender Russ Kirk faced 36 shots as the Marlies took it right to the Oil Kings.
"They're not giving the puck away like they were in the first games,” Gregory said of his players. "And I thought my penalty killers -- Barry Watson, Nick Harbaruk, Andre Champagne and Brit Selby -- played a great game.
"Everybody played a good game, for that matter.”
Toronto completed the sweep on May 9, whipping the Oil Kings 7-2.
Stemkowski, Grant Moore, Seiling, Harbaruk, Walton, Dineen and Champagne scored for Toronto, which held a 49-28 edge in shots.
Mestinsek scored both Edmonton goals.
It was the Marlies' first Memorial Cup since 1956. The winning goal was scored by Stemkowski at 6:30 of the second period.
"We'll never know how really good they are,” Brayshaw said of the Marlies. "We never pressed them at all. We had enough chances in two periods and all we came up with was two goals.”
Brayshaw praised the Marlies for having "too much quality and too much quantity. Every line they threw at us was as good as the one that went off.
"They're a great hockey club. I don't think they'll ever find another as great.”

NEXT: 1965 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Niagara Falls Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1965 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1965.html)

1965 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Niagara Falls Flyers
at Edmonton (Gardens)


When the Edmonton Oil Kings bounced the Winnipeg Braves 6-3 on May 2 to win the Abbott Cup, they earned their sixth consecutive berth in the Memorial Cup final.
It was an incredible streak of success, matched perhaps only by the futility they had run into in the final. The Oil Kings went into this final, with all games played in the Edmonton Gardens, with but one championship in those five previous trips.
Edmonton's opposition this time would be the Niagara Falls Flyers, managed by Hap Emms, coached by Bill Long and starring Gilles Marotte, captain Dave Woodley, Don Marcotte, Steve Atkinson, 15-year-old defenceman Rick Ley, Bill Goldsworthy, Jim Lorentz, Rosaire Paiement, goaltender Bernie Parent, Jean Pronovost and Derek Sanderson.
This was a rematch of the 1963 final, which Edmonton had won in six games.
By the western final, the Oil Kings were without coach Buster Brayshaw, who had been ordered by doctors to rest. Harry Allen took over as coach and, while Brayshaw was back with the team for the Memorial Cup, Allen would run the bench.
The Oil Kings went into the final with their goaltending situation uncertain. Gary Simmons had suffered an eight-stitch cut on his right kneecap late in the regular season. It never healed properly and he was on crutches on the eve of Game 1.
Edmonton added goaltender Wayne Stephenson from the Braves and he went the distance in the series. The Oil Kings also added centre Fran Huck (Regina Pats) and defenceman Jim Cardiff (Weyburn Red Wings) but neither dressed for Game 1.
The Flyers opened with a 3-2 victory on May 4 with some of the fans at times chanting, "We want Huck.”
Paiement, Bud Debrody and Sanderson scored for Niagara Falls, which never trailed. The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and the Flyers led 3-1 after the second. Rookies Ross Perkins and Red Simpson scored for the Oil Kings.
Stephenson was strong, finishing with 20 saves, two more than Parent.
"If we'd played that badly all year, we'd have wound up on the bottom of our league,” Long said.
The Oil Kings came out of Game 1 quite banged up. All three members of their highest-scoring line were injured -- Ron Anderson (knee), Graham Longmuir (back) and Greg Tomalty (shoulder).
Huck was in the lineup for Game 2 on May 6 and scored once, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Flyers skated to a 5-1 victory.
Debrody led the charge with two goals. Singles came from Goldsworthy, Sanderson and defenceman John Arbour.
Niagara Falls led 2-0 and 3-1 by periods in front of 4,957 fans.
The Flyers were by far the most aggressive team, three times playing two men short as they took 14 of 25 penalties.
Parent stopped 22 shots, four fewer than Stephenson.
The series was forced into a three-day layoff because of an evangelical meeting in the Gardens. Emms was upset about that and the officiating.
"That guy is worse than the one we had two years ago,” Emms said of referee Jim McAuley of Montreal. "We play just as hard in the OHA but the penalty box isn't always full.”
By now, the flu bug was making its way through the Oil Kings' roster. That, combined with the injuries to Tomalty and Anderson, had the Edmonton brass concerned.
"However, this cannot be considered a reason why we have looked so bad on the ice,” manager Leo LeClerc said. "We're planning to throw the boys into two-hour practices each day until the next game . . . in an attempt to get rid of their fuzziness.
"After all, we may be inexperienced but we are the western champions and we have to go out there and play like champions.”
Edmonton, which now had lost six straight Memorial Cup games, finally ended that streak on May 10 with a 5-1 victory before 3,403 fans.
But this wasn't a pretty one.
McAuley called a halt to the game with 3:30 left to play in the third period after Edmonton policemen came on to the ice to stop a brawl.
Art Potter, the Edmonton-based past-president of the CAHA, ordered McAuley to stop the game. McAuley dished out 33 penalties, including three match penalties, nine majors and three misconducts.
Edmonton captain Bob Falkenberg was carried from the ice on a stretcher. He was pummeled into unconsciousness by Sanderson and was left with a cut over one eye and a concussion.
Sanderson received a match penalty for that. The other match penalties went to Ley and Anderson for a stick-swinging duel early in the third period.
"The series could easily be over,” Potter said. "I've been told the Gardens is closed until this is settled.”
The first period ended in a near riot after Goldsworthy was thumped by Falkenberg at the final whistle. Sanderson tangled with Edmonton's Brian Bennett and Flyers' goaltender Doug Favell became involved. It took police to restore order. Falkenberg was given a spearing major. Goldsworthy returned for one shift in the second period, was hit with a crushing check by defenceman Al Hamilton and didn't return.
At 16:30 of the third period, Hamilton tangled with Paiement at the Niagara Falls blueline. That started it. The police ended it.
Edmonton got goals from Huck, Cardiff, Perkins, Dave Rogers and Simpson. Sanderson scored for the Flyers.
Favell stopped 14 shots in the first period before Parent came on for the second and third and blocked 16. Stephenson stopped 22.
Following the game, it was later revealed, Sanderson was hauled into a room (believed to be a broom closet) while en route to his team's dressing room and beaten up. He was left with facial lacerations and body bruises. Police investigated the incident but no arrests were made.
CAHA secretary-manager Gordon Juckes announced the next day that Anderson and Ley had been handed one-game suspensions for their stick-swinging episode, and that Sanderson had been suspended indefinitely for deliberate injury of a player.
The Flyers roared back on May 12 and posted an 8-2 victory before 5,326 fans.
Brian Bradley, an 18-year-old left winger, struck for five goals, two in the first period and three in the third.
Goldsworthy, who wasn't expected to play, scored twice, opening and closing the scoring on breakaways. Stephenson stopped Goldsworthy on one other breakaway and again on a penalty shot at 5:11 of the second period. Pronovost also scored for Niagara Falls.
Simpson and Longmuir replied for Edmonton.
The game was cleanly played with no hint of what had happened in Game 3. The Flyers took 11 of 17 penalties with each team picking up a misconduct.
Niagara Falls wrapped it up with an 8-1 victory in front of 2,477 fans on May 14.
Woodley and Marcotte scored twice each for the Flyers, with singles coming from Paiement, Debrody, Goldsworthy and Marotte. Bradley followed up his five-goal game with a one-assist outing.
Cardiff scored for Edmonton. It was the game's first goal and gave the Oil Kings a lead for only the second time in the series. It lasted less than four minutes.
Debrody's goal at 12:28 of the first period stood up as the winner.
Niagara Falls held period leads of 2-1 and 5-1 as the east won its 28th Memorial Cup since 1919. The west had 19 victories.
It was the third time Emms had won the Memorial Cup, the others coming in 1951 and '53 with the Barrie Flyers.
"I hope that some day the Oil Kings will come to Niagara Falls and play in our rink,” Emms said.

NEXT: 1966 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Oshawa Generals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1966 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1966.html)

1966 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Oshawa Generals
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)


The Edmonton Oil Kings made it seven Memorial Cup finals in a row when they eliminated the Estevan Bruins from the Abbott Cup final in six games.
This was the last Abbott Cup final before major junior hockey came to the Prairies in the form of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League.
The Abbott Cup final was a clash of hockey legends, what with the Bruins managed by Scotty Munro and coached by Ernie (Punch) McLean, and the Oil Kings coached by Ray Kinasewich and managed by Bill Hunter.
Following the series, the Oil Kings, featuring the likes of Garnet (Ace) Bailey, Al Hamilton, Bob Falkenberg and goaltender Don (Smokey) McLeod, announced they would add three Bruins to their roster for the national final -- forwards Jim Harrison, Ross Lonsberry and Ted Hodgson. Hunter also said he would take Weyburn Red Wings goaltender Don Caley as a replacement for Pete Neukomm who had suffered a fractured cheekbone in a western semifinal game against the Fort William Canadians.
Edmonton had spent the season playing in the Alberta Senior Hockey League, there being no junior league in Alberta. In fact, the Oil Kings tied the Drumheller Miners for the provincial senior championship.
The Oil Kings' opposition this time around was provided by the Oshawa Generals, featuring 15-year-old defenceman Bobby Orr, Wayne Cashman, Danny O'Shea, goaltender Ian Young, Billy Heindl, Barry Wilkins and Nick Beverley. The Generals were coached by Bep Guidolin and managed by Wren Blair.
Oshawa, which finished fourth in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, had eliminated the Shawinigan Falls Bruins in the eastern final, winning the best-of-five affair in four games.
All games in this national final series were scheduled for Maple Leaf Gardens -- the last Memorial Cup series to be played there.
The politicking began early as Blair announced he would protest (1) the presence of the Oil Kings because they didn't play in a junior league; and, (2) the inclusion of three Estevan players on Edmonton's roster.
Blair admitted he didn't expect success but "I'm going to file them anyway.''
Edmonton, which had lost five of the last six Memorial Cup finals, opened the series on May 4 by thrashing Oshawa 7-2, outshooting the Generals 52-20 in the process. Attendance was 4,310.
Centre Ross Perkins scored two shorthanded goals for Edmonton. And you can bet Blair was livid as the three Estevan players all figured in the scoring -- Harrison had a goal and two assists, Lonsberry had a goal and Hodgson had two assists. Galen Head, Hamilton and Bailey added singles. Hamilton also had two assists.
Orr, who dazzled with his rink-length dashes and had at least 10 shots on goal, and Chris Hayes scored for Oshawa, which trailed 4-1 and 5-2 at the period breaks.
Six players picked up fighting majors six minutes into the third period, the altercation starting when Harrison crashed into Orr, after which he was immediately confronted by Oshawa's Bill White. One of the ensuing fights featured Orr, who scored an easy decision over Dave Rochefort.
Kinasewich was upset and accused the Generals of head-hunting.
"I like a rough, hard-checking game,” Kinasewich said, "and if they can't take it, then let them go home.”
Guidolin countered: "We didn't see one good check all night, and you can tell them to stop sending bushers after Orr.”
Oshawa tied the series on May 6, riding a three-goal performance from O'Shea to a 7-1 victory before 7,210 fans, most of them apparently from the Oshawa area.
O'Shea and Cashman had gone into the final with 21 playoff goals apiece.
Cashman, Hayes, Heindl and Ron Dussiaume also scored for the Generals. Cashman also set up three goals as the Generals took period leads of 2-0 and 5-0.
Defenceman Doug Barrie scored Edmonton's lone goal.
Orr was used sparingly. He was on the limp with a groin injury he said he suffered during practice the previous week. Hamilton, Edmonton's top defenceman, was nursing a sore tailbone and hardly played in the third period.
When this one was over, Hunter pointed a finger at referee Frank Daigneault of Montreal.
When a Maple Leaf Gardens publicist said "we'll get a crowd of 14,000 here (for Game 3),” Hunter added: "Yeah, and we'll get a new referee.”
"He's going to lose control,” Kinasewich added, "and that won't be good for the players or the fans.”
After Game 2, Hunter announced the Oil Kings would use Caley in Game 3 only to be informed by the CAHA that he was ineligible.
After the Generals won Game 3 by a 6-2 count on May 8 before 7,365 fans, Hunter was again all over Daigneault.
"Daigneault must have signed a contract with Oshawa before the series,” Hunter said. "Generals' defencemen were stopping shots and pulling the puck into their bodies as they fell, and Daigneault, only five feet away, wasn't calling them.”
The Generals, with Orr playing only on the power play, got two goals from O'Shea and singles from Cashman, George Babcock, Bill Little and Dussiaume. Perkins and Ron Walters scored for the Oil Kings.
Kinasewich yanked McLeod and sent in Jim Knox after the first period with Oshawa leading 4-0.
"You don't expect that a fellow who's played well all season will choke up all of a sudden,” Kinasewich said. "But that's what he's done.
"Oshawa's not that good. We've played better teams than that all season. And this is the first time we've played two bad games in a row this year.”
Guidolin fired back: "You can tell 'em we've got a few surprises for (Game 4). We got the same team.”
The Oil Kings held a team meeting on the off day.
"We've just had a revival meeting,” Hunter said. "And we've given our lads the message -- God help Oshawa in the next game.”
McLeod was back at his best in Game 4 as he backstopped the Oil Kings to a 5-3 victory on May 11 before 5,761 fans. That tied the series 2-2.
Trailing 3-2 going into the third period, the Oil Kings exploded for three goals, the winner coming at 16:46 when Hamilton went coast-to-coast and set up Head. Perkins followed with an empty-net goal to wrap it up.
Lonsberry, Ron Anderson and Rochefort also scored for the Oil Kings. Hayes, Cashman and O'Shea scored for Oshawa.
Orr took a regular shift for two periods, but took his gear off after that. He aggravated his groin injury when checked into the boards by Perkins.
"We blew it,” Guidolin said. "We didn't skate. You gotta skate. If you don't, you're dead.”
Kinasewich thought it was Edmonton's turn.
"Don't you think we were due?” he said. "We couldn't get much worse than in the second and third games.”
The Oil Kings wrapped up the Memorial Cup posting two victories in two days -- 7-4 on May 14 and 2-1 on May 15.
Craig Cameron had three goals and an assist to lead Edmonton in Game 5. Perkins added two goals and four helpers, with Falkenberg and Hodgson also scoring. Heindl, Dussiaume, Cashman and Hayes scored for Oshawa.
In Game 6, it was two of the Estevan players -- Harrison and Hodgson -- who provided the victory.
For starters, Harrison put two players -- Heindl and Paul Cadieux -- out of the game with injuries after hard checks.
Heindl opened the scoring on a power play at 9:10 of the first period. Harrison tied it on a 30-footer at 17:02 of the second period and Hodgson won it with a blistering slap shot at 6:47 of the third.
Both goaltenders -- Young and McLeod -- stopped 37 shots in front of 5,018 fans.
The hero in the end was McLeod, the goaltender who had been so severely criticized in the early going.
"You are looking at the finest goalie in junior hockey,” Kinasewich said.
"When he gets that look in his eye,” Hunter said, "you just know that nobody's gonna beat him.”
Guidolin offered: "They owe it all to the goalie, who they said choked. What are they saying about him now?”
They were saying they had been misquoted earlier in the series.
This was the first time a western team had won the championship while playing in an eastern rink since the Port Arthur West End Bruins did it in 1948.

NEXT: 1967 (Port Arthur Marrs vs. Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1967 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1967.html/)

1967 MEMORIAL CUP
Port Arthur Marrs vs. Toronto Marlboros
at Fort William (Gardens)


The world of junior hockey began to change in a big, big way starting with the 1966-67 season.
No longer would the only junior hockey in western Canada be played in the provincial junior leagues -- the Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. junior leagues.
Now there was something called the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League. In its first season it featured the Edmonton Oil Kings, Estevan Bruins, Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Canucks, Saskatoon Blades, Weyburn Red Wings and Calgary Buffaloes.
The new guys on the block, who had met in Clear Lake, Man., and formed their new league, also had a lot of enemies.
Dick Chubey of The Albertan, then a Calgary-based tabloid newspaper, wrote: "The CAHA . . . stood against the move, so the rogues simply bolted from within its jurisdiction. They were tabbed throughout the land as outlaws and their pictures hung on post-office walls, although they, like any other head-strong revolutionaries, preferred to be known as independent.”
It didn't matter what they were called -- outlaw or independent -- the CMJHL operated outside the CAHA's jurisdiction, which meant that member teams weren't eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup.
This resulted in two things of note: (1) The Moose Jaw Canucks, who won the CMJHL's first championship, couldn't play for the Memorial Cup; and, (2) for the first time since the spring of 1959, when the Winnipeg Braves represented the west, the Edmonton Oil Kings weren't in the Memorial Cup final.
The Oil Kings lost out in a CMJHL semifinal, dropping a best-of-nine series to Moose Jaw. The Canucks won three games, lost two and four were tied. Ahhh, yes, things like that happened in those days.
Instead, it was the Port Arthur Marrs, coached by Albert Cava, carrying the west's colors. It was the first time in 19 years that Port Arthur had made it to the final.
The Marrs -- featuring the likes of goaltenders John Adams and Ted Tucker, and skaters Bob Kelly, Vic Venasky and captain Ray Adduono -- were allowed under the CAHA's equalization rules to add six players for the final. They picked up forwards Juha Widing and Bill Fairbairn from the Brandon Wheat Kings, Chuck Kelner (Geraldton Gold Miners), and Ron Busniuk (Fort William Canadiens), and defencemen Gerry Hart (Flin Flon Bombers) and John Ferguson (Fort William). Most of the offence of late had been coming from a line featuring Adduono, the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League scoring king for the third season in a row, and Tim McCormack. Kelner was inserted on that line during the western final and had immediate success.
Adduono had scored 80 points in 28 regular-season games. In the playoffs, he totaled 16 goals and 38 assists in 19 games. McCormack had 24 playoff goals.
The Marrs' top defenceman was Ken Rodgers, who came east from his native B.C., where he had played three seasons in Kamloops.
The opposition would be provided by the Toronto Marlboros, coached by Gus Bodnar. Prior to this, Bodnar's claim to fame had been setting up all three of the goals scored by Chicago Blackhawks sniper Billy Mosienko in a 21-second span on March 23, 1952 in Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.
Starring on Bodnar's Marlies were goaltenders Gary Edwards and Bob Whidden, along with Fred Barrett, Mike Byers, captain Brian Glennie, Gerry Meehan, Brad Park and Mike Pelyk. Meehan was the team's leading scorer, but his 68 regular-season points left him 33 in arrears of the league scoring king, Niagara Falls Flyers' centre Derek Sanderson.
En route to the final, Port Arthur had ousted Fort William (five games), Geraldton (three), Flin Flon (six) and the New Westminster Royals (five).
Adduono proved he not only could score goals -- prior to each series he made a prediction and in each instance he had been correct.
The Marrs ousted the Royals from the best-of-seven western final in five games, including series-ending 6-2 and 5-0 victories right in New Westminster. Kelner arrived from Geraldton for the second game of the western final and promptly scored eight goals in three games.
The Marlboros, meanwhile, had put together a 37-19-13 record through 69 regular-season and playoff games. In the postseason, they got rid of the Kitchener Rangers, Hamilton Red Wings and Thetford Mines Canadians.
After playing to a win, two ties and a loss in their first four playoff games against Kitchener, the Marlies went on a tear, winning 10 of their next 11 postseason games as they reached the Dominion final.
The Marlboros manhandled Thetford Mines in the eastern final, winning the best-of-five series in four games, including 9-1 and 5-2 victories to wrap it up.
All games in the Memorial Cup final would be played in the 4,400-seat Fort William Gardens.
"All I've said all along was that it would take a good hockey team to beat us,” said Cava. "We've been the underdogs in a couple of series and we expect to be again. That's the way we like it. They didn't expect us to get this far but here we are.
"We know we're meeting a team which proved itself best in the top junior league in the country. We expect the Marlies to be tough. But we'll show up.”
The series opened on May 7 with the Marlies -- paced by the line of Doug Acomb, Frank Hamill and Byers -- posting a 6-3 victory in front of 5,300 fans.
Kelner opened the scoring at 1:05 of the first period and Adduono made it 2-0 at 3:20. But Acomb and Terry Caffery scored to tie it before the end of the first.
Busniuk and Meehan exchanged second-period goals, setting the scene for Toronto to score the third period's only three goals -- by Acomb, Caffery and Tom Martin.
"It looks like a long series,” Cava said. "They're a good club and play their positions well, but I think we can bounce back.”
Cava wasn't pleased with the play of his big line, which had totaled one goal and one assist. Cava said: ""It certainly wasn't their usual game and I can't say much after that.''
Prior to Game 2, Cava tried his luck at predicting the future.
"I predict we'll win,” he said of Game 2.
He was wrong.
The Marlboros won 8-4 in front of more than 5,300 fans on May 9 to go up 2-0 in games.
The difference was four goals in a span of 3:58 in the second period that gave the Marlies a 7-2 lead.
Meehan and Acomb had given Toronto a 2-0 first-period edge that Meehan upped to 3-0 early in the second. But Rodgers and McCormack cut the deficit to 3-2 just before the explosion.
Richie Bayes (12:29), Hamill (12:47), Meehan (14:40) and Acomb (16:27) scored to bury the Marrs.
The line of Meehan, Acomb and Caffery was killing the Marrs. Meehan and Acomb finished Game 2 with three goals each, while Caffery set up three goals.
Kelner and Fairbairn scored for Port Arthur.
The Marrs went into Game 3 knowing they had to stop Acomb (five goals, two assists), Caffery (two goals, six assists) and Meehan (four goals).
"I think we can still win this if we can get this third game,” Cava stated.
As for Bodnar, he offered: "Our guys are coming around to their potential. We're starting to play the hockey we're capable of.”
On May 11, the Marrs stopped the Marlies' big line and got back in it, as they won the third game 6-4 before more than 5,300 fans.
Widing and Fairbairn, both of whom had topped 100 points with the Wheat Kings, led the way with two goals each. They combined for three third-period goals as the Marrs erased a 4-3 Toronto lead.
John Healey and Widing gave Port Arthur a 2-0 lead after the first period. Caffery and Martin tied it in the second, before McCormack put the Marrs out front again. John Wright and Cam Crosby put the Marlboros into the lead before the second period ended.
Port Arthur won it in the third when Widing scored once and Fairbairn, who also had two assists, added a pair, including an empty-netter.
The game ended with some ugliness as linesman Roy Lamore emerged from a scrap with a cut on his scalp. Crosby and Adduono came out of it with majors, while Kelly, who had come off the bench, was hit with a major and a misconduct by referee John McVey of Ottawa.
It was Kelly's second fight of the game. Earlier, he and Martin battled, with the Toronto player leaving for facial repairs and then returning to action.
During his pro career, Kelly would be known as Battleship. As a junior, he was known as The Equalizer.
The next night, in front of another capacity crowd of more than 5,300, the Marlies moved to within one victory of the title by beating the Marrs 6-0.
(Earlier that day, Flin Flon had announced it would apply for admittance to the CMJHL.)
Port Arthur goaltender Johnny Adams let in a couple of weak ones early, while Whidden was perfect on 19 shots at the other end.
Martin and Bayes scored twice each, while Caffery and Acomb added one each for the Marlies.
Adams was yanked at 7:49 of the third period and the crowd cheered replacement Gordie Bishop on each of his four easy saves.
The Marrs were minus Kelly, who was sitting out a one-game suspension for leaving the bench to enter that altercation at the end of Game 3.
The Marlies wrapped up their fourth Memorial Cup in 12 seasons with a 6-3 victory before about 4,000 fans on May 14.
Bayes, Meehan and Martin had two goals each for the winners. Adduono scored all three Port Arthur goals.
"This is the best hockey club I've ever played with,” Glennie said as he accepted the trophy.
The Marrs led 2-1 after one period; the teams were tied 2-2 going into the third.
Meehan was credited with the Memorial Cup-winning goal at 4:11 of the third period.
Caffery led the series in points, 14, including 10 assists. Adduono led Port Arthur with seven points, including four goals.
Bodnar said winning the Memorial Cup was a greater thrill than winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's rookier of the year. He had won the Calder in his first season (1943-44) with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

NEXT: 1968 (Estevan Bruins vs. Niagara Falls Flyers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1968 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1968.html)

1968 MEMORIAL CUP
Estevan Bruins vs. Niagara Falls Flyers
at Niagara Falls (Memorial Arena) and Montreal (Forum)


The Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, the outlaw/independent league that had been formed over the summer of 1966, was gone.
In its place was the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. Same people. Mostly the same teams. Different name.
And it was mostly back in the good graces of the CAHA, meaning that after a one-year absence its teams were eligible to compete for the Memorial Cup.
Up until now, the focus of junior hockey had been mainly on the ice. Oh, the characters were always in the neighbourhood -- hockey giants like Rudy Pilous and Sam Pollock and Scotty Bowman and Al Ritchie and Joe Primeau et al -- but they always seemed to be on the periphery.
That started to change in the late 1960s as men like Hap Emms, Scotty Munro and Bill Hunter began to dominate the game of junior hockey.
These men had always been there and they had always been colourful characters. They just weren't always able to make it onto the front pages of the sports sections.
In the late 1960s, however, that changed, primarily because the media changed. No longer was it enough just to cover the games; now the readers, listeners and viewers were demanding a look inside the game, inside the dressing room.
And so it was that the 1968 Memorial Cup final came to be dominated by two men, neither of them players, both of them able to blow smoke with the best of them.
Hap Emms was running the Niagara Falls Flyers, the eastern Canadian champions, with his son, Paul, serving as coach. They would meet Roderick Neil (Scotty) Munro and his Estevan Bruins in the Memorial Cup final. Munro was the Bruins' general manager; the coach was Ernie (Punch) McLean. It was the latter's first of what would be many appearances on the national stage.
This final was unique in that it featured teams that wore exactly the same uniforms -- fashioned after the NHL's Boston Bruins.
Munro and Emms had long been associated with the NHL's Bruins. Thus, it was most ironic that in Munro's first trip to the national final -- he had been in seven Abbott Cup finals, winning for the first time in 1968 -- he should be up against a team run by Emms.
The Bruins had finished second in the regular season, their 45-13-2 record leaving them seven points in arrears of Bobby Clarke, Reg Leach and the Flin Flon Bombers.
Estevan didn't have a scorer in the top 10 during the regular season, but it had the second-best defence and the offence, led by Jim Harrison, caught fire in the playoffs. Harrison would lead the postseason in goals (13), assists (22) and points (35), all in just 14 games. Ernie Moser chipped in with 23 points, including nine goals, Dale Hoganson had 22 points, nine of them goals, and Dan Schock had 21 points, including six goals. (Hoganson, a defenceman, was joined on the team by his older brother, Wayne, a left winger.)
The Bruins began the 1967-68 season with a 22-game unbeaten streak. They finished the regular season by winning nine in a row, then opened the playoffs by sweeping a best-of-seven from the Winnipeg Jets. They then ventured into a best-of-seven semifinal against Moose Jaw, and ousted the Canucks in five games (four victories and a tie). And the Bruins had it pretty much their own way in ousting the Bombers from the final, again winning four games and tying one in the best-of-seven series. That left the Bruins unbeaten in their last 23 games.
They then won the first two games of a western semifinal with the Westfort, Ont., Hurricanes, a team they would take out in five games. In the western final, the Bruins swept B.C.'s Penticton Broncos in four games to win the Abbott Cup.
Overall, Estevan played 23 postseason games -- winning 20, losing one and tying two.
The Bruins arrived in Toronto while the Flyers were still engaged with the Verdun, Que., Maple Leafs in the Eastern Canadian final, a best-of-five series that went the distance. The Flyers won the first two games in Verdun, only to have the Maple Leafs roar back and win the next two games in Niagara Falls. And, in Game 5 on May 4 in Niagara Falls, the Maple Leafs led 4-3 with 13 minutes to play when things fell apart and the Flyers went on to a 7-4 victory.
Prior to that, the Flyers had survived three Ontario Junior Hockey League best-of-seven playoff rounds -- they eliminated the Peterborough Petes in five games, the Montreal Junior Canadiens in six and then went eight -- there was one tie -- in the final with the Kitchener Rangers.
Munro and McLean also brought some extra players with them, what with the western team still allowed to add players from other teams in its league. So as the Bruins sat in Toronto and prepared, Munro and McLean were deciding which players to use.
Left-winger Ron Garwasiuk of the Regina Pats, an all-star, was sure to play. McLean would then choose from among Edmonton Oil Kings centre Ron Walters, Moose Jaw goaltender Ken Brown (Estevan's regular netminder was Gordie Kopp), and defencemen Kerry Ketter of Edmonton and Joe Zanussi of the Swift Current Broncos. Before the series was over, McLean would use all of them.
Up front, the Bruins featured Harrison. He was the team leader. Period. But they also had the likes of Moser, Schock, Greg Polis and Greg Sheppard.
The Flyers could boast of goaltender Phil Myre and a defence that featured future NHLers Rick Ley, who was the team captain, and Brad Selwood, along with Mike Keeler and Rick Thompson. Up front, the big line featured centre Garry Swain and right-winger Tom Webster, along with whomever Paul Emms happened to put on the left side. Doug Brindley centred a second line with Phil Roberto on the right side and Ron Schwindt or Dan MacKey on the left wing. Ross Webley centred Steve Atkinson and left-winger Don Tannahill.
On the eve of the series opener, the teams were still bickering over where games would be played.
"In no way will we play all of the series in that barn,” Munro said, referring to the 2,900-seat Niagara Falls Memorial Arena.
The series also began with Hap Emms having barred two Toronto sports writers -- Frank Orr of The Star and Jack Marks of The Globe and Mail -- from the Flyers' dressing room.
And Hap Emms was, as usual, blowing smoke.
"The series against Kitchener Rangers killed us,” he said, referring to the league final having gone eight games. "No way we can beat Estevan, if we get past Verdun. We're dead and the Bruins are resting.”
Well, the Flyers got past Verdun and the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final opened in Memorial Arena on May 6.
The first game was won 7-4 by the Flyers, who held period leads of 2-0 and 4-2 as they got two goals from each of Roberto and Swain before 3,023 fans.
The Flyers got singles from Atkinson, Webster and Karl Haggarty, with Harrison, Greg Sheppard, Jerry Dionne and Dale Hoganson replying for the Bruins.
But when it was over, everyone was left talking about a last-minute donnybrook. Referee Jim McCauley of Montreal almost called the game when fans became involved behind the Bruins' bench.
It began with Garwasiuk and Ley, a veteran of the 1965 Memorial Cup-champion Flyers, tangling at centre ice. Before it was over, Harrison, who was already in the penalty box, tangled with a fan. The gentleman happened to be Thompson's father. And, according to one report, Mr. Thompson "left the arena battered and bleeding.” The fan was also reported to be stripped to the waist.
After Garwasiuk was separated from Ley, Myre was waiting for him. At the same time, Estevan's Bob Piche went at it with Atkinson.
The Bruins had taken 11 of 16 minor penalties before the brawl, and the Flyers had struck for three power-play goals.
And when it was over, Munro said the fans in Niagara Falls "are nothing but animals.”
"(The fans) kept baiting the boys on my bench,” Munro said.
Other than that, Munro said, "we got off to a slow start. Of course, we took five minor penalties in that first period and it was bound to harm us.
"Then our goaltender (Kopp) let three shots between his legs. That's something for him. He's a good goaltender.”
Munro wasn't about to point the finger at the officiating. At least, not yet.
"We took a lot of penalties before the fight started, and we don't usually play that brand of hockey,” he said.
The scene shifted to the Montreal Forum for Game 2 on May 8 and only 1,849 fans showed up.
The Bruins evened the series 1-1 by scoring a 4-2 victory as Schock, who had been dumped a year earlier by Emms, scored one goal and set up two others.
"It was the greatest moment in my career and the only thing that will ever be bigger is to take the Memorial Cup back west,” said Schock, a native of Terrace Bay, Ont.
Dale Hoganson, Sheppard and Moser also scored for the Bruins, who tallied three times with the man advantage. Atkinson, on the power play, and Webster replied for the Flyers.
The Bruins, who had gotten off to a slow start in Game 1, came out flying for Game 2 and led 3-0 in the first period, with Hoganson and Schock scoring 71 seconds apart. They took a 4-2 edge into the third period.
Munro and McLean chose to go with Brown in goal and he sparkled with 26 saves, six fewer than Myre.
The fact both teams wore the same colors finally posed something of a problem. The Flyers wore the Montreal Junior Canadiens uniforms for this one, which caused at least one person to do something of a doubletake.
As Ron Campbell reported in the Regina Leader-Post:
"The use of the Junior Canadiens sweaters created quite a hubbub in the Forum when Sam Pollock, general manager of the NHL Canaadiens, returned and walked into the Forum to see Niagara suited up in Hab colors.
"Reports have it that Pollock has ordered two sets of special uniforms to make sure the situation won't ever occur again.”
The scene was to shift to Niagara Falls for Game 3. But as the teams left Montreal to return to the Honeymoon City, dates and sites for games beyond that had yet to be announced.
However, prior to Game 3 it was revealed that Game 4 would also be played in Niagara Falls. It seemed that Munro was losing on and off the ice.
The Flyers made short work of the Bruins in Game 3 on May 10, winning 7-4 as Atkinson scored twice before a capacity crowd of 3,905.
Estevan led this one 2-0 in the first period before the bottom fell out.
Atkinson, with two, Brindley, Russ Frieson, Swain, MacKey and Tannahill, with an empty-netter, scored for the Flyers. Sheppard, with two, Harrison and Dale Hoganson replied for the Bruins.
Once again, the Flyers didn't wear their own uniforms. This time they wore the sweaters of the St. Catharines Teepees.
The Flyers, again wearing Teepees uniforms, closed to within one victory of the Memorial Cup title on May 13 with a 4-3 overtime victory in front of 2,627 fans.
Webster's goal at 12:56 of the extra period was the difference.
A fifth game? It also was scheduled for Niagara Falls.
Brown kept the Bruins in Game 4, making 59 saves as he was tested time after time after time.
Estevan had possession of the puck in its zone prior to Webster's goal. But the Flyers knocked down a clearing pass and Webster went in alone on Brown. He put a couple of moves on Brown before backhanding the puck into the gaping net.
Swain had two goals for the Flyers, with Webley getting the other. Sheppard, Garwasiuk and Dionne scored for Estevan.
The Flyers, again wearing Teepees uniforms, wrapped it up two nights later, posting a 6-0 victory as Myre made 20 saves before 3,813 home-town fans. The Flyers actually sent backup goaltender Dave Tataryn in for the final 80 seconds, but he didn't have to make a save.
The game was plagued by on-ice fog problems that, according to Campbell, "at times made it almost impossible to see the puck from the press gallery.”
The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and never looked back.
"We just ran out of gas. The two playoffs in the west -- one against (Thunder Bay) Westforts and the other against Penticton -- killed us,” McLean said. "It was impossible to get sharp again. I'm not saying this to belittle the Flyers -- they are a great team -- but if we had met them after we beat Flin Flon it would have been a different series.”
Brindley, with two, Webster, Atkinson, Selwood and Roberto looked after the scoring. Webster's goal, on a power play at 9:15 of the first period, stood up as the winner.
Brown was again heroic in the Estevan goal. He made 51 saves, but on this night that wasn't enough.
It was only fitting, one supposes, that the game ended with the victors wearing their own uniforms. With five minutes left in the third period, Hap Emms had his players put on their familiar black-and-yellow uniforms.
"They never quit,” Munro said. "They gave us all they could. They are a great bunch of kids -- the best I've ever had. It was unfair to make them play a national final under the circumstances the CAHA made us play.”
Munro was referring to the fact that this was the Bruins' 105th game of the season, 28 of them coming in the postseason.
It was revealed afterwards that Harrison, ineffectual through most of the series, played the last four games with a broken bone in one hand. He had broken it in the final minute of the first game, when he had gotten into a scrap with the father of Niagara Falls defenceman Rick Thompson.
Some of Harrison's pain was soothed moments after the game when he signed a contract worth $37,000 with the Boston Bruins. To that point, only defenceman Bobby Orr had gotten more money -- an estimated $60,000 -- in signing with the Bruins.

NEXT: 1969 (Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1969 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1969.html)

1969 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens
at Montreal (Forum) and Regina (Exhibition Stadium)


Once again, the politics of junior hockey played a role in determining a Memorial Cup champion.
Unable to see eye-to-eye with the CAHA, the Western Canada Junior Hockey League bolted once again, choosing to operate independently.
Three teams -- the Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Canucks and Weyburn Red Wings -- didn't agree with the move and returned to the security of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The WCJHL changed its name -- this time to the Western Canada Hockey League -- and operated with eight teams, rather than the 11 of the previous season.
Ironically, one of the teams that left the WCHL -- Regina -- would represent western Canada in the Memorial Cup final.
The Pats, under head coach Bob Turner, who had five Stanley Cup titles under his belt as a defenceman with the Montreal Canadiens, featured goaltender Gary Bromley, defenceman Barry Cummins, and forwards Laurie Yaworski, Ron Garwasiuk, who had played with the Estevan Bruins in the 1968 Memorial Cup final, Larry Wright and Don Saleski. Also here was forward Bob Owen, who would go on to coach the Regina Pat Blues of the SJHL and then move into the NHL scouting ranks.
Regina won the SJHL championship by ousting Moose Jaw in four games and Weyburn in six.
Entering into interprovincial play, the Pats took six games to sideline the Lethbridge Sugar Kings and then went seven games in the Abbott Cup final with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Dauphin Kings. Regina had held a 3-1 lead in games over Dauphin, only to have the Kings pull even at 3-3 by winning a sixth game 3-2 in overtime.
It's of interest that the Estevan Bruins, even though they were members of the WCHL and therefore not eligible for Memorial Cup play, were making some noise here. You see, the Bruins were the defending Abbott Cup champions and their coach, Ernie (Punch) McLean, was heard to say that he wasn't about to give up the Abbott Cup without a fight.
McLean's reasoning? He said the Abbott Cup was a challenge trophy and that no one had challenged the Bruins for it.
(When the Pats finally won the west, the Abbott Cup wasn't anywhere to be found. And it wouldn't turn up for a year, at which time some people would say it had been missing for two seasons, while others would claim it hadn't been seen for three years.)
No matter. The Pats beat hometown Dauphin, and goaltender Ron Low, 4-3 in the seventh game before 3,194 fans, defenceman Gord Redden's goal at 11:18 of the third period standing up as the winner. Redden, whose son Wade would make two Memorial Cup appearances with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1990s, had been added to the Pats' roster from Weyburn after the Red Wings were sidelined. The crowd included quite a few Reginans, who were able to get return bus fare and a game ticket for $10.
One other item of note from the Dauphin-Regina series: Dauphin management brought in Kelly Sveinson, a specialist from Winnipeg, to spend up to three hours a day working with the team on the powers of positive thinking.
Turner, for one, wasn't impressed.
"I do the positive thinking for this club and we don't need anyone from outside to come in and tell us how good we are,” the Pats coach said.
Afterwards, Regina added three Kings -- centre Butch Goring, left-winger Dennis Schick and defenceman Bob Neufeld -- for the Memorial Cup series. Goring, Dauphin's best player, suffered a separated shoulder in the final seconds of the sixth game of the Abbott Cup final and didn't play for the Pats until the third game of the national final. Prior to the series with Dauphin, the Pats had added four Weyburn players -- Redden, centres Murray Keogan and Ross Butler and goaltender Wayne Bell -- and right-winger Doug Kerslake from Moose Jaw.
As it turned out, the Pats were no match for the Montreal Junior Canadiens, of coach Roger Bedard, a team that boasted the likes of Guy Charron, Rejean Houle, Marc Tardif, Richard Martin and Gilbert Perreault, along with goaltenders Wayne Wood and Jimmy Rutherford, the latter a playoff addition from the Hamilton Red Wings.
Houle, a right winger, had won the Ontario Junior Hockey League scoring title, with 108 points, including 53 goals, in 54 games. In the playoffs, he had added 19 goals and 10 assists. Perreault, in the regular season, had scored 97 points, including 60 assists. They played on a line with Bobby Guindon on the left side.
The second line featured Bobby Lalonde between J.P. Bordeleau and Tardif. Tardif, who was just starting to mature into a superb player, followed up a 72-point regular season with 22 goals and 19 assists in the playoffs.
And there was the Kid Line -- Richard Lemieux between Norm Gratton, the right winger, and Charron, who had 54 points, including 27 goals, in the regular season.
The defence was keyed by Jocelyn Guevremont, Serge Lajeunesse and Andre Dupont. Claude Moreau and Gary Connelly also patrolled the blue line.
Montreal had gone through four playoff series before reaching the Memorial Cup final.
In league play, the Junior Canadiens eliminated Hamilton in a best-of-seven series -- without overtime they were sometimes called eight-point series -- that lasted five games. Montreal won three games and two were tied. The Junior Canadiens then swept the Peterborough Petes in four games, to advance against the St. Catharines Black Hawks in the final -- a series they won in five games to claim the Robertson Cup as OJHL champions.
That moved them into the best-of-five eastern Canadian final against the Sorel Eperviers, a team coached by Ken Hodge, then 21 years of age. Hodge, who would go on to earn 742 coaching victories in the WHL, had suffered a career-ending eye injury two seasons previous while with Moose Jaw. At 21, he may well have been the youngest fulltime junior hockey head coach in history.
Montreal won the George C. Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian finalists by taking out Sorel, 3-1 in games.
The Junior Canadiens were gunning for their city's first Memorial Cup since 1950. The Montreal Royals had won it in 1949, the Junior Canadiens won it in '50.
The Pats, who hadn't been in the national final since 1958, hadn't won it all since 1939.
The two teams had met earlier in the season in Regina, with Montreal winning, 5-2.
The series opened on April 30 in the Montreal Forum where, including playoffs, the Junior Canadiens were 32-2-3.
Charron scored three times as the Junior Canadiens won 5-3 before a crowd of 8,821. (Attendance was not what had been expected, and it was speculated that the fact the Montreal Expos were playing their first night game of the National League baseball season may have had something to do with that.)
It was the first time this playoff season that Regina had trailed in a series.
Tardif and Perreault scored Montreal's other goals. Keogan, with two, and Wright scored for the Pats, who trailed 5-1 before scoring two late goals.
Bromley turned aside 40 shots, 20 of them in the third period. At the other end, Rutherford was spectacular, stopping 32 shots.
Toe Blake, coach of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, was heard to say that the Junior Canadiens were fortunate to have Rutherford in goal, especially in the first period when the Pats dominated play.
"The Pats deserved a better fate than a 3-1 deficit after two periods of hockey,” stated New York Rangers general manager-coach Emile Francis.
The Pats spent the next afternoon, an off day, watching the Montreal Expos play the New York Mets at Jarry Park.
The Junior Canadiens wrapped up their home portion of the series with a 7-2 victory in front of 10,862 fans on May 2.
Guindon scored twice for the Baby Habs in a game marred by a third-period bench-clearing brawl sparked by a scrap between Dupont and Regina's Gary Leippi. In the end, only six players from each team weren't given game misconducts.
Perrault, Charron, Gratton, Lemieux and Arthur Quoquochi added Montreal's other goals. Regina got its goals from Saleski and Garwasiuk.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead into the second period, only to have Regina tie the score. But Charron's goal late in the second period gave the Junior Canadiens a 3-2 lead and the Pats weren't able to recover.
Had it not been for the play of Rutherford, however, Regina may have been off and running. The Pats threw 15 shots at Rutherford in the first period and 18 more in the second, but could only score twice.
The brawl began with an altercation between Dupont and Leippi. Before you knew it, there were seven more scraps taking place.
Then, just when it seemed calm had been restored, Rutherford, who had gone to the bench in favor of Wood after Montreal's final goal, chose to go after Bromley, who was taking in the proceedings from near the Pats' bench. That resulted in both teams dumping their benches and it became a full-scale donnybrook.
After the game, never mind the scraps, both teams boarded the same charter flight and headed for Regina, landing around 3 a.m.
The series resumed on May 4 before 5,120 fans at Regina's Exhibition Stadium.
Only the location changed, however, as the outcome was the same.
Lalonde, a 17-year-old in his first season, scored four times as Montreal won 5-2 to close to within one victory of the national title. Lalonde had six shots on goal in the game; his goals came on his first four shots.
Tardif had Montreal's other goal. Butler and Goring scored for Regina.
"You can't score goals if you don't shoot the puck,” Turner said. "You can't take anything away from Canadiens; they're a real good club, but our guys continually tried to work in too close. (Montreal) played better as a team here than in Montreal and they backchecked harder than they did in the previous two games.”
Bedard agreed, saying: "We played much better as a unit than we did in the first two games.”
Bedard also had a bit of praise for Lalonde.
"He played really well,” Bedard said, "but if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. This has been a rotating club all year, first one player stars and then another.”
By now, Turner knew the writing was on the wall.
"John Statz and Barry Cummins played steady,” he said, "but you could have thrown a blanket over the rest. We're going to need a better effort out of all our own guys. A couple of our pickups played well, but the rest were terrible.”
Goring played his first game since being injured in Game 6 of the western final. Turner felt he played well, although his conditioning was obviously lacking.
Montreal wrapped it up the next night with an 8-6 overtime victory, scoring twice in a 10-minute extra period before 4,500 fans.
Charron scored twice, including the first goal in overtime, at 2:06, while Dupont also had two goals. Gratton scored the other overtime goal, just 52 seconds after Charron found the range. Singles came from Martin, Quoquochi and Tardif. Charron finished the series with six goals.
Regina, which built up a 5-1 lead before fading, got two goals from each of Saleski and Goring, with Garwasiuk and Statz adding one each. Goring played only the last two games, but totalled three goals and two assists.
The Pats led 5-3 when Martin scored at 6:05 of the third period. Saleski got that one back five minutes later.
The overtime was forced on goals by Tardif (14:02) and Dupont (15:19).
Charron's winner came when he broke free at the Montreal blueline and beat Bromley on the breakaway.
Turner pointed to a Montreal line (Perreault between Tardif and Houle) as the difference. "When Bedard put those three together they dominated the play,” Turner said.
Ironically, on the same night the Junior Canadiens were winning the Memorial Cup, the Flin Flon Bombers were winning the first championship of the Canadian Hockey Association.
The Bombers, ahead 3-1 in a best-of-seven final with St. Thomas, Ont., were leading the Barons 4-0 in Game 5 in Flin Flon when the visitors left the ice midway in the second period.
The walkout happened following several fights, after which St. Thomas manager Jack Cassidy said his club wouldn't continue the series.

NEXT: 1970 (Weyburn Red Wings vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1970 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1970.html)

1970 MEMORIAL CUP
Weyburn Red Wings vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens
at Montreal (Forum)


Once again, a team from the Saskatchewan Amateur Junior Hockey League carried the west's colors into the best-of-seven Memorial Cup final.
(Again, the eight teams from the Western Canada Hockey League were ineligible as the league continued to operate outside the CAHA.)
This time it was the Weyburn Red Wings of coach Stan Dunn representing the west.
And as in 1969, the Montreal Junior Canadiens, with Roger Bedard behind the bench, provided the opposition.
The Junior Canadiens, featuring among others Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin, Norm Gratton, Ian Turnbull, Paulin Bordeleau and Bobby Guindon, swept Guy Lafleur and the Quebec Remparts in the best-of-five eastern final. And Montreal added goaltender John Garrett from the Peterborough Petes.
First of all, though, the Baby Habs had to get out of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. They had finished on top of the regular-season standings, their 37-12-5 record good for 79 points, nine more than Peterborough. Montreal then sidelined the Ottawa 67's and St. Catharines Black Hawks before being forced to go seven games with the Toronto Marlboros.
The Junior Canadiens won the seventh game from the Marlies, 6-3, with Perreault scoring four times and setting up the other two goals.
That sent Montreal into a best-of-seven eastern semifinal against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, champions of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The Soo surprised visiting Montreal in the first game by winning 5-4. It was the first victory by an NOJHL team over an OJHL club since 1947.
The Junior Canadiens then went out and won four straight, including a 20-3 romp in the fifth and final game. Turnbull and Perreault had four goals each in that victory.
While Montreal was battling the Soo, the Remparts were scrapping their way past the Charlottetown Islanders in the other eastern semifinal.
The Remparts lost the first two games and then won the series in six games. But the sixth game just about wasn't played, at least not in Charlottetown. The second game of the series had ended in a brawl and Charlottetown police ended up on the ice. The Remparts weren't impressed with the treatment they received and asked the CAHA to move Games 6 and 7 to neutral ice.
The CAHA refused. The Remparts, who would be involved in a similar controversy again in 1971, wrapped it up with a 5-2 victory in Game 6 in Charlottetown.
That set up a classic matchup -- the Remparts, coached by Maurice Filion and featuring Lafleur, against the Junior Canadiens, starring Perreault, in the best-of-five eastern final.
Lafleur had totalled 103 goals in 56 regular-season games as the Quebec Junior A Hockey League played through its first season. Perreault had 51 goals in 54 games.
Montreal won the opener 7-4 behind Perreault's four goals and one assist. Lafleur, playing in front of more than 10,000 fans in Quebec City, more than held his own as he scored twice and set up Quebec's other two goals.
The Junior Canadiens won the second game 9-7, also in Quebec City, as Perreault scored twice. Lafleur had one goal for the Remparts, who led 6-3 after the second period and then surrendered six third-period goals.
The next night in Montreal, before 18,571 fans in the Forum, Martin scored three times as the Junior Canadiens won 7-1 to wrap up the series. Perreault had one goal, while Lafleur was blanked.
Weyburn, meanwhile, won its very first Saskatchewan junior title, beating the Regina Pats in six games in the SAJHL's best-of-seven final. The Red Wings had been around since the 1961-62 season.
In interprovincial play, featuring best-of-seven series, Weyburn opened by ousting the Vernon, B.C., Essos in six games and then took out Alf Cadman's Red Deer Rustlers in six games.
That put the Red Wings into the Abbott Cup final and they took care of the Westfort (Thunder Bay) Hurricanes, coached by former NHLer Benny Woit, 4-2, winning the sixth game 8-6 in Weyburn.
The Abbott Cup, it seems, hadn't been seen for two or three years, depending upon whom was telling the story. And then it reappeared.
In late April of 1970, the trophy showed up in Weyburn where the Red Wings were playing the Hurricanes in the western final.
Mal Isaac reported the finding in the Regina Leader-Post of April 30, 1970:
“It seems that Red Wings president Don Garinger just happened to be walking down the street and noticed the trophy sitting on the back seat of a car. Just what happened after that is not quite clear, but one of the many accounts of the incident goes like this.
“Garinger apparently waited until the owner of the vehicle and two other companions returned and immediately laid claim to the trophy. However, since the Wings had not won the series at that time, the trio was somewhat reluctant to part with the tropy.
“With the aid of one or two other Weyburn citizens, Garinger finally convinced the culprits to turn over the trophy. However, in the confusion, the identity of those responsible for the absence of the trophy during the past two seasons remained a mystery.”
Going in, Dunn felt his boys had a chance, even though the Red Wings didn't have a true superstar, at least not one in the Perreault mold, in their lineup.
“You can stop a superstar,” Dunn said, “but this type of team should be harder to hold. We have no superstars, but we have three balanced lines, and these kids want to play.”
As for stopping Perreault, Dunn said: “We haven't seen Perreault, but our scouts told us there is no way to cover him. I understand that to stop him, you have to keep him from winding up in his own zone.”
Weyburn, which won 20 of 28 playoff games en route to the Memorial Cup, went into the final with three goaltenders -- regular Brent Wilson and pickups Jerome Mrazek (Moose Jaw Canucks) and Gary Bromley (Regina). Wilson was injured in the first game against Red Deer, which resulted in Bromley joining the team. When Wilson returned for the first game against Westfort at the Fort William Gardens, Bromley was in Regina writing university exams. In Wilson's absence, Mrazek had taken over and played well.
Up front, the Red Wings had added 17-year-old Scott Smith, a pickup from Regina, and played him between two 19-year-olds _ left-winger Cal Booth and right-winger Wendell Bennett. Smith had won the SAJHL scoring title with 68 points, including 33 goals, and added another 22 goals and 28 assists in the playoffs. Booth struck for 32 regular-season goals and then added 32 in 28 playoff games through the Abbott Cup final.
Unfortunately, Smith suffered a broken ankle during a practice prior to the first game of the Memorial Cup final.
The Red Wings also counted on forwards Garnet Currie, Rod Norrish, Gene Sobchuk, Gary Leippi, Bob Miller, Bob Gerrard, and Vic Venasky. Norrish, Sobchuk and Leippi were added from Regina, while Venasky came over from the Hurricanes.
The defence, which allowed 223 goals in 64 regular-season games, featured Greg Hubick, Larry Giroux, Al Wawro and Graeme Bennett. Coming on board as pickups were former Canadian national team member Steve Carlyle, who had finished the season with Red Deer, and Ron Lemieux of the Dauphin Kings.
Norrish, Leippi, Smith and Bromley had been with the Pats one year earlier when they were swept by the Junior Canadiens in the national final.
“I saw Montreal play Toronto Marlboros in the OHA final,” said Garinger, “and I feel we can skate with them. But they're deadly within 30 feet of the net.”
Truer words were never spoken.
The Baby Habs made it two sweeps in a row as they routed the Red Wings in a four-game series that was played in its entirety in the Montreal Forum.
There was a disappointing crowd of 6,067 fans in the Forum on May 6 as the home-town lads opened with a 9-4 victory on the strength of four goals from Martin.
Bordeleau, Bobby Lalonde, Pierre Brind'Amour, Serge Lajeunesse and Claude Moreau added Montreal's other goals. Perreault was held to two assists.
Giroux, Leippi, Carlyle and Gerrard replied for Weyburn, which trailed 5-2 through two periods after being tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Despite outshooting the Baby Habs 20-12 in the first period, Weyburn was on the short end of the shots at game's end, 40-37. Wayne Wood went the distance in goal for Montreal, with Mrazek doing the same for the Red Wings, who surrendered four power-play goals.
“They forechecked us like crazy in the first period,” offered Montreal right-winger Scott MacPhail, who was inserted onto Perreault's line to replace Hartland Monahan (sore knee), “and then they just ran out of gas. They've got no stars really, but they're not a bad team. They work hard.”
Two nights later, on May 8, only 4,100 fans showed up at the Forum. They saw the Junior Canadiens get two goals from Bobby Guindon en route to a 6-2 victory.
“We were much sharper and if we had received an all-out effort from everyone on the club it would have been a much closer hockey game,” Dunn said.
Lajeunesse, Lalonde, Gratton and Richard Lemieux added Montreal's other goals.
Venasky and Currie counted for Weyburn.
“We didn't start as well as we did in the opener but we still should have been all even at 1-1 at the end of the first period as we were on Wednesay,” Dunn said. “Cal (Booth) took a bad penalty just after we had killed one off and they scored. It came in the final minute of the first period and gave them a 2-1 edge.
“Goals in the final minute of any period really hurt you. It gave them a big lift and they got the jump again in the second period to go up 3-1. Even then we came back to stay with them.”
Garrett stopped 29 shots in Montreal's goal, including 12 in the second period. Mrazek made 39 saves for Weyburn.
“(Montreal) has three solid lines and three more forwards sitting on the bench that can step in and you wouldn't know the difference,” Dunn said. “Their defence hasn't impressed me that much. The big difference is that they have been playing together all year and have been faced with tough opposition. It's paying off for them now.”
The Junior Canadiens upped their lead to a commanding 3-0 on May 10 when Lajeunesse, a defenceman, scored on a 40-footer through a maze of legs with 33 seconds left in the third period to give Montreal a 5-4 victory before 4,030 fans.
Perreault, who would be the first pick in the NHL's 1970 draft, going to the expansion Buffalo Sabres, scored twice for Montreal, including the game-tying goal at 16:46 of the third period.
Martin and Monahan, whose knee had gotten well enough for him to play, had Montreal's other goals.
Weyburn's goals came from Venasky, Bennett, Booth and Sobchuk, whose brother Dennis would play a key role in the 1974 Memorial Cup tournament with Regina.
After a scoreless first period, Weyburn led 2-1 going into the third period.
Mrazek was superb in the Weyburn goal but was forced from the game at 4:13 of the third period when he took a puck in the head. Bromley finished up, and the two combined for 31 saves. Wood stopped 28.
“When Montreal has to use its best eight players in the last eight minutes to win, there's nothing wrong with our club,” Dunn said.
The Red Wings lost Norrish with a bruised left leg after he was on the receiving end of a first-period check from Lajeunesse. Montreal was without Gratton for the last two periods after he banged up his left elbow.
“Weyburn gave its ultimate effort and lost. I'm sure we can win in four,” offered Martin.
Which is what happened two nights later when 4,561 fans watched the Baby Habs win 6-5 as Gratton, sore elbow and all, scored three times. Monahan's goal at 14:16 of the third period proved to be the winner.
Lalonde and Perreault also scored for the home side. Perreault also had three assists as he finished out his junior career.
Weyburn's goals came from Bennett, Currie, Miller, Giroux and John Rogers.
Montreal led 2-0 after one period, with Gratton scoring both goals.
Weyburn then scored four consecutive goals -- Garrett was replaced by Wood after the first two of those. But, Montreal scored twice in the last two minutes of the second period and took a 6-4 lead on third-period goals by Perreault and Monahan.
The Junior Canadiens became only the third team to win back-to-back championships, following the Oshawa Generals (1939 and '40) and Toronto Marlboros (1955 and '56).
It was the ninth time in 11 seasons that the OHA representative won the Memorial Cup.
(It's worth noting that in mid-April, the Western Ontario Junior A Hockey League decided not to enter a team in an east-west final that would have featured a team from the Western Canada Hockey League. Both leagues were members of the Canadian Hockey Association which operated outside of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association umbrella.)

NEXT: 1971 (Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Quebec Remparts)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1971 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1971.html)

1971 MEMORIAL CUP
Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Quebec Remparts
at Quebec city (Le Colisee)


The Western Canada Hockey League, no longer operating outside the jurisdiction of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, sent its first representative to the Memorial Cup.
But the Edmonton Oil Kings had to issue a challenge to the eastern winner before it could happen.
“The Memorial Cup is greatly needed for the good of the game, the players and fans. Having games in both the east and west would mean that fans in both parts of the country would be able to attend,” said Edmonton general manager-head coach Bill Hunter in issuing the challenge during the Eastern Canadian final between the Quebec Remparts and St. Catharines Black Hawks.
Hunter began by proposing a best-of-seven series and combined with the Edmonton Exhibition Association to cover all expenses for the eastern champion, along with a $5,000 per-game guarantee.
He said the $5,000 guarantee was the largest financial guarantee ever offered in the west “and shows our sincerity and desire for a Memorial Cup final.”
Making sure all the bases were covered, Hunter also said the Oil Kings were prepared to play a one-game winner-take-all affair. The Oil Kings, he said, were also prepared to play all games in the east, if necessary.
And if the challenge was turned down, Hunter said the Oil Kings would claim the Memorial Cup by default, but “we hope we don't have to get it that way.”
WCHL president Ron Butlin said he would meet with various eastern officials. “We don't care where the series is played,” Butlin said.
A couple of days later, on May 8, CAHA president Earl Dawson said he wasn't optimistic that a Memorial Cup final would be held.
The big hangup was the fact that the WCHL had different age restrictions than did the leagues in Ontario and Quebec. While the eastern leagues had an age restriction of 19 years, the WCHL allowed each of its teams to use four 20-year-old (or overage) players, although the Oil Kings didn't have any of the older players on their roster.
A monkey wrench landed in the middle of all the talks and all the plans when St. Catharines, trailing Guy Lafleur and the Remparts 3-2 in the best-of-seven eastern final, refused to play another game.
The Black Hawks had won the Ontario Junior Hockey League title by sweeping the Toronto Marlboros, winning the fourth game 5-3 behind three goals from Marcel Dionne.
That set up an eagerly anticipated eastern final for the Richardson Cup, featuring Dionne's Black Hawks versus Lafleur's Remparts.
The Black Hawks went into Game 4 in Quebec City trailing two games to one. The Remparts won the fourth game 6-1 before 13,410 fans. It was a victory interrupted by a couple of third-period brawls and marred by postgame incidents involving fans.
The Black Hawks bench was bombarded with, among other things, potatoes, tomatoes, bolts from seats, eggs, golf balls, erasers imbedded with nails and at least one knife.
St. Catharines got a police escort to its bus. Later, according to Black Hawks coach Frank Milne, the bus was surrounded by about 2,000 bottle-throwing fans. Milne also said carloads of fans spent several hours circling the team's motel.
The Black Hawks moved the fifth game to Toronto, where they posted a 6-3 victory. It was then that Fred Muller, the Black Hawks' co-owner and president, dropped the bombshell.
The Black Hawks, he announced, would not return to Quebec City for a sixth game.
Muller, The Canadian Press reported, said: “St. Catharines would rather forfeit the series.” St. Catharines team management felt it could play if the game was moved to Montreal, but officials were adamant that they would not return to Quebec City.
Muller claimed his life had been threatened and that “one detective in Quebec City told me that they are helpless in the situation because they are dealing with a small group of radicals who carry knives, guns and grenades.”
“The lives of our hockey players are in danger,” Mueller continued. “We've had threatening phone calls to the parents of our players and to the executive of our club.”
Dawson got involved by saying the series should continue in Quebec City, no matter what the Black Hawks said.
The next day, however, Dawson declared the Remparts the series winners after he was officially informed by the Black Hawks that they were withdrawing.
“I got a phone call at home from the St. Catharines officials and they are not going back,” Dawson said from his home in Rivers, Man., about 30 miles from Brandon.
“The official story I get,” Dawson stated, “is that the St. Catharines players held a vote this afternoon and the coach and five players were the only ones that signified they would return.”
Muller confirmed that, saying that he, Milne and five players were prepared to go back to Quebec City. The other players and their parents refused.
One of the Remparts officials pointed out that they had had problems the previous season in Charlottetown and “we did not want to go back.”
“The CAHA made us and there was no trouble at all,” he said. “I can't see why St. Catharines won't play.”
It also was revealed that St. Catharines officials weren't enamoured with the winner of the eastern final possibly having to play a team from the west.
“We had a firm agreement between Ontario and Quebec that we would not play the west for the Memorial Cup this year,” said Black Hawks vice-president Ken Campbell. “Now I hear that if they win the series, they're ready to start playing the west (in three days).”
What apparently convinced Dawson to forfeit the series was an official statement from the Black Hawks:
“As far as the management of the St. Catharines Hockey Club Ltd. and the coach are concerned they would be willing to attend the scheduled game on Friday, May 14, in Quebec City.
“However, the management has received requests from numerous parents of the players demanding that these players not be taken to Quebec.
“We feel that to do so contrary to wishes of the parents, and taking into consideration that these boys are minors, would be contrary to the best interests of the players and would also expose the St. Catharines hockey club to very serious liability in the event of an injury to one of these players.”
The forfeiture was announced on May 13 and Dawson signified that he felt there was time for Quebec and Edmonton to meet in a best-of-three Memorial Cup final, with all games in Quebec City. But that couldn't be approved until a vote of the CAHA directors.
That was done almost immediately and the stage was set for a series that would be played in Quebec City.
Commenting on the politics of the game, Hunter said the actions of the St. Catharines team and the Ontario Hockey Association were a disgrace, and that the agreement on an Edmonton-Quebec series was a victory for the WCHL.
(At the CAHA annual meeting in Thunder Bay in late May, Muller was hit with an indefinite suspension.)
As for what was ahead for the Oil Kings . . .
“The Remparts are the fastest skating junior club in Canada,” Hunter said. “Our biggest problem will be keeping up with them.”
Harvey Roy had coached the Oil Kings through the regular season and into the playoffs only to have Hunter, the general manager known far and wide as Wild Bill, move him out from behind the bench early in the postseason.
The Oil Kings could call on the likes of defencemen Phil Russell, Derek Harker, Tom Bladon and Ron Jones, the latter having been named the WCHL's top defenceman. Up front, the Oil Kings had Danny Spring, Darcy Rota, Dave Kryskow, Don Kozak, John Rogers and Doug Bentley Jr. And in goal it was Larry Hendrick, their sensational goaltender who was only 15 years of age.
Spring led them in the regular season with 43 goals and 122 points in 65 games, some 41 points off the pace set by Chuck Arnason of the Flin Flon Bombers, the WCHL's scoring champion. Kozak helped out with 60 goals and 61 assists. Spring showed the way in the postseason, with 20 goals and 15 assists, his 37 points two fewer than Arnason's. And Kryskow had 16 goals and 17 assists.
The Oil Kings had finished the regular season with the WCHL's best record, 45-20-1. That gave them the West Division pennant, 10 points ahead of the Calgary Centennials.
Edmonton opened the postseason by ousting the Saskatoon Blades 4-1 in a best-of-seven quarterfinal. That put the Oil Kings into a semifinal with the Centennials.
Down 2-0 in games to the Centennials, Hunter took over from Roy behind the bench and turned to Hendrick, whose WCHL experience amounted to 30 minutes in the regular-season's final game, as his starting goaltender, usurping Jack Cummings.
Hendrick was superb and the Oil Kings lost just one more game during their run to the WCHL title.
The Flin Flon Bombers, under coach Pat Ginnell, had won three straight WCHL titles. But because the league wasn't sanctioned by the CAHA, the Bombers weren't permitted to appear in the Memorial Cup.
The first season in which the WCHL moved back into the CAHA's good graces, the Bombers -- featuring the likes of Blaine Stoughton, Ken Baird, Gene Carr and goaltenders Cal Hammond and Herman Hordal -- were knocked off their throne by the Oil Kings.
Edmonton won the best-of-seven WCHL final in six games (4-1-1), winning the sixth game 7-6 right in Flin Flon's legendary Whitney Forum.
While the Oil Kings were winning the west, the Remparts, under general manager-head coach Maurice Filion, were skating through the east.
Led by Lafleur, who had scored 130 goals in the regular season, this was a team that could score and score and score some more. Andre Savard, Jacques Richard, Jacques Locas and Michel Briere were perfect complements to Lafleur. And the Remparts got championship-calibre goaltending from Michel Deguise, and great defence from Pierre Roy.
The Remparts had cruised through the Quebec league playoffs, taking best-of-seven series from the Verdun Maple Leafs in five games (one game was tied) and the Trois-Rivieres Ducs in four games, before meeting the Shawinigan Bruins in a championship final that lasted five games.
The Oil Kings had to sit for almost two weeks before they got to play Game 1 of the Memorial Cup final. That was in Quebec City on May 17.
Lafleur and his teammates would make short work of the Oil Kings, who hadn't appeared in the Memorial Cup final since the spring of 1966, when they beat Bobby Orr and the Oshawa Generals.
Briere scored twice and Lafleur had a goal and three helpers in Game 1 as the Remparts won 5-1 before 10,812 fans at Le Colisee.
Spring scored the game's first goal, a shorthanded effort that went in off one of Deguise's skates and stood as the first period's only score.
After that, it was all Remparts.
Briere tied the score at 1:49 of the second period, some 30 seconds after Hendrick had stoned Richard on a breakaway.
Savard scored less than five minutes later to give the Remparts the lead for the first time and they carried it into the third period.
Deguise beat Spring on a breakaway about 8 1/2 minutes into the third period. That was as close as the Oil Kings, who outshot the Remparts 39-36, would get.
Rejean Giroux scored some 30 seconds later and it was all but over. Briere and Lafleur scored before the period ended.
“The difference in the game was Guy Lafleur,” offered Claude Ruel, chief scout for the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. “I hope that those who doubted he was the best junior hockey player in Canada now are convinced that he is.
“He never lets his fans down and that's the sign of a star.”
Another scout offered:
“They said if Lafleur ever played in the Ontario junior league, he wouldn't get any goals. Well, against St. Catharines in the third game of that series, Quebec was leading 2-0 after the first period and who had both goals? Lafleur.”
Meanwhile, the Quebec City fans, who gave the Oil Kings a hearty round of applause prior to Game 1, were getting nothing but praise.
“They are great fans,” Hunter said. “I hope they sing as loud as they did (in Game 1) when we are leading 5-1 in the second game.
“We needed that game. We hadn't played since May 5 and the players put on a uniform for the first time since then when we got here (May 16).
“You will see the Oil Kings play their game (in the second game). We are going to win . . . you can be sure of that.”
Well, so much for Hunter's guarantee.
The series ended on May 19 as Quebec scored three unanswered second-period goals and won 5-2 in front of 11,401 fans in Le Colisee.
Richard and Jean Landry scored two goals each for the Remparts, with the singleton coming from Savard. Harker and Bruce Scott replied for Edmonton.
As time wound down, the fans stood and broke into song – ‘Ils Sont En Or’, the Remparts' theme song.
This was the 53rd time the Memorial Cup had been awarded; it was the first time a team from Quebec City had won it.
It was the third straight Memorial Cup victory for the province of Quebec -- the Montreal Junior Canadiens having won it the previous two springs -- and the fifth straight championship for the east.

NEXT: 1972 (Cornwall Royals, Edmonton Oil Kings and Peterborough Petes)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1972 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1972.html)

1972 MEMORIAL CUP
Cornwall Royals, Edmonton Oil Kings and Peterborough Petes
at Ottawa (Civic Centre)


“It will be a classic, one of the best junior finals ever played and Edmonton will win it,” said Del Wilson, a scout for the Montreal Canadiens and the president of the Regina Pats.
Wilson, whose Pats lost the WCHL final to the Oil Kings in five games, was speaking as the Edmonton Oil Kings, Peterborough Petes and Cornwall Royals gathered in Ottawa for the first Memorial Cup to be decided using a round-robin format.
As what was once simply junior hockey split into two distinct groups -- major junior and junior A -- the premier group formed three leagues, one in Ontario, one in Quebec and another in Western Canada.
The three major junior leagues would continue to compete for the Memorial Cup, but it was obvious it no longer could be capped with two teams playing a best-of-seven final.
It was decided, then, that each league would send its champion to a predetermined site and the Memorial Cup would be decided there.
Originally, this was done in a single round-robin tournament -- each team would play the other team once. The two teams with the best records would meet in the final. If each team finished the round-robin with a 1-1 record, the finalists would be decided using a formula based on the ratio of goals-for to goals-against.
All three coaches who would appear in this Memorial Cup -- Edmonton's Brian Shaw, Peterborough's Roger Neilson and Cornwall's Orval Tessier -- were against the new format.
According to a Canadian Press report, “They complain of the pressure put on their players in so short a series, the lack of home crowds and other factors.”
However, NHL president Clarence Campbell told folks at the Memorial Cup luncheon in Ottawa that junior hockey just might be on to something here.
According to CP: “To accomplish this, Campbell noted, the series would need television coverage (which was) lacking this year. The strike at CBC, and CTV's already hefty sports programming, ruled out TV coverage.”
(The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) was on strike.)
Edmonton, with Shaw running the bench, featured goaltenders Larry Hendrick, Doug Soetaert and John Davidson, the latter added from the Calgary Centennials with whom he had been named the WCHL's most valuable player.
The Oil Kings had finished second in the West Division, their 90 points from a 44-22-2 record leaving them 11 points behind the Centennials.
Edmonton was a team that scored 320 regular-season goals, the league's fifth-highest total, but didn't have a scorer in the top 10. In the postseason, Darcy Rota led the offence with eight goals and nine assists in 16 games. Terry McDonald, at 15 years of age, was Edmonton's best penalty-killing forward.
On defence, Edmonton was led by Keith Mackie, at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds perhaps the first of the really big defencemen who would become so common in future seasons.
The Oil Kings opened by eliminating the New Westminster Bruins in five games. Edmonton then took care of Calgary in six games, setting up what was a five-game final with Regina.
Edmonton's style of play was similar to Peterborough's -- physical and close-checking.
Neilson and his Petes opened postseason play by dumping the St. Catharines Black Hawks 4-1 in games. They then finished off the Toronto Marlboros, also 4-1.
And, in the final, the Ottawa 67's also went out in five games, but in this instance -- remember, these were eight-point series -- the Petes won three and tied two.
With the Ottawa Civic Centre the predetermined home for this first tournament, organizers were not overly thrilled to see the 67's get bounced. Still, they forecast good crowds for the games in the 10,000-seat facility.
Tessier's Royals, meanwhile, counted on goaltender Richard Brodeur in a big way.
Brodeur, who would go on to some fame as King Richard with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, sparked the Royals past the Verdun Maple Leafs 4-0, the Shawinigan Bruins 4-1 and, in the Quebec final, the Quebec Remparts in seven games (the Royals won four, lost two and tied one).
(The Remparts, Memorial Cup champions in 1971, promptly announced that head coach Maurice Filion's contract wouldn't be renewed because of differences of opinion between he and the team's board of director. Within a week, he had replaced the fired Ron Racette as general manager and head coach of the Sherbrooke Castors.)
As the tournament opened, the CAHA revealed that 70 reporters had applied for accreditation and that 50 of those were from outside the Ottawa area.
Peterborough got great goaltending from Mike Veisor and opened with a 4-2 victory over Cornwall before 7,893 fans in the Civic Centre on May 8.
The Royals pressed the Petes for much of the game and were in it until the dying seconds when defenceman Ron Smith lost control of the puck in front of his empty net and Peterborough's Ron Lalonde pounced on it to score his second goal of the game.
Peterborough's other goals came from Doug Wilson and Paul Raymer, who gave the Petes a 3-1 lead six minutes into the second period.
The Royals' goals came from Bob Murray and Yvon Blais, the latter pulling Cornwall to within one, at 3-2, with two minutes left in the second period.
The first period was awfully physical -- referee Joe Cassidy, a WCHL regular from Calgary, hit the Petes with eight of 14 minors and gave Cornwall's John Wensink a misconduct -- but the teams settled down afterwards.
Cornwall dominated the third period but wasn't able to beat Veisor.
“He has been doing that for us for a long time,” Neilson said of Veisor, who was backed up by Rolly Kimble and Michel (Bunny) Larocque, the latter having been added from the 67's.
By now, most of the scouts were touting the Oil Kings as the favorites.
But Shaw, with his boys preparing to meet Peterborough in the tournament's second game, wasn't buying it.
“The scouts have been wrong before,” he said, pointing out that earlier in the season the scouts had tagged the Marlboros as the country's best junior team. “Peterborough beat them, so Peterborough must be better than the Marlies.”
As for Cornwall, Shaw said that the Royals “come from the league that last year won the cup, so they have to be strong.”
Still, Shaw liked his team's chances.
He said his players “are extremely dedicated. We had to come off the floor four times to get this far.”
Shaw added: “We have been able to win key games and we play well away from home.”
What the Oil Kings hadn't counted on was running into Neilson, who was just beginning to carve out a reputation as a coach who would play the game by the rules and take advantage of the loopholes when it was needed.
In the second game, on May 10, the Petes beat Edmonton 6-4 before about 5,800 fans, clinching a berth in the tournament's final in the process. Peterborough hadn't been in the Memorial Cup final game since 1959.
The score was 4-4 when, prior to the start of the third period, Rota was fingered for playing with an illegal stick. Referee Michel Vaillancourt of Sherbrooke, Que., found the stick to be 1 3/8 inches thick at the tip of the blade, while CAHA rules called for a minimum of two inches.
Peterborough, which got two goals and two assists from Doug Gibson, scored on the ensuing power play.
“They're sick . . . it's the cheapest way I know to win a hockey game,” seethed Edmonton general manager ‘Wild’ Bill Hunter. “If we're going to lose to them, we're going to lose on the ice . . . not through cheap penalties . . . we'll win it.”
Hunter's demeanour wasn't helped any by the fact that Brian Ogilvie was fingered for playing with an illegal stick later in the third period.
Said Neilson: “I know it's a cheap penalty for the Memorial Cup . . . I didn't call it.”
As for the play on the ice, Neilson said: “We heard that Edmonton was better than Cornwall but I'm not sure now . . . the edge for us was in the goals.”
After Gibson's power-play goal, the Oil Kings managed just two shots on goal as the Petes put on the defensive clamps.
Overall, though, the Petes outskated, outhit and outclassed the Oil Kings, outshooting them 49-33.
Lalonde, Jim Turkiewicz, Rick Chennick and Jim Jones also scored for the Petes.
Edmonton got its goals from Ogilvie, Gerry McDonald, Don Kozak and Rota.
The next day, Shaw was trying to forget about the first illegal-stick penalty.
“That was just an excuse,” Shaw said. “We didn't play as well as we can. We'll just have to win the next two games.
“We didn't have six goals scored against us before this year in the playoffs. We didn't play our game.”
While most observers felt the illegal-stick call was the turning point, Shaw pointed to a missed opportunity early in the second period. With the Oil Kings leading 2-1, they hit a goal post with Veisor cleanly beaten.
“We're a good checking team, too, and able to protect a lead,” Shaw said. “We didn't hit nor shoot as well as we can.”
The Oil Kings didn't do anything very well on May 12 as coach Orval Tessier's Royals blanked them 5-0 before 8,408 fans.
Cornwall, which scored two power-play goals, led 3-0 in the third period before scoring two empty-net goals, by Dave Johnson and Gary McGregor, as Shaw pulled Davidson with just less than three minutes to play.
After McGregor's goal, Cornwall fans unveiled a banner that read: ‘Happiness is a Royal Memorial’.
Johnson and McGregor both had two goals for the Royals. The other came from Gerry Teeple.
The Oil Kings apparently played better than they had against the Petes, but they weren't able to beat Brodeur, who kicked out all 40 shots he saw.
The game was marred by an injury to Mackie, who was struck in the face by a deflected puck. Mackie, who was wearing contact lenses, was hit in one eye. He was carried off the ice on a stretcher and taken to Ottawa General Hospital where an eye specialist was called in to look at him.
The diagnosis was a torn iris, and Mackie spent a week in hospital.
As for the game, Hunter said: “Cornwall had a wide edge in play. We disappointed ourselves . . . but I'm proud of the team.”
Shaw felt that his club had been beaten by a better team.
Asked to pick a winner in the final, Shaw said: “I have no predictions . . . but I would like to see Cornwall win.”
Looking ahead to the final, Tessier said: “We have to take control of the game early. We have to come out skating and hitting.”
Tessier also thought his club had something of an edge -- the Royals were “a little bit fresher” -- because he used four lines a lot, while the Petes went primarily with three.
Cornwall, in the Memorial Cup final for the first time, then edged the Petes 2-1 on May 14 in front of 10,155 fans to win the title.
It was the second straight year a team from the Quebec Junior Hockey League had won the Memorial Cup. Governor-General Roland Michener presented the trophy to the Royals after the game.
The busiest guy around in the first period was Cassidy, who handed out 76 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct to Peterborough's Craig Brown. By period's end, the fans were chanting: “We want hockey.”
McGregor scored the winner at 2:01 of the third period as a hooking penalty to Peterborough's Danny Gloor expired.
Cornwall's Brian Bowles scored the game's first goal early in the second period when his slapshot from the point bounced off the end boards, hit Veisor and rolled into the net.
The Petes' Mike St. Cyr tied it at 11:17 of the second.
Peterborough outshot Cornwall 47-38 but couldn't put more than one puck behind Brodeur, who was selected the tournament's most outstanding player. As such, he was the first recipient of what was then called the Conn-Stafford Smythe Trophy.
“He's never been in a playoff game before,” Tessier said of Brodeur. “He's just a great goaltender.”
As for Brodeur, he sat in one corner of the Royals' dressing room, smoking a cigar and saying he didn't deserve the award.
“They're the toughest bunch of kids in the world . . . they've never stopped since last fall and will probably want to practise tomorrow morning,” Tessier said.
“Peterborough was the toughest club we've played this year.”
It was a tough loss for the Petes, who had been the only team to win both its round-robin games.
“Cornwall outhustled us a little,” Nielson said. “It was a goalkeepers' duel.
“We knew what to expect . . . it's tough to lose the Memorial Cup.”
With this being the first time around for this format, a tournament all-star team was selected -- Brodeur, defencemen Colin Campbell of Peterborough and Murray, Teeple at centre, and wingers Bob Smulders of Peterborough and Johnson.
As for the new format, CAHA officials said the Memorial Cup would be decided the same way in 1973. And, because of the great reception the teams received in Ottawa, the nation's capital apparently had the inside track as the host city.
That turned out to be just talk, however. The 1973 tournament would be played in Montreal.

NEXT: 1973 (Medicine Hat Tigers, Quebec Remparts and Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1973 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1973.html)

1973 MEMORIAL CUP
Medicine Hat Tigers, Toronto Marlboros and Quebec Remparts
at Montreal (Forum)


The Medicine Hat Tigers won the Western Canada Hockey League championship in only their third season of existence.
Some called them the Mad Hatters.
But the Tigers were perhaps best known as the Gassoff Gang -- Bob Gassoff was the league's toughest player and brothers Brad and Ken were no slouches, either. And let's not forget ‘Big' Jim McCrimmon, who was tagged as Bob Gassoff's sidekick.
The Tigers led the league in penalty minutes (1,727 in 68 games) in a season in which the Philadelphia Flyers set an NHL record with 1,754 minutes.
Defenceman Bob Gassoff totalled 388 penalty minutes that season, smashing the WCHL record of 333 set in 1967-68 by Craig Reichmuth of the Flin Flon Bombers.
“They say we intimidate teams,” Tigers head coach Jack Shupe said. “I guess we have a couple of teams out there that don't like hitting.”
It was all part of the new breed of hockey that was being played. They were doing it in the professional ranks and the major junior ranks were a direct reflection of that.
But there was more, a lot more, to the Tigers than intimidation.
They had Sam Clegg and Jerry Thomas in goal. Clegg had played with the Saskatoon Blades and Victoria Cougars before making his way to Medicine Hat where he solidified the Tigers at that position.
“Now that our goaltending is in shape, we're as good as anybody,” Shupe would say prior to the Memorial Cup.
The likes of Randy Aimoe, Dick Jellema and Murray Worley helped Bob Gassoff and McCrimmon patrol the defensive zone.
The forward ranks could boast of Boyd Anderson, Tom Lysiak, Lanny McDonald, Eddie Johnstone, Ken and Brad Gassoff, Barry Dean and Greg Vaydik.
Shupe would later refer to Lysiak as “the best hockey player I ever had.”
“I think talent-wise, size-wise and everything else, Tommy was a great hockey player,” said Shupe, who would later run a Victoria operation that featured goaltender Grant Fuhr. “Fuhr is the best goaltender I've ever seen or ever had. But Tommy was the most talented (player).”
While the opposition was worried about getting a glove in the face from McCrimmon or the Gassoffs, Lysiak and McDonald, a couple of prolific offensive players, were putting the puck in the net.
Not since the days of Bobby Clarke and Reggie Leach in Flin Flon had the WCHL seen anything like the offensive wizardry performed by Lysiak and McDonald.
How the Tigers came to have McDonald -- pre-moustache, of course -- and Lysiak on their roster is one of the great stories in WCHL history.
When the WCHL held an expansion draft to stock the Tigers' roster, Medicine Hat originally selected forward John Senkpiel off the Calgary Centennials roster.
When Senkpiel chose not to join the Tigers, Shupe and Calgary's Scotty Munro cut a deal involving the Centennials' junior A affiliate, the Lethbridge Sugar Kings -- Munro would protect one Lethbridge player and Shupe would select a player to replace Senkpiel.
When it came down to it, Shupe had to choose between McDonald and goaltender John Davidson. It was not an easy decision to make.
“Heck,” recalled Shupe, “Lanny McDonald and (goaltender) John Davidson were both left available, and we had trouble making up our minds. But we finally took Lanny.”
Believe it or not, the Tigers got Lysiak the same way.
Originally, the Edmonton Oil Kings owned Lysiak’s WCHL rights. But the Tigers picked forward Henry Van Drunen in the expansion draft and -- guess what? -- he, too, wouldn't report.
“So Bill Hunter, who was Edmonton's general manager then, said we could have two players off the club's list in exchange for Van Drunen,” Shupe said. “So we took two kids from High Prairie, one named Leif Jacobsen, and the other named Tom Lysiak.
“Hunter must have thought we were getting the raw end of the stick at the time. He threw in another player just for good measure, even though the kid didn't work out.”
Just like that, the table was set for the Tigers to become a major success story in the spring of 1973.
In 1972-73, only their third season in existence, the Tigers won the WCHL championship.
(History would repeat itself but not until 1984-85 when the Prince Albert Raiders won the west in only their third season in the league.
(It's also worth noting that this was the first Memorial Cup for the WCHL under Ed Chynoweth, who had replaced Thomas K. Fisher as the league's executive secretary in February.)
Lysiak won the regular-season and playoff scoring titles. He was tops in the league with 96 assists and 154 points in 67 regular-season games as he won his second straight points title. McDonald was third, behind Dennis Sobchuk of the Regina Pats, with 62 goals and 139 points in 68 games.
Anderson, who had set single-game records for the fastest four goals (two minutes 35 seconds) and fastest five goals (three minutes seven seconds), played on the left side with Lysiak and McDonald. Anderson had 48 goals and 112 points in 68 games.
Johnstone gave the Tigers a fourth player with more than 100 points.
Backed by this high-powered offence, the Tigers finished second in the West Division with a 39-20-9 record.
And they set off on the playoff trail, not knowing what was ahead.
They opened by eliminating Calgary in six games and then they bounced the league's other Alberta team, Edmonton, also in six games.
The opposition in the final was provided by Saskatoon. Game 2 would feature a brawl for which McCrimmon was fined $75, a considerable sum for a junior player in those days, and owner Rod Carey was forced to post a $1,000 bond.
It was a best-of-seven series that went five games and the Tigers never lost one of them. They didn't play overtime that season, meaning the first team to eight points would win the series. The Tigers posted three wins and two ties and the Blades were gone.
The seemingly impossible had happened -- a three-year-old team was the west's Memorial Cup representative.
The dream would come crashing to an end in the Montreal Forum in a Memorial Cup tournament that also included the Quebec Remparts and Toronto Marlboros.
By the time it all ended the Tigers had no reason to hang their heads because they had left an indelible stamp on the junior hockey world.
Toronto, the Ontario Hockey Association champion, was coached by George Armstrong, the former captain of the NHL's Maple Leafs.
The Marlies reached the Memorial Cup by the skin of their teeth.
They ran up against the Peterborough Petes in the OHA final. The best-of-seven final, which was actually one of those eight-point affairs, went seven games. The Marlies held a 7-5 edge in points going into Game 7.
The largest crowd in OHA history, 16,485, was in Maple Leaf Gardens for that one. The Petes led 5-4 with less than two minutes remaining when referee Jim Lever awarded a penalty shot to Toronto.
Lever detected Petes defenceman Jim Turkiewicz close his hand on the puck in the Peterborough crease. Paulin Bordeleau, the Marlies' star centre, would take the penalty shot.
Before skating to centre ice, Bordeleau chose to consult with Armstrong.
“Shoot,” Armstrong told him.
Bordeleau then headed to centre ice, only to be beckoned back by Armstrong.
“If the goalie comes out, deke him,” Armstrong said.
Again, Bordeleau headed to centre ice. Again, Armstrong called him back.
“Bords,” Armstrong said, “do anything the (censored) you want.”
Bordeleau deked and scored. The goal, with 1:09 left in the third period, gave the Marlies a 5-5 tie and the point that won the series, 8-6.
The Petes and Marlies played the last three games of that series over a four-day stretch, meaning it was a tired Toronto bunch that arrived in Montreal to open the Memorial Cup.
Before running up against the Petes, the Marlies had eliminated the St. Catharines Black Hawks in four games and then ousted the Ottawa 67's 8-2 in points.
The Marlies counted a lot on goaltender Mike Palmateer, and their defence was led by big Bob Dailey and Marty Howe. Marty's brother, Mark, was the club's top left winger at just 17 years of age. Bordeleau, a speedy sniper, had been with the Montreal Junior Canadiens when they won the 1970 Memorial Cup. They also counted on Wayne Dillon and Tom Edur for scoring punch.
These Marlies had owned the Ontario junior league. In 63 games, they posted a record of 47-7-9 in becoming the first OHA team to reach 100 points. At one point, they put together a 25-game unbeaten streak. And they lost two consecutive games only once.
While doing all of this, the Marlies scored an amazing 416 goals while surrendering only 199.
“Yes, I guess you could say we had a successful year,” Armstrong would say at the conclusion of the Memorial Cup tournament.
The Remparts, coached by Orval Tessier, had sidelined the Cornwall Royals in the Quebec final, but it took them seven games to do it. The Remparts outscored the Royals 43-31 in the final but it went seven games.
Prior to that, the Remparts had swept the Trois-Rivieres Ducs (outscoring them 43-7 in the four games) and the Sherbrooke Castors (outscoring them 26-14).
Centre Andre Savard was Quebec's leader. He totalled 18 goals and 24 assists in 15 postseason games after winning the QMJHL scoring title with 151 points, including 67 goals. Jacques Locas led the league in goals, with 68. Yvon Dupuis had struck for 50 and Guy Chouinard checked in with 43 (and 86 assists).
Two days after winning the OHA title, the Marlies opened the Memorial Cup tournament in the Forum against the Remparts.
The star was Bordeleau, who scored three times and set up another in a 5-2 Toronto victory.
Brad Winton and Glenn Goldup also scored for Toronto, which led 3-0 after one period and 4-2 after the second.
Andre Deschamps and Chouinard replied for the Remparts, who outshot the Marlies 40-33.
The second game would feature the Tigers and the Marlboros.
“We forecheck a lot and hit in the offensive zone,” Shupe said prior to the game. “We have played the same style all year. We play a tougher checking game than either Quebec or Toronto.”
Shupe had prescouted the Marlies.
“I think that young 23 (Bordeleau) really skated well and I was impressed with (Mark) Howe. And Dailey played well on defence, I thought.”
The difference between his team and the other two, Shupe felt, was Lysiak and McDonald.
“I don't think there is anyone in the country that can compare with them,” Shupe said. “They play a lot.”
Which was fine with Lysiak, who said: "In fact, the more ice time we get, the better we play.”
There were 6,088 fans in the Forum, including 500 from Medicine Hat, on May 9 and they watched Brad Gassoff break a 2-2 tie at 8:31 of the third period as the Tigers edged the Marlies 3-2.
Gassoff fired a 20-footer over Palmateer's right shoulder.
Ryan Wecker and Johnstone had Medicine Hat's other goals. Mark Howe scored both goals for Toronto, which got a superb 28-save performance from Palmateer. Clegg also stopped 28 shots.
The opening period was marred by a bench-clearing incident with 16 seconds left to play.
According to a Canadian Press report:
"The benches cleared shortly after a fight between Bob Gassoff of the Tigers and Toronto's John Hughes. Hughes got the first punch in, but that was about all as Gassoff . . . scored a clear-cut decision.
"Hughes had to leave the ice for repairs and that's when the fun started. As he crossed the ice from the east side of the rink to the entrance to the clinic on the wst side, Brad Gassoff, sitting on the end of the Tigers' bench, said something to the Toronto player.
"Hughes bumped into Gassoff as he passed the Medicine Hat bench en route to the passageway to the clinic and the Medicine Hat player leaped off the bench and jumped him in the hallway. The Toronto bench then cleared and the Marlies were met by the Medicine Hat players, but no further fighting was done.”
Medicine Hat held a 2-0 lead at that point. But Howe tied it with two second-period goals, at 0:54 and 10:02.
"We were aggressive in the first period,” Bob Gassoff said. "We let up after the first, though. I'd have to say it was a bad game for us. Being off for 10 days didn't help us at all.”
"(We) turned in a poor performance out there tonight,” Shupe said. "(We) just weren't skating. It's as simple as that.
"The Marlies are a good, solid hockey team. And I think they gave us one of the toughest games we've had in a long while.
"I was surprised at the score, though. Most of our games during the playoffs out west were high-scoring ones. This is probably the lowest-scoring game we've had in postseason play this year.”
As for the physical play and the brawl, Shupe said: "We weren't trying for anything dirty out there.
"We hit as much as possible. Our players like to step into guys and I think they do that well. But the thing is that they are good hockey players and they don't have to rely on that to win games.”
Marty Howe, for one, wasn't bothered by the rough stuff.
"I don't think they're really dirty,” he said. "It's just that they like coming at you. We weren't pushed around though.
"I found our biggest trouble was getting the puck and holding on to it. The passes weren't clicking and we had a hard time getting good rushes organized.
"The defencemen had a hard time finding the forwards. The forwards were getting caught up ice on occasion but they came back and were there when we needed them.”
Two injuries occurred during the game. Goldup, a right winger, suffered a leg injury in the first period. And McCrimmon took a stick in the mouth in the third period and needed four stitches.
The Tigers would meet the Remparts two nights later. A Quebec victory would leave the three teams with 1-1 records, meaning the finalist would be decided using a tiebreaking formula involving a goals-for and goals-against ratio.
Going into the last round-robin game, Toronto was plus-2, Medicine Hat was plus-1 and Quebec was minus-3.
"We will play better than we did (against Toronto),” said Savard, the Quebec captain. "We'll beat Medicine Hat and then meet Toronto again.”
Savard was right.
Medicine Hat's dream ended two nights later with a 7-3 loss to the Remparts, who scored six times in the first period.
Chouinard, Nantais and Savard scored twice for the winners before 12,699 fans, with defenceman Jean Landry adding the other.
Johnstone, with two, and Lysiak replied for the Tigers.
The Remparts outshot the Tigers 21-10 in that first period and held a 34-31 edge at game's end.
"You know, I was a bit nervous there for a while after we took that big lead,” Tessier said. “But when the period was over I saw (Montreal Canadiens coach) Scotty Bowman walking by and I asked him if his club ever let down after jumping into a big lead. He said, ‘Yes.’ So I told myself we weren't doing badly after all.”
One thing Shupe didn't do was point fingers at his goaltenders, both of whom got to play in this one.
“Although Quebec scored quite a few goals, I wouldn't put too much blame on the goalie,” Shupe said. "We didn't have any defence, the forwards weren't coming back and with the penalties . . . well, we just had a hard time getting untracked.”
The Tigers were nailed with four minor penalties in the game's first 2:40. Quebec was only able to score one power-play goal in the early going, that by Chouinard, but the Remparts were able to go on the offensive and set the tone for what was to follow.
On the night, Lever dished out 31 minors, 17 to the Remparts, and each team took a misconduct.
"Penalties can really put a team off, especially in junior hockey,” Shupe said. "The kids start thinking they're going to be called for every little thing they do and so they lose some of their aggressiveness.
"Playing a team like Quebec, that can be a costly thing to do.”
Tessier was thrilled to be on the way to the final.
"All week long, people were whispering about us and looking at us sideways,” Tessier said. "They said the Remparts were a good team in the Quebec league but they didn't belong here, not with the best junior teams in the country.
"People were saying that we were just something to pad out these playoffs. Well, I don't think they'll be humming that same tune now.”
But, then again . . .
The Marlies didn't leave any doubt in the final on May 12, scoring four times on the power play and winning 9-1 with Mark Howe scoring twice and adding three assists. Goldup and Peter Marrin added two goals each for Toronto, with singles coming from Dillon, Winton and Bordeleau.
Dupuis scored Quebec's lone goal.
Howe, with four goals and four assists in three games, was named the tournament's most valuable player and awarded the Stafford C. Smythe Memorial Trophy.
"I didn't do anything special,” Howe said. "They should have given out 19 trophies. The Marlboros were 19 players, not one.”
"That Howe, he's quite some player,” Tessier said.
Armstrong said it was "as exciting as capturing the Stanley Cup.”
“It's great to be associated with any championship club,” added Armstrong, who captained four Stanley Cup winners in Toronto and now had a Memorial Cup in his first season as a coach. "I was surprised I liked the Marlies' coaching job as much as I did. It's like having a big family, I guess. It can be a very rewarding experience.”
As for the game, the key, according to Armstrong, was that "we met the Remparts at the blue line. We stood up to them. We didn't let them cross our blue line very easily and we sure forced a lot of offsides.
"I'm really proud of the boys.”
Tessier said: "I don't think there's a junior hockey club in Canada that could have beaten the Marlies tonight. I'm just sorry we didn't put on a better performance.”
Tessier also felt his club played a bit out of character and that, more than anything else, cost the Remparts.
"We went out, took an early lead and then just relaxed,” he explained. "The players were taking cheap penalties and I think that's what hurt us the most.
"I told the players this all through the game, but they kept on hitting with their elbows and playing chippy hockey. You just can't do that against a team like Toronto and expect to win.
"Four of the first five Toronto goals were scored by their power play. I thought the referee (Gregg Madill) did a good job. We just played a stupid game.”
The Remparts took nine of 13 minors, with the lone major going to Toronto.
"We skated with the Remparts all over the ice,” said Dailey, the Toronto captain. "We were always on top of them.
"Before the game one of the players in the dressing room pointed out that we had played 92 games to get here and we weren't about to blow it all on one game.”


NEXT: 1974 (Regina Pats, Quebec Remparts and St. Catharines Black Hawks)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1974 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1974.html)

1974 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats, St. Catharines Black Hawks and Quebec Remparts
at Calgary (Corral)


The 1973-74 junior hockey season was dominated by talk of money.
Salaries in professional sports had begun to escalate at an amazing rate. And the impact was beginning to be felt in junior hockey.
In early June of 1973, Dennis Sobchuk, an 18-year-old centre who would have a real impact on the 1974 Memorial Cup tournament, visited Las Vegas and San Diego.
The purpose of the visit? He and his father, Harry, were negotiating with the World Hockey Association's Los Angeles Sharks. Dennis, a farm boy from Milestone, Sask., with one season of junior eligibility remaining, was looking at a four-year deal worth a cool $350,000.
"We played it cool . . . we stayed cool,” said Harry, after negotiations ended without a contract being signed.
Dennis later would sign a 10-year, $1.7-million deal with the WHA's Cincinnati Stingers.
Charles Hillinger of the Los Angeles Times wrote: “The kid earns only $300 a month. Come fall his paycheck soars to $472 a day, $14,166 a month, $170,000 a year.”
Sobchuk couldn't believe it all.
"I've been skating since I learned to walk, but I sure never expected anything like this,” he said. "It all happened so sudden. My name on a piece of paper and I've gone from farmhouse to penthouse.”
Sobchuk was 19 when he signed for what at the time was the most money ever given to a junior hockey player.
The major junior leagues were concerned about possibly losing stars like Sobchuk before their time was up.
Said WCHL president Ed Chynoweth: "I am quite confident that our league and any other junior league that may lose a potential superstar would have no recourse but to lay an injunction against any of its players that left while still having a year of junior eligibility left . . . if professional teams are allowed to walk in and take our players, we are going to end up being a glorified juvenile league. We have to have some guarantee of protection while we are producing what we hope are top-notch professionals.”
Meanwhile, the WCHL made a major change to its playoff rules by choosing to go to sudden-death overtime for all games that might be tied after three periods. For the past three seasons, overtime was used only if the eighth game of a best-of-seven series (they were actually eight-point affairs) was tied after three periods.
Regina had raced through the regular season, finishing at 43-14-11, for 97 points. The Pats could play tough and didn't mind playing on the road -- as their 17-10-7 record away from home showed -- although they were the least-penalized team in the league.
And they won six playoff games on the road; in fact, they won each of their three postseason series away from home.
The Pats had three key performers -- Sobchuk, goaltender Ed Staniowski and defenceman Greg Joly.
Sobchuk was the star of a team coached by Bob Turner, who as a defenceman had won five consecutive Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in the late 1950s.
Sobchuk centred the Pats' top line in the playoffs, with big, burly Clarke Gillies on one wing and Rick Uhrich on the other. They scored 28 playoff goals.
The Pats had set a WCHL record for goals in a season (377). Sobchuk was second in the scoring race, with 146 points, including 68 goals, as he became the first WCHL player to total more than 400 points in three seasons.
Regina's second line featured Glen Burdon, Robbie Laird and Jim Minor, who spent much of their time checking the opposition's big line but still found time to outscore the other guys 20-13. Laird was the big surprise, leading the team with 11 playoff goals.
A third line comprised Dave Faulkner, Rob Tudor and Bill Bell.
Turner agreed, however, that the key to the club was on defence, where Joly, Kim MacDougall, Mike Harazny, Mike Wirachowsky and Dave Thomas ruled the roost.
And in goal they had Staniowski, the best goaltender in junior hockey, something borne out by a 2.92 GAA in the postseason as they eliminated the Saskatoon Blades in six games and Swift Current Broncos in six, and then swept the Calgary Centennials in the championship final.
Regina added goaltenders Garth Malarchuk (Calgary) and Larry Hendricks (Edmonton Oil Kings) as insurance. They wouldn't be needed as Staniowski was superb.
Turner had one concern as the team headed for Calgary, where the Memorial Cup would be decided in the Corral.
"The air is a lot thinner in Calgary and the Corral is quite a warm rink to play in,” he explained. "We want to win this thing badly so we want to go up there early and give the guys every opportunity to get familiar with the place.”
The Pats had made a trip to Sweden at Christmas and that, felt Turner, gave them an edge over other teams.
"The kids get along very well together, sort of like a family,” he said. "The trip we made . . . brought us closer together as a team and we're hoping something similar will happen on this trip.”
Turner, it would be fair to say, was more than a coach and he knew exactly what was his role.
"You have to be a psychologist from the start of training camp until the end of the season,” he stated. "But it is really crucial now. You can't start teaching them new ways of getting the puck out of their own end at this point.”
The Ontario champions this time around were the St. Catharines Black Hawks, who had finished second to the Kitchener Rangers in the regular season.
After the 1971-72 season, Hap Emms had sold the Niagara Falls Flyers (for more than $250,000) to a group from Sudbury. Three days after that deal was official, Emms bought the St. Catharines Black Hawks from Fred Muller.
Hap was the general manager and his son, Paul, was the coach. This was the same combination that had led Niagara Falls to the 1968 Memorial Cup title.
The Black Hawks could call on an offence led by the line featuring Rick Adduono between Dave Gorman and Dave Salvian. Adduono, with 135 points, had tied Jack Valiquette of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the league scoring title. Gorman, the right winger, chipped in with 53 goals and 76 assists, and Salvian had 36 goals and 61 helpers.
Emms went mostly with three lines. The other two had Greg Craig between Kevin Kenery and 18-year-old Wilf Paiement, who was rated one of junior hockey's best players, and Rick Hampton between Gary McAdam and Terry Casey. Paiement totalled 50 goals, 73 assists and a team-high 136 penalty minutes.
Mark Dumesnil, Jim Vanni and Mike Noonan saw spot duty up front.
Dave Syvret, Gary Lariviere, Larry Finck, Don Labreche and Ken Breitenbach were the regulars on defence. Individually, they weren't spectacular; as a group, no one played defence any better.
And in goal Bill Cheropita posted a 3.92 GAA in the regular season, improving that to 2.64 in the postseason. The Black Hawks added Peterborough goaltender Frank Salive for the Memorial Cup.
St. Catharines had gone unbeaten in the postseason, winning 12 and tying two of 14 games. The Black Hawks swept the Oshawa Generals in four games, then took out the Toronto Marlboros and Peterborough Petes, going 4-0-1 in each of the latter two series.
It was the fourth Ontario title in 41 years of junior hockey for St. Catharines, the others having come in 1954, 1960 and 1971.
Head coach Marc Picard's Quebec Remperts, meanwhile, were in the tournament for the the fourth time in five seasons. One year earlier, they had lost in the final game to the Toronto Marlboros.
This time around, the Remparts were led by the hottest line in junior hockey -- Jacques Locas, Real Cloutier and Richard Nantais.
Locas, who was already under contract to the World Hockey Association's Cincinnati Stingers, had totalled 99 goals and 206 points in 63 regular season games. That left him 10 points behind Cloutier, who had 93 goals and 216 points in 69 games. (Pierre Larouche of the Sorel Eperviers won the scoring title, with 251 points.) Nantais had 194 points, including 64 goals, and still found time to accumulate 213 penalty minutes.
If those three didn't score, well, there was always Guy Chouinard (75 goals, 85 assists), Daniel Beaulieu (45 and 59) and Michel Lachance (nine and 63).
Quebec's defence was full of holes, as the goals-against averages indicated -- Maurice Barrette was at 4.33 in 33 games, and Michel Corcoran was at 4.66 in 37 games. They added Robert Sauve of the Laval National for the tournament.
Quebec opened the playoffs by taking out the Shawinigan Bruins in four games and Laval in six.
The Remparts won the QMJHL final in six games over Sorel, never mind that the Eperviers had finished first in the regular season during which it had won five of eight games with the Remparts.
"It was very unexpected. Not too many people thought we could do it. But we really worked as a team and that's what won it,” offered James Bateman, perhaps the Remparts' toughest player.

[nivek_wahs]

Too long for one message so it was split into two. Again from Gregg Drinnan 1974 cont....

Before the tournament began, Hap Emms was posturing. He threatened to take his team and go home. He threatened this; he threatened that.
He was upset that a school bus had been sent to pick up the Black Hawks at the aiport. He was upset that practice times had been changed.
He was, well, he was Hap Emms.
"I don't think that one man should be able to disrupt the whole thing,” said WCHL president Ed Chynoweth, a frequent Emms target. "But we're trying a new system and it has flaws.”
Already, there was talk of changing the format, either returning to a best-of-seven final or finding a way to add a fourth team to the tournament.
"Maybe,” speculated Pat Ginnell, owner-GM-head coach of the WCHL's Victoria Cougars, "it would work if Quebec had two teams when the Memorial Cup final was in Quebec, Ontario had two teams when it was in Ontario, and the west had two teams when the final was held out here.”
For now, it didn't matter. There were three teams and they were ready to go.
It began on May 5 with St. Catharines posting a 4-1 victory over Quebec before 6,577 fans in the Corral.
Hampton, the 17-year-old centre who captained the team, scored twice for the Black Hawks who won it with three goals in the third period.
"It's rare to have a captain so young,” stated Hap Emms. "But he's mature and . . . probably our best hockey player. He's an outstanding leader.”
Gorman and Dumesnil had the other goals for St. Catharines. Cloutier scored for the Remparts.
"We just didn't play solid hockey,” Picard said. "We didn't skate well and we didn't shoot enough.”
The Black Hawks ran at the Remparts in the first period but then pulled back for the final 40 minutes.
"We didn't try to intimidate them,” insisted Paul Emms. "Our style is to check, and that's all we were doing in the first period. This was the first time I've seen the Remparts and I didn't know if they could be intimidated.”
The Black Hawks now had to meet Regina the following night.
"It stinks, this round-robin,” Paul Emms moaned. "There was nothing wrong with the old best-of-seven format. This way we have to play two games in a row.”
Oh yes, he also didn't like the air.
"There's a dryness in the air out here,” he said. "It just seems to sap our guys' energy.”
His father, however, felt it was simply a case of the Black Hawks not playing very well.
"We played about half as well as we can,” said the 69-year-old Emms. "Anybody could tell we're a better club than we showed tonight.”
The next night, with 7,415 fans in the seats, Staniowski blocked 29 shots as the Pats hung a 4-0 whipping on St. Catharines.
Joly was the best skater on the ice and had two goals to show for it.
"When everyone plays well, like we did tonight, it makes my job a heck of a lot easier,” Joly said. "We knew we had to win. You can't lose any in this thing.”
Laird and Uhrich also scored for the Pats, who led 2-0 and 4-0 by period.
Observers agreed that this game may well have been decided in the first 10 seconds. Finck chose to run at Laird right off the bat. Not only did the Regina forward not turn away, but he pummelled the Black Hawks defenceman. After the game, Laird was talking about having "a couple of sore hands.” Before the first period was out, Gillies had pounded on McAdam, and Sobchuk and Paiement also went at it.
It was apparent that Paul Emms was trying to get to Sobchuk.
Dale Eisler of the Regina Leader-Post described one incident:
"Emms didn't even attempt to try to disguise his intentions in the second period when he sent out fifth-string defenceman Don Labreche to take a faceoff with Sobchuk deep in Pats territory.
"As soon as the puck was dropped, Labreche jumped Sobchuk. Two minutes later, more fighting erupted when Gillies wrestled Paiement to the ice and Finck tried to even his grudge with Laird, using the attack-from-the-rear method.
"When order was restored, Laird and Hawks' Greg Craig had been given game misconducts. The Emms' strategy blew up in his face as Pats put the game away with goals by Uhrich and Joly while Hawks were suffering a manpower shortage.”
Sobchuk indicated the abuse he was subjected to, especially from Paiement, didn't particularly bother him.
"I'm not really used to it,” Sobchuk said, "but it doesn't bother me. Swift Current used to give me a hard time too, but it's something you have to learn to play with.”
Many hockey people felt that Emms spent far too much time trying to stop Sobchuk, which meant the Black Hawks all but forgot about Joly.
As for Turner, he said: "No one would have beat us tonight. This is one of the finest games we've played all season.”
Following a day off for all teams, the Remparts surprised most everyone by beating Regina 5-3 on May 8 in front of 7,140 fans.
That result left all three teams at 1-1, and Regina went through to the final on goals differential. Regina was plus-2, St. Catharines and Quebec both were minus-1.
Picard said later that he would have pulled Sauve had his club gone ahead by three goals. A four-goal victory would have pushed the Black Hawks into the final.
"We weren't ready, that's all,” Turner said. "The guys weren't fired up like they were for Monday's game against the Black Hawks. Maybe the loss will do us some good.”
Quebec got goals from Beaulieu, Chouinard, Richard Perron, Jean Gagnon and Nantais. Burdon, Laird and Uhrich scored for Regina. Each team scored three times with the man advantage.
"We were a little bit overconfident,” Sobchuk said. "The loss may be good for us; we never did anything the easy way all year.”
Staniowski, who had been perfect two nights earlier, was anything but on this night.
"There's no sense talking too much tonight,” he said. "I've got no excuses. Everybody worked their butts off to win and I played like I was out there for a joy ride.”
Laird was battling again, this time with Nantais, who posted a unanimous decision. Laird was left with a swollen left eye.
"We weren't up for it like the game before,” Laird said. "There just wasn't the same life in the team.”
Picard, for one, said he had been looking for a different kind of game.
"I expected a rougher game,” he said, "but it didn't work out like that. I knew we could player better. We had to play better and we can play etter yet.”
Turner praised the Remparts.
"They were super,” he said. "Maybe they just wouldn't let us play as well as we wanted to.”
One player who really wanted to forget this game was Faulkner, one of the Pats’ centres. He was forced from the game in the third period with a dislocated elbow. Earlier, he had had to retire to the dressing room for 13 stitches after being hit above one eye with the puck while seated on the bench. The elbow injury would end his season.
The following day, with the Black Hawks and Remparts preparing for the next day's semifinal, Turner decided to take the heat off his players.
He did so by pointing fingers at a recent phenomenon -- the player agent.
"I made it specific when we came here that I didn't want any of the players talking to agents,” Turner told Eisler. "All the players told me that they wouldn't get involved with them, but today I had to kick two of them out of one of the agent's rooms.
"If I catch any more of our players talking to lawyers or agents, then they won't play in the national final. I don't care who they are. And if (GM Del) Wilson won't back me up, I'll resign. He will, though.”
The dilemma, as Turner saw it, was this: "How can you make kids think about hockey when they're thinking about thousands of dollars?”
Two people singled out by Turner were Alan Eagleson and Norm Kaplan.
"Alan Eagleson was sitting right in my room,” Turner said, "and he promised me that he wouldn't bother the players. ‘I've got more class than that' was what he told me. And Norm Kaplan promised the same thing, too.
“Well, I caught two players in Eagleson's room and Kaplan talked to two others behind my back.”
It was, indeed, a new era in junior hockey.
"(Agents) are't worrying about the kids,” Turner said. "All they want is their eight per cent. That's what Kaplan got for signing Sobchuk last year. What did the team get? Nothing. I'm sick and tired of that.”
Turner concluded: "Agents are tops on my (bleep) list. They are parasites.”
Hap Emms was in agreement with Turner and wondered if, in fact, agents had something to do with Paiement not playing especially well.
"He's a great hockey player,” Emms said. "He has not played as well in this series as he can play. I think something should be done to help us protect young men from agents who do not care about the men and do not care about the game.
"There is no one-word answer. But there must be an answer.”
The next day, the spotlight was again on the ice.
The Remparts moved into the final with an 11-3 whipping of St. Catharines.
It was a bitter end for the Blackhawks. They went 1-2 in the Memorial Cup after a 12-0-2 run in their league playoffs.
"I don't know how to explain it,” Hap Emms said. "Our club hasn't been sharp since it won the OHA crown. I think we peaked then.
"When our club isn't hitting, then they're not playing. I don't know why we didn't play a more physical game. All I can say is the players weren't told not to hit.”
Hap was left to face reporters when Paul didn't appear for the post-game chat with reporters.
The Remparts, who held period leads of 1-0 and 5-2, got three goals from Cloutier and two each from Locas and Beaulieu in front of 6,745 fans. Perron, Chouinard, Lachance and Andre Perreault added one each. Chouinard also had four assists.
Adduono, Dumensil and Paiement scored for St. Catharines.
"I didn't expect us to win 11-3,” Picard said, "but we played a good game. The guys worked for it.
"I think they tried to force us in our end. But our defence passed the puck faster than in the first game. We have a mobile defence and when they play their kind of game we do well.”
There were 7,382 fans in the Corral for the final on May 12. They watched Quebec, on goals from Charles Constantin, Perreault and Locas, take a 3-0 lead before the first period was 12 minutes old.
But Sobchuk promised some offence and then came through, scoring two goals and setting up another in the second period and adding another goal in the third as the Pats won 7-4.
Trailing 3-1 after the first period, Turner walked into the dressing room prepared to try to fire up his boys.
"Sobchuk got up and said, ‘You don't have to say a word',” Turner said. "He said, ‘We're going to win this game,' so I just turned around and walked out. They went out and played like gangbusters.”
Uhrich, named the tournament's all-star right winger, and Burdon, the all-star centre, also scored for Regina, as did Tudor and Gillies.
Locas added a second goal for Quebec in the third period.
"We've been down before and come back and we knew we could do it again,” Sobchuk said. "I think the turning point was when we started hitting them in the second period.”
Turner felt a unanimous decision by Gillies over Nantais at 13:10 of the second period turned it around. The score was 3-3 at the time, but Uhrich scored 1:13 after the fight, at 14:23, and Sobchuk added what proved to be the winner at 15:52.
Regina outshot Quebec 52-31 and only Remparts goaltender Bob Sauve kept it as close as it was.
"This,” said Turner, "means more to me than anything else in hockey . . . even five Stanley Cups.”
It was Regina's first Memorial Cup title since 1930.
"When it was 3-0, I was shook up pretty good,” Turner said. "I thought we might be waiting another 44 years.”
Six years later, Turner was still in seventh heaven.
"I was on five Stanley Cup teams,'' he told The Leader-Post's Arnie Tiefenbach, "but got a bigger thrill out of winning that one Memorial Cup.
"You live with these players and you work with them and you know that a lot of them are going to go somewhere. And maybe, just maybe, what you did played a small part in it.”


NEXT: 1975 (New Westminster Bruins, Sherbrooke Castors and Toronto Marlboros)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1975 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1975.html)

1975 MEMORIAL CUP
New Westminster Bruins, Toronto Marlboros and Sherbrooke Castors
at Kitchener (Memorial Auditorium)


They were the big, bad Bruins and they were beginning an unprecedented string of successes in the world of Western Canadian junior hockey.
After finishing first in the East Division in 1970-71 and flaming out in the first round of the playoffs, the Estevan Bruins packed their bags and moved to New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver.
They became the New Westminster Bruins. They would turn their home -- Queen's Park Arena -- into the most intimidating facility junior hockey had known.
The Bruins were coached by Ernie (Punch) McLean, who had tutored under Scotty Munro and who would go on to become a legend in his own right.
The Bruins made the first of four straight Memorial Cup appearances in the spring of 1975.
"We like tough, aggressive hockey and that's what we're going to have to play if we want that national title,” said McLean, whose club featured brilliant young defencemen Barry Beck and rookie Brad Maxwell, with Gord Laxton in goal. The leaders up front were team captain Barry Smith, Rick Shinske, Brian Shmyr, Mark Lofthouse, Mike Sleep and Kelly Secord.
The muscle was provided by the likes of defenceman Harold Phillipoff and Clayton Pachal, who could play defence or left wing.
This was a Bruins team built on experience (nine players were in their final season of eligibility) and inexperience (there were nine rookies). But more than that, it was built on muscle and defence.
The league's sixth-best offence didn't put a scorer into the top 10. Shinske topped the club with 80 points; the Edmonton Oil Kings were the only other team not to have at least one player with 100 points. Lofthouse led the Bruins with 36 goals; they had 13 players in double figures.
The magic, however, was on defence where they surrendered only 260 goals, the third-best figure that season.
The Bruins wound up third in the West Division over the 70-game regular season. Their 85 points (37-22-11) left them 14 points in arrears of the pennant-winning Victoria Cougars.
Admittedly, the Bruins had struggled through a lot of the regular season.
"If there was a turning point for us,” McLean said, "it came early in February when we got a break in the schedule and 10 days off.
"I told the guys to go hide, to get lost, just go and do whatever they wanted to. When they came back from that break our team just started to go.”
New Westminster knew it was onto something in the first round when it eliminated the second-place Medicine Hat Tigers in five games.
The Bruins then took out Victoria in six games in the West Division final.
And, in the WCHL final, the Bruins got past the Saskatoon Blades in seven games, winning that seventh game 7-2.
The Bruins became the first team from B.C. to play for the Memorial Cup since the Trail Smoke Eaters in 1944.
"I don't know if anybody believed me or not when I told them we could win it all,” McLean said. "But you can believe this, I meant it.
"Our farm system had started to develop after we'd been in this area for four years. We had the makings of a good hockey team and when we got Richard Shinske from Calgary in a trade, it gave us the extra strength at centre that we needed.”
The 1975 Memorial Cup tournament was again a single round-robin, but organizers had added a semifinal game. Now, after the round-robin portion ended, the top team went on to the final, with the other two teams meeting in a semifinal game. The tournament would be held in the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
It would also feature George Armstrong's Toronto Marlboros and the Sherbrooke Castors of coach Ghislain Delage.
The Marlies had coasted through the Ontario Hockey Association's regular season, but ran into all kinds of grief in the playoffs and ended up playing 23 games in 35 days.
They opened against the Kingston Canadians and needed eight games to win that eight-point quarterfinal series. The same thing happened against the Sudbury Wolves, with Toronto winning the eighth game in overtime.
The Marlies won the first two games of the final against Dale McCourt and the Hamilton Fincups, but this series ended up going seven games, Toronto winning the finale 8-3 before 8,261 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The best of the Marlies was centre Bruce Boudreau, who totalled 68 goals and 97 assists (165 points) in the regular season, and Mark Napier.
The lineup also boasted solid goaltending from Gary Carr, with the likes of Mike Kitchen and Mike McEwen on defence, and John Anderson, Mike Kaszycki, Lynn Jorgenson and Ron Wilson helping up front.
However, the Marlies would play the entire tournament without John Tonelli, one of their premier performers. He had been fourth in the regular-season scoring race, with 49 goals and 89 assists.
But once he turned 18, Tonelli sat out all of Toronto's playoff games because he didn't want to risk jeopardizing his chances of playing pro with the World Hockey Association's Houston Aeros the following season.
While the Marlies struggled, Sherbrooke rolled through the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season, winning 51 games, and then coasted through the playoffs, losing just one game en route to the championship.
The Castors ousted the Hull Festivals and Chicoutimi Sagueneens, winning best-of-seven affairs in straight games.
Sherbrooke met Mike Bossy and the Laval National in the championship series, and lost the fourth game 11-10 before wrapping it up with an 8-0 victory in the fifth game.
The Castors had eight players reach the 30-goal plateau, with the best of them being three 19-year-olds -- left-winger Claude Larose, right-winger Michel Brisebois and centre Marc Tessier, their captain. Larose, with 69 goals and 76 assists in 1974-75, had 205 goals over three seasons. The Castors also had the QMJHL's top goaltender in Nick Sanza, who was backed up by Richard Sirois.
The two eastern teams met in the Memorial Cup opener on May 3 before 3,162 fans, well below the capacity of more than 5,000.
Attendance -- or lack of same -- was already drawing queries, as some people pointed out that the 1974 tournament in Calgary had sold out every game with tickets $1 cheaper than at Kitchener.
Toronto won that first game 5-4 on Jorgenson's goal at 12:33 of the first overtime period.
The Castors actually led 3-0 early in the second period -- on two goals from Robert Simpson and one from Brisebois -- before running into penalty problems.
John Smrke struck for two power-play goals, before Napier tied the game at 12:15 with three seconds left in yet another Sherbrooke penalty.
Napier put the Marlies out front 11 minutes into the third period, only to have Larose tie it at 19:31.
Delage blamed the defeat on "foolish” penalties.
"I don't want to put the blame on the referee -- he has a job to do,” he said, referring to Murray Harding of Winnipeg.
Sanza lived up to his billing, turning aside 46 shots. Carr stopped 33 shots.
"We've been there before,” Armstrong said of being down 3-0. "We're more used to the pressure and it was perhaps a little disadvantage to Sherbrooke.”
The Castors repeated the performance in their second game on May 5.
This time, they took a 3-0 lead into the second period against New Westminster and watched as the Bruins scored five straight goals en route to a 7-5 victory.
Berry, Smith, Shinske, Secord, Shmyr, Steve Clippingdale and Pachal scored for the Bruins in front of 3,156 fans. Simpson and Larose, with two each, and Richard Mulhern scored for Sherbrooke.
The game took more than three hours to play and included 14 fighting majors.
According to Dennis Passa of The Canadian Press: "McLean said Sherbrooke was out to intimidate the Bruins, but didn't succeed when New Westminster started skating in the second period.”
Offered McLean: "We weren't skating in the first period. We were watching them go by us, and I think when the guys realized they really had to go to work, they did.”
By now, the McLean legend was starting to build.
One report from Kitchener told of two drills McLean allegedly used to toughen up his Bruins.
In one, a player began behind one net with a puck. While he skated towards centre ice McLean sent players at random to hit the puck carrier. Miss the puck carrier and you were the next puck carrier in what McLean called "target practice.”
In the other drill, McLean supposedly had two players set up back-to-back behind one net; they would then go full speed and collide -- hey, no braking allowed -- behind the other net. If a player bailed out, he had to skate laps.
The Bruins clinched a spot in the final when they scored four third-period goals and went on to beat the Marlies 6-2 before 4,536 fans on May 7.
The Bruins set it up with a great display of forechecking as they outskated and outhit Toronto.
"That's the way we always play,” McLean said.
The Bruins led 2-0 in the first period on goals from Shmyr and Pachal.
Napier scored the second period's only goal and Jorgenson tied the score at 1:54 of the third period.
The Bruins dominated after that. Clippingdale broke the tie at 5:08 and Sleep, Berry and Shinske added insurance goals.
The Bruins took seven of 12 minors in the tournament's first fight-free game.
"Toronto is supposed to have the best power play in the east,” McLean said. "But we've got a fine bunch of penalty killers ourselves.”
Laxton was superb again, this time stopping 27 shots.
That left the Marlboros and Castors to play a one-game showdown on May 9, with the victor moving into the Memorial Cup final against the Bruins.
And that semifinal game belonged to Boudreau.
A 68-goal man in the regular season, Boudreau strutted his stuff in front of 3,498 fans. He struck for five power-play goals -- Napier set up three of them -- as Toronto hammered Sherbrooke 10-4.
"I guess this will make me sleep a lot better tonight,” said Boudreau, who went into the game without a goal in the tournament.
He admitted he may have been "pressing” but added that "I think we skated for 60 minutes out there and that was the big thing.”
Boudreau had 12 goals in 23 playoff games prior to the tournament. He felt he should have done better but some of the blame for his slump could have been placed on a freak injury he suffered just prior to the playoffs.
During a practice, Boudreau fell on one of Armstrong's skates and needed 16 stitches to close a cut to his face. He would suffer from double vision for about a month but said he could see perfectly the night he scored five on the Castors.
The Marlies struck for five third-period goals, three from Boudreau, as they knocked Sanza out of the game. Robert Sauve, who had been picked up from Laval, came on in relief and finished up.
McEwen, with two, Anderson, Smrke and Jorgenson had Toronto's other goals.
Larose, with two, Brisebois and Fernand Leblanc scored for Sherbrooke.
"The momentum that George Armstrong has put into this team is unbelievable,” offered Sherbrooke general manager George Guilbault. "They play very discipoined hockey and are a talented hockey team.
"We had to play catch-up hockey all night and as you've seen, you're definitely not able to do that in a Memorial Cup tournament.”
And the Marlies won it all two days later when they erased a 2-0 deficit late in the first period and went on to a 7-3 victory over the Bruins before 4,382 fans.
"They always start out a bit slow,” Armstrong said of his Marlies. The players tossed him into the shower in their dressing room, and when they got back to their hotel they threw him into the swimming pool.
Toronto tied the game with two goals 33 seconds apart before taking a 5-3 lead into the third period.
Anderson and Kaszycki scored two goals each for Toronto, with Jorgenson, Napier and Boudreau adding one each.
Phillipoff, Secord and Lofthouse replied for the Bruins.
"Marlies got a few lucky bounces at the wrong time for us and that's all you need in junior hockey in a one-shot deal,” McLean said.
According to one report, Anderson's goals were both of the "fluke” variety.
The first, late in the opening period, tied the game 2-2. Anderson rifled a shot high off one of Laxton's shoulders. The puck bounced high in the air, landed and bounced into the goal.
The second, early in the middle period, was actually a centring pass. It hit Laxton on the back of one pad and ended up in the net.
It was the Marlies' second title in three years and the seventh in their history. This one may have been a little more special because they had six times faced playoff elimination.
Three trophies were awarded for the first time at the conclusion of the 1975 tournament.
Smith, the Bruins' captain, was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the tournament's most valuable player.
The George Parsons Trophy, for sportsmanship, went to Smrke.
Carr went home with the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the event's outstanding goaltender.

NEXT: 1976 (Hamilton Fincups, New Westminster Bruins and Quebec Remparts)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1976 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1976.html)

1976 MEMORIAL CUP
New Westminster Bruins, Hamilton Fincups and Quebec Remparts
at Montreal (Forum)


Ernie McLean and his New Westminster Bruins were back for a second of what would be four consecutive trips to the Memorial Cup tournament.
This year the tournament would be played in the Montreal Forum. And, again, it would be a three-team round-robin, the fifth year in a row this format had been used.
This time the opposition was provided by Bert Templeton's Hamilton Fincups (Dale McCourt was their captain) and the Quebec Remparts, coached by Ron Racette.
Hamilton counted on goaltender Mark Locken and the likes of McCourt, Ric Seiling and Joe Contini.
The Fincups advanced by ousting the Sudbury Wolves in five games from the eight-point Ontario final. Prior to that, they had coasted past the Kitchener Rangers and Toronto Marlboros.
By the time Templeton and his players opened the Memorial Cup tournament they hadn't played a game in 11 days.
The Remparts had been the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's third-best regular-season team. Their 86 points won the East Division, but left them behind the Sherbrooke Castors (111) and Cornwall Royals (87), who topped the West Division.
Quebec opened the playoffs by eliminating the Sorel Eperviers in five games, and then swept the Royals in four straight to win a semifinal series. In the final, the Remparts took out the Castors in six games, although they scored just 25 goals in the process.
This was a Quebec team that, believe it or not, won and lost on defence -- it allowed only 21 goals in the league final.
The Remparts, without a scorer in the top 10, scored only 336 regular-season goals (fifth in the 10-team league) and yet took out Sherbrooke, which had totalled 514 goals. The Remparts, however, allowed just 288, the third-best total, the key being goaltender Maurice Barrette.
The Remparts' defensive brigade was led by Jean Gagnon, voted the QMJHL's top defenceman, and Mario Marois.
The Bruins, meanwhile, took their reputation with them when they traveled east.
These were the big, bad and burly Bruins. Their roster featured eight players with more than 145 penalty minutes, including defenceman Barry Beck, at 325.
But unlike the team that had reached the final a year ago, this team could score. It had four players with more than 100 points -- Fred Berry (146), Rick Shinske (143), Steve Clippingdale (117) and Mark Lofthouse (116). Defencemen Brad Maxwell and Beck each came in with 99 points.
This was, indeed, a team that could play it just about any way you wanted.
The Bruins opened postseason play by sweeping the Brandon Wheat Kings from a best-of-nine series, and then won a best-of-seven semifinal from the Victoria Cougars in five, winning four and tying one.
That set up a best-of-seven championship final with the Saskatoon Blades. It went seven games, too, the Bruins winning four and tying one.
Due to the final going the distance, the Bruins won the WCHL championship just three nights before the Memorial Cup tournament opened.
And they arrived knowing that goaltender Blaine Peterson wouldn't be able to play after breaking his collarbone in the warmup prior to Game 1 against Saskatoon. To replace him, McLean picked up Brandon goaltender Glen Hanlon. The Bruins other goaltender was Carey Walker, whose brother Larry would go on to some fame of his own in baseball's major leagues.
Quebec and Hamilton opened the tournament before 7,400 fans on May 9, the Remparts winning 4-3 behind Barrette's 45-save performance.
The Remparts actually held a 3-0 lead going into the third period but they were hanging on at the end.
Centre Remi Levesque opened the scoring in a penalty-filled first period, and Gagnon and right-winger Eddy Godin struck for goals 27 seconds apart in the closing moments of the second period.
Steve Hazlett and Seiling got the Fincups to within one at 3-2 with five minutes to play, only to have Yvan Hamelin score what proved to be the winner at 17:14. Hazlett added a second goal at 19:56.
Hamilton, which fired 21 third-period shots at Barrette, outshot Quebec 48-25.
The next night, in front of another crowd of 7,400, the Bruins dumped the Remparts 4-2.
The Bruins jumped out to a 4-1 first-period lead and then manhandled Quebec for the last two periods of what became a fight-filled contest.
Beck, Harold Phillipoff, Clayton Pachal (with the Bruins two men short) and Shinske scored for New Westminster. Denis Turcotte and Jean Chouinard replied for the Remparts.
"We really didn't know what to expect from them,” Beck said. "The team we played from here (Sherbrooke) last year skated, so we knew we had to throw the body on them.
"Our game plan was to be aggressive -- throw the body. We had to cut down this year in the playoffs a little bit because we kept getting penalties -- we got some dumb penalties tonight, too.”
Referee Blair Graham of Oakville, Ont., handed out a dozen fighting majors and 17 minor penalties.
Walker was to have started in goal but took a shot off a shoulder in the pregame warmup and gave way to Hanlon, who went on to stop 23 shots. Barrette, in what would be his final appearance in the tournament, turned aside 38.
"We had a bad start,” Racette stated. "We've got a young hockey club and we kept coming on stronger and stronger. At times we were trying to play hockey standing still. You can't do that. If we play 60 minutes of hockey, I think we can beat them.”
Beck said the Bruins were surprised with the way the Remparts played.
"They didn't really forecheck us,” he said. "They let us come out of our own end. Usually, we're used to two men coming in at us.”
And Shinske pointed out something this team was growing tired of saying: "We're not just a physical team. We can play hockey, too. We have some guys who can put the puck in the net.”
The Remparts lost Barrette the next day, an off-day in the tournament, when he was hospitalized and underwent an immediate appendectomy.
That left Racette to choose between backup Grant McNicholl, who saw little action behind Barrette; Yves Guillemette, who was added from Shawinigan but hadn't played since the Dynamos were eliminated, almost a month previous; and, Gino Yanire of the Hull Festivals.
The Fincups, preparing to meet the Bruins, now knew what to expect. They said they would show up anyway.
"Hitting isn't going to stop us,” Templeton said. "We use a lot of contact drills in our practices so we can take the rough going.
"You can be small but physically strong. We have some small players who are exceptionally strong.”
The difference on May 12 was special teams.
The Fincups struck for seven power-play goals as they beat the Bruins 8-4 in front of 3,550 fans.
"Everybody says our power play isn't worth a damn,” Templeton said after his club had earned a berth in the tournament final.
With each of the three teams at 1-1, the Fincups went through on the best goals-for and goals-against ratio -- plus-three. The Bruins were minus-two; the Remparts minus-one.
Contini scored three goals and set up three others, and Seiling chipped in with two goals and four assists. Hazlett, with two, and Cal Herd had Hamilton's other goals.
Stan Smyl, with two, Shinske and Maxwell scored for the Bruins.
Templeton said the key to his power play was that "we were just finishing off our plays.”
"Listen,” he said, "we're not a big team. Our style isn't brutality, and we made sure not to play their style of hockey.”
Hamilton scored five power-play goals and led 6-1 after a first period that featured 70 minutes in penalties, including 12 fighting majors.
Yes, referee Marcel Vaillancourt of Sherbrooke had his hands full.
And, yes, when it was over McLean was calling the head official "incompetent.”
At 6:17 of the opening period, Hamilton lost Ed Smith, Archie King, Ted Long and Mike Fedorko with majors. The Bruins to take majors were Don Hobbins, Smyl and Maxwell, with Pachal taking a double major. About a minute later, Beck was hit with another major, leaving the Bruins two men short.
The Fincups scored five times on Walker before he was replaced by Hanlon, who was beaten on the first shot he saw. Hamilton led 6-1 on the scoreboard and held a 17-1 edge in shots on goal.
"We decided it would be foolish to take bad penalties and it paid off -- we had six power-play goals, didn't we?” Contini said. "Part of the game is aggressiveness, but sometimes you have to pay the price, and tonight they paid that price.”
The Bruins by now were awash in a sea of bad ink, and they were determined to do something about it.
"We're not goons and we don't go around looking for fights,” Beck said as they prepared to meet Quebec in the semifinal game. "We've come here to win the Memorial Cup and we're going to win it.
"We outscored (Hamilton) in the second and third so we know we can handle them. But we can't take those stupid penalties.”
The Bruins settled down in the semifinal on May 14. They didn't incur so much as one major penalty as they whomped the Remparts 10-3 before 8,262 spectators.
"They can play tough, they can play rough and they can play disciplined hockey,” McLean stated of his charges who took six of eight minors handed out by Graham.
Lofthouse scored four times, Phillipoff and Smyl added two each, and Pachal and Clippingdale had one apiece. Shinske drew four assists.
Val James, Michel Frechette and Jean Savard scored for Quebec, which used Yanire in goal.
Lofthouse opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the game, but the Remparts went up 2-1 as James and Frechette beat Hanlon before the game was four minutes old.
That prompted McLean to change goaltenders, only to have Walker beaten on the first shot he saw.
"I took Hanlon out because I wanted to talk to him,” McLean explained. "He was very nervous and I wanted to calm him down -- then the puck bounced on Walker for another goal.”
McLean reinserted Hanlon, and the redhead from Brandon didn't allow another goal.
"After the second period the guys really settled down and in the third they really played their game,” McLean said. "They moved the puck and they dumped it in the hole, and they weren't doing that before.”
Still, the Remparts were even with the Bruins at 3-3 when they lost Gagnon, their undisputed leader, to a bruised thigh at 10:25 of the second period.
The Bruins got goals from Phillipoff (10:39) and Pachal (11:11) inside of a minute later to take control.
"We could have done better,” Racette said, "but we came from last place in November to the Memorial Cup, so I have to say I'm proud of them.
"When Gagnon was hurt we missed him and that was the turning point in the game -- they got those two quick goals and that was it.”
Prior to the final, Templeton offered up his coaching philosophy:
"If you want a simple description of the game, you get the puck out of your end as fast as you can, you get it into their end as fast as you can, and you get on it as fast as you can.”
The Fincups did just that in the final on May 16. They grabbed a 3-1 first-period lead and went on to a 5-2 victory in front of 4,450 fans.
"That club that we played was a super hockey club,” Templeton said. "But I think the other day we made them change their style and today they were afraid to get rough.”
McCourt, selected the tournament's most valuable player, agreed.
"Intimidation is a pretty big word,” he said. "We aren't afraid of anybody, no matter how tough they are. When it came down to the final, they couldn't play tough or they would have hurt themselves.”
Mike Keating, Hazlett, King, Contini and Joe Kowal scored for Hamilton, which scored twice with the man advantage. Allen Fleck and Smyl counted for New Westminster.
Hanlon went the distance in goal for the Bruins, who were outshot 37-22.
"They beat us to the puck,” Hanlon said, "that's all there is to it. I don't think they have any more talent.”
The tournament all-star team featured Barrette, Gagnon, Beck, McCourt, Phillipoff and Seiling. Barrette was named the best goaltender, with Shinske being selected the most sportsmanlike player.
McCourt won a television set as the MVP and said the prize would certainly alter his family's lifestyle.
"We've got electricity but we've only got one plug,” he joked of the family home near Sudbury. "Now we'll have to unplug the radio to plug in the TV.”

NEXT: 1977 (New Westminster Bruins, Ottawa 67's and Sherbrooke Beavers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1977 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1977.html)

1977 MEMORIAL CUP
New Westminster Bruins, Ottawa 67's and Sherbrooke Beavers
at Vancouver (Pacific Coliseum)


Ernie (Punch) McLean's New Westminster Bruins made it three trips in a row to the Memorial Cup tournament and this one opened with the New Westminster bench boss talking of retirement.
"I love working with the kids,” McLean, then 45 years of age, said. "But sometimes it seems like the challenge of coaching juniors is gone for me.”
McLean, it seemed, was tired of being accused of coaching rough-house hockey. And he seemed to be constantly in opposition to the powers that be. At this tournament, for example, he was critical of the round-robin format (this year's event was the first to go to a double round-robin), calling it "a one-game wonder.”
But was he serious, or was he only tilting at windmills?
No matter, because playing at home the Bruins owned this event, as they had owned the WCHL's West Division in the regular season.
There weren't any secrets as to how the Bruins won -- they did it with defence. They allowed only 216 goals, the lowest goals-against for any team since the 1972-73 Saskatoon Blades had allowed 184. After 1976-77, no team allowed fewer than 216 goals until the 1994-95 Kamloops Blazers held opponents to 202 goals.
The keys on the blue line were Barry Beck, Brad Maxwell, Brian Young and Miles Zaharko.
"This defence is the best group of four guys I've ever seen in junior hockey in Western Canada,” McLean said. "It's hard to imagine another club, anywhere in Canada, getting this type of talent together at the same time.”
New Westminster finished the regular season with 105 points (47-14-11), best in the West and second only to the East Division-champion Brandon Wheat Kings (54-10-8).
It took the Bruins only 14 games to win their third straight WHL championship. They eliminated the Victoria Cougars in four straight and then ousted the Portland Winter Hawks in five games.
In the final, they silenced the highest-scoring line in junior hockey -- Brandon's combination of Bill Derlago, Ray Allison and Brian Propp -- and sent the Wheat Kings packing in five games.
While right-winger Mark Lofthouse was the only one of the Bruins to crack the regular-season top 10 -- his 112 points was good for a tie for seventh -- Maxwell led them in playoff scoring, with 22 points, eight behind Derlago and four in arrears of Propp.
The Bruins had three players -- defencemen Maxwell, who by now was playing with a heavily wrapped right wrist, and Beck and Lofthouse -- who were on their third-straight Memorial Cup team. Beck had been named the league's most valuable player and top defenceman for his regular-season play.
New Westminster also got big-time play down the stretch from goaltender Blaine Peterson. He had been unable to play in the 1976 tournament after breaking his collarbone in the warmup before Game 1 of the league final against the Saskatoon Blades. This time, he carried a 2.61 postseason GAA into the Memorial Cup.
The Sherbrooke Castors, of coach Ghislain Delage, had won the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship for the second time in three seasons.
The Castors had won the Robert Lebel Division, their 40-23-9 record the third-best in the league, behind the Quebec Remparts (41-21-10) and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens (42-24-6). But five of the league's 10 teams were within six points of each other, from 86 to 92.
Come the playoffs, the Castors need the full seven games to get rid of the pesky Laval National, a team that had finished 26 points behind them in the regular season. But Sherbrooke could take some solace from having outscored Laval 33-17 in the seven games.
Sherbrooke then took out the Cornwall Royals in a nine-point semifinal, winning three games and tying three. And, in the best-of-seven final, the Castors buried the Remparts in five games to earn their second trip in three seasons to the Memorial Cup.
Jere Gillis was the best of the Sherbrooke forwards in the regular season, with 55 goals and 85 assists. His 140 points left him sixth in the scoring derby.
In the postseason, however, it was Ron Carter who led the charge. In fact, he topped all QMJHL playoff scorers with 30 points, including 12 goals, in 18 games.
The Castors also counted on the likes of Rick Vaive and goaltender Richard Sevigny.
Delage let the world know in advance that his team was headed for Vancouver, not "for a pleasure trip” but "to win the Memorial Cup and nothing else.”
The Ottawa 67's, of head coach Brian Kilrea, were sparked by three key performers -- defenceman Doug Wilson, their captain; goaltender Jay O'Connor, who was but 17 years of age; and, centre Bobby Smith, who checked in with 16 goals and 17 assists in 19 playoff games after a 65-goal regular season.
They also featured Tim Higgins, Ed Hospodar, Steve Payne and Stuart Gavin.
They went 38-23-5 in the regular season to finish atop the Leyden Division. They got past Peterborough and Kingston in the first two rounds of eight-point series, although they trailed 5-3 at one point in the semifinal.
And in the championship final they took care of the London Knights, a team that had enjoyed a 51-13-2 regular season.
This was the first Memorial Cup tournament to feature three teams playing a double round-robin format. After everyone had played everyone else twice, the top two teams would move into the one-game final.
Organizers were quite up front in stating the reason for the shift to a double round-robin affair -- more games meant more money. Period.
The Bruins opened on May 8 by edging Ottawa 7-6 as Lofthouse scored two goals and set up two others in front of more than 10,000 fans.
New Westminster also got a huge boost from centre Ray Creasy, who arrived just an hour before the game after being in Winnipeg where his father had died. Creasy set up four goals. He would play again the following day and then return to Winnipeg for his father's funeral, which was to be held on May 10, an off-day for the Bruins.
Brian Young, Beck, John Ogrodnick, Randy Rudnyk and Rick Greenwood also scored for the Bruins.
Smith had three Ottawa goals, with Higgins, a right winger, adding a pair and Steve Marengere, another right winger, getting the other.
The Bruins led 2-0 and 5-3 at the breaks and were ahead by three goals before Higgins and Smith scored late in the third period.
Peterson, 21, stopped only 18 shots, one more than O'Connor.
"We played very well offensively,” McLean said, "but not nearly as well defensively as we are capable of playing.
"It seemed like every time we made a mistake in our end Ottawa got a goal. We'll have to go back to our hitting game against Sherbrooke.”
Across the way, Kilrea was singing the same tune.
"We were standing around a lot in our own end and wondering what we should do next instead of doing it,” he said. "You can't play this game when you hesitate like we did today.
"A lot of our kids owe me a lot better game than they played today and I expect to get it Tuesday.”
As for Beck, he admitted he hadn't played very well in his zone.
"Anyone can score goals when you hand them chances like we did today,” Beck stated. "I think we built up their confidence as the game went along because we didn't stick to our hitting game.”
The next night, with 10,154 fans in the Pacific Coliseum, the Bruins downed the Castors 4-2 as Maxwell broke a 2-2 third-period at 17:54. It was a picture-perfect goal as Maxwell went coast-to-coast to beat Sevigny, who finished with 50 saves -- 23 in the second period and 21 in the third.
Maxwell admitted his offence was limited by his injured right wrist and that the winning goal had come after some power-play opportunities in which "I failed to put the shot where I wanted because of my wrist . . . I should have been shooting lower.”
Still, he gave Sherbrooke credit.
"Sherbrooke is a much better skating team and they won't be intimidated,” he said. "Our hard work in the second period paid off.”
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals by Creasy and left-winger Dave Orleski. Gillis tied the score with his second power-play goal of the game at 7:45 of the third period.
The Bruins forechecked hard and it paid off with numerous chances, but they couldn't beat Sevigny. At one point, he kicked out seven shots on a Bruins' power play, three of them from Maxwell.
The winning rush began behind the Bruins' net. Maxwell fed left-winger Randy Betty at the Castors' blue line and headed for the net. He got there in time for the return pass and one-timed it past Sevigny.
Centre Doug Derkson added the insurance goal 13 seconds later.
Carey Walker went the distance in goal for the Bruins. He made 23 saves.
Delage was of the impression that his club was hurt by a warm building and by the Bruins' depth. He chose to go with three forward lines, while the Bruins used four.
The key, however, was the Bruins' hitting, which allowed them to take advantage of their superior depth. They also took 63 of the 122 penalty minutes, although the game featured only three scraps.
New Westminster right-winger Stan Smyl sat out with an ankle injury, and Creasy left right after the game to attend his father's funeral.
Ottawa followed up with a 6-1 victory over Sherbrooke on May 10 in front of 4,015 spectators. The 67's forechecked ferociously and most of the game was played in the Castors' end.
Tom McDonell led Ottawa with two goals. Higgins had a goal and three assists, and goaltender Pat Riggin, a 17-year-old pickup from the London Knights, turned aside 18 shots.
"Riggin really helped us in the second period when we got away from our game for nearly 20 minutes,” Kilrea said. "Thank goodness we came out of it in the third period. The boys realized they can't just play 20 minutes of good hockey and win.”
It was the line of McDonell between Higgins and left-winger Shane Pearsall, who had two assists, that showed the way for the 67's. The threesome didn't play together until the playoffs, when McDonell was inserted in place of Yvon Joly, who suffered a broken leg.
Smith and Hospodar also scored for Ottawa, which took control with three goals inside eight minutes of the first period.
Gillis scored a second-period goal for the Castors -- they had three goals to this point and he had all of them.
"New Westminster is a good club,” said Kilrea, looking ahead to the next game, "and it will be our biggest test of the tournament. Our forechecking finally improved and I'm looking forward to it doing the job against the Bruins.”
The '67s made it two in a row on May 11 when Marengere scored his second goal of the game at 2:45 of overtime for a 5-4 victory over the Bruins.
Ottawa, which got its first goal from defenceman Jim Kirkpatrick, trailed 3-1 late in the third period. The 67's tied it on goals by Marengere, at 17:37 on a pass from Smith, and Kirkpatrick, at 19:20 with Riggin on the bench for the extra attacker. Kirkpatrick's shot from the point deflected off one of Maxwell's skates and past Walker.
"Kirkpatrick made a hell of a play at the blue line to keep the puck in for the tying goal,” Kilrea said. "He just outmuscled the New Westminster player for the puck and it paid off.”
On the winning goal, Marengere got through the New Westminster defence and fired the puck through Walker's legs.
"I picked my spot and it went in,” Marengere said. "I don't think Walker saw it.”
"I don't think I'm too small to play this game,” added Marengere, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound speedster who had rebounded from a broken ankle suffered earlier in the season and turned into Ottawa's sparkplug at this tournament. "I can take a check and I can dish it out.”
Lofthouse, Beck and Betty scored for the Bruins.
"Our guys just weren't strong enough late in the game,” McLean said. "We had enough chances to get the puck out of our own end, but we didn't.”
The Bruins had four opportunities to clear the zone before Kirkpatrick's tying goal, but weren't able to get the job done.
Kilrea also had praise for two defencemen -- Wilson and Jeff Geiger.
"Wilson hasn't been feeling well up to now and he came on strong and played his best game of the series,” Kilrea said. "Geiger is the hardest worker on the team and the best bodychecker in the tournament.”
New Westminster clinched a spot in the final on May 13, improving its record to 3-1 by beating Sherbrooke 4-2 before 7,473 fans.
Although there was one game left in the double round-robin affair -- Ottawa, at 2-1, had to play Sherbrooke (0-3) again -- the final was set. It would feature the Bruins and the 67's. Total attendance, with two games remaining, was already at 41,273, and officials were talking of wanting to play the tournament in a big building every year.
Beck, for one, liked the Bruins' chances against Ottawa.
"This team is a lot like the one we had two years ago in Kitchener,” said Beck, who keyed the Bruins' attack with a goal and two assists as New Westminster moved into the Memorial Cup final for a third straight season. "In Kitchener, we got there because we were young, worked hard and got great goaltending from Gordie Laxton. Last year, we had a lot of talent and could score goals, but something was missing.
"Now we've got a bunch of guys who just know how to go out there and work their hardest, hoping the breaks go our way.”
Lofthouse, Creasy and Orleski also scored for the Bruins, who got a big lift in the third period when Beck administered a fierce beating to Sherbrooke defenceman Allen Demers, who suffered a suspected broken nose.
There was a disturbance behind the Sherbrooke bench immediately following that scrap, but police moved in quickly and nothing developed.
Carter and Gillis replied for the Castors.
Creasy scored what turned out to be the game-winner. The shift began with his being bodychecked into the Sherbrooke bench. He then took another hard hit in one corner, following which he was tripped at centre ice. It was during the delayed penalty call, with Peterson on the bench for an extra attacker, that Creasy scored.
"I saw only a little bit of the net to shoot at,” Creasy said, "took the shot and it went in.”
The Bruins got a big game from Peterson, who stopped 40 shots, which was a few too many for McLean's liking.
"I don't think we played that well,” McLean said, "but just well enough to win -- that's our style.
"We look for the breaks and we got them when it counted. I expected this type of game from Sherbrooke after our first game with them.
"We can't score six or seven goals every game . . . we've got to try and keep the score down.”
Ottawa ran its record to 3-0 before 4,266 fans on May 13, beating the Castors 5-2.
Smith, Wilson, Warren Holmes, Higgins and McDonell scored for Ottawa, with Daniel Chicoine and Raymond Roy scoring power-play goals for the Castors.
Sevigny was outstanding again, with 37 stops, while Riggin turned aside 31 shots.
Kilrea was looking ahead to the final, knowing his guys were in tough.
"We have to take the corners away from the Bruins,” he explained, "because that's where they work the hardest and come up with a lot of second effort.
"The Bruins are a good club and they will try to run you out of the rink. But we've got lots of ability and if we can move the puck quickly out of our end, we should be all right.
"If we let them play their game, we're in trouble. New Westminster is big, strong and doesn't quit.”
As for McLean, he was downplaying -- or trying to -- the importance of the game.
"I like to think it's more important to have won the Western Canada championship three years in a row than to have won one sudden-death game in the Memorial Cup,” he said. "I know our kids really want to win this one big . . . guys like Beck, Maxwell and Lofthouse have been here before and come away empty-handed.
"This is a great experience for our younger kids. They've played so well all week. This will make them even better players in the future.”
As for Delage, he said the keys to the final would be Beck and Maxwell.
"You've got to watch those two defencemen,” he stated. "Maxwell likes to use the give-and-go coming out of his end and Beck shoots the puck low and on the net with such velocity from the point.”
And Maxwell was the hero, scoring the winner on a great individual effort at 14:06 of the third to give the Bruins a 6-5 victory on May 15 before 13,460 fans.
The Bruins led 5-2 in the third period only to have Ottawa tie it 5-5 before Maxwell again went coast-to-coast to beat Riggin between the legs with a 20-foot wrist shot.
"I didn't think I could score from that angle cutting off the wing,” Maxwell said, "so I just tried to get it on the net and hope we'd get the rebound.
"We played so well for two periods that it just didn't seem right that we could let the cup slip away again.”
In fact, Maxwell admitted to having negative thoughts in the third period.
"I thought maybe the old jinx was coming back again when they got those three goals in the third,” Maxwell said. "Ottawa has a lot of great hockey players, but we didn't let up.”
Lofthouse scored twice, giving him six goals in the series. Creasy, Ogrodnick and Zaharko also scored for the winners, who led 2-0 and 5-2 at the breaks.
Holmes had two third-period goals for Ottawa, with Smith, Wilson and Payne adding singletons.
"I wasn't worried when they got those three goals,” McLean said, knowing that no one believed him. "This team has come from behind all hear -- heck, we weren't even supposed to be here.”
As for his personal feelings, McLean said:
"I feel just great, super. This is an unbelievable experience for not only myself, but for a great bunch of kids who didn't quit when everyone expected them to.”
And then he started talking, again, about leaving.
"If I get the right pro coaching offer then I think I'll take it,” McLean said. "Life is a series of challenges and I'm looking for a new one.
"I remember when Sam Pollock was coaching the Junior Canadiens in Montreal. Now he's the best general manager in the National Hockey League. I like to think that I've got the knowledge and background to be in the NHL, too.”
Beck was selected the tournament's most valuable player, with Smith winning the award for sportsmanship and Riggin being named the outstanding goaltender.
The all-star team featured Riggin, Beck, Maxwell, Smith, Gillis and Lofthouse.

NEXT: 1978 (New Westminster Bruins, Peterborough Petes and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1978 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1978.html)

1978 MEMORIAL CUP
New Westminster Bruins, Peterborough Petes and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs
at Sault Ste. Marie (Memorial Gardens) and Sudbury (Arena)


Come the spring of 1978 and -- lo and behold -- Ernie (Punch) McLean and the New Westminster Bruins were making a fourth consecutive appearance in the Memorial Cup tournament.
This Memorial Cup, which was co-hosted by the OHL cities of Sault Ste. Marie, home of the Greyhounds, and Sudbury, home of the Wolves, would also signify something else.
History would show that this Memorial Cup, perhaps more than any other, was the introduction of a new breed of coach.
The fiery Michel Bergeron -- Le Petit Tigre -- was head coach of the QMJHL's Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. This was his first opportunity to perform on the national stage.
And the boyish Gary Green was head coach of the OHL's Peterborough Petes. This, too, was his introduction to the nation's hockey fans.
Talk about a marked contrast -- Bergeron and Green up against McLean, a grizzled 20-year veteran of the bench wars in the west, a man who got into junior hockey by serving as bus driver and trainer in 1962, six years before buying the Bruins, who were then in Estevan.
Come 1979, Bergeron and Green would have their teams back at the Memorial Cup. McLean would be there, too, but only as a fan.
In 1978, McLean was gunning for a second straight national championship.
A year earlier, he had talked of leaving junior hockey for a professional coaching job. He talked of needing a change, a challenge. When that didn't happen, well, his options were rather limited.
And let's be honest -- the Bruins without McLean, well, that would have been like bacon without eggs.
This Bruins team was basically a team of grinders led by perhaps the most consummate grinder of them all -- right-winger Stan Smyl, who would play in his fourth straight Memorial Cup. They got big goals from John Ogrodnick -- 59 of them in the regular season -- and solid goaltending from Richard Martens and Carey Walker.
Still, they didn't have a scorer in the top 30 -- Ogrodnick had 88 points, Scott McLeod added 80 with Terry Kirkham at 77 and Smyl at 76.
There were only six players with more than 100 penalty minutes (the Brandon Wheat Kings, who would end the Bruins reign in another year, had 12), but that included defenceman Boris Fistric and his 414 minutes.
The Bruins had what was a rather mediocre regular season, going 33-28-11 and finishing third in the WHL's four-team West Division. Actually, they were tied with Victoria, but the Cougars were awarded second place on the basis of one more victory.
This would be the first season of round-robin play in the WHL playoffs. And the Bruins and Cougars were able to rid themselves of the first-place Portland Winter Hawks. They played a double home-and-home series -- the Bruins went 7-1, Victoria was 4-4 and Portland wound up 1-7 and on the outside looking in.
The Bruins were rolling now and quickly took out the Cougars in five games to advance to yet another round-robin affair.
This time, the Billings Bighorns and Bruins each went 3-1 to oust the Flin Flon Bombers, who went 0-4.
New Westminster then swept the Bighorns in the championship final, winning four straight and wrapping it up with 6-3 and 3-1 victories right in Billings.
Bergeron's Draveurs, at 47-18-7, were one of two QMJHL teams to crack the 100-point barrier, the other being the Cornwall Royals, with 100 points. The key to the Draveurs was defence -- they allowed 252 goals, the second-lowest total that season.
Offensively, they were led by Denis Pomerleau, acquired from the Hull Olympiques during the season. He wound up sixth in the scoring derby, with 148 points, including 75 goals.
In the playoffs, however, Richard David would provide the offensive spark with 33 points, including 17 goals, in 13 games.
Trois-Rivieres opened postseason play by taking out Quebec in four straight, outscoring the Remparts 21-12 in the process. The Sherbrooke Castors were next, going down in five games.
And in the championship final the Draveurs swept the Montreal Junior, outscoring them 21-11. The Junior had eliminated Cornwall in five games in the other semifinal series.
The Petes were a typical Peterborough team -- defence came first and the offence seemed to look after itself.
That style had been handed down in the organization, from one coach to another, from Sam Pollock to Scott Bowman and eventually to Roger Nielson and now to the 25-year-old Green.
The likes of Bill Gardner, Tim Trimper, Keith Crowder, Steve Larmer and Keith Acton, his league's fourth-leading scorer, could score. But they preferred to check you to a standstill. And, with some outstanding play from rookie goaltender Ken Ellacott, it worked. After all, they were in the Memorial Cup tournament.
They got there by winning two hard-fought eight-point series. They first eliminated the Ottawa 67's 9-7 and then, in the championship final, ousted the Hamilton Fincups 8-6, winning the seventh game 5-0.
The Draveurs, led by Normand Lefebvre's two goals, opened the double round-robin tournament with a 5-2 victory over the Petes in the Soo before 3,441 fans on May 6.
Ghislain Gaudreau, Gaston Douville and Jean-Francois Sauve also scored for the Draveurs.
Defenceman Greg Theberge and Mark Kirton replied for Peterborough.
The Petes then whipped the Bruins 7-2 in Sudbury the next night in front of 5,006 fans, as Mike Meeker and Gardner had two goals each and Trimper had a goal and three assists.
Crowder and Larmer also scored for the Petes, who lost Acton with a separated shoulder.
Larry Melnyk and Doug Derkson replied for the Bruins.
"Our guys weren't full of desire (against the Draveurs),” Green said, ""but they were up today.
"I had quite a lot of confidence coming into this game. The mental attitude was much better today. The thing I was most concerned about was the physical drain.”
The Petes, who had won the Ontario title just four nights earlier, were playing their second game in two nights and knew they needed to get the jump on the Bruins.
"Naturally, we wanted to capitalize,” said Green, whose club jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead and totaled four power-play goals in the game. "We never expected to get that kind of a lead.
"We jumped on them early. In the third period we hung back and picked up our wingers. We were trying to keep our strength so we sacrificed something in the forechecking, which really takes it out of you.
"We're capable of playing a physical game. We're not as big as they are, but I was proud of my guys today. They had a tough series to get here, and I have to give them a lot of credit. They have lots of desire, too.”
New Westminster bounced back to beat the Draveurs 6-4 in the Soo on May 8 as Smyl struck for three goals and set up two others before 3,575 fans. The outcome left each team with a 1-1 record.
"Tonight,” Smyl said, "I think everybody calmed down. Yesterday, everybody tried to do something extra, to do everybody's else's job. Today, we did our own.”
Brian Young, Ogrodnick and Ken Berry also scored for the Bruins. Lefebvre, with two, David and Carey Haworth replied for Trois-Rivieres, which was outshot 39-31.
Martens, who had been given the hook after giving up six goals to Peterborough, was solid in goal for New Westminster.
"I thought he played well,” McLean said. "He came up with big saves. But so did the kid at the other end.”
That was Jacques Cloutier, who also played well. In fact, he may have only given up five goals. Referee Jim Lever awarded a goal to Smyl at 5:29 of the second period although the goal judge never signaled a goal.
"No, it didn't go in,” said McLean of the score that gave his team a 4-2 lead. "But it's on the scoreboard and we're taking it.”
Smyl, however, said it was a legitimate goal. "It hit inside the goal post and came right back out,” he stated.
Still, the Draveurs battled and tied the game 4-4 when Haworth scored at 1:43 of the third period. It remained for Berry to count the winner at 7:24 and for Smyl to supply the insurance at 8:46.
Peterborough returned to Sudbury on May 9 and beat the Draveurs 4-0 behind Ellacott's 28-save effort in front of 5,094 fans, this tournament's largest crowd to date.
"It was a win we had to have,” Ellacott said.
Kirton, Bob Attwell, John Olds and Gardner scored for the Petes.
"The defence played really well in front of me,” Ellacott said. "They had a few good chances, but we cleared the puck pretty well.”
Ellacott added that the pressure of being in the Memorial Cup wasn't bothering the Petes.
"Every playoff series we've been in this year, we've lost the first game and we've had to come back,” he explained. "We always seem to do it. I think we kind of like to get down, where people count us out and then we come back at them.”
This was an especially costly loss for the Draveurs who lost defenceman Normand Rochefort and Lefebvre, the starry right winger who was the tournament's leading scorer, to injuries.
Green was looking ahead to the next night's game, in which a victory over the Bruins would put the Petes into the final.
"I'm not too concerned with us getting physically outhit,” Green said. "They're not a goony hockey club, but they are big and they finish off their checks well.”
It was a thriller on May 10 in Sault Ste. Marie. With 3,641 fans looking on, the Petes pulled one out of the fire to clinch a spot in the final.
The Petes beat the Bruins 4-3 as Trimper tied the game at 19:57 of the third period and Crowder won it 20 seconds into overtime.
The winner came when Jeff Brubaker tossed a pass from the left-wing boards to the front of the net. Crowder found it in a scramble and stuffed it past Martens.
Kirton and Stuart Smith also scored for Peterborough, with John Paul Kelly, Randy Irving and Bill Hobbins scoring for the Bruins.
By now, with the final three days away, Acton was listed as probable.
The Bruins earned another shot at the Petes, and an opportunity to win their second consecutive Memorial Cup, by beating the Draveurs 6-3 on May 11 in front 5,114 fans in Sudbury.
"It's always exciting, expecially this year when we're not even supposed to be here,” McLean said. "Nobody gave us a hope in hell.”
Kelly and Scott MacLeod had two goals each for the Bruins, who took a 1-0 lead into the second period and promptly scored four goals in 52 seconds beginning at 5:49. Berry and Derkson also scored for the Bruins.
The Draveurs got goals from Gaudreau, Robert Mongrain and David.
"They still weren't out of the hockey game,” McLean said. "They're an explosive hockey club. I was worried all through the third period until we got the sixth goal.”
Before the final, the teams enjoyed a day off.
McLean spent at least part of the day entertaining the media and campaigning for the head-coaching job with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.
"There's been talk about the Canucks,” McLean said, "and after I get back home I'm going to meet with (Vancouver general manager) Jake Milford and discuss with him what he wants in a coach.
"I love junior hockey, but I think once you're a coach it's simply a question of adapting to the level you're coaching at.”
As he had a year ago, he also talked of challenges.
"I have no more challenge left in junior hockey unless it's to go five times to the Memorial Cup,” he said. "I've done everything in junior hockey . . . and I love it.”
Looking ahead to the final, McLean saw it unfolding this way: "I think we're going to play a hard-checking hockey game for two periods and then it will settle down.”
Green saw it this way: "I look for a really tight, close-checking, good, hard-hitting hockey game, and I think that's what we're going to find.”
The Petes went into the final with a 3-1 record; the Bruins were 2-2, both losses coming against Peterborough, 7-2 and 4-3 in overtime.
In the final, played before 5,898 fans in Sudbury on May 13, the Bruins won their second straight Memorial Cup, dumping the Petes 7-4 behind three goals and an assist from MacLeod.
Smyl put the wraps on his junior career with a goal and four assists and Ogrodnick had two goals. Fistric scored New Westminster's other goal.
Theberge, with two, Kirton and Gardner found the range for the Petes.
"A lot of the guys were nervous coming into this game,” MacLeod said. "There are a lot of 18- and 17-year-olds on this club, and all the guys were saying they couldn't get to sleep for an hour last night and then were dreaming about winning.”
The Bruins came out hitting in this one and physically battered the Petes.
"It was an aggressive hockey game,” McLean said. "I'd hate to be in a seven-game series. We wouldn't have too many players left on either side.”
Ellacott, named the tournament's outstanding goaltender, stopped 21 shots, compared to Martens' 35 saves.
"That kid's got to be tired,” Green said of Ellacott. "Kenny carried a lot of weight for this club over the last few months and I knew going into the game that he was tired.”
It was MacLeod's third goal that spurred the Bruins to victory. They had led 3-1 after one period but were ahead only 4-3 early in the third period. MacLeod's third goal came at 5:38 of the third period and upped their lead to 5-3. The Petes protested, claiming Berry was in the crease, and MacLeod agreed.
"He just did a great job,” MacLeod said of Berry. "He shot the puck and rammed into the goalie. He took the goalie right out of the play and the puck was just sitting there and there was no way I could miss.
"I thought they might call it no goal, because he was standing right in the crease and that was what they were arguing about.”
Referee Tom Brown didn't see it that way and the goal stood.
Smyl was selected the tournament's most valuable player, with the sportsmanship award going to Kirton.
The all-star team featured Ellacott, the Bruins' Brian Young and Paul MacKinnon of the Petes on defence, and forwards Kirton, Smyl and Lefebvre.
It was an especially gritty performance by MacKinnon, the Petes captain who was playing on two sore knees. Randy Johnston, another Petes defenceman, played despite a cracked foot and a partially separated shoulder.
The Bruins were the fourth team to win back-to-back Memorial Cups.
The others? The Oshawa Generals (1939 and 1940), Toronto Marlboros (1955 and 1956) and Montreal Junior Canadiens (1969 and 1970).
"We're going to have a great team next year,” McLean said, ""and if things go right we could make it three in a row.”
History shows that things didn't go right.

NEXT: 1979 (Brandon Wheat Kings, Peterborough Petes and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1979 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1979.html)

1979 MEMORIAL CUP
Brandon Wheat Kings, Peterborough Petes and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs
at Sherbrooke (Le Palais de Sports), Trois-Rivieres (Colisee) and Verdun (Auditorium)


Gary Green was back with his Peterborough Petes. Michel Bergeron was back with his Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. The New Westminster Bruins were missing after four straight appearances, the last two of them ending in Memorial Cup championships.
Ernie (Punch) McLean, the Bruins' head coach, was there, but only as a spectator.
"We won the Memorial Cup in each of the past two seasons,” McLean said. "And if I'd known then what I know now, we would have won it the first time, too.”
McLean was referring to the numerous distractions placed in front of players at a Memorial Cup. At this tournament he would serve as an unofficial consultant to the WHL representative -- the Brandon Wheat Kings of head coach Dunc McCallum, a former Wheat Kings player and NHL defenceman.
The Wheat Kings were coming off their third straight superb WHL regular season.
In 1976-77, paced by the line of Bill Derlago, Brian Propp and Ray Allison, Brandon had the league's best record -- 54-10-8 -- but lost the championship final to the Bruins in five games.
In 1977-78, again with Derlago, Propp and Allison providing the spark, Brandon finished 46-12-14, the best record in the league. This time the Wheat Kings never got past the first round, losing out in a round-robin with the Regina Pats and Flin Flon Bombers.
Then came 1978-79, a season from which legends are built.
The Wheat Kings lost only five games as they went 58-5-9. Derlago had graduated, but Laurie Boschman fitted in nicely between Propp and Allison.
In fact, they finished one-two-three in the points derby. Propp led the WHL in goals (94), assists (100) and points (194). Allison was next with 153 points, including 93 assists, and Boschman had 149 points, including 66 goals. How dominant was this line? The WHL's next-highest point-getter was 24 points in arrears of Boschman.
Propp would add 15 goals and 23 assists in 22 playoff games, again the best in the league. Allison was second, with 37 points, and Boschman was fourth, at 34 points.
Those three got great support from the likes of Dave Stewart, Steve Patrick, Don Gillen, Brad Kempthorne, Brant Kiessig, Darren Gusdal, Kelly McCrimmon, Dave Chartier and Dave McDonald. McCrimmon, the team's best penalty-killing forward, would miss the Memorial Cup with a broken left arm suffered during a regular-season game in March. He would return to the Memorial Cup as part-owner and general manager of the Wheat Kings in 1995 and '96.
In the regular season, the Wheat Kings totalled 491 goals, the best in the league by 59 goals.
Defensively, led by Brad McCrimmon (Kelly's older brother), Wes Coulson, Tim Lockridge, Kelly Elcombe and Mike Perovich, and with Rick Knickle and Scott Olson in goal, Brandon surrendered only 230 goals, 35 fewer than anyone else.
Perovich, however, went down with a broken arm in February and it was an injury that, in hindsight, would severely hurt this team.
The Wheat Kings opened the playoffs in a first-round round-robin series. They went 7-1 and advanced with the Saskatoon Blades (3-5), while the Edmonton Oil Kings (2-6) went home.
Brandon then swept Saskatoon from a best-of-seven East Division final and went into a round-robin that also included the Lethbridge Broncos and Portland Winter Hawks.
Brandon and Portland each went 3-1 to eliminate Lethbridge (0-4).
And, in the championship final, the Wheat Kings got past the Winter Hawks in six games.
The Draveurs, meanwhile, went 58-8-6 and were easily the best of the QMJHL's teams. They scored 527 goals (the Sherbrooke Castors, at 406, were the only other team over 400) and allowed 233, the best in the league by 58.
Their offensive leader was centre Jean-Francois Sauve, who won the league scoring championship with 176 points, including 111 assists. Robert Mongrain helped out with 142 points, including 66 goals.
Sauve was the most prolific scorer in the postseason, too, with 38 points, including 19 goals.
And the defence corps featured Pierre Lacroix, the best offensive blueliner in junior hockey that season. He had 37 goals and an even 100 assists.
The Draveurs, getting superb goaltending from Jacques Cloutier, coasted through the playoffs with a 12-1-0 record, scoring 76 goals and allowing just 36.
First, they took out the Shawinigan Cataractes in four games. Next to fall were the Montreal Junior, in five. And, in the final, the Draveurs swept the Castors.
The Petes were, well, the Petes. They would throw a checking blanket over you and then score just enough to beat you, preferably by a goal, or two with an empty-netter.
They had 11 players back from the team that had lost to New Westminster in the 1978 final.
Among the forwards returning were Bob Attwell, Tim Trimper, Keith Crowder and Bill Gardner.
On defence, they were led by Larry Murphy and Dave Fenyves. And in goal the key was Ken Ellacott.
They didn't exactly coast through the postseason en route to the Memorial Cup.
First, they struggled with the Kingston Frontenacs, at one time trailing 6-4 in the eight-point series. Then, they took care of the Sudbury Wolves, 8-2. And, in the final, they were down 6-4 before getting past the Niagara Falls Flyers.
The Draveurs opened the tournament at home on May 6, their first game in 10 days. They responded by beating the Petes 4-3 before about 3,000 fans.
The Draveurs hadn't played in 10 days, but they were able to get the jump on early goals by Gaston Douville and Sauve.
Michel Normand and Bernard Gallant also scored for Trois-Rivieres.
Peterborough got two goals from Terry Bovair and one from Crowder.
"The first two periods, we were in trouble,” Bergeron said, "because we couldn't make a good pass and we couldn't skate the way we're capable of skating. In the third period, I was happy to see my boys skate the way they can.”
The Petes actually came back to tie the game, but Normand broke the 2-2 tie with a power-play goal after Ellacott had been penalized for slashing.
Gallant upped the lead to 4-2 before Crowder scored at 18:12 of the third period.
Cloutier, 18, was superb in stopping 36 shots.
"He's like that,” Bergeron said. "We played 72 regular-season games and 13 more in the playoffs. He's only 18 years old but he thinks like a man twice his age. He never wants to come out. He just loves to play in the nets.”
The Draveurs came back the next night, again on home ice, and beat Brandon 4-1 behind three goals from Mongrain before 3,105 fans.
The evening was highlighted by two pregame incidents, the second of which erupted into a full-scale donnybrook and set the stage for a fight-filled game.
"If we played these guys 16 times in a season, we'd likely have 15 brawls,” Brad McCrimmon said.
Across the way, Bergeron, who never stood at the team's bench during the playing of O Canada, said he was "disappointed with the style of hockey.”
Asked about the brawling, he said: "It reminds me of when, at the zoo, the animals get out of their cage.
"You'll have to go ask Brandon what happened before the game. I've seen the Memorial Cup for five years and they do that all the time out west. I'm disappointed by this team and I have no respect for them.”
McCallum saw it this way: "It started when their No. 8 (Mario Tardif) speared one of our guys as he was skating in the warmup. These things will happen, I guess, when emotions are running high.”
(The next day, the CAHA announced that each team had been fined $1,000.
(Brandon owner Jack Brockest responded: "This is a CAHA-sponsored event so I assume we'll pay. I don't think we have any choice. But I think the CAHA contributed as much as anyone by having the game in a two-by-four barn.”)
This wasn't the same Wheat Kings team that had roared through the west and the shots on goal -- Trois-Rivieres outshot Brandon 31-19 -- indicated that.
"We were standing still a lot,” McCallum said. "The Draveurs are a good skating hockey club and we had too many dead spots. We were standing around and against a club like that you've got to be skating. But we'll play better . . . I'm sure of that.”
Douville scored the fourth goal for the Draveurs. Boschman scored Brandon's goal with 43 seconds left in the game.
It was Brandon's 96th game of the season and only its 10th loss.
One night later, May 8, the scene shifted to Sherbrooke. And the Petes dropped the Wheat Kings 7-6 on Jim Wiemer's second goal of the game, this one at 2:31 of overtime.
The winning goal came on a knuckler from outside the Brandon blue line on which Knickle couldn't find the handle.
McCallum had dressed Bart Hunter, a pickup from the Portland Winter Hawks and the son of ‘Wild' Bill Hunter, as Knickle's backup. It was a sign of things to come.
Chris Halyk, Larry Floyd, Bovair, Attwell and Stuart Smith also scored for Peterborough. Allison, with two, Patrick, Propp, Kempthorne and Stewart replied for Brandon.
"This,” said Green, "was a good, clean game, and it was exciting for the fans. But that's not my type of game. Our game is not really aggressive -- we usually play better defensively -- but we can play any type of game. We prefer to skate, shoot and check.”
Brandon, which played without Elcombe (wrist), rallied from a 2-0 first-period deficit to tie the game, but gave it away on goals by Bovair and Attwell in the last minute of the first period.
Still, the Wheat Kings did have a two-goal lead in the third period.
"Our backs were against the wall,” said Green. "But it's been the same story all year. We won a lot of games like that this season.
"Quite frequently, we've been behind by two or three goals going into the third period and we've come back to win it.”
McCallum felt that of the six periods his team had played in the tournament only one had been worth a darn.
"We really came on in that period,” he said of a four-goal second period. "We've only played one period the way we're capable of playing.”
Still, McCallum felt his guys were still in it.
"We're capable of winning two games,” he said. "If we play our best hockey, we can beat either of these teams.”
Peterborough upped its record to 2-1 with a 3-2 victory over the Draveurs in front of 3,635 fans on May 9 in Sherbrooke.
The key was Ellacott, who turned aside 28 shots in his best performance of the tournament.
"It's really a bad situation,” Ellacott said of the tournament atmosphere. "All the (NHL) scouts and general managers stay in the same hotel as the players and you know they're looking at you all the time.
"You have to learn to put it out of your mind and just play the game.”
Green admitted Ellacott hadn't been sharp in the first two games.
"Kenny was much better tonight,” the coach said. "I felt that he had two bad games and that is not his style. I consider him one of the best goaltenders in Canada.”
Halyk's power-play goal at 6:08 of the third period broke a 2-2 tie.
Attwell and Bovair also scored for the Petes, with Sauve and Gallant replying for the Draveurs.
The Draveurs fell to 2-2 on May 10 as they were whipped 6-1 by Brandon in a game played in the Montreal suburb of Verdun. Attendance was only 2,300.
The key was two goals from Boschman 15 seconds apart in the first period. Propp, Stewart, Allison and Gusdal also scored for Brandon.
Douville replied for Trois-Rivieres.
"Up until tonight's game,” McCallum said, “we had played only one good period out of six. I couldn't figure out why, but I finally decided it was because the kids are tired.
"I hope our owners and our league can realize just how tiring it really is, coming here just after traveling thousands of miles in our own final against Portland.”
The Wheat Kings had won the WHL title in Portland, flown to Winnipeg and bussed to Brandon, before bussing back to Winnipeg and flying to Montreal.
They had a day off on May 9 and McCallum made sure his players got their rest.
"After the day off, the guys had more spring in their legs,” McCallum stated. "In the first two games, we weren't executing because we weren't skating. And we weren't skating because we were tired.”
Brandon, which outshot Trois-Rivieres 45-31, led 4-1 after one period and 5-1 after two. The Wheat Kings got 10 points from their big line -- Boschman had two goals and two assists, Allison and Propp had a goal and two helpers each. Allison, Boschman and Propp were tied for the scoring lead, each with six points.
McCallum also chose to sit Knickle and go with Hunter in goal.
"Bart played well against us (in the WHL final),” McCallum said, "and he's a fiery guy. I thought the guys needed a spark.”
Hunter was surprised to be playing.
"I had a feeling they might ask me to join them,” he said. "But I never really expected to dress.”
The victory gave Brandon a chance to clinch a berth in the final the following night when it met the Petes.
And that's exactly what happened.
Brandon, which had started the tournament by losing its first two games, edged the Petes 3-2 on May 11 in the Verdun Auditorium before 1,680 fans.
That left the three teams each at 2-2 and put Brandon and Peterborough into the final on goals-for and goals-against ratio. Brandon ended up plus-2, with Peterborough even and Trois-Rivieres minus-2.
The Wheat Kings, with Hunter stopping 32 of 34 shots, won it on Propp's goal at 9:08 of the third period.
Allison scored Brandon's other two goals. Halyk and Trimper replied for Peterborough.
"Bart has been super,” McCallum said. "If it weren't for him, we'd likely be on the outside looking in. When we picked him up, I sort of planned on playing him. He's 19, in his draft year and the way he played against us, he deserved to play.
"Knickle can't be faulted, though. But there wasn't any fire with him in there. Hunter is very emotional in the dressing room.”
McCallum also had praise for two other players.
"Stewart has been super,” he said. "His penalty killing has been great.
"And (Brad) McCrimmon! Just think how good he would be if he played a regular shift instead of 50 minutes a game. He'll play 45 minutes a game with no problem. His composure is great and he's got super upper-body strength. He never comes to the bench and says he's tired.”
Green, meanwhile, was telling everyone that his club didn't go into the tank to eliminate the Draveurs.
"We definitely went out there determined to win,” he said. "Quebec would realize by watching that it was a good solid effort by both teams. We wanted to win . . . we wanted the advantage of being the home team in the final.”
It was about here that the scene shifted to the boardroom.
The final of the 1979 Memorial Cup was to have been played in the Montreal Forum on the afternoon of May 13. But that wouldn't happen as the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers had gone ahead and scheduled the opener of the Stanley Cup final for that afternoon of May 13 in the Forum.
"Junior hockey is again being told what to do, when to do it and how to do it,” WHL president Ed Chynoweth said. "But, then, we are used to it.”
As late as May 11, the juniors believed they were going to play in the Forum.
"We would have liked to have heard about it earlier,” said the CAHA's Roland Mercier. "We only found out about it this (May 11) morning. We studied a few alternatives and talked with sponsors, the Forum people and the (CTV) people and decided on Verdun . . .
"It really upsets us. We're sorry the pros, meaning the Montreal Canadiens, didn't think about junior hockey.”
The Canadiens actually had wanted to play a night game on May 11. But TV time couldn't be cleared because of a political debate.
No matter.
The Petes won it all on May 13, beating Brandon 2-1 in overtime in one of the greatest championship games this tournament has seen.
Trimper and Propp exchanged first-period goals and that was it until Attwell scored at 2:38 of overtime. To this day, members of the Brandon entourage will tell you an icing call should have preceded the winning goal.
But it didn't happen.
"We knew what to expect this season,” Green said. "It was something totally new to us last year and I think the experience paid off for us late in the game.”
The Petes, who outshot Brandon 36-20, pressed the Wheat Kings through the third period and into the overtime. It paid off with the winning goal.
Peterborough cleared the puck the length of the ice and McCrimmon actually got there first.
"I skated pretty hard for it and it was over the line,” McCrimmon offered. "That's all I'll say.”
"It was pretty close, wasn't it?” McCallum said.
Anyway, Bovair ended up with possession. He dumped the puck into the high slot from where Murphy unleashed a shot. Hunter made the stop but couldn't control the rebound. Attwell pounced on it to score the winner.
"I've dreamed of doing something like this plenty of times,” Attwell said. "And the feeling is just the same as in the dreams -- it's unreal.”
Green had taken his club to the Laurentians for the night prior to the game.
"When we came to the rink, there were several buses unloading fans from Peterborough,” Green said. "All I did was ask the players to avoid looking at or speaking to parents or friends -- I didn't want any distractions.”
The Wheat Kings were hurt by overplaying McCrimmon. He and Perovich were the two defencemen who could move the puck for Brandon, but Perovich (broken arm) wasn't dressed. And by the time the final game went into overtime, McCrimmon was whipped.
"Everyone on this team showed guts, desire, pride and class,” McCrimmon said when it was over. "We might not have won it, but we proved ourselves. We wanted to win it so bad. We came back after losing our first two games -- the guys kept working and working -- and we ended up one goal away.”
Propp overheard McCrimmon and added: "Brad showed more of those attributes than anyone else on this team. If every player was like Brad . . .”
Green was quite aware of McCrimmon's condition.
"I thought, near the end, their defence was finally starting to tire,” Green said. "I felt Brad McCrimmon was finally starting to have a tough time.
"He's an incredible defenceman, he's got an amazing amount of stamina . . . he played really well.”
McCallum didn't feel badly about losing to the Petes.
"They've got a hell of a club,” he said. "It's no disgrace to lose to them twice in overtime. Gary's got his club very well-disciplined. They play a close-checking game better than we do and we didn't play our game, which is offence.
"In fact, we never did get our offence untracked in the three games with Peterborough.”
Hunter was selected the tournament's most valuable player and top goaltender and was named to the all-star team. Halyk was named the most sportsmanlike player.
Also on the all-star team: McCrimmon and Normand Rochefort of Trois-Rivieres on defence, and forwards Boschman, Allison and Trimper. Propp, who wasn't named to the all-star team, was No. 1 with 10 points.
The Wheat Kings had played 99 games and won 78 of them. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't win the last one.
And Brandon still was the only city in the world to have had a team play in the Stanley Cup final, the Allan Cup final and the Memorial Cup final and not to have won even one championship.


NEXT: 1980 (Guelph Platers, Hull Olympiques, Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winter Hawks)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1980 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1980.html)

1980 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats, Peterborough Petes and Cornwall Royals
at Brandon (Keystone Centre) and Regina (Agridome)


The 1980 Memorial Cup tournament would be split between Brandon and Regina, opening in the Wheat City and closing in the Queen City.
By the time it ended, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association had egg all over its face, as did major junior hockey, and there were egg shells all over the Regina Agridome.
In 1978-79, the Wheat Kings had made it to the Memorial Cup's final game, while the Pats were abysmal; in fact, they had the second-worst season in franchise history.
In 1979-80, the shoe was on the other foot. While the Wheat Kings struggled, the Pats won it all.
Organizers were fortunate that the Pats won the 1980 title, because this was in the days prior to a host team being allowed into the tournament.
Anyway, the Peterborough Petes were in the Memorial Cup tournament for a third consecutive season as the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League's representative. The Petes were the first Ontario team to make three straight appearances since Toronto's St. Michael's Majors qualified in 1945, '46 and '47.
Only this time Gary Green, the Petes' head coach in each of the past two tournaments, wasn't with them.
Green, by now, was head coach of the NHL's Washington Capitals. At 26 years of age, he had become the youngest head coach in NHL history.
In Peterborough, the coach was 30-year-old Mike Keenan and then, like today, he was his own man. And he had his own ideas.
When a team got scored on during a scrimmage in practice, players had to lay down on the ice and roll over.
"This is all part of Mike's direct approach with the players,” Dick Todd, the Petes' trainer, told The Globe and Mail's Marty York. "Mike isn't going to win any popularity contests with the players because of his strictness but this team has done well, and the players realize that is largely because of Mike.”
(Todd also served as business manager, scout and assistant coach. He would go on to coach the Petes himself and also would coach Canada to a world junior gold medal in 1991.)
Keenan joined the Petes from the Oshawa Legionnaires of the Metro Junior B League. Oshawa won back-to-back championships under Keenan.
The Petes responded to Keenan by winning 47 regular-season games, a franchise record. They brushed aside the Sudbury Wolves in a quarterfinal series and then swept a semifinal from the Ottawa 67's, the team generally seen as the OMJHL's other powerhouse that season.
In the championship final, the Petes took care of the Windsor Spitfires in four games. And so it was that Peterborough rode an 11-game winning streak into Brandon.
The Petes counted on solid goaltending from 5-foot-9, 165-pound Rick Laferriere. The defence featured Larry Murphy, Stuart Smith and Dave Fenyves, all of whom had played on the 1979 Memorial Cup-championship team, and Andy Schliebener. Up front, the Petes were again led by Bill Gardner, who was making his third straight appearance in the tournament and who was already under contract to the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. Gardner had a strong supporting cast, including Andre Hidi, Mark Reeds, Jim Wiemer, Terry Bovair, Larry Floyd, Carmen Cirella (who was coming off a case of chicken pox), Dave Beckon and Brad Ryder.
As a rule, Keenan used Beckon, Wiemer and Ryder against the other team's top-scoring line.
The key players, however, were Gardner and Murphy, two players the Petes acquired with draft choices given to them as compensation when defenceman Paul Reinhart refused to report after being drafted by Peterborough.
Gardner was the Petes' scoring leader, with 43 goals and 63 assists in 59 games, but that was only good for 17th in the league's scoring derby. Murphy was second on the Petes with 89 points, including 68 assists, in 69 games.
Still, it was on defence where the Petes excelled. They gave up just 41 goals in 14 playoff games, a goals-against average of 2.93. That was simply a continuation of a regular season in which they allowed 238 goals (3.50 GAA), 37 fewer than anyone else.
The Cornwall Royals represented the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Yes, Cornwall is in Ontario, and every player on the roster was from Ontario. In fact, only Gilles Crepeau could speak French.
But that didn't keep the Royals from playing in the QMJHL.
The Royals originally had been in the Central Ontario Junior A League but moved in the late 1960s to the Montreal Metropolitan League in search of stiffer competition.
A year after the Royals moved, officials in the Montreal league, citing poor attendance, merged with the QMJHL.
"The Montreal league supported us,” Paul Emard, the club's president in the mid-1970s, said. "But the QMJHL tried to get us out until we proved ourselves by winning the Memorial Cup in 1971 and 1972.”
The Royals, at that point, weren't allowed to take part in the QMJHL midget draft but were allowed to trade within the league. Things got ugly when the Ontario Hockey Association ruled that Cornwall couldn't take players from Ontario.
But that was eventually sorted out and the Royals took part in the Ontario midget draft after refusing a QMJHL offer to take part in its draft.
Cornwall's executive sometimes pondered moving over to the Ontario league, but felt there was too much travel involved there.
As the 1980 Memorial Cup tournament approached, the Royals were the last QMJHL team to have won the championship, having accomplished that in 1972.
They won the QMJHL's 1979-80 championship under second-year head coach Doug Carpenter, and they won it by beating the Sherbrooke Castors in six games in the championship final.
The Royals, who went 41-25-6 in the regular season, won the sixth game 5-3, with centre Dale Hawerchuk, at just 16 years of age, scoring two goals and adding three assists.
The Royals started slowly along the playoff trail, taking seven games to eliminate the Shawinigan Cataractes. They followed that up by ousting the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, the QMJHL's highest-scoring team, in five games.
Then they finished off the Castors, who had the QMJHL's best regular-season record (45-20-7) that season.
Yes, Hawerchuk was the key to this team. Ironically, he had played for Keenan the previous season in Oshawa. Hawerchuk played between future NHL head coach Mark Crawford and Mike Corrigan and totaled 103 points, including 66 assists. In 18 playoff games, Hawerchuk led the QMJHL in all three major offensive categories, with 20 goals, 26 assists and 46 points.
Corrigan had 13 goals and 18 assists in the postseason, while Crawford, who had suffered a broken jaw early in the regular season, had eight goals and 20 assists.
While Hawerchuk may have been the key individual, this was a team with some offensive balance -- each of the nine top forwards had scored at least 20 regular-season goals.
Team captain Dan Daoust, who had 102 points, played between Rod Willard and Crepeau (he led the team with 48 goals), with the third line featuring Newell Brown, Scott Arniel and Pat Haramis.
Also on the Royals was right-winger Bobby Hull Jr., who had played the previous season with the WHL's Lethbridge Broncos. He scored 13 goals for the Royals. His brother Blake is pictured in the Royals' 1979-80 guide as a 17-year-old left wing-centre. Blake spent most of the season with a junior B team but practised regularly with the Royals.
The Royals had two excellent defencemen in Dave Ezard and Fred Arthur.
Ezard actually led the Royals in regular-season points, with 105, and his 45 goals set a QMJHL single-season record for defencemen.
Arthur led the Royals in assists, setting up 70 goals in 67 games. And, at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, he was highly rated by NHL scouts.
No one in this tournament, however, was rated any higher than Regina centre Doug Wickenheiser.
He was the centrepiece of the Pats rebuilding program, one that had them in the Memorial Cup just one year after they posted an 18-47-7 record.
During the offseason, team ownership changed hands, going from a group of local businessmen to the Saskatoon-based Pinder family.
Bob Strumm, a Saskatoon native who had been running the WHL's Billings Bighorns, was hired as the Pats' general manager and he brought in Bryan Murray as head coach. Murray had plenty of coaching experience, but none at the major junior level. (Ironically, Carpenter and Murray were the best of friends, having been in the same physical education class at McGill University and roommates at Montreal's Macdonald College.)
Strumm and Murray put together a team that won the WHL's East Division, with 95 points, an increase of 52 points over the previous season. The Pats went on to win the WHL championship in 18 games.
First to fall was Lethbridge, in four games. Then, the Medicine Hat Tigers (3-1) and Regina (2-2) advanced from a round-robin series that left Brandon (1-3) on the outside looking in.
The Pats then ousted the Tigers in five games and followed that up by winning the championship from the Victoria Cougars in five games.
Wickenheiser was the postseason leader in assists (28) and points (40), while teammate Mike Blaisdell was No. 1 in goals (16).
The Pats could boast of five players who had broken the century mark during the regular season. Wickenheiser won the scoring title with 170 points, including a league-high 89 goals. Also over 100 points were centre Ron Flockhart (130), defenceman Darren Veitch (122), who would play 40 minutes a game, left-winger Brian Varga (118) and Blaisdell, a right winger who had 71 goals and 109 points in 63 games.
Those five players, all of whom were featured on the first power-play unit, scored 282 goals, accounting for 65.8 per cent of the Pats' 429 regular-season goals.
The goaltender was none other than Bart Hunter, who had spent 1978-79 with the Portland Winter Hawks and then was added to Brandon's roster for the 1979 Memorial Cup tournament, where he wound up being selected the most valuable player. He knew all about the pressure of this event.
The Pats' foot soldiers included three players who had been with the Royals the previous season -- defencemen John McMillan and Mike Rainville, and right-winger Darren Galley, all of whom had moved west with Murray.
The tournament opened on May 4 in Brandon with the Petes beating the Pats 5-4 in overtime. The game was won when Mark Reeds scored at 3:52 of overtime in front of 4,055 fans.
Gardner, who scored one goal and set up three others, including the winner, was easily the best player on the ice.
The game was won off a faceoff in the Pats zone, one that provided some insight into Keenan the strategist.
With Wickenheiser poised to take the draw for Regina, Keenan chose, at the last minute, to send on the line of Gardner, Hidi and Reeds.
"Gardner's line had been productive all night,” Keenan explained, "and it was an opportunity in the offensive zone in sudden-death overtime. And Wickenheiser hadn't faced Gardner all night, so it was a change.”
Gardner won the draw, pulling it back to Reeds. Veitch failed to move out and block Reeds, whose quick wrist shot beat Hunter.
The Petes had come out looking as though they were going to blow away the Pats. Floyd, Reeds (he had two shots and scored on both of them) and Gardner gave Peterborough a 3-0 first-period lead. And it could have been worse, as the Pats generated only five shots on goal against a tight-checking Petes team. Surprisingly, Hunter was beaten on three of six shots he faced.
"We played so poorly in the first period,” Murray said. "We were definitely tight. I think it was quite simply a lack of experience at this level.”
Murray admitted the Petes gave his club some problems.
"Their forechecking bothered us at times,” he said. "But our wingers didn't really help out much. Our guys were terribly slow in setting up. I thought that three of our four defencemen played very well, but they certainly didn't get much help.”
The Pats got second-period goals from Darren Bobyck and Blaisdell to go into the third trailing 3-2.
Regina's most effective line on this night featured Glen Sorenson, Jock Callander and Barry Ziegler, and it was this threesome that forged a tie when Sorenson scored at 2:47 of the third period.
But 48 seconds later it was tied, as Hidi banged a rebound past Hunter.
The Pats forced overtime when Varga tipped in a shot by Veitch with just 1:24 left to play.
"After we got up 3-0,” Keenan said, "perhaps we got off our game a little. Give the Pats credit, though. They showed a lot of intensity in coming back.”
Gardner felt "we played really well in the first period, but we relaxed after that. And Regina has too much offence to relax.”
Everyone was waiting for the Pats' offence to explode, but it didn't happen the next night when they were beaten 5-3 by Cornwall in front of 3,540 Brandon fans.
"I don't know if we're pressing and that's hurting us,” Murray said. "We didn't do the things we normally do. You know the kids want to win but this isn't the Regina Pats team I'm accustomed to.
"It looks like the year is over for them. Some of our stars aren't doing a thing out there. They've got no intensity at all.
"Hawerchuk played our stars right into the ground.”
This one, too, could have been worse as the Royals outshot the Pats, 54-27.
"I thought we played exceptionally well,” Carpenter said. "We played very disciplined. We took the middle away from Regina's centremen.”
The Royals led 2-1 after the first period and Murray said it was only Hunter's play -- he stopped 20 shots -- that kept it from being 5-1.
Defenceman Fred Boimistruck scored both those goals for Cornwall, sandwiching them around a Regina score by Veitch.
Veitch then tied the score early in the second period, but Ezard put the Royals out front at 12:16 when he scored on one of his booming slapshots.
Ezard later left the ice on a stretcher after being checked by Bill Ansell. The preliminary diagnosis was an Achilles tendon injury.
Brown and Crawford added goals for Cornwall, with Varga scoring Regina's final goal.
All five of Cornwall's goals were scored from well out -- actually, from above the circles -- and Carpenter credited scouting for that.
"I watched Regina and Peterborough in the first game,” Carpenter said, "and the Petes' first goal was a bad one. I didn't think (Hunter) played the angle very well, so I said we'd work on that.”
The third game of the tournament -- before 3,273 fans in Brandon on May 6 -- featured two supposedly disciplined teams who tried to destroy their reputations inside of three hours.
The Petes ended up with an 8-6 victory -- their 13th straight triumph -- that left them 2-0 as the tournament shifted to Regina. The Royals now were 1-1, with the Pats at 0-2.
Ezard dressed but lasted just 10 seconds before that Achilles tendon injury forced him out of the game.
That forced Carpenter to give Pat O'Kane and Dan Zavarise, two 17-year-old defencemen, more playing time than they would normally get.

[nivek_wahs]

1980 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1980.html) continued...

The Petes outshot the Royals 7-0 only to have Boimistruck give Cornwall a 1-0 lead on his team's first shot.
Boimistruck would score again before the first period was up, and the Royals also got a goal from Crepeau. Steve Smith and Floyd replied for the Petes.
Crepeau sent the Royals out front 4-2 just 24 seconds into the second period.
Cornwall seemed to have things pretty much under control when the roof fell in and the Petes, a team not known for its offensive firepower, struck for five goals in a span of five minutes 37 seconds.
It started with Ryder's goal at 12:45. Then Tom Fergus scored. Then it was Floyd's turn, and he gave the Petes a 5-4 lead. Gardner made it 6-4 at 16:06 and Floyd closed the outburst with his third of the game at 18:22.
Just like that it was 7-4.
"That was not really very typical of us,” Keenan said. "It's not often we get exchanging goals like that with another team.”
Cornwall cut the lead to 7-5 in the third period when Brown scored in the midst of three consecutive Peterborough minor penalties. And the Royals made it 7-6 when Crepeau rounded out his hat trick at 14:06.
Beckon finished off the night's scoring at 15:10.
"We still played fairly good hockey,” Keenan said, "but we do need a bit more consistency.”
The teams headed for Regina and the remainder of the tournament.
In the first game in Regina, on May 7, the Petes overcame a 3-0 deficit to begin the third period and edged the Pats 4-3 before 6,008 fans, the largest crowd in the history of the Agridome.
The Petes, who clinched a spot in the final with the victory, scored four goals early in the third, with Bill Gardner getting the winner at 7:56.
After a scoreless first period, Regina got second-period goals from Veitch, Ziegler and Flockhart.
But it came apart in the third period as the Petes won it on goals from Fenyves, Murphy, Cirella and Gardner.
"I felt we could work a lot harder than we had,” Keenan said. "We had poor distribution, as far as ice time, among our four lines for the first two periods. As a result, we had a lot left for that third period.
"It didn't surprise me that the team came back. We've developed somewhat of a character in that respect.”
Keenan spent part of the game attempting to play mind games with Wickenheiser and the Pats. He repeatedly had Gardner, an alternate captain, ask referee Glen Agar to examine one of Wickenheiser's gloves.
Initially, Agar chose to ignore the request. Then, when Keenan called his players to the bench, Agar hit the Petes with a bench minor. Agar then chose to examine the glove and penalized Wickenheiser for using illegal equipment. The glove apparently had a hole in its palm.
"That,” seethed Murray, "is the cheapest thing a coach could call at this level of play. It shows what kind of class he has. We're in it to have a group of kids play and have the best team win. If that means calling stick or goalpad or glove measurements, then I think it's cheap.
"The glove was worn through, not cut out. It's obvious that will happen to equipment after 90 games.
"It riled our players. Some of them were obviously upset and between periods the others were all standing around taping the little holes in their gloves. I guess you forget what the whole game is about and try to win any way.
"Keenan showed his class and it upset our kids.”
Unfortunately, this was mild compared with what was to come.
On May 8, in front of 5,884 fans, the Pats finally got their offence untracked. And they used it to blow out the Royals 11-2.
Blaisdell had three goals and three assists, with Flockhart totaling two goals and four assists. Their six-point outings tied the single-game Memorial Cup record already shared by Joe Contini and Ric Seiling, teammates with the Hamilton Fincups in the 1976 tournament.
Galley, the left winger with Blaisdell and Flockhart, had two goals and an assist, giving the line 15 points on the night.
Wickenheiser, Callander, Ansell and Bobyck also scored for Regina.
Brown had both Cornwall goals.
"We had been playing too cautiously,” Blaisdell said, "concerned mainly with sticking with our man. But tonight we didn't worry as much about the defensive thing.
"When you look at the last Peterborough game (a 4-3 Petes' victory), we went out trying to run and intimidate them. Going down their roster, man for man, I feel we have a better skating team. Perhaps we should have been skating and let them try to run us.
"Maybe this game is too little too late but Peterborough looks like a team with a lot of pride. There's no way they should lose (in the next game against Cornwall). The Petes and the Pats are the two best teams in the tournament and I hope Peterborough shows its class by playing a strong game.”
Already there were ominous thoughts about what might lay ahead.
The Petes, you see, were guaranteed a spot in the tournament final. But . . . yes, there was a big but.
The Pats were 1-3 and finished with the round-robin portion. The Petes, at 3-0, had yet to play the 1-2 Royals. A Peterborough victory, meaning a Cornwall loss, would put the Pats into the final against the Petes.
And for a while on May 9 it looked as though that might happen.
The Petes, who now were riding a 14-game postseason winning streak, held a 4-1 lead over the Royals in the second period.
But, with 5,823 fans looking on, the Royals scored four goals and posted a 5-4 victory, thus getting the other spot in the final.
The ugliness began with 1:26 to play. Fans now realized their Pats weren't going to be in the final and began chanting "Throw the game” and "Petes, go home.”
Soon, the fans began throwing things -- toilet paper, programs, soft drinks -- at the Petes. There was a 15-minute delay before play could be resumed and that only happened with the arrival of some Regina city policemen.
Dave Senick, in the Regina Leader-Post, wrote:
"(The Petes) finally left amidst a shower of drinks and debris and remained locked in their dressing room for an hour. When they did leave, they silently walked out single file, stoically looking straight ahead and not stopping to talk to anyone.”
The Petes took a 2-1 lead into the second period. But there were already ominous signs. Peterborough had a five-minute power play in the first period and managed but three routine shots on the Cornwall goal.
By the end of the second, the Royals had cut the deficit to 4-2. They then scored three times in the third, twice on the power play, to take the victory.
Corrigan scored at 4:51 of the third to start the Cornwall comeback. Ezard tied it at 6:00 and Willard got the winner at 9:48, scoring with a backhand from the slot after he had been allowed to stand, unmolested, in front of LaFerriere.
Fenyves, Reeds, Hidi and Floyd scored for Peterborough.
The fix, Regina said, was in.
"This is a real disappointing day to be involved in junior hockey,” Murray said. "It wasn't a hockey game. Peterborough made sure they didn't win . . . It was a mistake that Peterborough was ahead by the third period but they soon corrected it. They avoided moving the puck out of their own zone.
"It's just a shame that people paid good money to see something like this. I didn't believe this would happen.”
Murray continued:
"What do we, as adults, tell the kids who were exposed to this? You talk to them and try to instil in them things like discipline and pride, but how will you ever get their confidence after something like this?”
Murray revealed that he had been interested in the Peterborough coaching job.
"It was between myself and Mike for the coaching job in Peterborough and I just told their owner that he had made the right choice,” Murray said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Maybe this is what you have to do to win.”
Strumm, as competitive an individual as ever lived, was stunned.
"I never expected something like this to happen,” he said. "When I play checkers with my nine-year-old nephew, I play to win.
"They've got quite a tradition in Peterborough with people like Scotty Bowman, Roger Neilson and Gary Green coaching there in the past. But this has put a black mark on the Petes.”
Keenan was asked if his team had thrown the game.
He replied: "I have no comment about tonight's game. We're preparing for Sunday's game.”
Keenan was then asked "about your team's third-period collapse.”
He replied: "I have no comment about tonight's game. We're preparing for Sunday's game.”
Across the way, the Royals were all but forgotten. And all they cared about was being in the final.
"I don't know if the Petes gave an effort or not,” Carpenter said. "We got in the final and that's what we're here for.
"But when you've got to rely on another team to get you into the final, you have no one to blame but yourself. Regina was playing this tournament in its own backyard and only won one out of four games. Who do they have to blame but themselves?”
Cornwall goaltender Ron Scott added: "I think Peterborough came into this game with nothing to work for. They were already in the final. I don't think they gave it their best effort, but they gave it some effort, at least.”
As for the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and its executives, well, the reaction was mixed.
CMJHL president Ed Chynoweth, who was finishing up one season as general manager of the WHL's Calgary Wranglers, refused to comment.
Roland Mercier, chairman of the Memorial Cup committee, was asked if he thought the Petes had thrown the game. He responded: "No.”
"All teams had bad games in this series,” Mercier explained. "All teams should play to win on the ice, not expect anybody to help them.”
QMJHL president Marcel Robert offered: "Personally, I feel it was a fair game.”
And OMJHL commissioner David Branch said: "There's no question in my mind (the Petes) played to their full potential. They're a top-notch organization. If they weren't due for a loss, I don't know who would be.”
The following morning, the CMJHL executive committee held an emergency meeting.
"It was unanimous there has to be a modification,” Branch said. "No team should be put in the position Peterborough was Friday night.”
Brian Shaw, the WHL's chairman of the board, added: "We, as adults, have put the youngsters in a precarious position because there is a loophole or two in the formula as we know it.
"The format, as it stands, is all right as long we put in a modification to prevent a recurrence of what happened Friday night. This formula is the best to bring together competitors from across Canada.
"There was a suggestion to go back to an East-West final, but we're involved with the education of our players. We don't want them out of class for the length of time it would take. With the present round-robin taking exactly one week, they don't miss too much school.”
The executive now was considering altering the format, allowing the round-robin winner to move into the final with the other two teams playing off for the other berth.
"We were lucky for eight years under this system,” Chynoweth said. "There's no sense moaning over what's happened now. Everybody coming into this knew the rules, knew the pitfalls and whatever. It's just unfortunate that this had to happen in our league's turn as host and in the host team's own city.
"Still, we (in junior hockey) do recognize that we do get ourselves into some great holes with the way we conduct ourselves at times.”
A change aimed at avoiding this situation would be implemented prior to the 1981 tournament. But the biggest change would come in 1984 when the CMJHL turned it into a four-team tournament by allowing a host team to have an automatic berth.
After all that, it was somewhat anticlimactic when the Royals won the final May 11, beating the Petes 3-2 on Robert Savard's only goal of the tournament, at 1:28 of overtime, in front of 3,500 fans.
Savard had scored just five goals all season before he went the length of the ice to win the championship.
"This was the most important goal in my life,” he said. "I told everybody back home, wait 'til we get into the championship game, I'll score the winner. But to actually do it is just incredible.”
Savard's goal was also the signal for some of the fans to unleash their frustrations. They did so by subjecting the Peterborough bench to a barrage of eggs, tomatoes, garbage and debris.
The Petes were not a pretty sight as they took part in the traditional postgame ceremonies, their uniforms and Keenan's suit splattered and stained.
The game had been interrupted on 16 occasions as fans threw eggs onto the ice. Someone even went so far as to throw a live chicken in the direction of the Petes' bench.
"Certainly, the crowd affected our play,” Keenan said. "There's no question about it. These are people who are only 18 and 19 years old and there's only so much you can expect from them.”
Daoust and Ezard also scored for the Royals, with Smith and Bovair counting for the Petes.
All of which set the stage for Savard, who took the puck from his zone into a Peterborough corner, cut toward the net and beat LaFerriere for the winner.
"I started to skate up over the red line,” Savard said. "I was thinking of dumping the puck in but their defencemen were backing up. I decided to go to the corner and look for someone high in the slot to pass to but nobody came after me.
"I looked up and saw a lot of ice so I went in and shot the puck right between his legs. It was a dream come true, the biggest and best goal of my career.”
Keenan and the Petes were left to defend themselves from charges emanating from their prior loss to the Royals.
Murphy pointed out that that game "was the first game in a long, long time that wasn't a matter of life or death for us. We weren't prepared for it.”
Keenan offered: "I'm fed up with the nonsense that is going on here. We never, ever threw a hockey game. It's been insinuated time and time again. We did not throw the game, we never had the intention of throwing the game. It was never in my mind. It was never a direction given any of our players. It was complete nonsense, garbage.”
He said he chose not to discuss the matter after that game because of the reception he received.
"I'm thoroughly disgusted with the irresponsible reporting of the reporters, their outright attacking me after the last game,” he said. "In terms of their questioning, they were fans with microphones rather than responsible reporters.”
As for the fans' behaviour in the final, he blamed that on the media, too.
"I'm sure the media prompted it, the talk shows and so on,” Keenan said. "It's just unbelievable that you people would act that way.”
And he took time to fire a volley at, well, at just about everyone:
"This whole ugly scene that's been created in the last three days has put an awful tarnish mark on the City of Regina and on hockey. With national television, all of Canada, I'm sure, is thoroughly disgusted with this city, with Regina Pats' fans, with the complete atmosphere that's been created out here.
"It wasn't just a small group of individuals who were abusing us tonight. It was most of the arena and that's a great reflection on the people from this city . . . The conduct of people in Regina is deplorable, disgraceful to their city and to their province. I feel very, very sorry for the representation they gave the western part of Canada.”


NEXT: 1981 (Victoria Cougars, Kitchener Rangers and Cornwall Royals)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1981 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1981.html)

1981 MEMORIAL CUP
Victoria Cougars, Kitchener Rangers and Cornwall Royals
at Windsor (Arena)


For the second year in a row, the Cornwall Royals, a team from Ontario, represented the province of Quebec in the Memorial Cup tournament.
And the Royals were back as the defending champions.
Prior to the tournament, a rule change had been implemented that would hopefully prevent an incident that had occurred a year earlier in Regina.
In 1980, the Peterborough Petes were put in a position where it was possible for them to determine the fate of another team by losing a game, and plenty of people in Regina felt they did just that.
Beginning with 1981, if after four games one team had clinched a berth in the final, the other two teams would play a two-game, total-goal series. If one team clinched a spot in the final after five games, the other two were to play a sudden-death semifinal game.
The Royals, as in 1980, were sparked by centre Dale Hawerchuk, now a 17-year-old veteran of the junior wars who played between John Kirk and Gilles Crepeau.
Head coach Doug Carpenter was gone, however, having moved on to the professional ranks as head coach of the American Hockey League's New Brunswick Hawks. Replacing him was Bob Kilger, who had been released as an NHL referee after the 1979-80 season and now was the Royals' general manager and head coach.
This would be Cornwall's last season in the QMJHL. The Royals would play in the Ontario league the next season.
And the Royals wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. They finished with the league's best regular-season record -- 44-26-2 -- scoring a league-high 403 goals in the process.
Hawerchuk won the QMJHL scoring championship, his 183 points providing a 17-point margin over Alain Lemieux of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. Hawerchuk also led the league in goals (81) and assists (102).
Scott Arniel of the Royals finished seventh with 123 points, including 52 goals.
The Royals also featured a rookie centre by the name of Doug Gilmour.
There were 11 veterans of the 1980 Memorial Cup-championship team back for another go-round, including forwards Marc Crawford, who was also the team captain, Arniel, Crepeau and Hawerchuk, along with defencemen Fred Arthur and Fred Boimistruck. The goaltending was provided by Joe Mantione and Corrado Micalef, the latter a pretournament addition from the Sherbrooke Castors.
As they had a year ago, the Royals started the playoffs in low gear. The Quebec Remparts, with the QMJHL's eighth-best record (31-39-2) provided the first-round opposition and took the Royals the full seven games.
Sherbrooke was next up and it, too, took the Royals to seven games before losing out.
At this point, the Royals had played 14 postseason games, winning eight and outscoring the opposition 69-51.
After all that, the championship final was rather anticlimactic, with the Royals beating the Draveurs in five games.
Meanwhile, the Kitchener Rangers, coached by Orval Tessier, were winning the Ontario Hockey League championship and penning something of a Cinderella story in the process. Tessier had played for the Barrie Flyers when they won the Memorial Cup in 1953 and he coached the Quebec Remparts to the 1971 title.
Just one year earlier, the Rangers had finished at 17-51-0, the worst record in the OHL. In 1980-81, they doubled their regular-season points total, finishing 34-33-1, and won the Emms Division on the final day of the regular season. They won 13 of their last 14 games to set the tone for the postseason.
In the playoffs, which featured nine-point series, the Rangers dumped the Niagara Falls Flyers 9-5 and then took out the Windsor Spitfires.
The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds had finished with the OHL's best regular-season record (47-19-2) and were expected to give the Ranges a tussle. It didn't happen as Kitchener romped to a 9-3 series victory.
The Rangers' offence was sparked by veteran Jeff Larmer and rookie Brian Bellows. Just 16 years of age, Bellows, the team captain, was coming off a 116-point regular season.
Kitchener's goaltending was handled by Wendell Young. A 17-year-old rookie, Young had really come to the fore in the postseason, posting a 3.15 GAA.
There was some pre-tournament talk suggesting that officials had wanted to move the tournament from Windsor to Kitchener to take advantage of the Rangers being in the event. But the switch never happened.
The Victoria Cougars, a team that featured goaltender Grant Fuhr, represented the WHL.
Jack Shupe, a veteran of the western Canadian coaching wars, was running the Cougars. Shupe had last been to the Memorial Cup tournament in 1973 with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Cougars actually trailed the Calgary Wranglers 3-1 in the WHL's best-of-seven final before rallying. They didn't win the WHL title until Terry Sydoryk broke a 2-2 tie at 18:07 of the third period of Game 7. An empty-netter by Grant Rezansoff made the final score 4-2.
The Cougars had finished on top of the West Division, their 121 points (60-11-1) leaving them eight ahead of the Portland Winter Hawks.
The Cougars' offensive leader was centre Barry Pederson, whose 147 points left him third in the scoring race, just 13 points off the lead.
Pederson added 36 points in the playoffs, second behind the 43 points put up by Calgary's Bill Hobbins.
Pederson was supported by Rezansoff, who totalled 27 playoff points after a 97-point regular season, Rich Chernomaz (113 regular-season points), Torrie Robertson 111), Brad Palmer, Paul Cyr, Bud McCarthy and Mark Morrison. This was a team that could score -- witness its league-high 462 goals.
But it was Fuhr who dominated this team. He was the primary reason for it surrendering only 217 regular-season goals, 49 fewer than any other team.
The Cougars opened the playoffs by sweeping the Spokane Flyers in four games. They then took apart the Winter Hawks in four straight.
That sent them into the final where they fell behind the Doug Sauter-coached Wranglers, who featured goaltender Mike Vernon, 3-1 in games before roaring back to win their first WHL championship since they entered the league in 1971.
"Fuhr was the difference,” Sauter said. "There's no doubt he's an all-star.”
This would also mark the first Memorial Cup appearance for a team from Victoria.
The tournament opened in Windsor on May 3 with Cornwall skating its way to a 6-3 victory over Kitchener, which took a 12-game unbeaten streak into the game, before 3,960 fans.
The Royals got off to a great start by beating Young on their first two shots, by defenceman Eric Calder and right-winger Dan Frawley, before the game was three minutes old.
"The first period was most important,” said Kilger, "since we wanted to play our game right from the start. We knew that we would have to take the body-checking, but they would have to skate with us.”
Hawerchuk, Arniel, Crepeau and Calder, with his second of the night, rounded out Cornwall's scoring.
Mario Michieli, Mike Clayton and Bellows, who spent most of the game being shadowed by Crawford, scored for Kitchener.
"We backed into our own end and took some useless penalties in the first period,” Tessier said. "And you can't do that against a team such as Cornwall that has Memorial Cup experience.”
Trailing 2-1 in the first period, the Rangers took two minor penalties and the Royals responded with power-play goals by Hawerchuk and Arniel before the period was half over.
After Arniel's goal, at 9:59, Steve Bienkowski replaced Young, who it turned out had injured his right arm in the warmup.
"I had asked him if he was all right before the game and he said, ‘Yes,' ” Tessier explained. "But he didn't even move on three of the goals.
"I used to be able to rely on my goaltenders telling me how they feel, but I don't know if I can do that any more.”
At the other end, Mantione stopped 18 shots in the first period and 43 on the game.
"They kept me on my toes,” he said. "I didn't expect them to come out as strong as they did, but it seems they shoot a lot more in the Ontario league than they do in Quebec.”
The Rangers actually fought their way back into this one and were within two goals when Bienkowski allowed a Calder floater from outside the blue line to get past him.
"That goal really killed us,” said Tessier, who obviously wasn't pleased with his goaltending. "We were totally deflated after that.”
Things didn't get any better for the Rangers on May 4 when they were beaten 7-4 by the Cougars before 3,200 fans.
"We got out there and we looked at the Cougar uniforms and we thought they were very pretty,” Tessier said. "We played like tourists at the start as we stood around and stared at them.”
The Cougars were wearing Cooperall uniforms, which featured full-length nylon pants, rather than knee-high pants with wool stockings.
"I don't know if we're feeling a letdown after the OHL final against Sault Ste. Marie,” Tessier added, “but the more this happens, the more I think we are.”
With the Rangers standing around, the Cougars roared out to a 4-0 lead before the game was 22 minutes old.
Pederson, with three, Cyr, Tony Feltrin, Daryl Coldwell and Morrison scored for the Cougars.
Kitchener got two goals from Russ Adam and one each from Lee MacKenzie and Larmer.
Bienkowski made 32 saves and went the distance despite being injured at 10:17 of the first period when a Pederson wrist shot hit him in the throat.
"I wanted to take him out,” Tessier said, "but the trainer (Les Bradley) assured me he could continue.”
The Rangers suffered one other injury when centre Grant Martin, their leading postseason scorer, banged up his right leg when he was checked by Len Dawes midway in the second period.
"Kitchener was kind of sloppy in their own end and they don't have a good skater,” said Fuhr, who made 28 saves and allowed his club to skate into a 7-1 lead. "But the guys in front of me also cut them off, so that they only had so much to shoot at.”
The bloom came off the Cougars the following night, May 5, as Mantione turned aside 29 shots to lead the Royals to a 3-1 victory in front of 3,629 fans.
"Joe played a superb hockey game for us,” Kilger said. "It was a challenge for him to play against Fuhr, whom many consider to be the best goalie in Canada.
"Joe's a very confident young man, and if you were to ask him who's the best goalie, he'd say, ‘Joe Mantione.’ ”
Crepeau, with two, and Arniel scored for the Royals, who now were 2-0 in the tournament.
Morrison counted for the Cougars (1-1).
"I love playing against another good goalie,” said the 18-year-old Mantione, who was one year removed from a junior B team in Hamilton. "I play that much harder just to show that I'm as good as the guy at the other end.”
Fuhr, the guy at the other end on this night, was no slouch himself, with 34 saves.
"I'm not going to pinch myself,” said Mantione, a 5-foot-10, 159-pounder, who put up a 4.00 GAA in the regular season. "I want to keep this happening.”
Mantione gave up a power-play goal to Morrison at 11:54 of the first period and was perfect after that.
The Cougars, who had lost right-winger Stu Kulak to a knee injury in their first game, watched as defenceman Rob Jacobson left with a facial cut. And Bob McGill, another defenceman, was playing with strained back muscles.
Cornwall, meanwhile, lost Kirk, the left winger on Hawerchuk's line, with a bruised shoulder on his first shift of the game.
By now, Tessier had brought in another goaltender -- Mike Moffat from the Kingston Canadians -- and was thinking about starting him in place of the injured Bienkowski.
Instead, he came back with Young and it paid off with a 6-4 victory over the Royals on May 6 in front of 3,433 fans.
Bellows led the way with three goals, but after the game Tessier was talking about his 2 1/2-year-old grandson, who went by the monicker Crusher.
"Crusher told the guys they had to win because he didn't come all the way to Windsor (from Cornwall) for nothing,” Tessier said of the team's pregame pep talk.
Mike Moher added a goal and two assists for the Rangers, with Kerry Williston and Larmer adding a goal apiece.
Hawerchuk, who was beginning to take control of this tournament, struck for three goals for the Royals and now led the event with seven points. Gilmour had Cornwall's other goal.
"We were so embarrassed by our first two games that we didn't want to show our faces around anywhere,” Bellows admitted. "The first two games we stood around.
"But in this game we took the initiative and made the other team adapt to us.”
Kitchener centre Russ Adam, who set up two goals, agreed with Bellows.
"We felt bad about letting down the fans, the league and ourselves since we're better than those games indicated,” Adam said.
On May 7, the Rangers came full circle as they beat the Cougars 4-2 to even their record at 2-2. Cornwall was 2-1, Victoria 1-2.
Moher, Bellows, Bob Hicks and Kevin Casey scored for the Rangers, before 3,400 fans.
Pederson and Coldwell replied for the Cougars.
The Cougars were eliminated on May 8 as Hawerchuk struck for four goals, two of them shorthanded and two on the power play, in an 8-4 Cornwall victory before 4,086 fans.
"The fact we gave up those two breakaway goals by Hawerchuk is unbelievable,” Shupe said. "I don't think we gave up a goal like that all year.”
The victory sent the Royals into the final, giving them a chance at their second straight title.
Arniel, with two, Crawford and Roy Russell also scored for the Royals.
Robertson, with two, Morrison and Cyr counted for the Cougars.
Hawerchuk's first goal came at 16:59 of the first period, with his club shorthanded and trailing 1-0 after Robertson had scored for Victoria.
Hawerchuk intercepted a pass at the Cornwall blue line and went in alone.
"I was lucky to pick up the puck,” said Hawerchuk. "I noticed how slow the puck would be moving across the ice, and I was just ready when it took a bad bounce. The ice was a little slow tonight.”
His second shorthanded goal proved to be the game-winner.
The Royals were leading 4-3 when he picked off another errant pass at his blue line.
"Fuhr came out to meet me and he had all the angles covered,” said Hawerchuk, who now had eight goals and 11 points in four games. "I wanted to shoot up high, but he had that covered, too.
"Luckily, I spotted an opening between the pads and I put it there.”
Kilger, for one, was thrilled that Hawerchuk was putting on a show.
"I'm glad to see what Dale has been doing in this tournament,” Kilger said. "He has a great deal of ability, a hell of a lot of heart, and he's all that we've been telling people he is for the past year.
"I think he's making a believer out of a lot of knowledgeable hockey people. And I definitely think he's the player of the year.”
Micalef, the QMJHL's top goaltender with Sherbrooke, stopped 35 shots and was especially sharp in the first period when the Cougars fired 20 shots at him.
"I thought we started off well in the first period, but we unfortunately only got one goal,” Shupe said. "Then we just fell apart in the second and third.”
Then, on May 10, the Royals became the fourth team to win back-to-back championships when they dumped the Rangers 5-2 behind three goals from Arniel before a sellout crowd of 4,500.
It was the Royals' third Memorial Cup title in 12 years. The first one, in 1972, was won with Tessier as head coach.
Gilmour and Russell also scored for the Royals, who got 35 saves from Micalef.
Bellows and Mike Eagles found the range for the Rangers, who got a dazzling 41-save performance from Young.
"This is by far the most exciting thing that I've ever experienced,” Kilger said. "I think now it's over I'll go out to the water, and if the fish aren't biting, I'll walk on the water.”
Still, the 1981 tournament belonged to Hawerchuk, who earlier in the week had been named major junior hockey's player of the year.
For the second straight year he was the tournament's top scorer. And this time he was named the most valuable player. He set one tournament record by scoring eight goals and tied another by totaling 13 points.
(Morrison went home with the sportsmanship award, with Micalef named the top goaltender. Micalef was on the all-star team along with Arthur and Kitchener's Joe McDonnell on defence, and forwards Hawerchuk, Crawford and Bellows.)
In later years, Gilmour would recall Hawerchuk's role in the tournament:
"He carried the team most of the season and through the playoffs and with his leadership we won the Memorial Cup. He did everything well. He just dominated when he was on the ice. He was the guy we looked at to bring us that leadership and score goals.”
Perhaps the ultimate compliment came from Bobby Clarke who, in the early 1990s, remembered that tournament.
"If you didn't know who he was when you walked in the door,” Clarke said, "you would think you were watching (Wayne) Gretzky.”


NEXT: 1982 (Portland Winter Hawks, Kitchener Rangers and Sherbrooke Castors)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1982 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1982.html)

1982 MEMORIAL CUP
Portland Winter Hawks, Kitchener Rangers and Sherbrooke Castors
at Hull (Robert Guertin Arena)


What once had been unthinkable finally happened in the spring of 1982 -- an American team was one of the three teams to qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament.
Understand, however, that this wasn't an ordinary major junior hockey franchise. This was the Portland Winter Hawks, who had penned an incredible success story.
The Winter Hawks moved to Portland from Edmonton in time for the 1976-77 season. Six seasons later, the Winter Hawks were Western Hockey League champions.
This was a franchise that had been orphaned by the birth of the World Hockey Assocation.
Before they were the Winter Hawks, they were the Edmonton Oil Kings, one of junior hockey's most storied franchises.
It was apparent early on that Edmonton wasn't big enough for the WHA's Alberta Oilers, who would later become the Edmonton Oilers, and the junior Oil Kings.
What complicated matters was that the Oilers actually owned the Oil Kings.
That changed on Nov. 18, 1975, when a group headed by Brian Shaw and Ken Hodge bought the Oil Kings from World Hockey Enterprises. The price? Slightly more than $150,000. That would be their final season in Edmonton.
‘Wild' Bill Hunter, a longtime Oil Kings' executive and coach who was then with the Oilers, pointed out that the sale was done because "our primary work must centre with the Edmonton Oilers.”
Hodge immediately took over as head coach of the Oil Kings, replacing Doug Messier. Yes, he is Mark's father. Ironically, Hodge had been fired as the Oil Kings’ coach the previous March.
Hodge was a familiar face in western junior circles; in fact, he was well-known throughout the junior hockey world.
He had played with the Moose Jaw Canucks, but his playing career was cut short by an eye injury. He got into coaching at an early age, serving as an assistant coach with the Swift Current Broncos before his 21st birthday.
By 1968-69, he was coaching the Sorel, Que., Eperviers, a team that lost the eastern final to the Montreal Junior Canadiens, featuring the likes of Gilbert Perreault, Marc Tardif and Rejean Houle.
Hodge would go on to coach in the west for 22 seasons, posting a Canadian major record 741 victories.
Shaw, who became the franchise's governor and general manager, was even more highly recognized in junior circles than was Hodge.
Born in Nordegg, Alta., in 1930, Shaw had been pretty much on his own since the age of 15. His parents had died during his childhood and a grandmother who raised him passed away when he was 15.
Shaw was a goaltender in his playing days, but he knew early on that he wanted to coach, a career he began in the late 1950s with the Jasper Place Juveniles in Edmonton.
By the time he became an owner of the Oil Kings, he had an extensive coaching portfolio. He had worked behind the bench with the Oil Kings on a few occasions, the first in August of 1971. His Moose Jaw Canucks won the WHL's first championship in the spring of 1967. He also coached the Ontario junior league's St. Catharines Black Hawks and the year before first coaching in Edmonton he was the personnel director of the International league's Flint Generals.
Yes, Shaw and Hodge knew their way around a dressing room.
The Oil Kings, who once drew 180,000 fans over one season, averaged 1,100 fans per game -- they played in the 5,800-seat Edmonton Gardens -- and lost more than $100,000 in 1974-75. Those figures didn't improve the following season.
On June 11, 1976, Shaw announced that the Oil Kings were moving to Portland.
They were an immediate success on the ice and at the gate. But, despite having 33 players drafted by NHL teams in their first five seasons in Portland, that first championship had eluded them. Until now.
And now the Winter Hawks were about to compete in their first Memorial Cup tournament.
"There's something special about this team,” Hodge said. "They've shown the ability to win the important games. We've never done as well in the playoffs.
"I don't think we've ever been as disciplined on the ice. The players are more concerned with what the team does than what they do as individuals.”
Offensively, the Winter Hawks were led by centre Ken Yaremchuk. He totalled 58 goals and 99 assists in 72 regular-season games.
Yaremchuk keyed Portland's top line, with wingers Brian Shaw (the GM's nephew) and Randy Heath. Shaw had 56 goals and 76 assists, with Heath scoring 52 goals and setting up 47 others.
"I've watched the Memorial Cup on television up in Canada the last three years,” Portland centre Ken Yaremchuk said. "It's the next biggest thing after the Stanley Cup.”
This was a team that could boast of 13 players with at least 10 goals, including Perry Pelensky (40), Rob Geale (31), Richard Kromm (16), Kevin Griffin (27) and Grant Sasser (19).
The defence was on the large size, featuring 6-footers Gary Nylund, Kelly Hubbard, Randy Turnbull, Brian Curran and Jim Playfair.
And in goal stood Darrell May, who was putting the wraps on what had been a solid four-year WHL career. During the Memorial Cup, he would get help from Mike Vernon, who was added from the Calgary Wranglers.
At 46-24-2, the Winter Hawks had the West Division's best record, but it was behind the Lethbridge Broncos (50-22-0) and Regina Pats (48-24-0).
The Winter Hawks opened the playoffs by sweeping the Kamloops Junior Oilers. Portland then won the West Division with a six-game victory over the Seattle Breakers.
That put them into the championship series against Regina. It was not a pretty affair.
On April 30, the Winter Hawks beat the visiting Pats 5-3 in a game that featured numerous fights. At one point, the Pats, who were coached by Bill LaForge, left their bench. Hodge kept his players on their bench.
And, at one stage, GM Brian Shaw got into it on the ice with Regina trainer Dennis Scott.
The Winter Hawks won their first championship on May 2, drubbing the suspension-riddled Pats 9-2 and taking the series 4-1.
And so it was that the Winter Hawks became the first American-based team to qualify for the Memorial Cup.
This tournament would also include the Ontario league's Kitchener Rangers, back for the second year in a row, and the Quebec league's Sherbrooke Castors.
The Rangers, coached by Joe Crozier, were keyed by linemates Brian Bellows and Jeff Larmer, and goaltender Wendell Young.
Bellows, the captain, was the team's undisputed leader and was coming off a 97-point regular season in which he had scored 45 goals in 47 games.
Bellows, a 17-year-old right winger, played on a line with centre Grant Martin and left-winger Jeff Larmer. Between them, they had scored 42 of the 71 goals Kitchener had scored in the playoffs. Larmer had 21 goals and 14 assists in 15 playoff games; in fact, he had gone goalless in just one of those games. Bellows had 16 goals and 13 assists; Martin had three goals and 15 assists, but had sat out the last three games with a suspension.
Mike Eagles, Mike Hough, Mike Moher, Mario Michieli and John Tucker could find the net, too.
Young was backed up by Darryl Boudreau, and the Rangers had added Jim Ralph from the Ottawa 67's as a third goaltender.
Defensively, the star was Al MacInnis, who was becoming a legend thanks to a booming slapshot. He had 25 goals and 50 assists in 59 regular-season games.
This defence also featured Scott Stevens and David Shaw, both of whom were rookies, along with Robert Savard, who was quite a story. He had scored the Memorial Cup-winning goal in overtime for the Cornwall Royals in Regina in 1980. And he was a member of the Royals the following season when they won it all in Windsor.
And now Savard was trying to make it three Memorial Cup championships in a row.
The Rangers went 44-21-3 in the regular season to finish on top of the Emms Division, and then skated past the Windsor Spitfires, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Ottawa 67's in the playoffs.
Kitchener went into the Memorial Cup on a real roll. Going back two seasons, the Rangers had lost just one of 27 OHL playoff games. Throw in Memorial Cup games and their overall playoff record over the last two seasons was 23-3-7.
Sherbrooke, under coach Andre Boisvert, put together a 42-20-2 regular season to finish first in what was now a one-division Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Centre John Chabot was the key offensively. He finished third in the scoring race with 143 points, including a league-high 109 assists.
Daniel Campeau tied for 10th with 108 points, including 58 goals.
Also on this team were the likes of left-winger Gerard Gallant (34 goals), right-winger Sean McKenna (57) and right-winger Luc Bachand (35), Dave Kasper and Gord Donnelly. The defence featured first-team all-stars Paul Boutillier and Michel Petit.
The goaltender was Michel Morissette and he was coming off a fine season, posting a 3.51 goals-against average in 45 games.
The QMJHL's first-round of postseason play was an eight-team round-robin series. Sherbrooke went 9-5-0 to finish second behind the Laval Voisins (10-4-0).
The Castors then went up against Laval in the second round and swept the Voisins, outscoring them 28-11 in the process.
In the championship final, Sherbrooke got past Trois-Rivieres in four games, outscoring the Draveurs 28-10.
The Castors had been the regular-season's highest-scoring team, with 392 goals. But they could keep the puck out of their net, too, as their 265 goals-against, third-lowest in the league, could attest.
This would be Sherbrooke's third Memorial Cup appearance, following 1975 and 1977. This one would be a little more special, though, because major junnior hockey was on its way out of Sherbrooke.
When another hockey season arrived, the NHL's Winnipeg Jets would have a team in Sherbrooke. The Castors? They relocated to St. Jean.
Sherbrooke opened the tournament as though it was a team with a purpose.
The Castors, who were thought to be the third-best team in the tournament, opened by hammering the Rangers 10-4 in front of 2,529 fans on May 8.
Sherbrooke, backed by a 52-save effort from Morissette, opened up a 4-1 first-period lead and never looked back.
Gallant struck for three Sherbrooke goals, with McKenna and Alain Gilbert adding two each, and singles coming from Bachand, Alain Menard and Petit.
Larmer had two goals for Kitchener, with Martin and Eagles adding one apiece.
Kitchener went through two goaltenders in the loss, with Young and Darryl Boudreau facing 33 shots.
The next night, before 2,396 fans, the Rangers got on track by whipping the Winter Hawks 9-2.
"You didn't see the real Rangers in that first game against Sherbrooke -- tonight, you did,” Bellows said. "That's the way we're going to play from here on.”
Larmer had two goals and two assists against Portland and now had seven points in his first two games. He said the Rangers held a team meeting after their opening loss and chose to change tactics.
They had tried to intimidate Sherbrooke and found that it didn't work. Against Portland, the Rangers chose to return to the fundamentals -- skating, passing and shooting.
Martin added two goals for Kitchener, with singles coming from Bellows, Michieli, Dave Nicholls, Hough and Moher.
Shaw and Geale scored for the Winter Hawks, who were outshot 40-31.
May's Memorial Cup debut lasted 16 minutes 38 seconds. He was replaced by Vernon with the Rangers leading 5-1.
"We just didn't play our game,” said Shaw the GM. "The players were nervous and they didn't hit.
"But they'll be hitting against Sherbrooke and the defence will have to do the work out there they didn't do tonight.”
The Rangers dumped the Beavers 4-0 on May 11 and the 2,359 fans witnessed a brawl-marred game.
Bellows and MacInnis had two goals each, with Young stopping 29 shots for the shutout.
But when it was over everyone was talking about the 20-minute brawl at 8:29 of the second period that necessitated a 35-minute delay as referee Daniel Cournoyer sorted it out.
According to The Canadian Press:
"It started with Gerard Gallant of Sherbrooke dropping Kitchener's Mike Eagles to the ice with a slash to the head in the Sherbrooke defensive zone.
"Kitchener players immediately took after Gallant. In seconds, the benches were empty with knots of struggling players swarming like bees from one part of the ice to another.”
Gallant ended up with a triple major and a game misconduct. Kitchener's Kevin Casey, the first player to leave a bench, took a double minor and a game misconduct.
"I gave (Eagles) a little bump and he gave me a jab in the stomach,” Gallant said. "I just went to give him a little jab (back) in the chest and my stick went up a little high.”
Within 24 hours, the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League's discipline committee acted on the altercation. The Rangers and Castors had to post $500 bonds. Kitchener was fined $1,000 because Casey was the first player off the bench.
Portland stayed alive on May 12 with a 4-2 victory over Kitchener. Attendance was 2,575.
The Winter Hawks got all four of their goals in the first period, from Heath, Yaremchuk, Kromm and Shaw. With Portland leading 4-0 at 12:26 of the first period, Young was replaced by Ralph.
"We thought before the game we were sure to be in the final -- you're on top of the world,” Bellows said. "Then it suddenly dawns on you that you could be out of the tournament.”
No matter. The Rangers were 2-2 and knew they would be in the final.
"Because we played so well last night (in beating the Castors 4-0), we thought we could do the same tonight,” Crozier said. "But we gave away a lot of chances early and then we couldn't beat their goalie.”
Bellows and Martin scored for the Rangers, who outshot the Winter Hawks 19-5 in the second period and 12-5 in the third but were continually stymied by May.
Kitchener fired at least 10 shots at May during a second-period major penalty incurred by Turnbull. That onslaught included a Bellows slapshot that put May down and out for close to five minutes. He later needed six stitches to close a cut over his right eye.
Hodge said he was still waiting for the real Winter Hawks to show up.
"The first period was the first time we looked like the Winter Hawks,” he said, "and then it was only for 20 minutes.”
With the Rangers already assured a berth in the final, the next night's game -- Portland against Sherbrooke -- became a sudden-death semifinal contest.
A Portland victory would leave the Winter Hawks at 3-1 and put them into the final. A Sherbrooke victory would leave the Castors and Winter Hawks at 2-2 and it would come down to goals-for and goals-against.
And that other berth would go to the Castors, who whipped the Winter Hawks 7-3 on May 13 before 2,694 fans.
All three teams finished at 2-2, with the Winter Hawks losing out in the tiebreaker -- Sherbrooke was plus-five, Kitchener was plus-three, Portland was minus-eight.
Sherbrooke had to first survive the loss of Morissette. The goaltender was ejected from the game after he left his crease to enter a second-period altercation.
The donnybrook resulted in referee Phil DesGagnes suspending play at 16:54 of the second period and adding that to the start of the third period.
DesGagnes penalized every player on the ice, with the exception of Vernon. Playfair also received a game misconduct. He was involved in a scrap with Kasper and then tried to get at Kasper in the penalty box.
Chabot and Gilbert scored to give Sherbrooke a 2-1 first-period lead, with Geale scoring for Portland.
Kromm scored on a power play early in the second period to tie the score 2-2.
Moments later, Morissette stoned David Kromm, Richard's brother, from in close and the Castors seemed to take life from that.
McKenna scored, and then Bachand and Chabot struck for power-play goals at 14:00 and 14:28.
Bachand and Gallant added third-period goals, with Turnbull scoring for Portland in the final period.
And so ended the first bid by an American-based team to win the Memorial Cup. The Winter Hawks would be back. And, yes, they would win.
On May 15, Kitchener won its first Memorial Cup championship, riding their captain to a 7-4 victory over the Castors before 4,091 fans.
The star was Bellows, who finished off his junior career with a brilliant five-point outing.
He scored three first-period goals as the Rangers took a 3-1 lead.
Bellows then set up second-period goals by Martin and MacInnis and the Rangers now led 5-2, with both Sherbrooke goals having been scored by McKenna, who would be named the tournament's most outstanding player.
Eagles wrapped up the victory with a pair of third-period shorthanded goals, while Mike Fafard and Boutillier scored Sherbrooke's last two goals.
The all-star team would feature Morissette in goal, Nylund, MacInnis and Boutillier on defence (the latter two tied), and McKenna on right wing, Chabot at centre and Larmer on left wing.
Bellows' five-point outing didn't figure in the voting as that was done prior to the final. He was named the most sportsmanlike player.
Larmer led the tournament with 13 points, one more than Bellows and two ahead of McKenna. Bellows and McKenna were tops with six goals each.
"We knew we had the better club and we took it right to them,” Crozier said.
"We just borrowed the Montreal Canadiens' defence and cut away the middle of the ice. That kept them to the outside where they couldn't hurt us.”
In later years, that defence would come to be known as the neutral-zone trap.
This would be the Castors' final season in Sherbrooke. Major junior hockey wouldn't return until the 1992-93 season when the Trois-Rivieres franchise relocated and became known as the Faucons.
And let's not forget Robert Savard, the Kitchener defenceman. He was on his third Memorial Cup championship team, making him at that point the only player to have played on three winners.

NEXT: 1983 (Portland Winter Hawks, Lethbridge Broncos, Oshawa Generals and Verdun Junior)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1983 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1983.html)

1983 MEMORIAL CUP
Portland Winter Hawks, Lethbridge Broncos, Oshawa Generals and Verdun Junior
at Portland (Memorial Coliseum)


And then there were four.
Beginning with 1983, the Memorial Cup would be decided using a four-team round-robin format.
Officials had decided to allow a host team automatic entry.
"This format, with a home-team as a participant, is the only economical salvation for the Memorial Cup tournament,” Brian Shaw, general manager of the WHL's Portland Winter Hawks, explained. "You can't play in buildings with only 2,000 or 3,000 fans, considering the cost of bringing in teams.”
(Ironically, that is exactly what would happen in the spring of 1994 in Laval, Que., and the Canadian Hockey League immediately began exploring the possibilities of returning to a best-of-seven Memorial Cup final featuring East versus West.)
But, for now, it was a four-team event and the first one would be played in Portland's Memorial Coliseum, meaning the Winter Hawks would be the first host team.
Major junior hockey was in for the time of its life as the Winter Hawks sold more than 6,500 eight-game ticket packages.
There was no denying that Portland was the most successful major junior franchise in North America.
"We are successful because of our people,” Shaw said. "We're a family that has stayed together for seven years.
"There has been virtually no turnover, from the general manager to the coach to the scouts to the trainer. We've been here from Day 1 -- July 21, 1976. We all share in everything.”
The 1982-83 edition of the Winter Hawks would go on to write one of the more intriguing stories in Memorial Cup history.
It became the first team to win the Memorial Cup without winning a league championship, the first host team in a Memorial Cup tournament and the first host team to win it all.
(During the week, Verdun Junior centre Pat LaFontaine would become the first American player named the Canadian Hockey League's player of the year. He would repeat his acceptance speech in French, for which he drew a rousing salute from his teammates. And when it was over, Portland centre Alfie Turcotte would be the first American player named the tournament's most valuable player.)
And Portland, under coach Ken Hodge, won the Memorial Cup with a goaltender who never played one WHL regular-season or playoff game in a Winter Hawks uniform.
Still, if you were going to pick a host team, well, it was tough to go against the Winter Hawks.
They may not have won the WHL championship, but they did get to the final.
Their 50-22-0 regular-season record was the best in the West Division and second only to the Saskatoon Blades (52-19-1) in the WHL. And the Winter Hawks set a WHL record by scoring 495 goals.
The Winter Hawks swept the Seattle Breakers in four games in an opening-round playoff series and then won the West Division championship by ousting the Victoria Cougars in five games.
Portland lost the championship final in five games to the Lethbridge Broncos, a team that caught fire in the playoffs after a 38-31-3 regular-season record left them fifth in the East Division.
Seven Portland players had 100 or more points -- Ken Yaremchuk (160), Randy Heath (151), Alfie Turcotte (127), 17-year-old right-winger Cam Neely (120), Grant Sasser (119), team captain Richard Kromm (103), whose father, Bobby, coached the Trail Smoke Eaters to the world championship in 1961, and defenceman Brad Duggan (100). Ray Ferraro had 90 points in 50 games.
There were nine 20-goal scorers on that 1982-83 Portland team that averaged almost seven goals a game. On defence, the Hawks gave up the incredible total of 387 goals (almost 5.5 goals a game) -- only the 1988-89 Winter Hawks were able to finish on top of a division and surrender more goals (395).
Portland goaltender Bruno Campese went into the 1983 Memorial Cup with a 5.45 goals-against average in the regular season. In the postseason, that figure was an incredible 5.75. Ian Wood, Campese's backup, had his season ended by a neck injury in the playoffs.
Portland added goaltender Mike Vernon from the Calgary Wranglers and he would play in three games, including the final.
Lethbridge, under head coach John Chapman, got off to a dismal start and was 12-23-2 halfway through the regular season. The Broncos, however, put together a 26-8-1 finish and were on a roll going into the playoffs.
Lethbridge had scored 211 fewer goals than had Portland. But the Broncos had also allowed 116 fewer goals.
Centre Doug Kyle was the Broncos' leading scorer. His 103 points, including 47 goals, left him tied for 26th in the WHL scoring race.
Next in line on the Broncos was Ivan Krook, with 88 points.
The Sutter twins -- Ron and Rich -- combined for 72 goals and 150 points, but it was their character that meant so much to this team.
Other forwards like J.C. McEwan and Troy Loney brought grit to the lineup.
On defence, there were the likes of Mark Tinordi, Bob Rouse, Darcy Kaminski, Gerald Diduck and Marty Ruff.
And in goal there was Ken Wregget, who had a 3.49 GA, second to Vernon's 3.26 during the regular season. Unfortunately, the Broncos wouldn't have Wregget's services in the Memorial Cup tournament after he injured an ankle in the last game of the WHL final.
In the playoffs, the Broncos simply got on a roll.
Led by Ron Sutter, who would top all playoff scorers in goals (22) and points (41), the Broncos swept a best-of-five first-round series from the Winnipeg Warriors, then eliminated Saskatoon in six and Calgary in six.
In the WHL final, the Broncos took out the Winter Hawks in five games.
And, yes, familiarity does breed contempt.
By the time the teams arrived in Portland, there wasn't any love lost between the Winter Hawks and the Broncos.
Oshawa, meanwhile, had finished third in the OHL's Leyden Division, with a 45-22-3 record.
The Generals, of head coach Paul Theriault, had also been through a roller-coaster of a season. They opened with left-winger Tony Tanti and defenceman Joe Cirella, both of whom were expected to be in the NHL, on their roster. Left-winger Dave Andreychuk, though, was with the Buffalo Sabres.
Eventually, Andreychuk was returned and the Generals put together a 24-game unbeaten string.
Then came the world junior tournament, with Andreychuk, Cirella and Tanti joining Team Canada. Only Cirella returned, as Andreychuk went back to Buffalo and Tanti ended up with the Vancouver Canucks.
"For a month and a half, we were at rock bottom,” Theriault said. "It was the lowest point of the season for the hockey club.
"We had to change our style completely. By the middle of February, we started to win. We began believing we could win.”
Up front, the team was led by right-winger John MacLean, who totalled 98 points, including 47 goals, and Dave Gans. In the postseason, MacLean and Gans totalled 37 points each.
The best of Oshawa's defencemen was Cirella, the team captain. He had played 65 games with the NHL's Colorado Rockies in 1981-82. Back in Oshawa for 1982-83, he had 55 assists and 68 points in 56 games.
And the Generals, who allowed 255 regular-season goals, relied heavily on goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz. He was 36-20-3 with a 3.61 GAA in the regular season. In the postseason, he won 15 of 16 decisions and posted a 3.53 GAA.
The Generals, in winning their first OHL championship since 1965-66 when Bobby Orr was the star attraction, swept the Peterborough Petes, got past the Ottawa 67's and then, in the final, swept the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Head coach Pierre Creamer's Verdun squad was the first Montreal-area team to win the QMJHL title since the league was formed prior to the 1969-70 season.
The Junior had one star, but oh, what a star he was.
Centre Pat LaFontaine, an 18-year-old from Detroit, had won the QMJHL scoring title with an incredible 234 points. He was also tops in goals (104) and assists (130).
Jean-Maurice Cool was sixth in the scoring race, with 149 points, including 65 goals. Gerard Gallant, who came over from the St. Jean Castors in a trade, was 10th. He had 128 points, including 54 goals.
Still, Verdun, which scored a league-high 486 goals, didn't have the QMJHL's best record. At 50-19-1, it trailed centre Mario Lemieux and his Laval Voisins (53-17-0) in the Robert Lebel Division, the league having returned to a two-division format. Shawinigan Cataractes were 52-16-2 and on top of the Frank Dilio Division.
Verdun took out the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs in four games in an opening best-of-seven series, and then ousted Shawinigan in six games to reach the final.
That final went six games with the Junior Canadiens finally sidelining the Longueuil Chevaliers, an expansion team under head coach Jacques Lemaire, who had upset Laval in a five-game semifinal series. Verdun played its home games in the final series in the Montreal Forum and drew almost 60,000 fans.
LaFontaine picked up in the playoffs where he had left off in the regular season. In 15 postseason games, he had 35 points, including 11 goals.
There was plenty of bad blood in this tournament, too, most of it between Lethbridge and Portland.
Part of it was due to the fact the Broncos and Winter Hawks had met in the WHL final. Then, too, there was the situation involving Wregget and Vernon.
With Wregget hurt, the Broncos needed a goaltender and wanted Vernon, who had already joined the Winter Hawks as a backup to Campese.
Vernon had been practising with Portland for three days when Lethbridge lost Wregget. Vernon then apparently refused to join the Broncos, something that had Chapman steaming.
"It's garbage that Vernon should be allowed to play for Portland after he turned us down,” Chapman said. "The rules say the league champion gets the first pick when adding a goaltender.”
Chapman, who added goaltender Dave Ross from the Kamloops Junior Oilers, later apologized.
"I was wrong because if Mike Vernon didn't want to play for us, Dave Ross would have rode a bike from New Haven to be in this series,” Chapman said. "I was flogging a dead horse.”
Unfortunately for the Broncos, they were out of this tournament almost before it got started.
One of the problems associated with a four-team tournament was that it had to start on Saturday and one team could be done by Monday.
Which is what happened to Lethbridge.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves . . .
The tournament opened on May 7 with a doubleheader -- 5,735 fans watched Oshawa whip Lethbridge 8-2 and 7,346 fans saw Portland open with a 7-6 victory over Verdun.
Defenceman Norm Schmidt, who was coming off a severe leg injury, and Gans had two goals each for Oshawa, which led 1-0 after one period before outscoring Lethbridge 4-1 in the second. Cirella, Dale DeGray, Dan Gratton and Jeff Steffen also scored for the Generals.
Rich Sutter had both Lethbridge goals.
In the other Saturday game, Portland, with Vernon in goal, took a 4-1 first-period lead and stretched it to 7-2 after two periods. Verdun then struck for four third-period goals but couldn't get the equalizer.
Sasser and Neely had two goals each for the Winter Hawks, with singles coming from Yaremchuk, Heath and Curt Brandolini.
Gallant, with two, Cool, LaFontaine, Jacques Sylvestre and Daniel Roy replied for Verdun, which outshot Portland 44-31.
On May 8, Verdun beat Lethbridge 4-3 in front of 5,764 fans and Portland doubled up on Oshawa 10-5 with 6,070 fans in attendance.
Verdun got two goals from Sylvestre and singles from Gallant and Roy as it took a 4-2 lead into the third period.
Krook pulled the Broncos to within one at 13:45 of the third period but that was as close as they would get.
Again, Rich Sutter scored twice for the Broncos, who outshot Verdun, 47-33.
In the other Sunday game, Oshawa scored the game's first two goals and actually took a 3-2 lead into the second period. The Winter Hawks outscored the Generals 4-2 in the second and then got the only four goals of the third period.

[nivek_wahs]

1983 continued...

Yaremchuk and Turcotte each had three goals and two assists for Portland, with Heath adding two goals and Kromm and Sasser getting one apiece.
Don Biggs, Schmidt, MacLean, Cirella and Greg Gravel replied for Oshawa.
Just like that, Portland was guaranteed a spot in the final a week hence. And Lethbridge's hopes were done like burnt toast.
"Our motivation last year was to get to the Memorial Cup,” Hodge said. "This year our objective all along has been to win the Memorial Cup.
"We've known for some time that we'd get a bye into this series, so the loss to Lethbridge in the league final wasn't as bad as it seemed. We knew we'd have another chance to prove we're the best junior hockey team in Canada . . . and the United States.”
Lethbridge gained a measure of revenge on May 9 when it hammered the Winter Hawks 9-3 in front of 8,811 fans.
"Tonight, you saw the way our hockey club played and beat Portland in the Western Hockey League final,” Chapman said. "I think we showed the other two teams, if they were watching, how to beat Portland with good forechecking.”
Ron Sutter scored three times for the Broncos, with Kyle scoring twice. Singles came from Ruff, McEwan, Rouse and Loney.
Terry Jones, Turcotte and Heath scored for the Winter Hawks.
"You can compare Yaremchuk and Ron Sutter all you want,” Chapman said. "In head-to-head competition over the five-game final Sutter outscored Yaremchuk 12-1. That should tell you why it wouldn't have mattered if he played tonight or not.”
The Ron Sutter versus Yaremchuk siuation had turned into something of a sideshow.
Yaremchuk had taunted several of the Broncos after they were beaten by Verdun. After that came reports that Yaremchuk had been threatened by Lethbridge team personnel.
The Winter Hawks knew going into the game against Lethbridge that they would play in the final, so they sat out Yaremchuk and Vernon, claiming both were injured, the former with a sore thigh, the latter with a sore neck.
"We're the better team and we've proved it by winning five of the last six games against Portland,” Chapman continued.
As for Hodge, he said: "Yaremchuk is vital to our team and it was my decision, not anyone else's, to rest him. Players threaten other players every game in junior hockey. It's a fact of life.
"Verbal intimidation had nothing to do with sitting out Yaremchuk. I'm proud of the effort by my team. They also played with a lot of class under the circumstances.”
In the end, the Broncos didn't get much support from the fans.
"We showed a lot of class tonight by playing good, sound hockey and not getting into any brawls,” Chapman offered. "It's too bad the Portland fans weren't the same. They should remember that we're from the west, too, and represent the same league.”
None of this sat very well with WHL president Ed Chynoweth.
"I'm disappointed that this sort of thing happened because we're putting on a good showcase here,” Chynoweth said.
All of this meant that Oshawa and Verdun would play the tournament's next two games -- the first would be the final round-robin game, the second would be the semifinal game.
The Generals won the first of those games 5-1 on May 10 before 5,764 fans. The game featured 40 penalties totalling 141 minutes.
"Verdun won quite handily in the Quebec league,” Theriault said. "I don't think intimidation is a very sound game plan.
"We were a better team tonight than Verdun, but we'll have to prove again Thursday that we're the better team.”
The Generals spent much of the night trying to soften up Verdun.
"It's been our observation that Verdun has a lot of speed,” Theriault said. "If you give them the ice, they're going to burn you.
"The reason we're here is because we're a good checking team. When you play a team like that, if you don't finish your checks and cut their ice down, they're going to beat you.
"That means being physical on the puck, physical along the boards and in the corners. If we're not going to beat them in the middle, we have to beat them along the boards and in the corners.”
Gravel, Dave Gans, Todd Hooey, MacLean and Todd Charlesworth scored for Oshawa, with LaFontaine getting Verdun's lone goal.
Verdun was hurt by illness -- LaFontaine spent part of the day at a hospital being treated for allergies.
"We beat teams all year in our league who tried to put us out with checking,” Creamer said. "We'll concentrate on scoring more goals Thursday.”
After taking a day off, the two teams met again on May 12, with the winner advancing to the final against Portland.
Again, the Generals were triumphant, this time by a 7-5 count before 5,173 fans.
Oshawa trailed 3-0 and 4-1 in the first period before roaring back to the victory.
"This is something like the 85th game of the season and I can't recall us ever coming out that flat,” Theriault said. "I've never had to concern myself with the players' desire to win.
"Tonight it was a physiological thing. The players wanted to do well, but some of them couldn't. Maybe it's the flu that's been going around, I don't know.
"Between the first and second periods I wrote down the names of the 20 players and tried to find 10, 11 or 12 who could do the job. We went with them, changed our forechecking system and opened up the game. We played it Verdun's way, wide open, and came back.”
Schmidt broke a 5-5 tie at 6:07 of the third period, just 24 seconds after Jean-Pierre Poupart had tied it for Verdun. Gans capped the rally with an empty-net goal.
Dean DeFazio, Gratton, Hooey, Cirella and Dan Nicholson also scored for Oshawa.
Cool, with two, Sylvestre and LaFontaine had Verdun's other goals.
"This was our 95th game and I won't criticize any one player at this stage,” Creamer said. "But we didn't react too well to the pressure when we had the lead.
"Our experienced defencemen didn't play great hockey. Jerome Carrier was named to the all-star team here and he was our fifth defenceman all season. Our other defencemen should have helped him be even better.”
Creamer used goaltender Marc Hamelin, an addition from Shawinigan, in the semifinal game. Earlier in the tournament, he had used his two regular goaltenders, Gilles Heroux and Michel Campeau.
(The all-star team also included Sidorkiewicz, Cirella, Heath, Yaremchuk and MacLean. Gans was named the most sportsmanlike player and Vernon was the top goaltender.)
The final game, on May 14, belonged to the Winter Hawks. Paced by Neely's three goals, they thrilled 9,527 howling fans with an 8-3 victory over Oshawa.
It was somehow only fitting that Turcotte, a native of Holt, Mich., should be named the tournament's most valuable player. After all, it was the 65th year of the Memorial Cup -- and it was the first time it had been played in the United States and the first time an American team had won it.
The Winter Hawks had one other American player in their lineup -- Sasser was from Portland.
"I felt today, with the fans chanting ‘U.S.A., U.S.A.', just like it was 1980 again,” Turcotte said after he scored one goal and set up another in the victory that included four power-play goals. "I remember watching the Olympics on television from Lake Placid and getting a spine-tingling feeling when the Americans won the gold medal.
"This is the same kind of feeling, in a way, because it's the fans who got us going. They deserve the Memorial Cup and the players were happy to give it to them today.”
"This,” Hodge stated, "is a history-making day for everyone connected with the Portland organization. We wanted to win it for our fans -- and ourselves.”
While Neely had three goals, his linemates didn't do too badly either -- Heath had a goal and two assists, Yaremchuk had three assists.
"We're mostly a Canadian team playing in an American city,” Curran said. "But just as much was 20 guys deserved to win this tournament, those 9,500 people deserved it, too.”
Kromm, Hubbard and Ferraro scored Portland's other goals.
"There's no doubt that this is the biggest moment of my career,” Kromm said. "We had one chance to do it . . . and we did it.”
DeGray, MacLean and Hooey scored for Oshawa.
Cirella, who tied with Heath and Yaremchuk for the tournament scoring lead with 11 points, offered: "They beat us twice here so they deserve to be champions. The better team won today, but in our hearts we're still winners.”
Oshawa general manager Sherry Bassin said the Winter Hawks "kicked our buns twice and were the best team in the tournament.”
When all was said and done, Shaw revealed that the tournament's eight games had drawn 54,090 fans.
The Memorial Cup was, indeed, growing up.
"Everybody knew going in that Portland had a bye going into the series,” said WHL president Ed Chynoweth. "How can anybody think it's embarrassing to have the crowds we've had here?
"I think we're very fortunate that it's worked out this well. This is an event, a happening, a financial success.”
Shaw said: "Most of the general managers and officials I've talked to like the format, with the possible exception of Lethbridge, and I might feel the same way if I were them.”
Chapman wasn't so sure.
"It could have worked the other way and we'd be in the playoffs,” he said. "We just didn't win at the right time.”

NEXT: 1984 (Kamloops Junior Oilers, Kitchener Rangers, Ottawa 67's and Laval Voisins)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1984 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1984.html)

1984 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Junior Oilers, Kitchener Rangers, Ottawa 67's and Laval Voisins
at Kitchener (Memorial Auditorium)


This was a Memorial Cup that was eagerly anticipated by hockey people, scouts and fans alike.
It had nothing to do with which teams were, or weren't, gathering in Kitchener to decide the 66th winner of the Memorial Cup.
Instead, everyone was anxious to see centre Mario Lemieux.
And why not?
A year earlier, everyone was singing the praises of Verdun Junior centre Pat LaFontaine. All he had done was lead the QMJHL in goals (104), assists (130) and points (234). Impressive accomplishments? Certainly.
But then along came Super Mario.
All he did was score 133 goals and set up 149 others, giving him 282 points in 70 games. Impressive? Surreal.
Yes, Lemieux won the scoring title. When the regular season ended, he had a 112-point edge over linemate Jacques Goyette. Alain Bisson, the other member of the line, was 12th, with 31 goals and 82 assists.
Two other Laval skaters were in the top 10 -- Francois Sills was sixth, with 130 points, and Yves Courteau was 10th, at 120.
The Voisins -- they would become the Titan after this season -- were without centre Michel Mongeau down the stretch. He missed the QMJHL playoffs with mononucleosis but vowed to play in Kitchener "even if it means I have to sleep all week.”
Paced by Lemieux, Laval scored an amazing 527 goals. No other QMJHL team scored more than 400 goals. The Longueuil Chevaliers, with 371 goals, were second in offence.
At the same time, Laval allowed only 289 goals -- one supposes the Voisins had the puck all the time, proving that the best defence is, indeed, a good offence. Only the Shawinigan Cataractes, who gave up 287 goals, were better defensively.
The Laval defence was headed up by Steven Finn and Bobby Dollas. Tony Haladuick was the No. 1 goaltender.
The Voisins, of head coach Jean Begin, coasted through the first two rounds of postseason play, brushing aside the Granby Bisons and Drummondville Voltigeurs in four games each, scoring 46 goals and allowing 23 en route to the championship final.
There, they met up with the Chevaliers and it took six games for them to advance.
Yes, Lemieux was the top scorer -- he totalled 52 points, including 29 goals, six of them in the sixth game of the final, in only 14 games.
That meant that in 84 games, Lemieux, who wore No. 66, scored 162 goals and set up 172 others, for a grand total of 334 points. Yes, it was a season for the ages.
"It will be the 66th Memorial Cup and I hope our No. 66 will continue his output of the regular season and playoffs,” Begin said.
Brian Kilrea's Ottawa 67's, meanwhile, rode into the Memorial Cup tournament on a 13-game unbeaten streak. After an opening-round bye, the 67's put together the unbeaten string, eliminating the Oshawa Generals, Toronto Marlboros and Kitchener Rangers in the process. They took the eight-point final from the Rangers in five games -- three victories and two ties.
Kilrea had put together a team that featured Darren Pang, whom the coach considered the best junior goaltender in Canada. Pang had a 3.04 GAA in 43 regular-season games. Then he played in all but 54 minutes during the playoffs and was at 3.30.
On defence, Kilrea said, "This club has Brad Shaw, Mark Paterson, Bruce Cassidy and Roy Myllari and I'm not afraid to use them in any situation.”
Cassidy and Shaw were also key offensive players. Cassidy was the team's second-leading point-getter in the regular season, with 95, including 27 goals. He added six goals and 16 assists in the playoffs. Shaw had 11 goals and 71 assists in the regular season, then added two goals and 27 assists in the postseason.
The club's leading pointman was right-winger Don McLaren with 113, including 43 goals. Centre Adam Creighton had 41 goals and 49 assists in only 56 games as he spent part of the season with the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
In the OHL final, Creighton was used to check Kitchener ace John Tucker. Still, Creighton ended the playoffs with 16 goals and 12 assists, his 28 points second on the team to Shaw's 29.
Ottawa had finished the regular season at 50-18-2, just behind Kitchener's 52-16-2. The two teams had quite a rivalry. But while the 67's were making their second appearance in the tournament -- they had lost to the New Westminster Bruins in the 1977 final -- the Rangers were about to appear in their third tournament in four seasons.
Kitchener coach Tom Barrett knew his team had struggled down the stretch, perhaps because it had clinched a spot in the Memorial Cup some seven weeks before the tournament began.
The OHL had decided its top regular-season point-getter would be the host team. That turned out to be the Rangers.
"It showed right away,” right-winger Wayne Presley said. "We clinched it on a Friday night with our 25th straight win, and then we went into Peterborough and lost 5-1 to the Petes, who we'd had no trouble with all year.
"In the back of our minds, we knew we were in the Memorial Cup. So why try hard?”
Presley was the Rangers' top gun, with 139 points, including 63 goals, in 70 regular-season games.
But Tucker was the star.
Tucker, who spent two months with Buffalo, scored 40 goals and finished with 100 points in only 39 games, accomplishments that earned him the OHL's most valuable player award.
Defenceman Dave Shaw also spent time in the NHL, with the Quebec Nordiques.
But it was the injury bug that had the Rangers concerned going into the tournament. Defenceman Jim Quinn, left-winger Greg Puhalski, a 99-point man, and 52-goal right-winger David Bruce all were questionable for the start.
And goaltender Ray LeBlanc, at 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, just about was running on empty.
"He's played in 45 of our last 46 games and he's just physically exhausted,” Barrett said.
LeBlanc had posted a 3.74 regular-season GAA and had put together a 31-game winning streak. But the Rangers went into the tournament having won only two of their last 10 games and having lost by such scores as 9-4, 11-6 and 13-4.
If there was a team, besides Laval, that knew all about scoring goals it was the WHL-champion Kamloops Junior Oilers.
They led the WHL with 467 goals and boasted 10 20-goal scorers, but none with more than centre Dean Evason's 49.
Evason finished with 137 points, good for sixth in the scoring race. Defenceman Doug Bodger was next on the Blazers, with 98 points.
Other forwards like Mike Nottingham (48 goals), Tony Vogel (41), Greg Evtushevski (27), Stacey Wakabayashi (32), Ryan Stewart (31) and Doug Saunders (35) knew where the other team's net was, too. So did Jim Camazzola, who had 27 goals and 52 points in only 32 games.
And they also had 16-year-old Rob Brown, who had 16 goals and 58 points in 50 games as a rookie.
Coached by the volatile Bill LaForge, the Junior Oilers had won the West Division with a 50-22-0 record. In fact, that was the WHL's best record, three points better than Regina Pats' East Division-winning total. (During the Memorial Cup, it would be announced that LaForge was to be the next head coach of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.)
Kamloops swept through its division playoffs, winning best-of-nine series from the Seattle Breakers and Portland Winter Hawks in five games.
And, in the championship final, the Junior Oilers went the full seven games before sidelining Regina. Evason totalled 41 points in 17 playoff games, while Camazzola had 31 points.
The biggest improvement, however, was in goal. Darryl Reaugh, who had posted a 4.34 regular-season GAA, got it down to 3.52 as he played in all 17 postseason games.
The Junior Oilers were owned by the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, a situation that would change over the summer when the franchise was sold to a community group.
Kitchener opened the tournament on May 12 by hanging an 8-2 whipping on Laval before 6,723 fans.
Lemieux was held pointless for just the third time in 85 games.
Brian Wilks and Carmine Vani, with two goals each, Puhalski, Shawn Burr, Tucker and Presley scored for the Rangers, who led 3-0 and 7-0 at the period breaks.
Mongeau and Courteau scored for Laval, which was outshot 45-20, including 14-2 in the second period.
The Rangers made it two in a row on May 13 as they hung on to beat Kamloops 9-7 in front of 6,494 fans.
"We were jittery since we didn't know anything about Kamloops,” Barrett said after his club had clinched at least a semifinal berth. "The crowd was maybe worth a goal for us, but we were also scared because if you don't play well, they'll be on their feet.”
Wilks and Garnet McKechney, with two each, Presley, Bruce, Puhalski and Shaw scored to put the Rangers out front 8-0 before the game was half over.
Brown and Camazzola put Kamloops on the board before the second period ended.
Then, Vogel scored in the third period. And Camazzola added another one. Before Kitchener knew what had hit it, Stewart, defenceman Ken Daneyko and Evason had scored to bring the Junior Oilers to within one at 8-7. And there was more than three minutes left.
But, finally, Bruce iced it with an empty-net goal at 19:53.
"I think we quit after we got the big lead,” Barrett said. "We got it easier than we should have got it. Then we laid back, didn't close the door and they took it to us.”
Also on May 13, Ottawa clinched at least a semifinal berth by beating Laval 6-5 before 6,582 fans.
Lemieux was held to a goal (it came 1:39 into the game on a power play) and an assist, but felt he had played better than in the opener.
"Everybody has been talking about how I didn't give a good performance last night, so I had to play very well tonight,” Lemieux said.
Mongeau and Courteau also scored early for Laval, which led 3-1 just 10 minutes into the game. McLaren accounted for Ottawa's first goal.
Cassidy and Bill Bennett tied it with power-play goals, before Mongeau sent Laval out front again, only to have Bennett tie it again on another power play.
Creighton and Sills then traded goals before Phil Patterson won it at 9:07 of the third period.
"Obviously, some of our players thought they were going to pad their totals tonight because they played as individuals and not as a team,” Kilrea said.
He had lifted Pang, in favor of Greg Coram, just 1:51 into the game after Laval had scored on its first two shots.
"I didn't like what I saw from the goaltender out,” Kilrea said. "I thought I would try to change the momentum.”
Pang was back in form one night later as he backstopped the 67's to a 5-1 victory over Kamloops. Attendance was 6,327.
"There wasn't a doubt,” Kilrea said when asked if he considered not starting Pang. "It was opening-game jitters. Everybody gets them -- even coaches and general managers.
"He's been the best goalie all season. Nothing has changed that now.”
Pang faced only 18 shots and LaForge was impressed with Ottawa's defence.
"We had trouble penetrating and you know half our team can't drive and the other half can't shoot,” he said.
Ottawa got two goals from Cassidy and singles from Creighton, McLaren and Steve Hrynewich.
Kamloops, with one foot in the grave, bounced back to edge Laval 4-3 on May 15 before 6,298 fans. The loss put Kamloops into a semfinal game and eliminated Laval.
Sills scored twice for the Voisins, who again ran into penalty trouble.
"We just took too many penalties,” Sills said. "It was a different kind of refereeing situation for us compared with our league.”
Goyette had Laval's other goal.
Evason, Camazzola, Daneyko and Brian Bertuzzi scored for Kamloops.
Lemieux, who was held to one assist in his final junior game, finished the tournament with a goal and two assists in three games.
On May 16, in front of 7,226 noisy fans, Kitchener, which was designated as the visiting team and wore blue away uniforms, whipped Ottawa 7-2 to move into the final and send the '67s against Kamloops.
"I think revenge played a big part in it -- at least for the players,” Dave Shaw said. "We were pretty embarrassed losing at home to Ottawa in the playoffs.”
Wilks led the Rangers with his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament. Shaw, with two, Presley, Burr and Mike Stevens also scored for the winners.
Cassidy and Bennett replied for Ottawa.
LeBlanc was superb, stopping 16 first-period shots and 36 on the night.
"That's what they needed,” LeBlanc said. "That's how you win games.”
On May 17, in front of 6,316 fans, the '67s got two goals and three assists from Creighton in a 7-2 victory over the Junior Oilers.
That set up yet another meeting between the Rangers and 67's. The teams would go into the final having already played each other 10 times in the season, each team winning four times and tying two others.
The 67's were not treated very kindly by the crowd, something Creighton noted.
"They're allowed to have their opinion,” he said, after taking over the tournament scoring lead with 10 points, including four goals. "You can't shut them up, but I sure would like to.”
Kilrea thought his players picked up the pace after Brad Shaw went down with an injury. He suffered a deep cut above his right eye when he was hit by a shot from Nottingham. X-rays were negative.
"I think the guys really began to play when they saw Brad go off the ice,” Kilrea said. "They knew what he was done for the club and what they then had to do without him.”
McLaren, with two, Cassidy, Bob Giffen and Darcy Roy also scored for Ottawa.
Bertuzzi and Nottingham scored for Kamloops.
"We've played 103 games this season and there haven't been many when the guys didn't go all out,” LaForge said. "The '67s and Rangers are just better than us.”
The next day, LaForge was named head coach of the Canucks.
Ottawa went on to win its first Memorial Cup, scoring a 7-2 victory on May 22 before about 7,241 fans.
The 67's, who won the season series from the Rangers 5-4-2, got two goals each from Cassidy and Patterson, with singles from Creighton, Shaw and Gary Roberts.
Puhalski and Tucker replied for the Rangers, who were outshot 36-22, including 16-6 in the first period when they fell behind 3-1.
Kilrea pointed to two bizarre goals as the difference.
With the score tied 1-1, LeBlanc lost the puck in one corner to Patterson, who turned and scored from a horrible angle. Then, Cassidy tried a dump in only to have the puck bounce crazily off the glass and past LeBlanc, who had left the net in anticipation of stopping the puck along the boards.
"Those two goals told me that we were somehow destined to win,” Kilrea said. "I think the guy upstairs wanted to give us a hand.”
Creighton, who tied with Cassidy for the scoring lead with 12 points, was named the MVP. Wilks was selected the most sportsmanlike player and Pang was the most outstanding goaltender.
The all-star team featured Pang, Dave Shaw and Cassidy on defence, Creighton at centre, Camazzola at left wing and McLaren on the right side.
Attendance for the eight games totalled 53,207. At that time, that was the third-largest attendance total, behind Vancouver in 1977 (58,995) and Portland in 1983 (54,090).


NEXT: 1985 (Prince Albert Raiders, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Verdun Junior Canadiens and Shawinigan Cataractes)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1985 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1985.html)

1985 MEMORIAL CUP
Prince Albert Raiders, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Verdun Junior Canadiens and Shawinigan Cataractes
at Shawiningan (Municipal Auditorium) and Drummondville (Marcel Dionne Arena)


The Prince Albert Raiders, under general manager and head coach Terry Simpson, were a Canadian junior A hockey dynasty.
When the early 1980s arrived they really didn't have any more junior A worlds left to conquer. And so it was that the Raiders applied and were granted entrance into the Western Hockey League.
Who could have guessed that three seasons into their major junior existence the Raiders would be the WHL champions and into their first Memorial Cup tournament?
But that is exactly what happened.
It cost the Raiders $175,000 to get into the WHL. They paid $100,000 for the franchise and $75,000 for what remained of a players' list that had belonged to the defunct Spokane Flyers.
When the Flyers folded in the middle of the 1981-82 seasons, the remaining teams held a dispersal draft on Dec. 3, 1981, but were only allowed to select players from Spokane's active roster.
The Raiders, then, bought the list and got more than their money's worth because they picked up three future stars -- centre Dan Hodgson, right-winger Dave Pasin and defenceman Emanuel Viveiros.
And then, on Dec. 3, 1984, the Raiders moved into first place in the East Division for the first time. It was now apparent that this had all the makings of a special season in Prince Albert.
The Raiders had gone 16-55-1 as they finished last in an eight-team East Division in their first WHL season, 1982-83. The following season, they were 41-29-2 and fifth.
In 1984-85, they went 58-11-3 as they put together the WHL's best regular-season record. Their 119 points was the third-highest in WHL history; the 58 victories was No. 2 on the all-time list.
The Raiders then tore through the playoff season.
"The Calgary series was our easiest series and that's a bit surprising,” Simpson said after the Raiders lost just one of 13 playoff games. "We expected they would be tougher. But the other two series were tougher than the final outcome would indicate.”
Prince Albert laid waste to the Calgary Wranglers in four games, lost one game to Medicine Hat before ousting the Tigers in five games and then swept the defending-champion Kamloops Blazers.
"Winning the world championship was a thrill, but winning the WHL title is more satisfying,” said Simpson, who had coached Canada to a world junior gold medal earlier in the year.
And Simpson felt his club was ready for the Memorial Cup.
"I know we didn't get into a long series or overtime games or anything like that,” he said, "but there was always pressure. I suppose you can say that if we would have had tougher series or longer series, then we might be better prepared for the Memorial Cup. That could be an arguable point, but I think we're going to be OK.”
Hodgson was the team leader offensively. He led the league with 112 regular-season assists and was second in the points race, his 182 points trailing only the 197 put up by Cliff Ronning of the New Westminster Bruins.
Hodgson's linemates, Pasin and Tony Grenier, made the most of their centre's playmaking abilities. Pasin sniped 64 times and totalled 116 points; Grenier had 62 goals and 120 points.
Right-winger Ken Morrison was the team's other big-time sniper. He had 51 goals and 108 points.
Forwards Dale McFee and Steve Gotaas could kill penalties with the best of them.
Hodgson kept it going in the playoffs, too, as he led the league in assists (26) and points (36) in only 13 games.
Pasin and Grenier had 21 points each, with defenceman Dave Goertz totalling 18, including 14 assists.
Aside from Viveiros and Goertz, the defence also featured Dave Manson, Neil Davey, Doug Hobson and Curtis Hunt.
And the amicable Ken Baumgartner, who was listed as a defenceman but would play anywhere, kept the opposition honest.
Roydon Gunn (3.42 GAA in 36 games) and Ward Komonosky (3.52 in 38 games) shared the goaltending. But Komonosky got the bulk of the playing time in the postseason, playing in 12 of 13 playoff games and going the distance in all five Memorial Cup games.
"Our club has matured a lot,” offered Simpson. "Some of the younger guys have come along to the point where they are contributors on a regular basis. We're getting solid leadership from the older guys and our goaltending has been good.
"Hopefully, we've come far enough along to give us a legitimate shot at the Memorial Cup.”
For the second year in a row, there was a high-scoring Lemieux in the tournament, too.
It wasn't Mario, though. This time it was Claude, a right-winger with the QMJHL-champion Verdun Junior Canadiens, who also featured 16-year-old Jimmy Carson.
The Junior Canadiens were coached by Jean Begin, who had made it to the Memorial Cup tournament the previous season as head coach of the Laval Voisins and Mario Lemieux.
Claude Lemieux, 19 and not related to Mario, didn't quite crack the top 10 but he was Verdun's leading regular-season scorer with 124 points, including 58 goals. He missed 16 games as a member of Canada's gold medal-winning world junior team earlier in the season. Ironically, that team was coached by Simpson.
In the postseason, Lemieux had 23 goals and 40 points in only 14 games.
He also carried with him the reputation as a volatile performer.
"I have to have the players' respect but I know that in order to get it they have to respect me,” he said of being his team's captain. "They won't if I'm always yelling at them.
"The thing is that I'm never satisfied. If I get a goal, I want two. If I get two, I want three.”
After being named team captain, Lemieux began to back off a bit in an attempt to avoid confrontational situations.
"Sometimes,” he said, "it was hard to back away, but what made it easier to take was that in every playoff game I scored at least a goal.”
Lemieux got lots of help up front from Carson, who totaled 116 points as a 16-year-old rookie. And utility forward Carl Vermette had come to the fore in the playoffs with 11 goals.
In goal, Verdun relied on Yves Lavoie, a 19-year-old product of the Quebec college ranks. In the playoffs, he put together a 12-2 record with a 2.32 GAA.
The leaders on defence were Jerome Carrier, who had been named to the Memorial Cup all-star team with Verdun in 1983; Ron Annear, a Prince Edward Island native and a Montreal Canadiens draft pick who had spent the previous season playing at a university in San Diego; and, Gerry Peach, whom general manager Eric Taylor said was picked up from the Toronto Marlboros "because they didn't want him.”
Verdun had gone 36-30-2 in the regular season, winning the Robert Lebel Division but having a poorer record than the top three teams in the Frank Dilio Division.
The Junior Canadiens took out the Hull Olympiques in five games in the first round, then eliminated the Shawinigan Cataractes, at 48-19-1 the regular season's best team, in five games in one semifinal series, outscoring them 28-10 in the process.
And, in the final, Verdun swept the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, who at 41-23-4 had been No. 2 in the regular seaosn. The Junior Canadiens scored 29 goals and surrendered only 11 in the championship final.
The Cataractes, however, were in the Memorial Cup tournament as the host team.
Marc Damphousse was the big gun up front. His 160 points left him three points shy of scoring champion Guy Rouleau of the Longueuil Chevaliers.
But observers felt the key to Shawinigan was left-winger Sergio Momesso. A 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, he finished fourth in the scoring race with 143 points, including 58 goals.
"He's a good man in the corners as well as being a good scorer,” offered head coach Ron Lapointe.
The defence was anchored by Yves Beaudoin, who also was the quarterback on the power play.
And in goal there was the starry Robert Desjardins, who was all of 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds.
The Cataractes hadn't played in 20 days when the tournament started.
"We practised 13 of the 20 days and I find that our preparations have been very good,” Lapointe said. "Also it gave some players with minor ailments an opportunity to recover -- and I have worked to make sure they are prepared mentally for the tournament.”
With the time off, Lapointe had also been able to scout the fourth team in the tournament -- the OHL-champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
The Greyhounds had been on a mission since Aug. 31.
"As I looked up to the rafters (in the Soo's Memorial Gardens),” said Terry Crisp, the team's head coach since 1979, "I saw a 1981 Leyden Division banner, a 1983 Emms Division banner and I'm thinking the only one missing is a 1985 OHL championship banner.”
The Greyhounds, with Crisp and general manager Sam McMaster pulling the strings, filled the void with the first championship in their 13-year major junior history.
They did it with a hard-fought 9-5 victory over the Peterborough Petes in the OHL's nine-point final.
"We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and these kids have had to carry that pressure from Day 1,” explained Crisp.
The Greyhounds, under Crisp, had been in five straight divisional finals and in the league championship series in three of the last five seasons.
"We didn't say that we might be there, or that we might be contenders,” Crisp said. "We said we were going after it. No other team was talking openly about a Memorial Cup. No other team put pressure on themselves like our team.”
During the season, the Greyhounds set OHL records with 54 victories, 11 losses and 109 points in a 66-game schedule. They also put together a CHL record 33 straight home victories.
In the playoffs, they lost only twice in 16 games; ironically, both losses occurred at home.
Centre Wayne Groulx was second in the OHL's scoring race with 144 points, including 59 goals. Right-winger Graeme Bonar led the team in goals, with 66.
The left-winger on their line was Bob Probert, who came over from the Hamilton Steelhawks in November and had 72 points in 44 games.
Left-winger Derek King had 35 goals and was named the OHL's rookie of the year.
Just before the league's trade deadline, McMaster picked up right-winger Wayne Presley from the Kitchener Rangers. The previous season, Presley had 63 goals in helping the Rangers to the Memorial Cup final.
On defence, Jeff Beukeboom was a first-team all-star, while team captain Chris Felix led all OHL defencemen in points, with 101.
The goaltending was left in the hands of Scott Mosey and Marty Abrams. Together, they provided the Soo with the OHL's best goaltending. Mosey had been acquired from the Guelph Platers, with Abrams coming over from the Toronto Marlboros.
The Greyhounds opened the 67th chase for the Memorial Cup with a 4-3 victory over the Cataractes before 3,226 fans at Shawinigan on May 11.
The Cataractes led this one 3-0 in the first period on goals by Mario Belanger, Damphousse and Dave Kasper.
Steve Hollett, with his first of two goals, got the Greyhounds on the scoreboard at 1:52 of the first period.
Bonar, at 16:03 of the second, and Chris Brant, 2:12 into the third, tied the game. Hollett then won it on a power play.
The Cataractes bounced back the next day to beat Prince Albert 6-2 in front of 2,694 fans in Shawinigan.
"I thought the difference tonight was that we played hockey for 60 minutes,” Lapointe said. "I thought our layoff after the playoffs would really affect us today, but we went with four lines and it seemed to give everybody a breather.”
Left-winger Alain Bisson had a goal and two assists as the Cataractes posted the first victory for a QMJHL team in a Memorial Cup game since May 8, 1983, when Verdun beat the Lethbridge Broncos 4-3 in Portland. Quebec teams had gone 0-6 since then.
Denis Paul, Kasper, Patrice Lefebvre, Damphousse and Belanger also scored for Shawinigan.
Grenier scored both Prince Albert goals.
The Cataractes also got a big effort from Desjardins, who stopped 22 shots. His teammates played through a scoreless first period, took a 3-1 lead after the second and scored three more goals in the third.
That same day in Drummondville, the Soo doubled Verdun 6-3 as King's second goal, a power-play effort, broke a 3-3 tie at 5:47 of the third period.
Groulx upped it to 5-3 two minutes later and Tyler Larter iced it at 15:25 of the third.
Brit Peer and Presley also scored for the Greyhounds.
Francois Olivier, Carrier and Everett Sanipass replied for the Junior Canadiens.
The Raiders got back on the winning track on May 13 as they got two goals from Goertz and skated to a 5-3 victory over Verdun before 2,613 fans in Drummondville.
"We were skating better tonight,” Simpson said, "and our intensity level was up.”
Goertz added: "We had a team meeting and a good rest after the banquet this afternoon and everybody felt relaxed out there tonight.”
Hodgson, who was named the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League's player of the year at that banquet, picked up his third assist of the tournament on a power-play goal by Grenier that opened the scoring 4:34 into the game.
Lavoie pulled a muscle in his right leg on that play and left the game at 8:18 of the first period, with Troy Crosby, who hadn't played in the last 23 games, coming on to stop 34 shots.
Viveiros and left-winger Dean Braham also scored for the Raiders.
Verdun got two goals from Lemieux and one from Henri Marcoux.
Komonosky, who had struggled in the opener, rebounded with a 22-save effort against Verdun.
On May 14 in Drummondville, the Raiders handed the Greyhounds their first loss, winning 8-6 behind Dale McFee's three goals and five assists from Hodgson. Attendance was 1,827.
A victory would have given the Soo a spot in the final.
Hodgson's performance set an unofficial single-game record for assists and gave him eight helpers in three games.
"Well, that's great if I do (hold the record),” Hodgson said, "but I've got to start scoring some goals here.”
Grenier scored twice, giving him a tournament-high five goals, as the Raiders broke open a 2-2 game with five second-period goals. Goertz, Pasin and Brad Bennett added one each for the westerners.
The Soo scoring came from Presley, Felix, Beukeboom, Hollett, Groulx and Peer.
"You forget that sometimes even in the smallest of oceans, a breeze can come up and tip your boat in a hurry,” Crisp said. "Tonight, a breeze came up and we only have ourselves to blame.”
As for Hodgson, he loved the shootout.
"We feel confident when we get into this type of game because we know we've got the guys who can score enough goals to pull us through,” he said.
Komonosky was solid again, making 37 saves, while the Soo duo of Abrams and Mosey combined for 34 saves.
The first berth in the final went to Shawinigan, thanks to a 5-1 victory over Verdun on May 15 in Drummondville.
That eliminated Verdun and set up a semifinal game between the Soo and Prince Albert. Begin, the Junior Canadiens' coach, now had an 0-6 record in back-to-back Memorial Cups. His Laval club had gone 0-3 a year earlier.
Lapointe maintained his club's victory wasn't based on revenge. Verdun had beaten Shawinigan in five games in one QMJHL semifinal series.
"There was no revenge factor,” Lapointe said. "The shortest road to the final was what we wanted and our minds were on that.”
Desjardins, the game's first star with a 23-save effort, said: "They got us in the semifinals, but we got them when it really counted.”
Desjardins lost his bid for the first Memorial Cup shutout since 1982 when Frank DeSantis scored with 1:25 left to play.
Momesso and Belanger had a goal and an assist each, with Lefebvre, Paul and Robert Page adding a goal each for the winners. Damphousse helped out with two assists.
"We just didn't seem to have the intensity in the playoffs that we had tonight,” Momesso said. "We had terrific goaltending and our penalty killing was great. And we got a lot of inspiration from the little men (Desjardins and Lefebvre).”
The Raiders moved into the final by hammering Kitchener 8-3 on May 16 in Drummondville. Attendance was 2,758.
"When you play a team twice in three nights and they not only beat you both times but score 16 goals in the process, you have to give them full credit,” Crisp said.
The Prince Albert line of Hodgson, Grenier and Pasin totalled 13 points.
Hodgson had a goal and four assists, giving him a record-tying (Jeff Larmer, Kitchener, 1982) 12 assists in the tournament. Pasin had two goals and three assists, and Grenier had two goals for a tournament-leading seven.
Gotaas, with two, and Braham also scored for the Raiders.
Probert, Jean-Marc MacKenzie and Felix scored for the Soo.
"I think our outstanding player tonight was Komonosky,” Simpson said. "I'm really happy for him because some of our critics wonder about our goaltending.”
Komonosky stopped 37 shots as he enjoyed his best game of the tournament.
The game was tied 1-1 late in the first period but the Raiders then scored the game's next seven goals.
"Our goaltending wasn't up to snuff through the whole tournament,” said Crisp, who again used both goaltenders. "But what disappoints me most is that we couldn't regroup and hold the fort -- stem the tide -- after they got ahead.
"We just didn't dig down and hold them until we could get a goal or two back.”
This would be the first final since the round-robin format was adopted in 1974 that Ontario wasn't represented among the final two teams.
"I would have loved to have gone on to the championship, but we can go home and say we got beat by a damn good hockey team,” Crisp said.
As for the final, Crisp liked the Raiders.
"It's going to take one hell of a club to beat them, I'll say that much,” he said.
Hodgson, for one, was ready.
"Right after that game (the 6-2 opening loss) we wanted to play Shawinigan again,” he said. "Now we're going to show them on national television how the Prince Albert Raiders play hockey.”
The Cataractes, the host team for this tournament, were in the final but playing 100 kilometres from home, their own rink having been deemed unfit for a TV game.
The final was held in Drummondville on May 18, with the Raiders winning 6-1 in front of 3,865 noisy fans.
Hodgson, who set a tournament record with 13 assists, pointed to a first-period fight as the turning point.
"Sometimes you've just got to go in there and tune some of the boys in,” he said. "Baumgartner did that to their big tough guy and we just picked it up from there. I thought that was a big part of the game.”
With the Raiders up 2-0, Baumgartner scored a unanimous decision over Steve Masse in a battle of 6-foot-1, 200-pound defencemen.
It helped too that the Raiders scored just 15 seconds into the game -- Braham got the goal -- to quiet the crowd.
Gotaas, with two, Pat Elynuik, Viveiros and Pasin also scored for the Raiders.
Belanger spoiled Komonosky's bid for a shutout on a power play at 3:05 of the third period.
"Everyone cuts (Komonosky) down all season and says the Raiders aren't going to go anywhere because of their goaltending,” Hodgson said, "but the big guy slammed the door and kicked the lights out today.”
Hodgson didn't do too bad, either.
He turned in one of the best performances in tournament history, setting a record for most assists (13) in a series and most assists in one game (5). His 15 points were one short of the record set by Kitchener's Jeff Larmer in 1982.
Hodgson was named the tournament's most valuable player and was selected to the all-star team.
"To end my junior career like this is such a big thrill,” Hodgson said. "This is probably the best hockey I've played all year and it was a good time to play it, I must admit.”
Also named to the all-star team were Desjardins, Goertz and Beaudoin on defence, and wingers Grenier and Lefebvre.
Komonosky, although he didn't get selected to the all-star team, was named the top goaltender. Grenier was selected the most sportsmanlike player.
"This is gratifying because this is a victory that an entire organization can celebrate,” Simpson said. "We played the best at the most important times all season long.
"I guess that makes us the best.”

NEXT: 1986 (Portland Winter Hawks, Kamloops Blazers, Guelph Platers and Hull Olympiques)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1986 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1986.html)

1986 MEMORIAL CUP
Portland Winter Hawks, Kamloops Blazers, Guelph Platers and Hull Olympiques
at Portland (Memorial Coliseum)


One year earlier, the Prince Albert Raiders had won the Memorial Cup in only their third season of play at the major junior level.
The Guelph Platers almost tore a page from that same book.
The Platers entered the Ontario Hockey League to begin the 1982-83 season. They went 7-63-0 in that first season.
Three seasons later, they were in the Memorial Cup.
In between, they went 20-46-4 and 21-40-5.
In three seasons, the Platers, playing in the Emms Division, had finished eighth, seventh and seventh.
And then came the 1985-86 season under head coach Jacques Martin.
An assistant coach with the Peterborough Petes the previous two seasons, Martin was selected as the OHL's coach of the year in 1985-86 after the Platers posted a 41-23-2 record to finish second, behind the North Bay Centennials (41-21-4), in their division.
The Platers got on quite a roll in the postseason, as they went 15-3-2 en route to the championship.
They started the playoffs with a first-round bye and then moved into a round-robin series that also featured the North Bay Centennials and Windsor Spitfires. The Platers went 4-0 in the series and advanced, as did Windsor. In the Emms Division eight-point final, the Platers took out the Spitfires, 8-4.
Guelph then dumped the Belleville Bulls in the final, winning the eight-point affair 8-4.
Guelph was sparked by left-winger Gary Roberts, who had been acquired from the Ottawa 67's in a midseason deal. Roberts, who had 51 points in 24 games with Ottawa, totalled 18 goals and 33 points in 23 games with Guelph. More importantly, he brought with him some Memorial Cup experience. He had played for the 1984 champion 67's.
Roberts was worth his weight in gold in the playoffs, too, as he struck for 18 goals and 13 assists in 20 games.
The Platers surrendered only 235 regular-season goals and they counted heavily on goaltender Steve Guenette. The best of the defencemen were Steve Chiasson and Kerry Huffman.
The QMJHL-champion Hull Olympiqes, meanwhile, were owned by Wayne Gretzky and coached by former policeman Pat Burns.
The Olympiques had easily been the QMJHL's best regular-season team, their 54-18-0 record well ahead of the Drummondville Voltigeurs who were second-best at 40-28-4.
Two of the Olympiques, Guy Rouleau and Luc Robitaille, finished with 190 points, best in the league. Rouleau had come over from the Longueuil Chevaliers in a trade. He finished with 91 goals. Robitaille led the league with 123 assists.
And Robitaille would lead the way down the postseason trail, his 44 points, including 27 assists, in 15 games tops in the league.
Hull didn't have much trouble in the playoffs; in fact, it didn't have any trouble.
The Olympiques opened against Shawinigan in a best-of-nine quarterfinal. It was over in five and the Cataractes were left to wonder what hit them as they were outscored 37-11.
Next up were the St. Jean Castors. The best-of-nine semifinal was over in five games, with the Olympiques leading 49-10 on the scoreboard.
And, in the best-of-nine final, the Olympiques steamrollered the Voltigeurs in five games, outscoring them 39-12.
The Olympiques had won all 15 of their playoff games, outscoring their opposition 125-33.
All told, Hull rode into the Memorial Cup having lost just once in its last 23 games.
The Olympiques' two other key performers were defenceman Sylvain Cote and goaltender Robert Desjardins.
Cote, who played 67 games for the NHL's Hartford Whalers as an 18-year-old in 1984-85, and Robitaille had played for Canada at the last world junior championship.
The 5-foot-5 Desjardins had been acquired from Shawinigan prior to the 1985-86 season. He had sparkled for the Cataractes in the 1985 Memorial Cup.
The WHL champions were the Kamloops Blazers, under head coach Ken Hitchcock.
Hitchcock was a genial giant who came to Kamloops from the Edmonton area with the reputation as a superb midget coach.
He proved it in his first season as he guided the Blazers to a 52-17-2 record, good for first place in the West Division. The dream ended when they were swept in the WHL final by Prince Albert, which would go on to win the Memorial Cup.
In 1985-86, Hitchcock made it two West Division regular-season pennants in as many tries. This time the Blazers finished 49-19-4, behind only the Medicine Hat Tigers (54-17-1) and Prince Albert (52-17-3).
The Blazers were sparked by high-flying Rob Brown, whose father Bob was beginning a long and successful run as the Blazers' general manager. Rob led the WHL in assists (115) and points (173), as he won the scoring race by 16 points.
Right-winger Ken Morrison, acquired from Prince Albert, was the WHL's top sniper, with 68 goals. He finished with 150 points.
Mike Nottingham (61 goals, 131 points), Greg Evtushevski (29 goals) and Robin Bawa (29 goals) also knew how to find the net.
It could be argued, however, that the Blazers' game plan revolved around defenceman Greg Hawgood. He was as fine a quarterback as this league had seen in some time and his totals -- 34 goals, 85 assists, 119 points -- were ample proof of that.
The Blazers had gone through most of the season using Rob McKinley and Pat Nogier in goal. But they swung a deal at the trade deadline to acquire Randy Hansch, a veteran of the WHL wars, from the Victoria Cougars. Hansch would be the go-to guy down the stretch.
Kamloops opened the postseason by sweeping a best-of-nine West Division semifinal from the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Blazers then took out the Portland Winter Hawks, who had gone nine games in eliminating the Spokane Chiefs, in six games.
The best-of-seven championship final was no contest as the Blazers ousted an up-and-coming bunch of Medicine Hat Tigers in five games.
Rob Brown, as he had done in the regular season, was the postseason's dominant player, leading in goals (18), assists (28) and points (46). Morrison was second, with 37 points, and Hawgood was tied for third, at 31.
Hansch played in 14 of the 16 playoff games, going 11-2 with a 2.63 GAA.
The Winter Hawks were back in the Memorial Cup for the third time in five seasons, the second time as the host team.
They were the WHL champions in 1982 when they bowed out early in Hull. The following season, the Winter Hawks became the first American team to win the Memorial Cup when they got into the tournament as the host team.
And now with it being the WHL's turn to play host to the tournament again the party was returning to Portland.
The Winter Hawks (47-24-1) had finished second to Kamloops in the West Division and then dropped the best-of-nine divisional final 5-1 to the Blazers.
The best of the Winter Hawks? Centre Ray Podloski, who was seventh in the WHL with 134 points, and left-winger Dave Waldie, who had 68 goals.
Centre Dan Woodley chipped in with 92 points and defenceman Glen Wesley had 91, including 75 assists.
The tournament opened on May 10 and by May 11 the Olympiques were 2-0 and had already assured themselves of a playoff berth.
The Olympiques started with a 7-5 victory over Portland before 6,859 fans.
Rouleau led Hull with three goals and three assists, his six points tying a Memorial Cup single-game record set by Joe Contini of the Hamilton Fincups in 1976.
Robitaille added two goals. Jean-Marc Routhier and Patrice Brisson also scored for the Olympiques, who trailed 2-1 after the first period but were tied 4-4 going into the third.
Portland got three goals from Bob Foglietta and singles from Blaine Chrest and Jamie Nicolls.
After taking a 4-2 lead on Foglietta's first two goals at 4:47 and 6:18 of the second period, the Winter Hawks surrendered five straight goals.
Still, Portland goaltender Lance Carlsen made 49 saves as the Winter Hawks were outshot 56-35, including 21-9 in the third period.
In the opening day's other game, Guelph scored the game's final three goals and beat Kamloops 5-3.
With Kamloops leading 3-2 midway through the third period, Roberts tied it with his second goal of the game at 12:53, Mike Murray got the eventual game-winner at 16:00 and Luciano ***ioli wrapped it up with an empty-netter at 19:49.
Paul Kelly had the other goal for Guelph, which trailed 1-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks.
Brown, with two, and Morrison scored for Kamloops, which was outshot 44-34.
Hull went to 2-0 the following day, thanks to a 5-4 overtime victory over Kamloops before 4,475 fans.
Rouleau won it with his second goal of the game (fifth of the tournament) at 1:37 of the extra period.
Burns's overtime strategy?
"You just put 77 (Rouleau) out there, one shot, it's all over,” Burns said.
Michel Carbonneau, Routhier and Robitaille had Hull's other goals, Routhier tying the game 4-4 with the third period's only goal, a 55-foot slapshot that deflected off a defenceman's stick and past Hansch at 14:22.
"We went into the overtime and said, ‘Let's shoot from anywhere',” said Robitaille, who totaled seven points in the first two games, two fewer than Rouleau. "We got lucky and that's overtime hockey.”
Len Mark, Morrison, Evtushevski and Troy Kennedy replied for the Blazers.
The teams were tied 2-2 after one period, with Kamloops leading 4-3 going into the third.
In the other game on May 11, Portland rode three second-period goals and a red-hot Carlsen to a 6-4 victory over Guelph in front of 5,108 fans.
Dave McLay, with two, Dave Archibald, Dennis Holland, Terry Jones and Chrest scored Portland's goals.
Keith Miller, Chiasson, Roberts and Rob Arabski found the range for Guelph, which outshot the Winter Hawks 43-38.
"The key for Portland was the goaltending,” Martin said of Carlsen. "He made the big saves to win the game.”
On May 13, the Platers threw a checking blanket over Rouleau and Robitaille and earned a berth in the next round with a 3-1 victory over the Olympiques.
"We knew that Rouleau's wingers liked to get him the puck when he was breaking into the open,” said Murray, one of Guelph's centres. "We got on top of his wingers early and that seemed to shut him down.”
At the same time, the Guelph defence, led by Chiasson and Huffman, rode the Hull forwards to the outside and rarely gave up a good scoring chance on Guenette.
Murray, with two goals and an assist, and Roberts scored for Guelph, with Carbonneau replying for Hull.
"We knew Hull was a skating club and we needed to come out hitting,” Murray said. "We had a good forechecking game to keep the puck in their end of the rink.”
Murray scored the goal that proved to be the winner on a second-period power play, at 9:19.
"The power-play goal was a bit lucky in that the puck was rolling,” Murray said. "We were told to shoot high because they had a short goaltender (Desjardins) and it went in over his shoulder.”

Portland had a chance to eliminate Kamloops on May 15. But when the Blazers scored a 6-5 victory on a goal by Morrison at 17:35 of the third period, before 7,388 fans, it only forced an extra game between the two, with the winner moving on and the loser leaving.
The Platers were assured a spot in the final, winning it on a better goals-for and goals-against ratio than Hull (Guelph was plus-2, Hull plus-1). The winner of the next Portland-Kamloops game would meet Hull in the semifinal game.
Brown scored twice for the Blazers, with Ron Shudra, Rudy Poeschek and Bawa also beating Carlsen.
With Rouleau having been cooled off by Guelph, Foglietta was suddenly the tournament's hottest sniper as he enjoyed his second three-goal game of the week. Also scoring for Portland were Dave Waldie and Podloski.
Kamloops led 2-1 after the first period and held a 4-1 lead 13 minutes into the second period. Portland cut the deficit to 4-3 before Brown scored at 19:06.
Portland, which was 3-for-4 on the power play, tied it in the third on goals by Podloski (10:15) and Foglietta (14:22) before Morrision, on a goalmouth pass from Brown, got the winner at 17:35.
"We've got a few scores to settle early in the game,” Hitchcock said. "Portland got away with a few things tonight when the score was close in the third.”
Two of Foglietta's goals came on a second-period power play, following a double minor to Kamloops defenceman Dave Marcinyshyn. Hitchcock was so upset that he actually struck Marcinyshyn in the dressing room during the intermission.
"I've never done anything like that ever before in hockey,” Hitchcock said. "I also can't remember the last time we got sucked in like that.
"But no one can question the character of this team. We've got a great deal of energy and heart left for the next game.”
The Blazers got their revenge on May 15 as they hammered the Winter Hawks 8-1 in the tiebreaking game. Attendance was 4,173.
"We weren't 8-1 bad,” Portland head coach Ken Hodge said. "They had a hot goaltender who got the job done and ours didn't.”
Hodge yanked Carlsen after the first period with the Blazers out front 3-1. But Hawgood beat Chris Eisenhart 33 seconds into the second period and the rout was on.
"We knew we could beat Portland two straight because we beat them in five of six in the playoffs,” Hawgood said. "We wanted to win badly because we're the WHL champions and Portland's only the host team in the tournament.”
Hawgood, who had played mostly left wing in the first two games, moved back to defence and scored three times for Kamloops. Don Schmidt, a stay-at-home defenceman, Evtushevski, Morrison and Mark Kachowski also scored for the Blazers.
Podloski had Portland's only goal, beating Hansch on a first-period power play.
"We got back to our checking style of play and really ground hard,” Hitchcock said. "Most of their chances were from far out and Hansch was really sharp early in the game.”
"We all want that Memorial Cup ring badly,” Hawgood said. "People won't remember what we did here unless we come home with the ring.”
Hawgood, who also had an assist, and Brown, who had two assists, now were tied with Rouleau atop the scoring race, each player with nine points.
There wouldn't be a ring for Kamloops, at least not at this tournament.
The Blazers lost out on May 16, when Robitaille struck for four goals, three of them in the second period, as the Olympiques beat the Blazers 9-3 in front of 3,247 fans.
"I could have shot from the corner and scored,” Robitaille said. "It was one of those nights where everything I touched went in.”
Rouleau scored twice and set up four other goals, giving him his second six-point game of the tournament. That left him with 15 points, one short of the tournament record set by Jeff Larmer of the 1982 Kitchener Rangers.
"All three lines played well and I'm very, very happy,” Rouleau said. "I hope we play well tomorrow.”
Hull, which hadn't played since May 12 while Kamloops was playing its third game in three nights, led 3-1 after the first period and 6-3 after the second.
Routhier, Carbonneau and Bob Coyle also scored for the Olympiques.
Mike Nottingham, Brown and Morrison scored for Kamloops.
"We weren't sharp and we weren't aggressive,” Hitchcock said. "Guys that normally fill the net were shooting high and all over the place.
"Their coach was smart. He got our best checkers away from his top line and we couldn't get away with the double line changes like we did earlier in the tournament.”
Hull captain Rick Hayward, a native of Toledo, Ohio, felt his club still hadn't played its best.
"We haven't played up to our potential even yet,” he said. "Tonight, we showed just some of the things we can do.
"A chill goes through my body just thinking about playing Guelph. We'll give it the best shot in the morning.”
That best shot wasn't quite good enough.
The Platers finished their fourth season of existence by winning major junior hockey's championship, beating the Olympiques 6-2 in front of 4,166 fans.
"This whole thing is a dream,” said Chiasson, who was named the tournament's most valuable player. "I don't think we expected this. We've been surprising ourselves all season and we gave ourselves a real shock this week.”
The Platers, coming off a four-day rest, were at the top of their game as they took 3-0 and 5-1 period leads.
Guelph got rolling in the first period when ***ioli, who was nicknamed Lucky, scored twice in 11 seconds and Lonnie Loach added a power-play score.
Benoit Brunet scored for Hull midway throught the second period, but Murray and left-winger Allan MacIsaac scored 13 seconds apart before the period ended to give Guelph a 5-1 lead and all but end this one.
Robitaille and Miller exchanged third-period goals.
Rouleau drew an assist on Robitaille's goal, giving him 16 points and a share of the tournament points record with Larmer.
Robitaille's eight goals tied the tournament record set by Cornwall's Dale Hawerchuk in 1982.
Huffman was selected the most sportsmanlike player, with Guenette named the top goaltender.
The all-star team comprised Guenette, Chiasson and Shudra on defence, and Rouleau, Robitaille and Foglietta up front.
This tournament was also notable for some of the on-ice officials.
Referees Mick McGeough and Lance Roberts went on to work in the NHL, as did linesmen Mike Cvik, Shane Heyer and Brad Lazarowich.
Cvik and Heyer stood out at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-7, respectively. As Canadian Press writer Grant Kerr pointed out, Cvik stood a full 15 inches taller than Desjardins, the Hull goaltender.
Also of note was the Guelph trainer, Alex Dudnick. Back in 1952, when the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters won the Memorial Cup, Dudnick was their stickboy.

NEXT: 1987 (Medicine Hat Tigers, Oshawa Generals and Longueuil Chevaliers)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1987 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1987.html)

1987 MEMORIAL CUP
Medicine Hat Tigers, Oshawa Generals and Longueuil Chevaliers
at Oshawa (Civic Auditorium)


The person most responsible for putting together the 1987 Memorial Cup championship team was with that organization only because of the death of another team.
Russ Farwell joined the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers only after the Billings Bighorns came to the end of the trail.
Farwell was a member of the Bighorns' front office; in fact, he had even done a little coaching, going 12-20-0 to finish the 1981-82 regular season and 1-4-0 in the playoffs.
It was obvious by then, however, that Farwell had a bright future in hockey. It was obvious, too, that his future would be in management and not in coaching.
Farwell's career in junior hockey actually began in Terrace, B.C. He was a player then and showed up in an attempt to make a team that was an affiliate of the WHL's Calgary Centennials, a team owned by Scotty Munro.
Farwell didn't have it as a player, but Munro liked the youngster and suggested he might have a future in some team's front office.
So Farwell hung around for a bit.
Cec Papke, who was involved with the Centennials in the late 1960s, remembers Farwell.
"He'd watch my practices,” Papke told Gyle Konotopetz of the Calgary Herald. "He'd be taking notes and hangin' around so I put him to work -- sharpening skates. Before long, he was in my house every night, talking about the power play.”
When the 1982-83 season arrived, Farwell was in Medicine Hat as the Tigers' general manager. It was the beginning of a six-year relationship that would prove to be most successful.
After losing the 1985-86 championship final in five games to the Kamloops Blazers, Medicine Hat head coach Doug Sauter left to join the Regina Pats.
The Tigers, Farwell knew, were close to being a championship team. He knew the pressure was on to pick the right man to lead this team to major junior hockey's promised land.
Farwell settled on Bryan Maxwell, a no-nonsense defenceman in his playing days who was a no-nonsense coach.
Farwell didn't have to go far to find Maxwell, who had been an assistant under Sauter. Maxwell, then 30, signed a one-year contract as head coach. He would only stay one season.
Maxwell, originally from Lethbridge, played junior in Medicine Hat and spent his professional career in such places as Cleveland, Cincinnati and New England in the WHA, and Minnesota, St. Louis, Winnipeg and Pittsburgh in the NHL.
On and off the ice, the Tigers were led by Trevor Linden, as fine a leader as this game has seen. Linden, 16 years of age when the season began, turned 17 during the WHL playoffs.
Linden wasn't the only leader on this team, just the best of them.
Goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick could be counted on for leadership, as could defenceman Dean Chynoweth, whose father, Ed, was the president of the WHL and the Canadian Hockey League. Centres Mark Pederson and Neil Brady, a gritty centre, were also cut from the leadership cloth.
The Tigers had finished on top of the East Division, their 48-19-5 record leaving them 11 points ahead of the Saskatoon Blades.
Pederson was the only one of the Tigers with more than 100 points -- he had 102, 17th best in the league -- but 12 players had at least 53 points.
Fitzpatrick checked in with a 3.35 GAA in 50 games as the Tigers allowed 264 goals, tied with the Prince Albert Raiders for the lowest total in the league.
This was a team that excelled defensively. Led by Chynoweth, the defensive corps also included Keith Van Rooyen and Scott McCrady, the offensive leaders on the backline with 76 points apiece, Wayne McBean, Jamie Huscroft and Mark Kuntz.
This also was a team that continually stared elimination square in the face and laughed at it.
Medicine Hat began the postseason with a best-of-seven series against the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Tigers lost two of the first three games and then won three in a row to end it.
That put them into the East Division final against Saskatoon. The Tigers lost Game 5 at home to fall behind 3-2 in games. They went into Saskatoon and won 6-4 and then returned home to win the series with a 5-2 seventh-game victory.
Now, only the Portland Winter Hawks stood between the Tigers and a trip to the Memorial Cup. Again, the Tigers found themselves trailing 3-2 in games and heading out on the road for Game 6. They won 4-3 in Portland and then put it away with a 7-2 victory on home ice.
The Tigers faced elimination four times against Saskatoon and Portland.
"It was our never-say-die attitude,” Maxwell said, "that prevailed and allowed us to beat Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Portland.
"All three clubs had us in a position to beat us, but our players always responded when they faced elimination. I can understand now why coaches turn grey early.”
This Memorial Cup tournament also featured the Oshawa Generals and the Longueuil Chevaliers.
This was the first three-team tournament since 1982 when the Kitchener Rangers won the championship in Hull, beating out the Sherbrooke Castors and Portland.
It was the OHL's turn to play host to the tournament, so it chose to allow its two regular-season division winners to play off in a best-of-seven Super Series. The winner would bring the Memorial Cup tournament to its city.
At the same time, the decision was made that should one team win both the Super Series and the league championship, the OHL would only send one representative.
Oshawa finished on top of the Leyden Division with a 49-14-3 record; the North Bay Centennials, at 46-18-2, topped the Emms Division.
The Super Series was a thriller and wasn't decided until Oshawa won Game 7. That guaranteed the Generals a spot in the Memorial Cup tournament and meant the Centennials would have to win the OHL championship to qualify.
That wouldn't happen.
Oshawa took out the Kingston Frontenacs in one Leyden Division semifinal, winning the series 4-2. The Peterborough Petes fell to the Generals in the division final, losing out 4-2.
And, yes, the Generals met up with the Centennials in the championship final. Oshawa won the series in seven games, taking Game 7 by a 5-3 count, meaning the 1987 Memorial Cup tournament would be a three-team affair.
The Generals, who set a club record with 101 points, were led offensively by Scott McCrory, who set team regular-season records with 99 assists and 150 points en route to winning the OHL scoring title.
Left-winger Derek King, who played alongside McCrory with Lee Giffin on the right side, was no slouch, either. In 57 games, King totalled 53 goals and 53 assists.
Defensively, Oshawa, under head coach Paul Theriault, set a club record by allowing only 201 goals. The key was goaltender Jeff Hackett who, in 31 games, went 18-9-2 with a 3.05 GAA.
The Generals went into the tournament with one huge advantage.
"I think Oshawa has to have an advantage being in front of their home people,” Maxwell said. "I don't think there is any question they are the club to beat.
"I like our chances, but it would be pretty tough to call us favorites. We play well on the road . . . but I don't think the players care if we are underdogs or if we are favored. We can't change anything.”
Theriault was looking forward to playing at home, but was well aware that could carry with it a disadvantage.
"If you have a lead, it's great,” he explained. "If you lose the crowd, you can get in trouble.
"The momentum of the game can change.”
The Chevaliers were coached by Guy Chouinard, a former first-round NHL draft pick who had enjoyed a 50-goal season with the Atlanta Flames in 1978-79.
Chouinard had actually played in two Memorial Cup championships.
He was with the Quebec Remparts, who lost the 1973 final to the Toronto Marlboros in Montreal. Medicine Hat was the third team in the tournament that year and Maxwell was a defenceman with the Tigers.
A year later, Chouinard was a key player on the Remparts who lost the final to the Regina Pats in Calgary. Chouinard and teammate Real Cloutier tied for the tournament scoring lead that year.
Longueuil was a team built on defence. It had surrendered 259 regular-season goals, the only team in the QMJHL to give up fewer than 300 goals.
One reason for that was goaltender Robert Desjardins. Yes, ‘that’ Desjardins. The 5-foot-5 goaltender was in the Memorial Cup tournament for a third straight season with a third different team. He had been with the Shawinigan Cataractes in 1985 and the Hull Olympiques in 1986.
As defenceman Michel Thibodeau said: "He hasn't won and we want to win for him.”
The Chevaliers, who didn't have a scorer in the top 10, scored 369 regular-season goals, the fifth-highest total in the 10-team league. They finished atop the Lebel Division, their 46-20-4 record second only to the Dilio Division-champion Granby Bisons (48-18-1).
Longueuil opened the postseason in a round-robin series. It went 5-3 in its division and advanced to the division final, along with the Laval Titan, who were also 5-3. (The best news for the Chevaliers was that Granby had gone 3-5 in the other division and was eliminated.)
The division final went seven games before the Chevaliers ousted the Titan. And, in the championship final, Longueuil took only five games to finish off the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
A team from Quebec hadn't won a Memorial Cup since the 1971 Quebec Remparts -- the Cornwall Royals, an Ontario team, had won three while playing in the QMJHL -- and Chouinard felt that put his club in the role of a distinct underdog.
"I can't remember when a team from Quebec was favored to win the Memorial Cup,” he stated. "I even told the players that many people are surprised we are here.”
Thibodeau, for one, wasn't surprised.
"Our league is equal or better than the others,” he said on the eve of the tournament.
The tournament opened with games on May 9 and 10, and both were penalty-filled affairs.
On May 9, in front of 3,555 fans, Oshawa began with a 3-2 victory over Longueuil in a game that ended in a brawl.
According to a Canadian Press report: "The game was over when Longueuil's Ronnie Stern jumped Oshawa's Gord Murphy and started swinging. The Generals' Shayne Doyle came off the bench to his teammate's aid . . .
"Stern had been removed from the ice but he returned and continued fighting after a second brawl broke out as the result of an incident involving a fan.”
That incident apparently involved a female fan striking Doyle in the face with a hockey glove.
In the end, Stern and Doyle were each suspended for one game and each team was fined $250 for the brawl.
The tournament's discipline committee, headed up by Regina general manager Del Wilson, also fined the OHL $5,000 for a lack of security.
Jeff Daniels, Petri Matikainen and Sean Williams scored for Oshawa, the latter upping the score to 3-1 at 1:58 of the third period.
Longueuil got goals from Stern and Marc Bureau.
Theriault spent most of the postgame session criticizing the officiating, but he apologized the following day, saying, "I was out of line.”
On May 10, with 3,658 fans in the stands, Oshawa beat Medicine Hat 5-3. This, too, was a penalty-filled game as referee David Lynch chose to clamp down from the outset.
Lynch called 28 penalties worth 150 minutes, including match penalties to Kuntz for headbutting Scott Mahoney during a scrap and to Oshawa's Tony Joseph after he slashed Fitzpatrick with 59 seconds left in the game.
The next day, Kuntz was hit with a one-game suspension. Joseph was also suspended for one game, but not for slashing Fitzpatrick; instead, he was disciplined for spitting at Van Rooyen during a fight.
"Tonight, the referee did his job,” Theriault said.
"We aren't that happy when we lose,” Maxwell said. "I think we fell apart as far as the discipline goes at the latter part of the game when it was pretty well over.”
The teams were tied 2-2 after the first period, with Guy Phillips and Ron Bonora scoring the for the Tigers and Giffin and Jim Paek replying for Oshawa.
Phillips gave Medicine Hat a 3-2 lead after two periods, but the Tigers took two penalties in the period's final moments.
Barry Burkholder pulled the Generals even just 44 seconds into the third period. Then, one second after the second penalty had expired, Giffin scored on his own rebound to give the lead to the Generals.
Brian Hunt put it away with 7:05 left in the third period.
The Tigers got on track in their next game, beating the Chevaliers 4-2 in front of 3,360 fans on May 11.
"I'm still waiting for my team to show up,” Chouinard said. "Right now, this is not the real Longueuil team.”
That may have been so. But this was the real Medicine Hat team -- the Tigers were forechecking and grinding, playing tough, tough hockey.
Medicine Hat got three goals from centre Rob DiMaio and an empty-netter from Kirby Lindal.
"I don't know if I consider myself a potent goal scorer,” said DiMaio, who had struck for 27 regular-season goals. "I'm a grinder. I've played that style all year.
"I have a job to do and that job is whatever they assign me to. And most times, that job isn't to score goals.”
Chouinard wasn't overly thrilled with Marc Saumier, one of the team's leading scorers. Saumier, who had 39 goals and 49 assists in the regular season, sat out 18 minutes worth of penalties, including a misconduct he picked up after he tossed a water bottle at the timekeeper.
"When you lose a guy like that for 18 minutes, you can't afford it,” Chouinard said. "He didn't help us at all.”
The Chevaliers, who trailed 2-0 and 3-2 at the breaks, got goals from Marc Tremblay and Steven Paiement.
Longueuil was now 0-2 and looking at an early exit.
"We didn't expect to win every game,” Chouinard said. "And we sure don't want to lose them all.”
Stern was in the stands the next night, May 12, as the Chevaliers played the Generals. It turned out to be his lucky night as he won $1,220 in a raffle during the game.
On the ice, his teammates lost 6-3 to fall to 0-3.
Oshawa clinched a spot in the final with the victory; the Chevaliers now would go into a two-game, total-goal semifinal series against the Tigers. This was a tiebreaking procedure under which two teams went into a two-game semifinal series if one team wrapped up a spot in the final after the fourth game.
"They have given us a chance to be part of the finals,” Chouinard said. "You look at it the other way, and we were 0-3. Where can you go with a record like that?”
Matikainen and Burkholder, with two each, McCrory and Mahoney scored for Oshawa.
Mario De Benedictis, Richard Laplante and Real Godin scored for Longueuil.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and Oshawa led 4-1 going into the third period. The Chevaliers closed to within one, at 4-3, early in the third after Chouinard changes goaltenders, Eric Maguere coming on for Desjardins.
"It changed things and it almost worked,” Chouinard said.
Chouinard was still waiting for the real Chevaliers to show up.
"Do you think a championship team looks like what you've seen from us this tournament?” he asked.
Matikainen, a defenceman, had been on the Finnish team that won the 1986 world junior championship following that infamous brawl between Canada and the Soviet Union in Piestany, Czechoslovakia. He was of the opinion the Memorial Cup was a bigger deal.
"The Memorial Cup means more to me, by far,” he explained. "It's something you work all year for, and not just a couple of weeks.”
He also expected to meet the Tigers in the final.
"I think Medicine Hat is a much tougher team,” he stated. "They will outwork Quebec. I bet they walk all over Longueuil.”
He was right.
The Tigers won 6-0 on May 13, before 3,416 fans.

[nivek_wahs]

1987 continued...

The Medicine Hat fans in attendance were gaining some attention for their habit of throwing beachballs onto the ice whenever their team scored.
The pitchers were led by former Tigers defenceman Gord Hynes, who spent the 1986-87 season with Moncton of the American Hockey League.
"Our message to the goaltender is simple: ‘If you can't stop a puck, try a beachball.’ ” said Hynes, whose brother Wayne was a centre with the Tigers. "We're not hurting anyone. We're just having fun.”
So were the Tigers, who got two goals and two assists from Jeff Wenaas as they scored three times in each of the second and third periods.
"We really appreciate it,” Wenaas said of the fans' actions. "We're kind of strangers here and it's nice to hear their support.”
Rod Williams, Dale Kushner, McBean and Phillips also scored for the Tigers, who got 19 saves from Fitzpatrick.
Chouinard felt this game was won and lost in front of the Medicine Hat goal, where few Chevaliers chose to wander.
"If you go there, there is a good chance you will get cross-checked,” Chouinard said. "They won't pay the price. They didn't tonight.”
As for facing a 6-0 deficit going into the second game of the total-goal series, Chouinard noted: "We haven't scored that many goals the whole tournament. But it's not over yet.”
It was over on May 14 after the Tigers beat the Chevaliers 3-1, sending Longueuil home with an 0-5 record. Only the 1977 Sherbrooke Castors had lost as many as four games in one tournament.
In the aftermath, Desjardins and Chouinard said they felt too many players were overly satisfied to have won the QMJHL crown.
"That was our biggest problem,” Desjardins said. "The guys were on vacation before we came in, and that's what happened.
"When we arrived here, we should have been pumped up to play but we were just flat. Maybe we were scared.”
Chouinard added: "How many guys will come back next year, and the year after that? When you are there, you should take advantage of it.
"At least go home with your head up, knowing you gave it 100 per cent to at least try and win it. I don't think we did that this week.”
McCrady, Wenaas and Kushner scored for the Tigers, with De Benedictis replying for Longueuil.
And now Maxwell was saying he was still waiting for the real Tigers to show up.
"I don't think we have played at the top of our game since we arrived here,” he said. "But we'll have to (in the final).”
The Tigers were at the top of their game on May 16 as they stoned the Generals 6-2 in front of 3,564 fans.
Linden scored the game's first goal, beating Hackett just 1:47 into the first period.
It was 2-0 thanks to Phillips about six minutes later, and the Tigers were off to the races.
"They were tremendous,” Theriault said. "We had difficulty moving the puck and they were moving well. Medicine Hat played a super game.”
The Generals had gone into the game unbeaten in the tournament and with three days' rest. The Tigers were playing their third game in four days.
Wenaas set the tone when he aggressively won the ceremonial opening faceoff from Paek, drawing a round of boos from the capacity crowd.
"We were on top of them all game,” Wenaas said.
Linden ended up with his first two goals of the tournament, including the eventual game-winner, at 15:48 of the first period.
DiMaio, Kushner and Bonora also scored for the Tigers, who held period leads of 3-1 and 4-2 and outshot the Generals 34-32.
McCrory scored both Oshawa goals. His second goal, on a power play at 11:36 of the second period, got the Generals to within one at 3-2.
Dean Morton then took a charging penalty for running into Fitzpatrick and Kushner promptly restored the two-goal lead.
"You could kind of say the fourth goal was the straw that broke the camel's back,” Morton said. "(The penalty) came at a bad time.”
Thibault agreed.
"The fourth goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us,” he said. "We were coming back all year -- the never-say-die Generals -- and when they got the fourth one, it just wasn't there.”
King, who was held to three assists in the tournament, was especially disappointed.
"I thought I would be scoring goals until the end of the season,” he said. "I thought no one would really know who I was. But I guess they must have done their homework because they knew what our line could do and shut us down.
"We didn't overcome it, and now we're finalists, not champions . . . and I feel just brutal about it.”
Linden, who had four years of eligibility remaining, said: "I guess it was just my turn to score. Guys like Mark Pederson, Guy Phillips and Dale Kushner carried us through the playoffs by scoring some big goals -- but I guess it was my turn to score today.”
Maxwell said it was the biggest thrill of his career.
"It's the highlight of my hockey career,” he said. "We played today like we played all year long -- with great forechecking and scoring when we get the chances.”
Farwell pointed to the team's character.
"It was the character of our kids that carried us through,” Farwell said. "We had a tremendous group of guys, and 15 of them had been disappointed the previous season when we had a good playoff but were eliminated by Kamloops.
"We had so many returnees from that team, and they just weren't going to be denied.”
Five Tigers were named to the tournament all-star team -- Fitzpatrick, McBean, Wenaas, Phillips and Kushner. Murphy, the Oshawa defenceman, prevented a Medicine Hat sweep. Phillips and Wenaas led the tournament with eight points each, while Phillips and DiMaio were tops in goals, each with four.
Fitzpatrick was selected the outstanding goaltender. McCrory was honored as the most sportsmanlike player.
A lot of people felt that Medicine Hat lost its magic on July 2, 1987, when Maxwell left to accept an assistant coaching position with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
However, Farwell would find another former NHL defenceman to coach his Tigers. And the magic would return.

NEXT: 1988 (Medicine Hat Tigers, Windsor Spitfires, Drummondville Voltigeurs and Hull Olympiques)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1988 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1988.html)

1988 MEMORIAL CUP
Medicine Hat Tigers, Windsor Spitfires, Drummondville Voltigeurs and Hull Olympiques
at Chicoutimi (Georges Vezina Arena)


This one, the hockey gods seemed to be saying, was for Ed Chynoweth.
The 1987-88 hockey season ended in Chicoutimi, Que., with the Chynoweth family on centre stage.
There was Ed Chynoweth, the longtime president of the Western Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella under which the three major junior leagues operate, presenting the Memorial Cup to his son Dean, the captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The smiles told you it was a moment for the ages.
Never in Memorial Cup history had a father presented the championship trophy to his son.
This was an especially incredible moment for Ed, who admits to getting a charge out of presenting the trophy to any team captain.
"I probably get as big a thrill as the team captain of the winning team does when he skates out to meet me at centre ice,” Ed once told Windsor, Ont., freelance writer John Humphrey. "It's such a sight to see the joy and ecstasy in a player's eyes. It gets my adrenalin going and brings a smile to my face, that much I can tell you.”
And when you're handing the trophy over to your own flesh and blood . . .
"I don't know if that's an accomplishment that will ever be duplicated -- a Canadian Hockey League president presenting the Memorial Cup to his son,” Ed said. "It was such a proud moment for Dean and myself, both personally and professionally.”
Only five times in history had one team won back-to-back championships.
The Medicine Hat Tigers of 1987-88 would become the sixth team on that list. They were the first WHL team to win back-to-back titles since the New Westminster Bruins won four in a row, from 1975 through 1978. And the Tigers became the first WHL team to appear in consecutive Memorial Cups since the Portland Winter Hawks qualified in 1982 as WHL champions and 1983 as the host team.
Shortly after the Tigers won the 1987 Memorial Cup, head coach Bryan Maxwell left to join the NHL's Los Angeles Kings as an assistant coach.
Russ Farwell, who was going into his sixth season as the Tigers' general manager, immediately began what turned into a one-month search for a replacement. He came up with Barry Melrose, a native of Kelvington, Sask., who had been a journeyman defenceman during a professional career that included six NHL seasons and stops in Detroit, Toronto and Winnipeg.
"He's been recommended by all the people he's been in contact with,” Farwell said. "We didn't want a coach who was going to move from point to point.”
Although the Tigers were loaded with returning players from their championship team, Farwell tried to deflect any talk of pressure to repeat as Memorial Cup champions.
"Trying to repeat is difficult,” he said. "We won't know (which players will return) until we see who the NHL gives us back. There is a little bit of pressure, but I don't think that'll be a major problem.”
As for Melrose, he said he came to Medicine Hat because "I just wanted to go to a good organization. This is one of the proven junior teams in Canada.”
Back for another shot at the Memorial Cup were goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick, defencemen Scott McCrady, Wayne McBean and Chynoweth, and forwards Mark Pederson, Rob DiMaio, Trevor Linden, Kirby Lindal, Wayne Hynes and Neil Brady.
Five of those players -- McCrady, McBean, Pederson, DiMaio and Linden -- had also played on the 1988 Canadian team that won the world junior championship. Yes, this was a team that knew a thing or two about playing under pressure.
Still, the Medicine Hat roster also included seven 16-year-old players. And one of their top players, centre Trevor Linden, was only 17 years of age.
The Tigers' regular season could best be described as B.M. and A.M. -- before McBean and after McBean. An outstanding defenceman with tremendous offensive skills, McBean opened the season with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
Without McBean, the Tigers' roar was barely a meow at a mediocre 22-16-4. With McBean, an all-star at the 1987 Memorial Cup, back in the lineup, the Tigers were 38-11-2.
When the regular season ended, the Tigers, at 44-22-6, were second in the East Division, behind the Saskatoon Blades (47-22-3). The Kamloops Blazers finished on top of the West Division, at 45-26-1.
A year earlier, the Tigers had just one player with more than 100 points (Pederson had 102), but had a dozen with at least 50 points.
Now it was a year later and the Tigers had two 100-point men -- Pederson with 111, including 53 goals, and Linden, with 110. They finished 16th and 17th in the league scoring race.
And the Tigers only had seven players with more than 50 points, but McBean finished with 45 points in only 30 games.
As a team, they scored 353 goals, the fifth-best total in the league. As they had the previous season, they won with goaltending and defence.
Fitzpatrick led the league with a 3.23 GAA as he played in 63 of the club's 72 games, going 36-15-6 in the process.
Defensively, the Tigers gave up 261 goals, the lowest total in the league by 23 goals.
After an opening-round bye, Medicine Hat opened the postseason against the Prince Albert Raiders, who had won a best-of-five series from the Brandon Wheat Kings in four games. The Tigers took the best-of-seven series from the Raiders in six games, and then swept Saskatoon in the East Division final series.
The WHL's championship final went six games, with the Tigers eliminating the Kamloops Blazers, winning the last game, 5-2.
Going into the Memorial Cup, no one was hotter than DiMaio, who totaled eight goals and nine assists in the victory over Kamloops. DiMaio finished the playoffs with 31 points, including 12 goals. He and Kamloops' Mark Recchi, who had 10 goals, tied for the scoring lead. Linden had 25 points, including 13 goals to tie for the league lead with Pederson.
Fitzpatrick, playing every minute of every playoff game, put up a 3.25 GAA. He was ready for Chicoutimi.
Still, the Tigers weren't favoured when this tournament opened.
"How can anybody say we're favoured?” Melrose asked. "I think the Windsor Spitfires are the team everyone is talking about, even moreso than us.”
The Spitfires, of head coach Tom Webster, were coming off an amazing OHL season.
Webster had been to the Memorial Cup before, as a player with the Niagara Falls Flyers who won the 1968 title. He brought out the photos and the newspaper clippings from that championship and used them to motivate his team.
"It brought back a lot of memories,” Webster said. "It was a lot of fun and it was a great way to keep the guys loose.”
In winning their first OHL title, the Spitfires set seven franchise records -- most goals (396), fewest goals against (215), most victories (50), fewest losses (14), most points (102), longest winning streak (16) and longest home-ice winning streak (13).
They ran that home-ice streak to 19 in the playoffs and actually took an 18-game winning streak into the Memorial Cup tournament.
Among other things, the Spitfires went into Chicoutimi having won 35 of their last 36 games; they were 40-4-0 since Christmas; and, they were 54-0 when leading after two periods.
They, too, leaned heavily on a veteran of the Canadian junior team -- right-winger Adam Graves, their team captain.
"We will rely on him to prepare us,” Webster said. "You can't get much more pressure than beating the Soviets in Moscow.”
Graves had opened the season with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, but returned to Windsor to total 60 points, including 28 goals, in 32 games. In the playoffs, he had 15 goals and 17 assists as the Spitfires went 12-0. That's right -- they never lost a playoff game as they swept past, in order, the Kitchener Rangers, Hamilton Steelhawks and Peterborough Petes.
Also on this Windsor team were the Shannon brothers -- left-winger Darrin and defenceman Darryl -- and hardnosed defenceman Glen Featherstone.
The goaltending was in the capable hands of Pat Jablonski.
The tournament also featured two teams from the QMJHL -- the Hull Olympiques, who were the league champions, and the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who had lost out to Hull in the final.
The Olympiques, of head coach Alain Vigneault, had concluded the regular season with the QMJHL's best record -- 43-23-4.
They were led offensively by Marc Saumier, whose 166 points, including 114 assists, left him third in the regular-season scoring race. This would be Saumier's second straight Memorial Cup appearance -- a year earlier, he was with the QMJHL-champion Longueuil Chevaliers.
Benoit Brunet was tied for seventh in the scoring race, with 143 points, including 54 goals, while Martin Gelinas was 10th with 131 points, including 63 goals.
Yes, these Olympiques could score. Their 380 goals were third-highest in the league. On defence, they allowed 294 goals, the 10-team league's third-best figure. The goaltender was Jason Glickman, a Chicago native.
Hull was pushed in the playoffs, too.

[nivek_wahs]

1988 continued...

It opened with a best-of-seven division semifinal against the Granby Bisons that took only five games. But after that the Olympiques went through two seven-game sets -- first ousting the Laval Titan, who led 3-1 after four games, and then taking out Drummondville. The Voltigeurs actually held a 3-1 lead in games in the championship final, but weren't able to close it out. The Olympiques roared back to win three in a row, including a 5-3 triumph in Game 7.
Saumier was the QMJHL's top playoff performer, with 48 points, including 31 assists, in 19 games.
Drummondville head coach Jean Begin was an assistant coach with the 1988 gold medal-winning Canadian junior team.
Begin had guided the Voltigeurs to a 35-31-4 regular-season record, second-best in the Frank Dilio Division, behind the Chicoutimi Sagueneens (38-31-1) and only the fifth-best mark in the league.
They caught fire in the playoffs and rolled over the Victoriaville Tigres and Shawinigan Cataractes, winning both series in five games. Then, in the final, they grabbed that 3-1 series lead over Hull before the roof fell in on them.
The 1988 tournament was played in Chicoutimi, a legendary hockey city that boasts of being home to Georges Vezina, one of the greatest goaltenders in the game's history.
Located deep in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Chicoutimi, with a population of slightly more than 50,000, proved a receptive home to the 1988 Memorial Cup tournament.
But there was controversy before the first puck was dropped.
With the tournament in Quebec, the QMJHL would supply the on-ice officials and had chosen Dave Jackson, Richard Trottier and Luc Lachapelle as its referees.
According to a Canadian Press report: "After almost every game of the (championship) series, Hull coach Alain Vigneault and Maurice Lemay, coach of the Laval Titan, who lost in the previous round, attacked the referees.”
Gilles Courteau, the QMJHL president, admitted concern; in fact, he admitted Jackson had turned in a lax effort in Game 5 of the final between Hull and the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
"I'm concerned,” Courteau said. "We're in the finals of a big tournament, so let's see the guys play.
"Sure the players must be disciplined, but the refs have the rule book. It's up to them to use it.”
Oh, one other thing -- Begin came into this tournament with an 0-6 record in Memorial Cup games. Two days after it opened, he was 0-8.
The Voltigeurs began with an 8-3 loss to Windsor on May 7 and followed that up on May 8 by losing 7-1 to Medicine Hat.
"My record is a bad one and I know it,” Begin said. “But how many coaches can say they have been here three times.”
Begin, the first coach in QMJHL history to make three appearances at the tournament, had previously been there with Laval (1984) and the Verdun Junior Canadiens (1985).
"I prefer to be 0-8 than all the coaches who are 0-0 right now,” Begin said. "I could be 0-20 and I'd be happy.”
Before 2,841 fans, the Tigers really took it to the Voltigeurs.
DiMaio scored 26 seconds into the game, Cal Zankowski made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal midway through the opening period and Linden made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 14:36. Pederson, McBean and DiMaio, with his second goal, scored in the second period, with Mark Woolf adding a third-period goal.
Martin Bergeron scored Drummondville's lone goal at 9:19 of the third period.
"The score flattered us,” said Melrose, whose club outshot Drummondville, 43-21. “They have a little less talent than us and that first goal took the wind out of their sails.
"They were a little overmatched.”
In the other game on May 8, Windsor beat Hull, 5-4.
By May 9, everyone was wondering what was wrong with the QMJHL.
The Tigers hammered the Olympiques 7-3 in front of 2,852 fans that night, leaving the QMJHL teams at 0-4. This was also the 10th consecutive setback, dating back to the 1986 tournament, for Quebec teams.
"I don't put the players on the ice,” Courteau said. "I am concerned. It's an embarrassment and a disappointment. And it's tough for me. But I don't have the answer.”
Courteau felt that QMJHL teams perhaps were content to win the league championship.
"I have told them it is important to understand the season doesn't end with the league championship,” he said. "I have told them we have to play the Memorial Cup.
"I've told them they will be one of the four best teams in Canada and they have to prove it. Maybe they think too much of the teams from Ontario and the West.”
Vigneault disagreed with Courteau.
"We are doing the best we can to represent our league,” he said. ""That's all I can ask of my players.”
Brady, DiMaio, Lindal, Pederson, Linden, McCrady and Darren Taylor scored for the Tigers, who trailed 2-1 after one period but scored the second period's only three goals to take control. Stephane Quintal, Stephane Matteau and Ken MacDermid replied for Hull, which outshot the Tigers, 35-32.
The Tigers were already looking ahead to the following night's game against Windsor, which was also 2-0.
"I wish we could be meeting them when both of us are fresh,” said Melrose, pointing out the game would be the third in as many nights for his Tigers. "We are the only team that has to play three in three. We just don't think it is fair.”
DiMaio said his teammates wouldn't use fatigue as an excuse.
"This is exactly where we want to be, winning our two games,” he said. "They have a lot of character and we have a lot. It's going to be nose to nose.”
The Spitfires ran their winning streak to 21 with a 5-2 victory over the Tigers in front of 3,052 fans on May 10. Afterwards, Melrose was spittin' mad.
"I hope the organizers are happy,” he seethed. ""They gave us three games in three nights. We had to play the best team the last night. Everything was set up for Windsor to win.”
The victory sent the Spitfires on to the final. The Tigers would have the following day off and then play the winner of a Drummondville-Hull game in the semifinal game.
The Tigers were actually in this game until they ran into penalty trouble in the third period.
Windsor took a 3-2 lead into the third period when Medicine Hat defenceman Ryan McGill was hit with a major penalty for slashing Graves. Brad Hyatt and Ron Jones scored on the ensuing penalty to break this one open.
Fitzpatrick took a slashing major midway through the third period, dashing any hopes the Tigers had of making a comeback.
Melrose was not pleased with the work of Jackson, the referee.
"Why is it when we hit a guy in the face it's five minutes and when they hit a guy it is four?” Melrose asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What's the difference?
"Out west, when you hit a guy in the face it is five minutes. I guess I wasn't aware of the rule.”
Graves, Darrin Shannon and Jones, with an earlier goal, rounded out Windsor's scoring. Vince Boe and McGill scored for the Tigers.
"When we got those two quick goals, that was the turning point,” Webster said.
Melrose, after cooling off, agreed.
"You can't kill 10 minutes and expect to beat a good club,” he admitted.
As for McGill, he said he didn't mean to cut Graves, whose right ear was covered by blood-soaked gauze at game's end.
"I went to slash his arm and my stick got up and accidentally brushed him in the helmet,” McGill said. "I didn't hit him hard . . . but there was no blood.”
Graves said: "I figured since I felt it, I might as well fall down and get a penalty. I was laying there looking for the referee (and) it started to bleed.”
Both teams now were looking forward to some rest.
"Hopefully, we will get another crack at Windsor when we are fresh, and we will see what happens then,” Melrose said.
Webster offered: "I think Medicine Hat is as tired as we are and it hasn't been easy to get this far. But we will not lose sight of what we are here for.”
In the meantime, Drummondville would play Hull, meaning the QMJHL's 10-game losing streak would end.
On May 11, Hull beat Drummondville 5-2, earning a spot in the semifinal game and sending Begin to his ninth straight Memorial Cup defeat.
"We're used to playing a do-or-die situation,” offered Vigneault, who had been honoured earlier in the day as the CHL's coach of the year. ""I guess we like it. We've been good at pressure.”
Then, looking ahead to the semifinal game with Medicine Hat, he added: "We're going to try to prove we're the comeback kids again.”
Melrose had watched the game and admitted he wasn't impressed with Hull.
"They didn't play as well as I thought they would,” Melrose stated. "If we don't beat Hull, we don't deserve to play Windsor.”
Melrose also took the time to fire a shot or two at Gelinas, the CHL's rookie of the year.
"Apart from one nice goal, he didn't do much,” Melrose said. "He's a talented player but he hasn't don't anything fancy.”
Always outspoken and frequently blowing smoke, Melrose didn't see much about which to get excited in Hull's record in must-win games.
"We've won must games all year long,” he said. "We have a history of it. We don't quit.”
Gelinas, with two goals, Daniel Shank, MacDermid and Joe Suk scored for Hull. Martin Gecteau and Rob Murphy scored for Drummondville.
Vigneault recognized that his club would be in tough against the Tigers.
"If you don't put any pressure on them and if you let them wheel all night, you will come out on the short end,” he explained.
The Tigers won that semifinal game 5-3 on May 12 in front of 2,989 fans.
Taylor, a checking winger who had 12 goals in the regular season, broke a 3-3 tie with 6:34 left in the third period.
"I'd have to say that was the biggest goal of my life,” said Taylor, who had 34 goals in four seasons of junior hockey. "This is the furthest I have ever been, so it is definitely the biggest goal.”
The goal came moments after Glickman had made a glittering save off Woolf. Taylor scored on the rebound.
Hull led 3-2 after the first period; the teams were tied 3-3 heading into the third.
Linden had given the Tigers a 1-0 lead, only to have Saumier and Brunet put Hull out front. Pederson tied it at 17:29 of the first period; Saumier put Hull back out front at 19:42.
Medicine Hat's Jason Miller scored the second period's only goal, setting the stage for Taylor.
Zankowski wrapped it up with a goal at 16:06 of the third period.
There was an off day between the semifinal and final, meaning the Tigers and Spitfires were well rested when May 14 arrived. And the final game of the 1988 tournament was one for the ages.
The Tigers fell behind the Spitfires 3-0 just 12 minutes into the first period but roared back to win 7-6 before 3,301 fans.
"Unbelievable,” Melrose said. "You couldn't have written a better script.”
Windsor's Mike Wolak scored 14 seconds into the game. Peter DeBoer made it 2-0 at 10:12 and, when Jean-Paul Gorley scored at 12:02 on a power play, it was 3-0. Lindal and Woolf scored for the Tigers before the period ended and the comeback was on.
Pederson pulled the Tigers even at 4:27 of the second period and DiMaio put them into the lead on a power play at 6:33. Darrin Shannon sent the Spitfires back out front at 8:41, but the Tigers reclaimed the lead when Lindal scored at 12:01.
Miller gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead at 11:48 of the third period and most observers thought this one was over. However, Paul Wilkinson (12:14) and Wolak (14:54) pulled Windsor back even and it seemed as though this game was headed for overtime.
Pederson would have none of that. A pure sniper, he didn't scored in the 1987 tournament in Oshawa. He would lead the 1988 tournament with five goals, none of them bigger than the last one. It came with 2:43 left in the third period and won the game.
The winner came after DiMaio found himself with the puck in a corner. As he was falling to the ice, he tossed a pass to Pederson who one-timed it past Jablonski.
"It was a relief as much as anything,” Pederson said. "It was a great feeling. It just sent a chill down through my body.”
The Spitfires had gone into the game riding a 21-game winning streak.
"All I can say is we both won a game,” Webster said. "I don't think we lost. We ran out of time.”
Webster felt Woolf's goal with 53 seconds left in the first period was the key score.
"It was a momentum builder for them coming into the second period and it carried on,” Webster said. "If there was a turning point, that was it.”
Melrose agreed.
"It gave us time to regroup,” he said of Woolf's goal.
DiMaio was named the tournament's most valuable player.
"This year is something that I'll dream about for the rest of my life,” said DiMaio, who was joined on the tournament all-star team by Fitzpatrick, Chynoweth, Linden and the Shannon brothers.
Wolak led the tournament with 10 points; DiMaio and Pederson were next, with nine apiece.
Fitzpatrick became the first double-winner of the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy which goes to the top goaltender. Gelinas was selected the most sportsmanlike player.
And one of the assists on the winning goal went to Chynoweth, a gritty, hard-nosed, stay-at-home defenceman. As the Tigers' captain, he accepted the Memorial Cup from his father, Ed.
There was more to this triumph than what met the eye, however.
As it turned out, this Medicine Hat team was playing with a heavy heart.
Helen Brady, Neil's 62-year-old mother, lost a battle with cancer during the tournament. She died on May 10 in Calgary, the day the Tigers lost to Windsor in the round-robin portion of the tournament.
Neil was a solid, hard-working centre who had been selected by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the NHL's 1986 draft.
His mother had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 1986. Her son was playing in Medicine Hat by then, and he made countless trips from Medicine Hat to Calgary.
"She was an unbelievably strong woman,” her son said.
Two days after winning their second straight national championship, Brady and his teammates attended his mother's funeral in Calgary.

NEXT: 1989 (Swift Current Broncos, Saskatoon Blades, Peterborough Petes and Laval Titan)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1989 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1989.html)

1989 MEMORIAL CUP
Swift Current Broncos, Saskatoon Blades, Peterborough Petes and Laval Titan
at Saskatoon (Saskatchewan Place)


This Memorial Cup tournament should have belonged to the Saskatoon Blades.
That's because the Blades are the only original member of the Western Hockey League to play every season since the first one, 1966-67.
The Blades had put together some great teams over the years but always seemed to run into another team that was just a little bit better.
Now, with a new rink -- the 7,752-seat Saskatchewan Place -- the Blades found themselves in the Memorial Cup, albeit as the host team.
Still, they were in the tournament. And that's all that mattered to the hockey-mad city of Saskatoon.
But the Swift Current Broncos were also in this tournament. They were there as the WHL champions, the conclusion to a most improbable run.
And the Broncos had more than the eyes of a city upon them. A whole nation was watching them; indeed, it was an entire teary-eyed nation.
If ever there was a little team that could in a little city that wanted to, it was the Swift Current Broncos.
John Rittinger, the team's governor, had tried for years to land a team for the city of 16,000 residents that is located in the southwest part of Saskatchewan.
Every time a team became available, or there was a whisper that one might be up for grabs, Rittinger was there.
It was an empty trail of broken dreams until Rittinger and his community group were able to purchase the Lethbridge Broncos after the 1985-86 season.
But, as it turned out, the chase was only a tiny portion of the story.
The remainder began on the night of Dec. 30, 1986, as the Broncos were en route to Regina for a game with the Pats.
A wet snow resulted in icy conditions and the Broncos bus swerved off the Trans-Canada Highway and crashed through a ditch a short distance from home.
Four players – Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff -- were killed.
At the time, John Foster, the Broncos' publicity director, said: "This team will band together and win it for those guys who died. The (survivors) were absolutely professional under stress. If the people of Swift Current could have seen them, they would have been proud.”
Foster was on the bus that night, so he knew of what he spoke. Time would prove him correct, too.
There was more to this tragic tale, however, and in the end it was all enough to have observers wondering if this organization was operating under a permanent black cloud.
Herman Kruger, 67, suffered a fatal heart attack as he entered the church for his great-grandson's funeral.
And later the same day, at a lunch following funeral services, Regina head coach Doug Sauter and Pats trainer Stan Szumlak came to the rescue of Keith Giles, a member of the Prince Albert executive who was choking on some food.
The Broncos learned then that life does go on. And it did. For the most part, the organization was able to put the accident behind itself -- not forgotten, just out of mind.
As Graham James, the team's general manager and head coach, said in the early winter of 1989: "It's not really mentioned now. If guys start whining or feeling sorry for themselves, we remind them of the history of this franchise. That keeps things in perspective.''
But now it was the spring of 1989 and the Broncos -- and the accident -- were front and centre.
Suddenly, everyone was interested in the Broncos. Everyone wanted to know how it was that the organization could recover as quickly as it did.
"I think after the bus accident . . . that galvanized the spirit of the community,” James said. "I think that was a catalyst. Since then we've had to provide a product that's been worthy of fans coming, but I think that incident certainly rallied the community.”
The Broncos opened the 1988-89 season by winning their first 12 games. A team of destiny? People were already starting to wonder.
When the Christmas break arrived the Broncos were riding a 10-game winning streak and had a 28-5-0 record.
When the regular season was done, the Broncos, a team that played in the smallest of any CHL city, a team that played in the CHL's smallest rink (the Centennial Civic Centre seated 2,275 and had standing room for 800), had the CHL's best record -- 55-16-1. By going 33-2-1 at home, they set a WHL record for most home victories in a season.
Still, the best was yet to come.
On April 30, the Broncos completed an amazing run through the WHL playoffs by beating the Winter Hawks 4-1 in Portland. That gave the Broncos a sweep of the best-of-seven WHL championship final.
Earlier, the Broncos had also swept the Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon.
Yes, Swift Current went through the WHL playoffs without losing a game, something no other WHL team had ever done. The Broncos put together a 12-0 run and they carried that momentum into the Memorial Cup tournament.
"This is a great accomplishment for our franchise,” James said. "But I don't want the Memorial Cup to decide if we had a great year.”
Swift Current centre Tim Tisdale added: "We have the team to do it this year. If we can't get up for four games, we don't belong there. I'll be disappointed if we don't win the Memorial Cup.”
Believe one thing -- this team was Graham James.
Raised in Winnipeg, James had been exposed to the flowing style of hockey played by the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets, in particular the style played by Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Bobby Hull.
The Broncos were full of players who could pass, skate and shoot. And while not a physical team, the Broncos were intimidating because the power play simply could not be stopped.
Ask the Warriors who one night were beaten by the Broncos to the tune of 11-3, surrendering a WHL record 10 power-play goals in the process.
With Dan Lambert, Bob Wilkie and Darren Kruger rotating on the points, and with virtually any combination of Tisdale, Peter Soberlak, Sheldon Kennedy, Brian Sakic, Peter Kasowski and Kimbi Daniels seeing time up front, the Broncos' power play was awesome before awesome became cool.
Swift Current's power-play unit scored 180 goals that season, breaking the WHL's single-season record by 15 goals. With the man advantage, the Broncos scored 180 goals in 526 chances, an incredible success rate of 34.2 per cent.
Five players scored 100 points or more -- Tisdale (139), Kasowski (131), Kennedy (106), Lambert (102) and Sakic (100). Darren Kruger finished with 97, and set a WHL record with 63 power-play assists.
Tisdale added 32 points in 12 playoff games, while Lambert had 28 points, including 19 assists.
The goaltender was Trevor Kruger, Darren's twin brother. Their younger brother, Scott, was one of the victim's of that bus accident.
And there was James, a man who loved the game of hockey, especially when it's played properly.
Despite public perception which was fueled by the media, James never really campaigned against violence in hockey. It's just that when asked about it, he always provided an answer. That answer was always thought-provoking.
"I'm not comfortable doing this,” he said. "But I think we have a choice. Do we say what we believe or do we keep quiet so everyone in the league likes us? The easiest thing to do is remain neutral, but I don't think that's right.”
He would oftentimes compare hockey to another sport.
"What if golf were like hockey?” he would wonder out loud. "Say Jack Nicklaus had a 20-foot birdie putt and Ben Crenshaw thought, ‘I'm 10 shots behind him, I'm going to get him.' Would he cross-check Nicklaus in the back of the head with his putter?”
Through all of this, James wasn't the most popular person in WHL circles, especially since his Broncos employed Mark McFarlane, a right-winger who totalled 364 penalty minutes.
"I don't want to give the impression we're perfect,” James said. "We get that all the time -- what about McFarlane? But I think we're sending a message saying you can't stick guys. If I see our guys using sticks, I'll talk to them on the bench. If it continues, we'll deal with it at the team level. We've sat guys out for stick infractions. The bottom line is this game wasn't meant to hurt people.”
The toughest part of the Broncos may well have been the players' bench.
"Actually, we're a lot like the Oakland A's in the mid-'70s,” James said. "Guys come to the bench screaming and *****ing at each other, but off the ice they get along great.
"We've just got a lot of high-strung people during the game.”
The Blades, meanwhile, were a disappointed bunch.
Under head coach Marcel Comeau they had put together a 42-28-2 record and were never really given the respect they felt they were due.
They had scored 366 goals. But the Broncos had scored more (447). The Blades had allowed 335 goals. The Broncos had allowed fewer (319).
The Blades had one player with 100 points (Kory Kocur, 102); the Broncos had five.
The one area in which the Blades had the edge was in 20-goal scorers. They had 10 of them; the Broncos only had nine.
Yes, the victories were small, indeed.
This was a gritty Saskatoon team that featured Scott Scissons, with 86 points, and three players with 79 points -- defenceman Collin Bauer and forwards Tracey Katelnikoff and Jason Christie.
Dean Kuntz saw the majority of action in goal during the regular season but, by the time the Memorial Cup arrived, Mike Greenlay was the starter.
The Blades opened the postseason with such high hopes, and they only got higher with a four-game sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
But before they knew it the Blades had been brushed aside by the Broncos, after which the seemingly interminable wait for the Memorial Cup to start was all that was left.
"We'll take a run at it just like the other teams will,” Comeau said. "We're not here for jokes and giggles.”
This time around, the Laval Titan would represent the QMJHL, a league that hadn't had a Quebec-based team win it all since the 1971 Quebec Remparts of Guy Lafleur.
Laval was coached by former NHLer Paulin Bordeleau, who had ended his North American playing career in 1976 and had since played for France at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary.
Bordeleau ended his playing career after his Olympic experience and returned to Canada in hopes of starting a coaching career.
Laval's leader offensively was right-winger Donald Audette, who totaled 161 points, including 76 goals, in the regular season and added 17 goals in 17 playoff games.
Two other Laval players broke the 100-point barrier -- Denis Chalifoux (137) and Claude Lapointe (104). Audette was third in the scoring race, Chalifoux was tied for 10th.
One of the keys to Laval's chances was centre Neil Carnes, a native of Farmington Hills, Mich. A knee injury limited him to 31 regular-season games, but he rejoined the team in the playoffs and had recorded 18 points in 10 games.
The key on defence was Patrice Brisebois, while goaltender Ghislain Lefebvre was coming of a regular season in which he posted a 3.90 GAA. When Lefebvre fell victim to postseason inconsistency on three occasions, backup Boris Rousson took over.
The Titan had the QMJHL's second-best regular-season record -- their 43-26-1 record just marginally below the 43-25-2 posted by the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs.
Laval opened the postseason by sweeping the Granby Bisons from a best-of-seven quarterfinal series and followed up with a 4-2 series victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes.
The championship final went seven games before the Titan were able to dispose of the Victoriaville Tigres. Laval won the final game 3-1.
"We were the best team in the league,” Bordeleau said. "We had a few lapses when we lost our discipline, but we deserve to represent Quebec in the Memorial Cup.”
The Peterborough Petes, this time coached by Dick Todd, would represent the OHL. It was the fourth time the Petes had appeared in the tournament since the round-robin format began in 1973.
The Petes boasted of the OHL's top goaltending tandem for the second straight season, John Tanner (3.34 GAA) and Todd Bojcun (3.59).
A year earlier, Tanner and Bojcun had carried the Petes into the OHL final, where they were swept by the Windsor Spitfires. This time, the Petes got to the final and took out the Niagara Falls Thunder in six games, winning the last game 8-2.
Earlier in the playoffs, the Petes had trailed the Belleville Bulls and Cornwall Royals.
The Bulls won the opener of their series before the Petes won the next four games. Cornwall won the first two games, only to have the Petes win the next four.
The leader, on the ice and off, was centre Mike Ricci. He was 10th in the regular-season scoring race with 106 points, including 54 goals. At 17 years of age, he wouldn't be eligible for the NHL draft until the summer of 1990.
The Petes only had two other players with more than 20 goals -- right-winger Ross Wilson had 48 (he totalled 89 points) and left-winger Andy MacVicar, who had 25 goals.
The Petes' roster also included the OHL's toughest player. Right-winger Tie Domi had 14 goals, 30 points and 175 penalty minutes.
Saskatoon fans anxiously awaited the first time Domi and Blades centre Kevin Kaminski (68 points, 199 penalty minutes) came face-to-face in a corner.
The Broncos opened the tournament on the afternoon of May 6, beating the Petes 6-4.
Kennedy, with two, Tisdale, Daniels, Sakic and Kevin Knopp scored for the Broncos, who led 3-2 after one period, trailed 4-3 after the second and won it with three third-period goals.
Domi, with two, Mark Myles and Jamey Hicks replied for the Petes, who trailed 3-2 after one period and led 4-3 after two but gave up three goals in the third.
That night, the Blades swung into action with a 5-3 victory over Laval before 8,943 fans.
Laval tied this one 3-3 at 6:22 of the third period, only to have the Blades win it with goals at 10:34 and 15:22.
The hero in Saskatoon's first-ever Memorial Cup game was Brian Gerrits, who had been acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks in 1987-88. He scored twice, including the game-winner.
Scissons, Katelnikoff and Kocur also scored for Saskatoon. Brisebois, Audette and Michel Gingras counted for Laval.

[nivek_wahs]

1989 continued....

The following day, May 7, the Blades and Petes evened their records at 1-1 as Peterborough beat Saskatoon 3-2.
The Petes built up a 3-1 lead and took a 3-2 lead into what would be a scoreless third period.
Wilson, with two, and MacVicar scored for Peterborough. Defenceman Ken Sutton and centre Jason Smart replied for the Blades.
The star was Bojcun, who kept the Blades off the board for the game's final 24 minutes.
"Our goalies got us through the playoffs,” Wilson said. "Hopefully, they'll get us through the Memorial Cup.”
And, yes, Domi and Kaminski did go fist-to-fist. The spirited bout was scored a draw by observers; it was also the only scrap of the first four games.
After the game, it was revealed that Ricci, who hadn't been terribly effective in the first two games, had chicken pox. He would try to play through it.
That night, Swift Current guaranteed itself a playoff spot by edging Laval 6-5 in front of 8,733 fans.
This time the Broncos won it with two goals six seconds apart in the third period, Wilkie scoring at 15:14 to break a 5-5 tie and Daniels winning it at 15:20 with his second goal of the game.
Lambert also had two goals for the winners, with Tisdale getting the other. Laval, which lost defenceman Eric Dubois with a separated shoulder, got two goals from Carnes and singles from Lapointe, Brisebois and Patrick Caron.
"I honestly didn't think we'd win this game,” Lambert said. Then, in reference to the club's habit of slumbering through the second period, he added: "I thought we'd done this one too many times.”
James said: "Sometimes we forget about the work ethic. But if we don't work, we're like any other team. We don't win.”
The QMJHL had now lost 13 straight games to OHL and WHL teams, a streak that began after the Hull Olympiques beat the Kamloops Blazers 9-3 in Portland on May 16, 1986.
"I just told them that the best team in Canada is the team that wins the Memorial Cup,” Bordeleau said after his team fell to 0-2. "And nobody has won the Memorial Cup yet.”
Prior to the two late goals, the Broncos were struggling to beat Lefebvre, who faced 40 shots in the Laval goal.
"That's as depressed as our bench has been for a long time,” James said. "I thought (Lefebvre) was on such a roll we were never going to beat him. But we're getting good play out of some of our guys and those individual efforts made the difference.”
The QMJHL's winless streak ended on May 9 when Laval beat Peterborough 3-1 before 8,517 fans.
"People said we hadn't won in so long,” Bordeleau said. "I said I'd never lost a game in the Memorial Cup and we'll go from there.”
By the time the game was five minutes old, Laval led 2-0 on goals by Caron and Audette. Carnes got Laval's other goal, with Hicks scoring for the Petes.
"They were a desperate team and we didn't show we were determined to put them away,” Todd stated.
By now, not only did the Petes have Ricci with chicken pox, but a flu bug was making its way through the dressing room.
Saskatoon made believers of everyone on May 10 by earning a berth in the tournament final with a thrilling 5-4 victory over the Broncos in front of a wild crowd of 8,763 fans.
That left the Blades and Broncos with 2-1 records; the Blades got the nod by virtue of their victory over Swift Current.
"(The Saskatoon StarPhoenix) said we were the laughing stock of the tournament,” Comeau said. "That was a motivational tool. He's not on our payroll but that writer certainly helped us out.”
Greenlay was spectacular for the Blades. He had made three starts against the Broncos in the WHL's East Division final and he got the hook in each one of them.
But on this night he stopped 39 shots, including 17 in the third period.
"I was playing with confidence and when you're playing with confidence, the puck just seems to hit you,” Greenlay said. "I'm sick and tired of hearing about that other series. I felt I'd let everybody down. I had three weeks to get ready for this series and get my confidence back. That's what I needed.”
Swift Current, which had a 14-game postseason winning streak snapped, led 3-1 after the first period, on goals by Wilkie, Kasowski and Sakic. With the Broncos ahead 3-0, Dean Holoien scored a late power-play goal for the Blades.
In the second period, Sutton banged in two goals and Smart added a single to put the Blades out front 4-3.
Kennedy tied it at 15:12 of the second period on a Swift Current power play. But Saskatoon's Darin Bader scored what proved to be the winner at 17:01, setting up a scoreless third period.
"(Greenlay) had the answer for everything they threw at him,” Comeau said. "He kept a very impressive offensive team down to a workable number of goals for us.”
The Broncos were left shaking their heads.
"He wasn't very good in the other series,” Lambert said. "Tonight, he showed us what he could do.”
James agreed.
"Certainly, the timing of this could be a little better,” James said. "But I don't want to get too excited over this. We'd beaten them four times in a row, their goalie plays well and we lose by a goal.
"They played 10 or 12 minutes and held on to win the hockey game. We should have buried them in the first period. I don't see any reason to hang our heads.”
That left it up to Laval and Peterborough to decide who would meet Swift Current in the semifinal game.
The Petes and Titan decided that on May 11, with Peterborough riding a 37-save effort by Bojcun to a 5-4 victory before 7,060 fans.
"We played a chippy game,” said Ricci, who scored his first two goals, both of them in the first period. "We have a big team and we had to come out tough and show them we were here to play.”
Todd noticed the difference in his star centre.
"It was obvious from the start that Mike Ricci had another step in his game,” Todd said. "That's a must for our team to be successful.”
Chalifoux opened the scoring with what would be his only goal of the tournament. And the Petes roared back with three straight goals -- two from Ricci and the other from Geoff Ingram.
The Titan came back to fire 29 shots at Bojcun over the final two periods, but they trailed 5-2 going into the third period.
Hicks and Jamie Pegg added second-period goals for the Petes, with Lapointe counting for Laval.
The Titan got third-period goals from Audette and Carnes but they couldn't get the equalizer.
"I wasn't trying to think about what was happening around me,” Bojcun said. "I just tried to stay calm and show my team I was relaxed.”
Bojcun was the game's third star. In his other two starts, he had been selected first star.
The game also helped set a Memorial Cup attendance record. The six-game total was 59,800, breaking the record of 57,256 set in Portland in 1986. By tournament's end, the attendance total would be 77,296.
The Broncos set up an all-Saskatchewan final on May 12 by whipping the Petes 6-2 in front of 8,378 fans.
"We're just like Nolan Ryan going to the mound with just his changeup,” James said. "We didn't have our best stuff.
"We were fighting the puck all night, which is the only thing this team will fight by the way. We were faulty in all areas. We just managed to persevere and win.”
Power-play goals by Tisdale and Trevor Sim gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead after a first period in which the Petes were outshot 9-2.
Sim, who had been acquired from Regina in a midseason trade, upped it to 3-0 early in the second period before Wilson got Peterborough on the board while skating with a two-man advantage.
Blake Knox pushed Swift Current's edge to 4-1 six minutes into the third period before Ricci scored, again with the Petes holding a two-man edge. The Petes couldn't get closer despite firing 38 shots at Kruger over the last two periods, and Tisdale and Daniels closed out the scoring.
"Their goaltender had a big night,” Todd said of Kruger, who finished with 38 saves. "When you're not blessed with an abundance of natural goal scorers, you run into nights like this.”
Todd also pointed a finger at referee Dean Forbes, pointing out that the Petes took six of the eight minor penalties handed out in the first period.
James, though, wasn't buying it.
"I don't think teams have anyone to blame but themselves for the penalties they take,” he said.
And then he began preparations for the final game.
"I feel cheated we haven't been playing our best,” James said. "We're in the national spotlight and the fans haven't seen the real Swift Current Broncos. I feel badly about that.
"But if you would have come up to me at the start of the season and said, ‘You'll be in the Memorial Cup final', I would have been delighted.
"By hook or by crook, we've got a shot at it tomorrow.”
This would be the very first all-WHL final. The only other time two teams from the same league had met in the final was 1984 when the Ottawa 67's beat the host Kitchener Rangers 7-2 in an all-OHL final.
Tears were shed and that bus crash of Dec. 30, 1986 was remembered on May 14 when the Broncos won the Memorial Cup, beating the Blades 4-3 on Tisdale's goal at 3:25 of the first sudden-death overtime period.
"I was just standing there and it hit my stick,” Tisdale said of the biggest goal in Broncos history. "I still don't know how it went in.”
It was a centring pass by Darren Kruger that Tisdale tipped in to win it all.
The game was played in front of 9,078 fans in Saskatchewan Place along with a national television audience.
It was a game for all time.
"It was a great game for us," James said. "We generated a lot of chances against a very good team in their own building.
"For the people who tuned in, they got a helluva show.”
That they did.
Kennedy gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead late in the first period, and Knox upped it to 2-0 early in the second period when only Greenlay was keeping the Blades in this one.
But there has never been any quit in the Blades organization and Saskatoon ended up taking a 3-2 lead into the third period.
Scissons started the comeback at 12:35 of the second period. Katelnikoff tied it with a shorthanded goal at 17:30. Kocur put the Blades out front at 19:43.
"For five minutes we just lost our minds and started giving the puck away,” James said.
The Broncos, despite outshooting the Blades 23-12, trailed 3-2 going into the third period.
"We felt we outplayed them,” Tisdale said, "but we were trailing.”
The Broncos, the fifth team in seven years to win the semifinal game and then beat the first-place team in the final, tied it when Daniels scored at 5:59 of the third period, after which the teams resorted to firewagon hockey.
When the game ended, the Broncos owned a 34-24 edge in shots on goal. But in overtime Saskatoon outshot Swift Current 5-1.
Trevor Kruger made five straight saves in overtime before Tisdale scored.
"I can't think of a thing we could have done differently,” Comeau said. "We gave it a maximum effort but we came up one shot short.
"Life goes on. I'm not sure if some of our players believe that right now, but we couldn't have given any more . . . In the final analysis, the best team won.”
The Broncos ended up 16-1 in the postseason. Combining regular-season and playoff records shows them at 71-17-1.
And when it was over, the accident was remembered.
"When we came back in here I just sat in my stall and thought things over,” said Lambert, the tournament's most valuable player. "You see it on TV and you dream about it, but you never expect something like this to happen.
"Today, it happened for me.”
(Greenlay was selected top goaltender, and Hicks was named most gentlemanly player. The all-star team featured Greenlay, Lambert, Sutton, Tisdale, Kennedy and Carnes.)
James said the accident "is something we downplay.”
"But,” he added, “it meant something to the players who were there and the people involved with the franchise. It's hard to believe we could come back . . . I think it's a great tribute to the guys (Kresse, Scott Kruger, Mantyka and Ruff) and we can let them rest in peace.
"With everyone cheering, it was hard to keep control of your emotions . . . I guess reflection time will come when we're on the bus to Swift.”
Perhaps the headline in the Regina Leader-Post said it best -- Broncos: A Memorial victory.

NEXT: 1990 (Kamloops Blazers, Oshawa Generals, Kitchener Rangers and Laval Titan)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan... 1990 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1990.html)

1990 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Blazers, Oshawa Generals, Kitchener Rangers and Laval Titan
at Hamilton (Copps Coliseum)

They were already calling him The Next Great One. Already, hockey fans either liked him or despised him.
There wasn't any middle ground with Eric Lindros.
And that's just how he played the game of hockey. When he was on the ice, there wasn't any grey area.
He was like that at the 1990 Memorial Cup. And he was only 17 years of age.
This was to be his coming-out party, primarily because four of the tournament's games would be televised by The Sports Network, meaning a national audience would get its first concentrated look at Lindros.
He didn't disappoint.
Neither did this tournament which is at or near the top of the list whenever hockey fans debate which one was the greatest of all time. Why? Well, it featured four overtime games, including two that went into double overtime.
"In my mind, it ranks as No. 1,” OHL commissioner David Branch would say later. "When you put all these things together, you have the finest Memorial Cup ever.”
Lindros and his Oshawa Generals, under head coach Rick Cornacchia, were in this tournament as the OHL champions.
The Kitchener Rangers, coached by Joe McDonnell were in as the OHL runners-up, beaten by the Generals in the championship final.
That's right. There wasn't a host team. The Hamilton Steelhawks were to have filled that role. But with the Steelhawks en route to an 11-49-6 regular-season record, the decision was made to make a change.
Thus, the venue stayed the same, but it was decided that both teams that qualified for the OHL final would get Memorial Cup berths.
In the end, it was a decision no one would regret.
The Generals had acquired Lindros's rights from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds -- they had drafted him but he refused to report -- in time for him to suit up for 25 games, during which he totaled 17 goals, 19 assists and 61 penalty minutes.
In the end, the Generals had a 42-20-4 regular-season record and, with Lindros fully ensconced in the lineup now, they were ready for the playoff run.
Team captain Iain Fraser was the club's top gun, with 40 goals and 105 points. Brent Grieve chipped in with 46 goals and 47 assists, and Jarrod Skalde had 40 goals and 52 helpers. And Mike Craig turned in 36 goals and 40 assists in only 43 games.
Grieve and Fraser, by the way, were real veterans. Both had played for the Generals in the 1987 Memorial Cup in Oshawa. Grieve had two assists in four games; Fraser got into one game.
In goal, the go-to guy all season had been Kevin Butt, who had a 3.75 GAA. Fred Brathwaite (2.91) was coming on as the season wound down.
The Generals opened postseason play by ousting the Cornwall Royals from a Leyden Division quarterfinal in six games to earn a bye to the division final.
In that final, they smoked the defending-champion Peterborough Petes in four games, setting up the final with the Rangers.
The Generals, a team that was formed in 1908, would win that series in seven games -- after trailing 3-1 -- to win the organization's 11th OHL crown. In 10 previous Memorial Cup appearances, Oshawa had three titles -- 1939, 1940 and 1944.
Lindros finished the playoffs with 18 goals and 18 assists in 17 games.
Yes, he was ready.
The Rangers were making their fourth Memorial Cup appearance and, having won it in 1982, were going for title No. 2.
They had gotten through the regular season with a 38-21-7 record, thanks in large part to the offensive talents of Gilbert Dionne, Joey St. Aubin and Jason Firth.
Dionne, younger brother of NHL star Marcel Dionne, finished with 105 points, including 48 goals; St. Aubin scored 36 goals and set up 68 others; and, Firth had 100 points, including 64 assists. Steve Rice helped out with 39 goals and 37 assists in 58 games.
In goal, the load fell on Mike Torchia, who put up a 3.58 GAA in the regular season. He played every postseason minute and finished with a 3.51 GAA.
In the playoffs, the Rangers opened in an Emms Division quarterfinal and took out the North Bay Centennials in five games to earn a bye to the division final where they ousted the Niagara Falls Thunder in five.
That, of course, sent them into the final against Oshawa.
Kitchener's hottest player going into the Memorial Cup was Shayne Stevenson, thanks to 16 goals and 20 assists in 17 playoff games. Stevenson, who suffered a broken finger in the second game of the OHL final, would have a superb Memorial Cup.
"To get (to the OHL final) and watch someone else carry around the trophy, it hurts,” Stevenson said. "Hopefully, Oshawa and us will get to the final because we'd be able to play them again and beat them.”
The Laval Titan, under head coach Pierre Creamer who was two seasons removed from being fired as head coach of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, were making their second straight Memorial Cup appearance.
This was a team that really didn't make a lot of regular-season noise. Laval finished at 37-30-3, good for fifth place in the 11-team QMJHL.
The Titan, without a scorer in the top 10, scored 332 goals, second only to the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, who totaled 345 over the 70-game schedule. However, Laval gave up 274 goals during a season in which seven teams allowed fewer than 300 goals.
Denis Chalifoux, a veteran of the 1989 Memorial Cup, was Laval's leading regular-season scorer, with 109 points, including 41 goals. Martin Lapointe followed with 96 points, including 42 goals, tying the franchise record for most points in a season by a rookie. That record had originally been set by Mario Lemieux in 1981-82.
The big line featured Chalifoux and Lapointe, with Claude Boivin supplying the muscle.
All told, the Titan brought with them eight players who had played in the 1989 tournament _ Chalifoux, Eric Dubois, Patrice Brisebois, Michel Gingras, Sylvain Naud, Patrick Caron, Normand Demers and Gino Odjick. With Sandy McCarthy also on this team, the Titan didn't lack for muscle.
In goal, there wasn't any doubt about the No. 1 guy. That was Eric Raymond, who had posted a 3.57 regular-season GAA and then set a QMJHL rookie playoff record with a 2.27 GAA.
Raymond, then, took a hot hand into the tournament, as did Chalifoux, who had led the QMJHL in postseason scoring, with 32 points in 14 games.
Laval opened the playoffs with a 4-2 series victory over the fourth-place Shawinigan Cataractes and then swept the sixth-place Hull Olympiques.
The Titan met up with the first-place Victoriaville Tigres in the final. It was no contest. Laval won four straight games, outscoring Victoriaville 23-9 in the process.
The QMJHL, which hadn't had a Quebec-based team win the Memorial Cup since the Quebec Remparts in 1971, had high hopes, indeed.
Still, it was Ken Hitchcock's Kamloops Blazers -- sparked by Len Barrie, Phil Huber, Dave Chyzowski, Mike Needham and goaltender Corey Hirsch -- who rode into this tournament in the favorite's role.
The Blazers were hoping to become the fourth straight WHL team to win the Memorial Cup, following the Medicine Hat Tigers (1987, 1988) and Swift Current Broncos (1989).
Kamloops had posted the WHL's best regular-season record -- 56-16-0 -- and wasn't challenged in the postseason, winning 14 of 17 games.
The Blazers opened with two West Division best-of-seven series. First, they ousted the Spokane Chiefs in six games and then in the division final they took care of the Seattle Thunderbirds, also in six games.
In the championship final, a best-of-seven affair, Kamloops polished off the Lethbridge Hurricanes, 4-1.
The Blazers were led by Barrie, a 20-year-old centre who had been picked up from the Victoria Cougars with whom he had spent three losing seasons.
"This is the first year I've even won a playoff series,” said Barrie, who led the WHL in goals (85), assists (100) and points (185). "It seems I've always gone out in the first round against Kamloops.
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.”
Barrie was also the playoff scoring champion, with 14 goals and 37 points.
Kamloops could also boast of Huber (53 goals, 152 points), Needham (59 goals, 125 points) and Brian Shantz (39 goals, 114 points) up front. Trevor Sim, who had won the Memorial Cup with Swift Current in 1989, was with the Blazers and had totaled 39 goals and 67 points in 49 games.
Kamloops got a boost in midseason, too, when Chyzowski, a left winger, was returned by the NHL's New York Islanders.
In the playoffs, the Blazers regularly got a lift from a line featuring Cal McGowan, Zac Boyer and Paul Kruse, a threesome that frequently rattled the opposition with some fierce forechecking.
The best of the Kamloops defencemen were 17-year-old Darryl Sydor, 16-year-old Scott Niedermayer and Dean Malkoc.
Hirsch was the No. 1 goaltender, coming off a regular season in which he went 48-13-0 with a 3.82 GAA. Hirsch played every minute of every playoff game, going 14-3 with a 3.45 GAA.
Things didn't go at all as planned for the Blazers, however, and it would be a week they'd rather forget. You might call it a case of close, but no cigars.
The Blazers played on the tournament's first two days -- losing 8-7 in overtime to Kitchener before 7,003 fans on May 5 and then dropping a 7-6 overtime decision to Oshawa in front of 7,465 fans on May 6.
"You have to give Kitchener and Oshawa a lot of credit, but we're not playing well collectively,” Hitchcock said.
In the opener, the Rangers got the winner from Stevenson, who scored his second goal of the game at 7:41 of overtime.
That came after St. Aubin tied it on a power play at 15:41 of the third period.
Kitchener actually trailed 6-4 going into the third period.
Mark Montanari, Rice, John Uniac, Firth and Rival Fullum also scored for Kitchener. Chyzowski and Sydor, with two each, Kruse, McGowan and Needham replied for Kamloops, which outshot the Rangers 45-37.
Also on May 5, Oshawa downed Laval 6-2 before 8,066 fans.
The Generals scored three goals in the game's first nine minutes, counted five in all in the first period and never looked back.
Cory Banika, with two, Fraser, Grieve, Paul O'Hagan and Skalde had Oshawa's goals, with Lindros earning one assist. Chalifoux and Naud finding the range for the Titan.
Oshawa went to 2-0 and the Blazers well to 0-2 the next day as Fraser netted the winner at 3:55 of the extra period. The Blazers, 7-6 losers in this one, outshot the Generals 50-21.
Craig struck for three first-period goals for the Generals, who gave up the first goal and then scored five in a row. It was the second straight game in which Oshawa put five on the board in the opening 20 minutes.
Skalde, Scott Luik and Grieve also scored for the Generals. Lindros set up three goals.
The Blazers, who trailed 6-2 going into the third period and 6-3 with 4:30 to play, tied it on third-period goals by Barrie (3:32), Niedermayer (15:37), Sydor (17:15) and Chyzowski (19:30).
Chyzowski finished with two goals, giving him four in two games. Barrie also scored twice.
And it seemed there was more to this game than met the eye.
"I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Len Barrie in public,” Cornacchia said. "He insulted us and said we had no character.”
"Things got a little emotional,” Barrie said, "and there was a lot of yapping going on. We totally outplayed them and should have won this hockey game. A team that gives up a four-goal lead doesn't have any character anyway.
"We're not out of this thing yet.”

[nivek_wahs]

1990 continued......

On May 9, Kitchener downed Laval 5-3 to improve to 2-0 and drop the Titan to 0-2. Attendance was 5,249.
Montanari, who had opened the season with the American Hockey League's Maine Mariners, broke a 3-3 tie at 2:08 of the first period and Firth wrapped it up with an empty-net goal at 19:49.
Dionne, Rice and Stevenson also scored for Kitchener, as the Rangers continued to get production from their big guns.
Gingras, with two, and Carl Boudreau scored for Laval, which would now meet Kamloops to decide one semifinal berth.
The other berth would be decided when Oshawa met Kitchener -- the winner moved into the final, the loser got a spot in the semifinal.
But first things first.
On May 9, the unthinkable happened -- Laval dumped Kamloops 4-2 which meant the Blazers, the top-ranked team in the CHL just a few days earlier, were the first team eliminated. Attendance was 4,075.
"Give (Laval) full marks,” Hitchcock said. "They did the best job that anyone did here checking us.”
Laval scored twice late in the second period and then added two more in the third -- Caron got the winner six minutes into the period and Chalifoux added an empty-netter -- as it earned a spot in the semifinal game.
The Titan ended a five-game losing streak by QMJHL teams against OHL and WHL opposition at the tournament.
Sim gave Kamloops a 1-0 lead on a late first-period power play.
The Titan took the lead late in the second period, scoring two power-play goals five seconds apart in the last minute. Boivin struck with a two-man advantage at 19:49 and Lapointe sent Laval out front at 19:54.
Kruse forged a tie five minutes into the third period, setting the stage for Caron and Chalifoux to round out the scoring.
"They're not a skilled team but they work hard,” said Hirsch, who played by far his best game of the tournament. "I didn't play well at all in the first two games and that may become the most memorable thing in my life.”
Kamloops finished up 0-3, the first WHL team to go winless at the Memorial Cup since the Edmonton Oil Kings went 0-2 in the first tournament, in 1972.
Oshawa moved into the final on May 10, but it wasn't easy. In fact, it took double overtime.
Dale Craigwell finally ended it, scoring at 4:16 of the second extra period to give the Generals a 5-4 victory over Kitchener. It was Oshawa's fourth straight victory over the Rangers.
Attendance was 11,134, the second-largest crowd to watch a Memorial Cup round-robin or preliminary game, behind only the 12,699 who were in the Montreal Forum on May 11, 1973 to watch Quebec beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-3.
Craigwell won it with a 15-foot wrist shot that beat Torchia under the right arm.
Banika, Luik, Craig and Fraser also scored for the Generals, with Lindros setting up two goals. Firth, Stevenson, Dionne and Rice countered for the Rangers, who were outshot 53-44, including 20-15 in overtime.
By now, everyone was waiting for Lindros to score his first goal. Still, he had only gotten better as the tournament progressed.
"I'm kind of a slow starter,” he explained. "But I'm warming up and the best is yet to come.
"It seems that the further we get into this tournament, the better I'm playing.”
The Rangers now had to meet Laval in the semifinal game.
"We have to forget about this one and focus on Laval,” Rice said. "It's not like we're out of the tournament.”
"I would love it to be an all-Ontario final,” Cornacchia said. "I hope to see them on Sunday.”
Cornacchia got his wish when the Rangers beat Laval 5-4 on May 12 in front of 10,188 fans.
That set up an all-OHL final, the second straight season in which two teams from the same league would meet in the final. A year earlier, the WHL's Swift Current Broncos and Saskatoon Blades had met in the final. The Broncos won 4-3 in overtime in Saskatoon.
In the semifinal, Laval led 3-2 after one period and Kitchener took a 4-3 lead into the third period.
Dionne stretched that to 5-3 earlier in the third period. Laval cut it to 5-4 when Boivin scored on a power play at 8:32 but the Titan weren't able to tie it.
Montanari, with two, St. Aubin and Rice also scored for the Rangers. Laval got two goals from Boivin, with Naud and Dubois adding the others.
All of which set up the final. And what a game it was. For the second consecutive season, the Memorial Cup championship was decided in overtime.
Oshawa won it all when Bill Armstrong scored at 2:05 of the second overtime period to give the Generals a 4-3 victory in front of 17,383 fans.
That was the largest crowd ever to watch a Memorial Cup game. The previous record (13,460) was set on May 14, 1977 for the final game of the 1977 tournament -- New Westminster Bruins 6, Ottawa 67's 5 -- in Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum.
The 1990 tournament totaled 70,563 spectators, second only to the 1989 event in Saskatoon, which drew 77,256 fans. However, the Saskatoon tournament featured nine games (average: 8,588) to Hamilton's eight (average: 8,820).
Armstrong, a 6-foot-5 defenceman, drifted a shot from the left point that made its way through traffic and beat Torchia over the left shoulder.
It was Oshawa's first Memorial Cup championship since 1944.
This final, just like the one a year earlier, was one for the ages.
The Generals were without Craig, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. And things looked bleak when Butt went down with an ankle problem in the second period.
But that's when Brathwaite came on and stole the show, allowing just one goal in more than 50 minutes of action. He made 23 saves in the biggest game of his life.
"I was really nervous to start off with,” Brathwaite said. "I haven't seen that many people in a long time. I thought I might blow it, but I said to myself, "I can't screw up.’ ”
He didn't.
Oshawa got two goals from Grieve, who stepped in for Craig on the line with Lindros and Fraser, with Banika adding the other. Lindros set up three goals, giving him nine assists (and no goals) in the tournament.
Dionne, St. Aubin and defenceman Jason York scored power-play goals for the Rangers, who were outshot 54-38, including 20-12 in overtime.
(Fraser was named the tournament's most valuable player, with Firth winning the sportsmanship award and Torchia being named the top goaltender. The all-star team comprised Torchia, O'Hagan and Kitchener's Corey Keenan on defence, with Lindros, Fraser and Rice up front.)
York and Banika exchanged first-period goals, with St. Aubin and Grieve doing the same in the second. Oshawa took its first lead when Grieve scored again, this one at 3:47 of the third. Dionne forced overtime when he scored just 50 seconds later.
On St. Aubin's goal, the puck struck Butt on the right ankle and deflected into the net. More importantly, Butt was injured and unable to continue.
Brathwaite, who had joined the Generals midway in the season, stepped off the bench and into Memorial Cup history.
Grieve remembered back to 1987.
"In '87, I remember our team coming out flat and (Medicine Hat) got a couple of quick goals,” Grieve said. "When (Medicine Hat) won, that was one of the worst feelings I've ever had. Winning it feels so much better.”
"We went through a lot of adversity,” Fraser said, "and it's the greatest feel bringing the Memorial Cup back to Oshawa.”
As well as going through the heralded arrival of Lindros, the Generals had suffered through the deaths of two people -- receptionist Marg Armstrong and chief scout Jim Cherry -- during the season.
"It would have been easy to fold, but we have a character group of players,” said Cornacchia.
Game's end also signaled the beginning of one of the Memorial Cup's better stories.
As soon as Armstrong scored the winning goal, Brathwaite raced the length of the ice, fell to his knees and seemed to embrace Torchia.
"I felt bad for him and I thought he was awesome,” Brathwaite was quoted as saying later. "I knew we would have all sorts of time to party and I didn't know when I would see him again.”
Torchia recounted: "He just said, ‘Keep your head up, you had a great series.' I can't remember saying anything.
"It was like someone had just ripped my heart right out of my chest. I didn't know what to say.”
Some time later, Cornacchia may have set the record straight with Toronto Star hockey columnist Bob McKenzie.
"I hate to burst the bubble,” Cornacchia told McKenzie, "but Freddie's primary reason for going down to that end of the ice was to get the game puck.
"If you watch the video on that, he's down on his knees, with one arm wrapped around Torchia and the other arm moving out to get the puck, which was right beside Torchia.
"I'm not saying Freddie didn't want to give Torchia a pat on the back, because he did, but I have to be honest -- Freddie wanted the puck.
"That's Freddie. Larcenous Freddie.”
Cornacchia also remembered the exact moment when he turned to Brathwaite on the bench.
"I looked down the bench and told Freddie to get ready,” Cornacchia recalled. "He said, ‘Sure, Coach,' and started yawning like mad as he put his mask on. I looked at (assistant coach) Larry (Marson) and said, ‘Is he ready?' Larry said, ‘He's ready, don't worry. That's Freddie.’ ”
The final was the tournament's fourth overtime game, something that didn't go unnoticed.
"All I could think about,” Cornacchia said, "was that in that first overtime period, we were defending the goal at which every overtime goal in the tournament had been scored. I was worried.”
He admitted to feeling better once the Generals got to the second extra period.
"I was feeling a lot better because at least we were at the right end of the ice to score on that same goal,” he explained.
The game-winner came with all the suddenness of a bullet.
Armstrong intercepted a clearing pass and drifted the puck towards the Kitchener net. Just like that, it was over.
"I think every guy in this dressing room had dreamt about scoring the winning goal in the Memorial Cup final,” Armstrong said. "Sure I had dreamt about it. But, realistically, I never thought it would be me who scored.”
Armstrong had scored just two regular-season goals.


NEXT: 1991 (Spokane Chiefs, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Drummondville Voltigeurs and Chicoutimi Sagueneens)

[nivek_wahs]

1991 has been posted already.... http://www.whlfans.ca/showpost.php?p=117752&postcount=33

Again from Gregg Drinnan...http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1991.html

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1992 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1992.html)

1992 MEMORIAL CUP

Seattle Thunderbirds, Kamloops Blazers, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Verdun College-Francais
at Seattle (Coliseum and Center Ice Arena)


The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds didn't do so well in the 1991 Memorial Cup in Quebec City where they played three games and lost them all.
You can bet that gnawed at their very being all through the 1991-92 season.
And when the 1992 tournament rolled around, the Greyhounds were there again. Coached by Ted Nolan, the Greyhounds became the first OHL team to capture consecutive titles since the Kitchener Rangers did it in 1981 and '82.
"Some people never win this once -- and we've done it two years in a row now,” Sault Ste. Marie left-winger Jason Denomme said.
"It's a great accomplishment but this is a totally different feeling than last year -- but how can you compare two great feelings? They both feel good so how do you know if one's better than the other?”
The Greyhounds finished on top of the Emms Division for the second straight season, their 41-19-6 record good for 87 points, one more than they recorded the previous season.
The 1991-92 team scored more goals than the previous one (335-303) and also allowed a few more (229-217).
For the second straight season, goaltender Kevin Hodson got his name on the Dave Pinkney Trophy, which goes to the "goalkeeper of the team which has had the least number of goals scored against at the end of the regular schedule.” A year earlier, Hodson shared the honor with Mike Lenarduzzi; this time around, he went it alone, recording a 3.33 GAA in 50 games.
Still, it seemed the Greyhounds were the Rodney Dangerfield of the OHL -- they just couldn't get any respect from their peers.
In 1990-91, the 'Hounds had only two players selected to one of the OHL's three all-star teams. In 1991-92, that total was zero. That's right . . . not one member of the league champions was selected to an all-star team. Nolan didn't even make it.
All they did was win their second straight championship, with players like Colin Miller, Jarret Reid, Tony Iob, Ralph Intranuovo, Rick Kowalsky, Shaun Imber, Drew Bannister, Tom MacDonald, Brian Goudie, Denomme, Hodson, Mark Matier, Perry Pappas and David Matsos -- all of whom had played in the 1991 Memorial Cup.
The Greyhounds opened the postseason with a first-round bye, and then took out Kitchener in seven games in one Emms Division semifinal series. In the division final, the Soo got past the Niagara Falls Thunder 4-1.
The championship final went the distance, with the Greyhounds winning the seventh game 4-2 over the visiting North Bay Centennials.
Verdun College-Francais was easily the best regular-season team in the QMJHL, its 101 points (48-17-5) good for first place in the Robert Lebel Division, 14 points ahead of the Hull Olympiques. The Trois-Rivieres Draveurs finished on top of the Frank Dilio Division, with 94 points.
This was the first season in Verdun for the franchise which had moved from Longueuil.
College-Francais did it all in the regular season, scoring a QMJHL-high 350 goals and allowing just 233, the second-lowest figure in the league.
The offensive leader had to be Robert Guillet, who had 118 points, including 56 goals, the second-highest total in the league. He finished seventh in the points race.
Dave Chouinard helped out with 97 points, including 63 assists, and David St. Pierre had 95 points, including 40 goals. And, Marc Rodgers, who came over from the Granby Bisons in a trade, had 109 points on the season, 33 of them in 29 games with his new club.
Defenceman Yan Arsenault was the only College-Francais player selected to the first all-star team, while Guillet was a second-team selection.
Philippe DeRouville and Andre Bouliane shared the goaltending through most of the regular season, but Eric Raymond was acquired from the Laval Titan and would play a key role down the stretch.
In 12 regular-season games with College-Francais, Raymond went 10-1-1 with a 2.43 GAA.
In the playoffs, DeRouville and Raymond split the time, but Raymond would play his club's three games in the Memorial Cup tournament.
College-Francais opened the playoffs with a six-game victory over St. Hyacinthe, even though they outscored the Laser only by one, 23-22.
Next up were the Shawiningan Cataractes. They, too, fell to College-Francais in six games.
And, in the championship final, the Verdun-based team took out Trois-Rivieres in seven games, winning the deciding game 5-3. College-Francais was outscored 26-25 in the series.
Guillet and teammate Dominic Rheaume led the league in playoff goals (14), with Guillet tops in points (25 in 19 games).
Of note, too, was the postseason play of defenceman Karl Dykhuis. He didn't score a goal, but had 12 assists.
In the west, observers of the WHL were beginning to recognize the Kamloops Blazers as something of a dynasty.
The Blazers, of head coach Tom Renney, finished on top of the West Division for the third straight season as they put together their third consecutive 50-victory season (51-17-4).
Zac Boyer was the premier offensive player on this team, his 109 points, including 40 goals, leaving him seventh in the scoring race. Boyer would go on to lead the WHL's playoff scoring race, with 29 points, including 20 assists.
Craig Lyons (44 goals), Shayne Green (43) and Mike Mathers (30) could score, too, but the strength of this team was its defence -- keyed by defencemen Darryl Sydor and Scott Niedermayer and goaltender Corey Hirsch.
Hirsch led the WHL with a 2.72 GAA and five shutouts in 48 games. When he needed relief it came from Dale Masson.
In the playoffs, Hirsch would go 11-5 with a 2.20 GAA and two shutouts.
The Blazers began the postseason with a four-game sweep of the Tacoma Rockets. In the West Division final, they took out the Seattle Thunderbirds, who would be the Memorial Cup's host team, in six games.
The WHL's championship final would feature the Blazers and the Saskatoon Blades, and it would go seven games.
The Blazers didn't leave any doubt in Game 7, however, as they buried the visiting Blades 8-0.
"This is the greatest,” Sydor said after that game. "There's great chemistry on this team.”
Chemistry may have been a problem on the Thunderbirds who, knowing they had a berth in the Memorial Cup as the host team, went through the regular season as though they were treading water and finished 33-34-5, good for only fourth place in the seven-team West Division.
The Thunderbirds, of head coach Peter Anholt, didn't have a scorer in the top 20. Nine of the WHL's 15 teams scored more goals than Seattle (292). Mike Kennedy led in goals (42), assists (47) and points (89). Eleven players finished in double figures in goals, but only six of those had more than 20 goals.
The key, then, was on defence where the Thunderbirds, with Chris Osgood providing stellar goaltending, gave up 285 goals, the seventh-best record in the league.
"Everyone thought that because we were in the Memorial Cup, we weren't trying,” Seattle defenceman Jeff Sebastian told the Regina Leader-Post. "We were a game below .500 and didn't have the season some people thought we'd have, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.
"It was the toughest year I've had in the league. It put a lot of pressure on the players. We were hosting it but we still wanted to earn our way. We ended up putting too much pressure on ourselves and we didn't play as loosely as we can.”
By the time the Memorial Cup started, the Thunderbirds hadn't played a game in three weeks.
"The coaches have been working the hell out of us,” Sebastian said. "Despite that, I wouldn't say we're in game shape. There's no substitution for playing.”
Kamloops, meanwhile, was eager to get at it.
"We're a little excited and a little nervous,” said 20-year-old centre Todd Johnson. "The guys who have been there before have told us that what goes on is incredible. You can't be anything but excited.”
Seattle would become only the second American city to play host to the Memorial Cup tournament, Portland having been home to it in 1983 and '86.
But the 1992 tournament didn't quite go the way organizers had planned and hoped.
The original plan was to play all games in the 11,923-seat Seattle Coliseum, the home facility of the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics.
However, when the Memorial Cup began the SuperSonics were still alive in the NBA playoffs. This necessitated a venue change for some of the hockey games, with the alternate site being the 4,139-seat Center Arena.
In the end, the tournament drew only 39,421 fans to eight games, which was way below expectations.
The tournament opened on May 9 with two games -- Sault Ste. Marie doubled Kamloops 6-3 before an estimated 4,000 fans, and Seattle got past Verdun 5-3 in front of about 5,000 fans.
Iob, Intranuovo, Reid, Kowalsky, Miller and Imber scored for the Greyhounds, who led 3-0 after the first period, upped it to 4-0 early in the second and then held off the Blazers who at one time had closed to within one at 4-3.
Johnson, Jeff Watchorn and Green scored for the Blazers, who outshot the Greyhounds 32-19 and actually drove Hodson from the game (Rob Stopar finished up) when Watchorn scored to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Greyhounds had Chris Simon in the lineup after OHL commissioner David Branch cleared him to play. Simon, who missed 35 regular-season games due to suspensions, had 20 goals and 26 assists in 33 games. But he was suspended for the final three games of the championship series after a spearing incident.
In the other game, the Thunderbirds got three goals from George Zajankala, a 13-goal scorer in the regular season who wouldn't score again in the tournament. Tyler Quiring and Blake Knox added the other Seattle goals.
The Thunderbirds outshot Verdun 37-28, as Raymond and Osgood each went the distance.
Kamloops got back on track the following day with a 4-0 victory over Verdun in front of 3,587 fans.
Hirsch stopped 20 shots in recording the tournament's first shutout since May 13, 1987, when Mark Fitzpatrick of the Medicine Hat Tigers blanked the QMJHL's Longueuil Chevaliers 6-0.
Boyer and Lyons had two goals each for Kamloops, which fired 40 shots at Raymond.
"We knew this was it for us,” Boyer said. "After losing the opener, our leaders had to lead.
"Darryl Sydor and myself had to dominate the game, along with Scott Niedermayer. We had to take charge, something we didn't do against the Soo.”
Boyer admitted that the Blazers were doubting themselves a bit after losing to the Greyhounds. That changed with the victory over Verdun.
"Hirsch played great today and now we've got our confidence back,” Boyer said. "We don't doubt ourselves any longer.”
While the teams were competing on the ice, the CHL admitted it had been considering a format change to the Memorial Cup, taking it back to a best-of-seven championship final.
That, however, wasn't to happen.
"It has been put on hold,” CHL president Ed Chynoweth told the Regina Leader-Post. “There isn't enough support for it right now to carry it to the next step.”
Under a proposal designed by Branch, the OHL and QMJHL would play off to determine one representative, with the WHL champion getting the other berth.
The two teams would play a national final with games being played in both cities.
"Some people were worried there would be a problem generating the same financial return as you can from a successful tournament,” Chynoweth said. "As well, the American teams are very concerned about going this late in the season against baseball and basketball.”
College-Francais was eliminated on May 12 when it dropped a 4-2 decision to Sault Ste. Marie before 3,454 fans.
Iob, Reid and Kowalsky scored power-play goals for the winners, with Goudie adding the other goal. Rheaume and Martin Tanguay scored for Verdun, which lost all three of its games.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period. Reid gave the Soo a 2-0 lead with the second period's only goal, and Kowalsky made it 3-0 early in the third. Goudie upped it to 4-0 before Tanguay ruined Hodson's shutout bid at 13:03 on a power play.
The Greyhounds clinched a spot in the final on May 13 by beating Seattle 4-3 in front of about 5,500 fans.
The winner was Kowalsky's shorthanded goal -- the first shorthanded score of this tournament -- at 17:58 of the third period. It was Kowalsky's third game-winning goal of the tournament, a Memorial Cup record that would be equaled by Boyer later in the week.
Kowalsky blocked a shot at the Soo's blue line and went in alone to beat Osgood.
"I just got lucky,” Kowalsky said. "The shot hit me in the skate lace and bounced straight ahead into open ice.”
The Soo, loser of all three games it played in 1991, was now 3-0.
"We're pretty excited because you always want the opportunity to play for the Cup,” Nolan said. "We were embarrassed going 0-3 last year and a lot of these guys have been preparing for this for a year.”
Simon, Bannister and Reid also scored for the Soo, which led 1-0 after the first period. The teams went into the third tied at 2-2.
Sebastian, Eric Bouchard and captain Kurt Seher scored for Seattle.
"I thought we played better tonight than we did in the first game when we won,” offered Anholt. "I'm really pleased with the way our guys handled themselves against a very good team.”
Next on the agenda would be back-to-back games between Kamloops and Seattle. The first game would be the final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament. The second game would send its winner into the final against the Greyhounds.
The Blazers won the first of those games, 3-1 on May 14 before about 5,500 fans.
Niedermayer was easily the best player on the ice and it showed on the scoresheet, where he had a shorthanded goal and two assists.
"It was important for us to play a full 60 minutes, something we hadn't done in the tournament,” Niedermayer said. "It's expected of me to play better and I think I did.”
Boyer and Lance Johnson had the Blazers' other goals. Turner Stevenson, likely the best Seattle forward in the tournament, replied for the Thunderbirds, who were outshot 27-19.
The Blazers lost Green to an ankle injury, leaving a void on their top line with Boyer and Mathers.
The Thunderbirds were being hurt by a power play that had inexplicably gone in the tank. After going 3-for-10 in the opener against Verdun, the T-Birds found themselves scoreless in 13 tries in their next two games.
"We have to bank in a couple power-play goals,” Anholt said, looking ahead to the semifinal game. "We must put more pressure on the Kamloops defence and work better down low. Some of our veterans have to play better.”
It was Mathers who rose to the occasion in the semifinal game on May 16. He totaled a tournament record-tying six points -- three goals and three assists -- as the Blazers won 8-3 before about 7,200 fans.
Others with six points in a game were Joe Contini (Hamilton, 1976) and Guy Rouleau, who did it twice with Hull in the 1986 tournament.
Defenceman David Wilkie opened the scoring on a Kamloops power play -- the Blazers would go 3-for-5, while the Thunderbirds were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
Duane Maruschak tied it for Seattle at 14:50 of the first period, only to have Mathers score a power-play goal before the period ended.
Mathers added two more second-period goals as Kamloops blew it open.
Todd Johnson, Niedermayer, Steve Yule and Lyons also scored for the Blazers, with Stevenson and Kennedy scoring for Seattle after it trailed 8-1.
(Two days later, Anholt announced that he was leaving the Thunderbirds because of various differences with president and governor Russ Williams.)
By that time the Blazers and their fans were celebrating.
Boyer's goal with 14.6 seconds left in the third period gave them a 5-4 victory over the Greyhounds in the final. It was Boyer's tournament record-tying third game-winning goal and Kamloops' first national title.
"I guess I can thank Ed Patterson because he came off the ice,” Boyer said. "He got speared in the stomach and threw up. He came to the bench and I replaced him.
"We did it the hard way and we earned it. There's no better way than that.”
Boyer took a lead pass from Niedermayer and scored on the breakaway.
"Niedermayer hit me at the right time,” Boyer said. "He could have iced it, but that's why he's such a great player.”
Boyer and Johnson each scored twice for Kamloops. Mathers added the other goal and finished with a tournament-high six assists and 10 points.
The Blazers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was 15 minutes old on power-play goals by Mathers and Boyer and an even-strength marker by Johnson.
But the Soo got back into it when Simon and Miller scored before the first period ended.
Miller tied it with the second period's only goal.
Johnson put Kamloops ahead 4-3 at 3:45 of the third period, and Simon tied it at 15:33. That set the stage for Boyer's heroics.
"They got a lucky bounce for that breakaway,” Hodson said of Boyer's game-winning play. "I tried to poke-check and missed. It's my job in the Memorial Cup final to make the big saves. When you don't, you lose.”
Niedermayer, who made the fine pass that sent Boyer in alone, offered: "I was in the right place at the right time. I just had to go about four feet to get over the blue line and make the pass to Boyer.
"Putting in three years of hard work in the juniors has paid off. The MVP thing was nice, but the Memorial Cup is what it's all about.”
While Niedermayer was named MVP, Hirsch was selected top goaltender thanks to his 2.60 GAA over five games. The sportsmanship award went to Miller.
Named to the all-star team were Hirsch, Niedermayer and Bannister on defence, and forwards Miller, Mathers and Stevenson.

NEXT: 1993 (Swift Current Broncos, Peterborough Petes, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Laval Titan)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1993 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/07/memorial-cup-history-1993.html)

1993 MEMORIAL CUP
Swift Current Broncos, Peterborough Petes, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Laval Titan
at Sault Ste. Marie (Memorial Gardens)


The debate prior to the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament pertained to which team should be the favourite.
"It's a mystery to me why Swift Current wasn't picked No. 1,” Dick Todd, general manager and head coach of the OHL-champion Peterborough Petes, said of the Broncos. "They had 100 points during the regular season. We didn't.”
Graham James, the Broncos' general manager and head coach, wasn't so sure. He knew the Broncos were good, but . . .
"Even though we may not be the overwhelming favourite here, I don't think we're sneaking in the back door, either,” he said. "When you look at the guys we have, even with Doink The Clown coaching, we'd have a good team.”
Ted Nolan, head coach of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, differed from Todd. Nolan felt Todd's Petes should have been the favourites; after all, weren't they the CHL's No. 1-rated team for the final 24 weeks of the season?
Meanwhile, Swift Current captain Trent McCleary thought the Greyhounds should be favoured. After all, they were making their third straight appearance in the tournament, 14 of their players had played in the 1992 tournament and eight of those also played in the 1991 event, and they would play the 1993 tournament on home ice.
Around and around it went . . .
One thing, however, was for certain.
No one had the Laval Titan, of general manager and head coach Bob Hartley, in the favorite's role.
A Quebec-based team hadn't won the the Memorial Cup since 1971 when the Quebec Remparts, with Guy Lafleur in the lineup, had done it. Not one of Hartley's players had even been born when Lafleur weaved his magic that season.
"We're tired of answering the same questions,” Hartley said.
Not only that, but the Titan had won but two of 11 games in three previous Memorial Cup appearances (1984, '89 and '90).
If you had to pick a favorite -- if you absolutely had to pick the winner -- well, chances are you would have pointed to the Greyhounds.
They were the host team because they had won what the OHL had billed as its Super Series.
It was the OHL's turn to play host to the tournament and rather than take bids, the league chose to have its division winners meet in a best-of seven series.
Peterborough finished atop the Leyden Division, at 46-15-5, with the Soo topping the Emms Division, at 38-23-5.
The Petes were favored in this series, having finished with a franchise record 97 points, 16 more than the Greyhounds. But the team from the Soo surprised most onlookers by sweeping the series.
And so it came to pass that the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament was held in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Greyhounds were in this affair for the third straight season, the first team to make three consecutive trips to the national championship since the Petes (1978, '79 and '80).
As mentioned, eight players appeared in all three tournaments -- goaltender Kevin Hodson and skaters Ralph Intranuovo, Drew Bannister, Rick Kowalsky, Jarret Reid, Tom MacDonald, Mark Matier and David Matsos.
As well, Aaron Gavey, Jeff Toms, Perry Pappas, Gary Roach, Brad Baber and Briane Thompson were back for a second kick at the cat.
Hodson was coming off a brilliant regular season in which he had set a franchise record with a 3.10 GAA.
Offensively, the Greyhounds were without any 50-goal snipers or 100-point men.
Reid, a centre, was the big gun, if they even had one. He had 36 goals and 96 points in the regular season and followed that up by leading the league with 19 goals and 35 points in 18 postseason games.
Left-winger Chad Penney played a key role, too. Acquired from the North Bay Centennials early in the season, he had 73 points, including 29 goals, in 48 games with the Soo.
Still, as in the previous two seasons when they won the league championship, the Greyhounds didn't make any noise in the department of postseason awards. They didn't earn so much as one spot on any of the OHL's three all-star teams. The best they could do was placing centre Steve Sullivan on the all-rookie second team.
In the meantime, the Petes were adding to their trophy case.
Chris Pronger, who was named the league's top defenceman, and right-winger Jason Dawe were first-team all-stars; goaltender Chad Lang, defenceman Brent Tully and centre Mike Harding were named to the second team; and, Todd, who was in his 12th season as head coach, was selected to the third team.
(Todd would leave after the Memorial Cup to become an assistant coach with the NHL's New York Rangers. The head coach with the Rangers? Mike Keenan, a former head coach of the Petes. Keenan and Todd would win the Stanley Cup in their first season together.)
Left-winger Matt Johnson was on the all-rookie first team.
Harding supplied a franchise record 136 points, including 54 goals, during the regular season, while Dawe added 126 points, including 58 goals, and Dave Roche chipped in with 100.
The Petes led the league in defence that season -- so what else is knew? -- as they gave up just 239 goals.
The Greyhounds surrendered 260 goals, while scoring 334, 18 fewer than the Petes.
Dawe won the playoff scoring race, totaling 51 points in 21 games as the Petes went 12-9. The big story, though, was Pronger. After scoring 15 goals in 62 regular-season games, he had 15 goals and 25 assists in 21 postseason games.
After the Super Series, the Greyhounds rolled over the Owen Sound Platers 4-0 and the Detroit Jr. Red Wings 4-1 to reach the championship final.
And the Petes took out the Sudbury Wolves 4-3 and Kingston Frontenacs 4-1 to set up a rematch with the 'Hounds.
The final was a different story than the Super Series, with Peterborough finishing off Sault Ste. Marie in five games. It was the first time the Greyhounds had lost a playoff series under Nolan, whose record now was 11-1.
But both teams were in the Memorial Cup and it was the Greyhounds who would enjoy home-ice advantage.
"We're different from the traditional host team,” Nolan said. "We're not only hosts, we earned the right to be here.”
The Broncos, who played in the smallest city (16,000 people) and the smallest rink (2,257 seats) in the CHL, were making their second Memorial Cup appearance and they came in with a perfect record -- they won the 1989 championship in their only other appearance. Only McCleary was still around from that 1989 team -- he had played three regular-season games.
Swift Current also represented the league that had won five of the last six tournaments.
The Broncos, as was their tradition under James, were a collection of skaters and gunners. They scored 384 goals -- 37 more than any other WHL team.
Centre Jason Krywulak led the WHL in goals (81, including a major-junior record 47 on the power play), assists (81) and points (162). Rick Girard added 71 goals and 70 assists and Todd Holt reached 113 points, including 56 goals.
Three other forwards put together impressive numbers in an abbreviated schedule -- Andy Schneider had 85 points, including 66 assists, in 38 games; Dean McAmmond totaled 71 points in 48 games; and, Tyler Wright had 65 points in 37 games.
When the postseason was over, the top six scorers were Broncos -- Schneider, with a league-high 26 assists and 39 points, had at least one point in each of the 17 playoff games; Krywulak (37 points); McAmmond (35 points, including a league-high 16); Wright and Girard (26 points apiece); and, Holt (22 points).
Defensively, well, their theory was you didn't have to play defence if you had the puck all the time. Still, they weren't nearly as bad as their reputation would have you believe. In fact, led by big Brent Bilodeau, they allowed only 267 goals, a figure bettered by only four teams.
They finished the regular season at 49-21-2, giving them 100 points and the league's best record.
After a first-round bye, the Broncos took out the Medicine Hat Tigers in six games and then swept the Regina Pats in the East Division final.
They ran up against a gritty bunch of Portland Winter Hawks in the championship final. Swift Current trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the series but took it to seven games. The Broncos won the final game 6-0 at home with goaltender Milan Hnilicka, perhaps their most under-rated player, posting his second playoff shutout.
Hnilicka, from Kladno in the Czech Republic, played in an amazing 65 regular-season games, posting a 3.36 GAA and two shutouts.
"If we can bottle this game and take it to Sault Ste. Marie,” James said after Game 7 of the WHL final, "I think we have a good chance.”
There wasn't much doubt about Laval's top player -- right-winger Martin Lapointe, the team captain, played in only 35 games but had 38 goals and 51 assists. He had opened the season with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, returning to Laval just before Christmas.
"I cannot tell you enough about Martin Lapointe,” Hartley said. "He is one of the best players in Canada.”
Lapointe didn't cool off in the playoffs, either. He led the QMJHL in goals (13), assists (17) and points (30), all of this coming in just 13 games.
Centre Eric Veilleux led the Titan in regular-season points, with 125, including 55 goals. He added 20 points in the playoffs.
The key on defence was Philippe Boucher, a midseason acquisition from the Granby Bisons who finished the season with 77 points in 65 games. In the 13 playoff games, he added 21 points, including 15 assists.
The Titan would be without defenceman Benoit Larose, the QMJHL's nominee as the country's top defenceman. He was knocked out of action during the playoffs by a blood clot in one leg.
In goal the Titan counted on the magnificent Emmanuel Fernandez, a second-year player who went 26-14-2 with a 3.60 GAA. In the postseason, Fernandez was all but unbeatable, putting up a 12-1 record with a 3.08 GAA.
After going 43-25-2 in the regular season and finishing atop the Robert Lebel Division, the Titan opened postseason play against Verdun College-Francais. The Titan won that series in four games.
Next up were the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who also went under in four games.
In the championship final, the Titan met up with the Sherbrooke Faucons, who had finished first in the Frank Dilio Divison with a 44-20-6 record. No matter. Laval won the final in five games.
The Titan went into the Memorial Cup quite familiar with pressure situations -- their last four QMJHL playoff games had gone into overtime and they had won three of them.
Things got under way on May 15 with the Greyhounds beat the Titan 3-2 in front of 4,156 fans.
Penney broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal at 16:11 of the second period. It was his second goal of the game. Wade Gibson had the Greyhounds' other goal.
Jason Boudrias and Boucher scored for Laval.
The following afternoon, Swift Current opened play with a 5-3 victory over the Greyhounds, disappointing the majority of the 4,194 fans in attendance.
The teams were even at 2-2 early in the second period when the Broncos caught fire and scored three straight goals -- an even-strength marker by Holt and two goals from Krywulak, one shorthanded and the other on the power play -- with Schneider setting up all three.
Ashley Buckberger and Girard also scored for the Broncos, who got 41 saves from Hnilicka.
"A lot of them weren't really dangerous shots,” Hnilicka said rather modestly.
Pappas, with two, and Intranuovo replied for the Greyhounds.
Nolan wouldn't use fatigue as an excuse, despite the fact his club had played the previous night.
"That wasn't a factor,” Nolan said. "In our league, we're used to playing Friday night and Saturday afternoon. We're not saying we're fatigued.”
The opening weekend concluded with Peterborough beating Laval 6-4. The 4,044 fans in attendance witnessed a game-ending line brawl.
The donnybrook, which featured several fights, resulted in 10 major penalties and eight game misconducts.
"No one likes to see it,” offered OHL commissioner David Branch, "but I would suggest this is more of an aberration than the norm.”
As for what he witnessed, Branch said: "The Quebec team, for whatever reason, decided to play that style. The referee (David Lynch) made the calls and did what he could.
"The guy behind the bench dictates the ultimate outcome of the game.”
Hartley didn't agree.
"There were 4,000 fans sitting here to see a quality hockey game but that show was not given by the players,” he said.
Later, the disciplinary committee would hand out $1,500 in fines. Both teams were fined $500 for failure to control players, with Laval being hit for an extra $500 because members of its training staff had grabbed one Peterborough player and pushed another.
Peterborough opened by scoring four goals before the game was 15 minutes old. The Titan, outshot 48-44, were never able to get back in this one.
Dawe, with two, Tully and Ryan Black scored the first-period goals for the Petes, with Roche and Bill Weir adding the others.
The Titan got two goals from Veilleux, who had been cut for 22 stitches in the mouth area by Gavey's stick in the tournament opener, and singles from Stephane Desjardins and Boucher.
Laval now was 0-2 and history was more often than not the subject of the questions.
"Our team is not responsible for that,” Hartley said. "We do not live in the past.”
Hartley also found himself being questioned about an incident that occurred in the Soo some three years earlier.
He just happened to be coaching a Quebec team when separatism, language, the constitution and many other political items were on a lot of agendas.
And now he was in Sault Ste. Marie, a city whose council in 1990 had passed a resolution declaring English the official language of city business.
Yes, Hartley was asked about this, even though it was three years after the fact.
"I don't want to talk about what Sault Ste. Marie did,” Hartley replied. "I'm not going to answer any questions about language.
"That is a political thing. This is sport.”
Going into the next game -- Peterborough versus Swift Current on May 18 -- the Petes and Broncos were unbeaten. To the winner would go at least a berth in the semifinal game.
"It seems like we just started and we could be in the final,” James said. "That's why we tell the guys the first game is so important. It gives you options. A lot of times it only takes two wins to get to the final. You have to defeat the other team which has the potential to win two games.”
The Petes came out flying, however, and routed the Broncos 7-3 in front of 4,095 spectators.
The teams were tied 2-2 just past the midway point of the first period when the Petes scored twice -- Roche at 11:50 and Dale McTavish, with his second of the game, at 12:50 -- to pull away.
Roche finished with two goals, too, while Tully, Pronger and Harding added one each.

[nivek_wahs]

1993 contiunued....

The Petes suffered two injuries in the game. Tully, whose goal came 16 seconds into the game, left with some dizziness after being hit by McAmmond early in the first period. Tully also needed three stitches to close a cut on his chin. Stillman was gone early in the third period with a bruised left shoulder.
The Broncos got two goals from Holt and a single from Schneider.
Hnilicka was gone at 8:58 of the third period, replaced by Ian Gordon after Pronger scored the game's final goal. The Petes outshot the Broncos 32-25.
"We always seem to do things the hard way,” Bilodeau said. "The good thing is that we usually respond to pressure.”
James agreed.
"We've been in these situations before,” he said. "We can't play much worse than we did in a lot of areas, but we usually respond to a poor performance.”
Not this time.
Instead, they were shocked 4-3 by Laval in front of 3,985 fans on May 19.
"We allowed two goals on one shift -- and that proved to be the game,” Krywulak said.
Laval, which ended a six-game QMJHL losing streak against WHL teams, got two goals from Yannick Dube within 24 seconds in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
"All tournament I have had the chances,” said Dube, who hadn't scored prior to this game. "I got the chances again and there was no way I was going to miss them.”
Lapointe and Veilleux also scored for Laval, which outshot the Broncos 35-33.
Wright, Holt and Schneider replied for the Broncos. Holt left the game in the second period with a bruised collarbone and strained neck muscles. He already was slowed by a sprained ankle and lower back problems.
"It almost looks like we're dead tired when we take to the ice,” Rob Daum, the Broncos' assistant general manager and assistant head coach, said. "If we wore down as the game progressed, I could understand that, but we haven't been able to do anything from the start.”
To win the Memorial Cup, the Broncos were now faced with playing three different teams over the next three days and having to win all three games.
"It's difficult to envision coming back against three top teams in three nights,” James admitted. "It's certainly something we didn't desire, but we have no choice now.”
The round-robin concluded on May 20 with the Soo beating the Petes 7-3 before 4,433 fans.
Penney, with two, Reid, Kowalsky, Gavey, Toms and Intranuovo scored for the Greyhounds, with linemates Dawe, Harding and Roche scoring for the Petes.
The victory left both teams with 2-1 records but, because they beat the Petes, the Greyhounds were into the final for a second straight season.
"This is a great feeling,” Intranuovo said. "This is the third time in a row we've been to the Memorial Cup and now we're getting a second chance at the final.
"I know how it is to lose. I want to finish my junior career on a high note.”
Swift Current and Laval, both 1-2, now would play a tiebreaker, with the winner meeting Peterborough in the semifinal game.
By now, the Broncos were completely distracted by what they saw as inferior officiating.
"We worked on cheating a bit,” James said of his team's May 20 practice. "We worked on preventing guys from skating, which seems to be the name of the game here.
"When you're tackling guys and hauling them down, it's cheating. The way they're calling it here, it seems to be within the rules.”
James also knew that the Broncos would have to adapt or it would be over for them.
"We're here, so we have to adapt to the way the game is being played,” he said. "We have to do a better job of grabbing on to people. There seems to be no limit to the interference.
"As they say, when in Rome . . .”
The tournament ended for the Broncos on May 21 when they lost 4-3 to Laval in front of 3,910 fans.
The Titan held 2-0 and 3-1 leads only to have the Broncos tie it 3-3. Swift Current's title dreams ended when Patrick Cassin scored with 34.1 seconds left in the third period. That would be Cassin's only point of the tournament.
"I just wanted to go to the net,” Cassin said after scoring off a pass from Marc Beaucage. "I put my stick on it and it went in.”
Dube, with two, and Veilleux scored for Laval, which had problems solving Hnilicka, who stopped 33 shots.
Bilodeau, defenceman Darren Perkins and Holt, with his fifth goal of the event, scored for Swift Current.
"There are so many highs and lows in a season,” Krywulak said. "We went from being one game away from the final to having our season over.”
Bilodeau added: "It's our own fault. We had an opportunity, we didn't grab it and we paid for it.”
The Broncos, normally a high-flying offensive team, were outshot 14-0 in the first 17 minutes of the first period.
"We came here and we didn't play as well as we could,” said Daum. "That's the bottom line.”
Laval took the exit door the following night, losing 3-1 to Peterborough in the semifinal game as the Petes established a Memorial Cup record by advancing to their fifth final. They and the New Westminster Bruins had been tied at four appearances each.
Laval's Michael Gaul ended a scoreless game with the only goal of the second period before 4,101 fans. But the Petes won it with three third-periods goals, two of them by Harding and the last an empty-netter by Tully.
The Greyhounds, who went 0-3 two years previous and then lost in the 1992 final, completed the climb by beating the Petes 4-2 in the final on May 23 before 4,757 celebrating fans.
"The crowd was as big a part of this as the players,” Nolan said. "They supported us from Day 1. It was incredible.”
If there was a hero of this championship game it had to be Intranuovo, who spent the night before the final in hospital passing a kidney stone.
"I was really scared,” he said. "I was crying in the hospital, thinking I might not be able to play. The pain was so bad.
"I said, ‘Please, make the pain go away.' If it was going to come back, I hoped it would be another day. I wanted to play in the Memorial Cup final.”
He did. And he set up the first goal and scored the second.
Hodson stopped 45 shots as his mates held period leads of 3-0 and 4-0.
Sullivan and Penney also scored for the Soo, with Toms picking up three helpers. Black and Weir scored for the Petes.
No member of the Greyhounds was any happier than Kowalsky. He had scored three game-winning goals in the 1992 tournament, but it was his errant pass that led to the winning goal in a 5-4 loss to the Kamloops Blazers.
"I tried to put that out of my mind because I didn't want it to affect me,” Kowalsky said. "I had enough difficulty trying to sleep over the summer.
"It was tough to see Kamloops carrying the Cup. It drove us to come back and win it. To do that is an incredible feeling.”
Dawe was quick to credit Hodson.
"He was unbelievable,” Dawe said. "What can I say? He stopped everything we threw at him, except two goals.
"This is one of those things you have to forget. That's hockey. We had lots of opportunities to score and we never capitalized. That's life.”
The tournament drew 37,675 fans to its nine games, for an average attendance of 4,186. Not bad for a facility that seated 3,603.
The Greyhounds became the second host team to win the Memorial Cup, the other being the 1983 Portland Winter Hawks.
And, in the end, the Greyhounds finally earned some respect in the awards department.
Intranuovo was named the most valuable player and Hodson was selected the top goaltender. Hodson, Bannister, Intranuovo and Penney were on the all-star team, along with Gaul and Lapointe. Dawe was selected the most sportsmanlike player.
Harding wasn't named to the all-star team although he led the tournament in points, with 13.
As the tournament ended, the Soo's police force was on alert. But a quiet time was had by all.
"It was all good partying,” said a police spokesperson. "There was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Everything went very well.”
Indeed, it had.

NEXT: 1994 (Kamloops Blazers, North Bay Centennials, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Laval Titan)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1994 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/07/memorial-cup-history-1994.html)

1994 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Blazers, North Bay Centennials, Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Laval Titan
at Laval (Colisee)


Some Memorial Cup tournaments are memorable; some aren't.
Organizers can only hope going in that their tournament will be remembered for all the right things -- Dan Hodgson's 13 assists for the Prince Albert Raiders in 1983, Guy Rouleau's two six-point games for the Hull Olympiques in 1986; Joe Contini of the Hamilton Fincups scoring goals six seconds apart in 1976; Bruce Boudreau's five-goal game for the Toronto Marlboros in 1975; Rick Kowalsky of the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds scoring three game-winning goals in 1991; and, Zac Boyer of the Kamloops Blazers doing the same thing in the same tournament.
Then there was the 1979 tournament which might have been remembered for the pregame brawl between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs. Except that the final game -- won 2-1 in overtime by the Peterborough Petes over the Wheat Kings -- erased most memories of the sticks and gloves scattered all over the ice.
And then along came 1994.
Oh yes, hockey fans remember this one.
Unfortunately, they don't remember it because Kamloops won its second Memorial Cup in three seasons.
Rather, this one is remembered because of a postgame confrontation in a parking lot.
There were signs that things might get ugly in this tournament.
The Laval Titan would be the host team, having won that right by finishing with the QMJHL's best regular-season record.
Things went well enough in the playoffs, too, as the Titan rattled off 14 victories in their first 17 games. The last two of those victories were in the championship final against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, a team coached by Gaston Drapeau, a 51-year-old veteran coach who had never won a QMJHL championship.
Incredibly, the Sagueneens turned it around and beat the Titan, of head coach Michel Therrien, in each of the next four games.
(When Therrien played with the Quebec Remparts in 1981, Drapeau was his coach.)
Never mind that three of the last four games were decided in overtime, with Chicoutimi winning each of them. This was not a happy Laval bunch and Jean-Claude Morrissette, the general manager and one of six brothers who owned the Titan, chose to let the world know all about it.
As Bill Beacon of The Canadian Press wrote:
"After Laval lost its final playoff game . . . Morrissette blasted the referees, suggesting they were either incompetent or biased against his team.
"The Titan had been hit with six consecutive penalties in the first period (of Game 6) by referee Sylvain Bibeau. Morrissette was also angry that referee Luc Lachapelle had allowed a controversial overtime goal in the previous game.”
Beacon went on to quote Therrien: "What (Morrissette) said was the truth. It was unacceptable and I support what he said 100 per cent.”
All of which was a rather strange way of doing business, especially when one considers that the tournament would be held in Laval's home rink and officiated by QMJHL referees -- including Bibeau and Lachapelle.
Still, Therrien said he didn't expect the referees to try extracting their pound of flesh during the tournament.
"No responsible adult would take revenge on young people,” Therrien told Beacon. "The ones who would pay are the 22 players who are trying to realize a dream.
"I would never accept that.”
However, as we shall see, Morrissette's verbal attack was only a harbinger -- a small harbinger -- of what was to come.
The Titan and Sagueneens would be the latest teams to try to end Quebec's national championship drought -- a Quebec-based team hadn't won the Memorial Cup since Guy Lafleur led the Remparts to the top of the mountain in 1971.
Laval was in the Memorial Cup tournament for a second straight season and the Titan brought back 11 players off that team, including goaltender Emmanuel Fernandez.
He had posted a spectacular 3.09 GAA in 51 regular-season games. He had also picked up five shutouts along the way. In the playoffs, he was simply amazing, going 14-5 with an incredible 2.63 GAA.
Also returning were Daniel Goneau, Yannick Dube, Michael Gaul, Marc Beaucage, Frederic Chartier, Sylvain Blouin, Jason Boudrias, Brant Blackned, David Haynes, Francois Bouillon and Patrick Boileau.
The best of the Laval forwards was Dube, a centre who led the QMJHL in goals (66) and points (141). Goneau, a left winger, was the best draft prospect. He had totalled 86 points, including 57 assists.
The Titan had the QMJHL's best regular-season record (49-22-1), scored more goals (346) than did any other team, and gave up 247, the league's second-best defensive record.
This season, the QMJHL used best-of-seven series and a round-robin series in its playoffs.
The Titan opened by taking out the Victoriaville Tigres in five games in a best-of-seven series.
Laval then went into a round-robin series with five other teams -- it was a home-and-home series -- and finished at 4-2, good enough to advance.
In a best-of-seven semifinal series, the Titan beat the Beauport Harfangs in four games.
That moved the Titan into the championship series against Chicoutimi.
There wasn't much doubt just who was Chicoutimi's best player.
That honour befell goaltender Eric Fichaud, who led the QMJHL in games played (63), minutes played (3,493), wins (37) and saves (1,707). In the playoffs, he went 16-10 with a sparkling 3.31 GAA.
(It is somewhat ironical, perhaps, that Fernandez and Fichaud are next to each other in the Goaltender Register section of the National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book.)
The Sagueneens had been second in the QMJHL's regular season, their 43-24-5 record good for first place in the Frank Dilio Division.
They scored 340 goals, second to Laval's 346, while allowing 254, the QMJHL's fourth-best defensive record.
Michel St. Jacques finished tied for third in the points derby, with 126, including 58 goals. Danny Beauregard was right there, too, with 121 points, while rookie Alexei Lojkin, from Minsk, Russia, had 107.
Come the postseason, the offensive stars were Beauregard and Lojkin. They finished tied atop the playoff scoring race, each with 43 points in 27 games. Beauregard had 16 goals; Lojkin had 34 assists.
Yes, the Sagueneens played 27 playoff games just to reach the Memorial Cup.
They began by going seven games with the Granby Bisons and then went 4-3 in the six-team round-robin series.
Their semifinal series with the Hull Olympiques also went seven games, and they they took six games to eliminate Laval in the championship final.
The favorites in this tournament were the WHL's Kamloops Blazers of head coach Don Hay. A firefighter by profession, Hay was enjoying a leave of absence from the Kamloops Fire Department and he was finding out that he definitely had what it takes to be a first-rate coach.
The Blazers made their 11th consecutive appearance in the WHL's West Division final in the spring of '94 and went on to win the division for the seventh time in that period.
They had finished the regular season at 50-16-6, for 106 points. Kamloops was the only one of the league's 16 teams to earn more than 100 points.
The Blazers' leader was centre Darcy Tucker, a feisty sort who played a whole lot bigger than his 5-foot-10 stature would seem to allow. He finished second in the points derby with 140, including 52 goals.
Offensively, he got help from Rod Stevens (109 points, including 51 goals) and Jarrett Deuling (103 points).
They picked up veteran centre Louis Dumont in a midseason deal with the Regina Pats. He would total 97 points, including 44 goals.
The Kamloops lineup also included a trio of young up-and-comers in centre Hnat Dominechelli (67 points in 69 games) and right-wingers Jarome Iginla (29 points in 48 games) and Shane Doan (48 points in 52 games).
And they had perhaps the best young defence in the CHL, with veteran Scott Ferguson surrounded by the likes of Nolan Baumgartner, Jason Holland, Aaron Keller, Jason Strudwick and Brad Lukowich.
In goal, Rod Branch and Steve Passmore pretty much split the time. Passmore had a league-leading 2.74 GAA in 36 games. Branch was at 3.25 in 44 games.
The combination resulted in the Blazers leading the WHL in defence, allowing only 225 goals. The WHL hadn't seen defence like that since the Medicine Hat Tigers gave up 224 goals in 1984-85.
In the playoffs, Passmore would see by far the bulk of the playing time. And he would play every minute of four Memorial Cup games.
Kamloops opened the postseason by winning a best-of-seven division semifinal from the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games. And, in the division final, the Blazers got past the Portland Winter Hawks in six games.
The championship final, against the Saskatoon Blades, went the distance, the Blazers winning the seventh game 8-1 before 5,500 noisy fans in Riverside Coliseum.
Meanwhile, the North Bay Centennials were winning that city's first OHL championship.
Originally in St. Catharines, the franchise moved to Niagara Falls for the 1976-77 season and then relocated to North Bay prior to the 1982-83 season.
North Bay had reached the championship final once before, losing in seven games to the Oshawa Generals in the spring of 1987.
Behind the Centennials' bench in 1993-94 was veteran Bert Templeton, who would be that season's coach of the year. Templeton had coached the Hamilton Fincups to the 1976 Memorial Cup title.
The Centennials put up a 46-15-5 regular-season record, finishing atop the Leyden Division and setting a franchise record with 97 points.
North Bay scored more goals (351) than any other team in the OHL and also led in team defence as goaltenders Sandy Allan and Scott Roche allowed only 226 goals. Allan would be named to the third all-star team, but Roche, a first-year player, would play all three Memorial Cup games.
"A year ago, we finished seventh in our league and the prospects didn't look that bright,” Templeton said. "When you look at where we were a year ago to where we are now, we surprised a lot of people.”
The Centennials' lineup included right-winger Vitali Yachmenev, from Chelyabinsk, Russia, who led the OHL with 61 goals. He finished with 113 points and was named the OHL's rookie of the year.
Left-winger Jeff Shevalier had 101 points, including 52 goals, and was named to the first all-star team.
The best of the defencemen was Brad Brown, who totalled 32 points and 196 penalty minutes.

[nivek_wahs]

1994 continued....

The Centennials opened the postseason with a first-round bye and then eliminated the Belleville Bulls in six games. The division final lasted five games before the Ottawa 67's were sent packing.
In the championship final, the Centennials met up with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, who had finished on top of the Emms Division with a 42-20-4 record.
The final went the distance, with the Centennials winning the seventh game 5-4 in overtime.
The Centennials were at somewhat of a disadvantage simply because Game 7 of the OHL final was played on May 11 and, with the Memorial Cup to open on May 14, they spent the next day riding the bus to Montreal.
"We enjoy the bus -- it's home to us,” Templeton said. "It was our choice. We took the bus to Detroit and that's farther than Laval.
"If I had a preference, I'd like a couple of days rest. But we start right away and we have to be ready.”
The Centennials opened the tournament on May 14 by dropping a 5-4 overtime decision to Laval before 1,836 fans in the 3,003-seat Colisee.
Haynes, with just four goals in 61 regular-season games, potted the winner at 6:45 of the extra period.
The game belonged to Dube, however, as he figured in all of Laval's goals, scoring twice and setting up the other three.
Alain Cote and Chartier also scored for Laval.
Michal Burman, Bill Lang, Denis Gaudet and Yachmenev replied for North Bay. Yachmenev scored on a breakaway at 18:04 of the third period to force the overtime period.
The Centennials fell to 0-2 the next day when they were beaten 3-1 by Chicoutimi before 1,912 fans.
"Obviously, we're in a bad spot,” Templeton said. "But we're not losing because we're not trying. We can play better.”
The star in this one was Fichaud, who made 39 saves.
"The game was decided by the inability of our people to put the puck in the net,” Templeton said. "I give credit to their goalie.”
Beauregard, Andre Roy and Allan Sirois, into an empty net, scored for the Sagueneens. B.J. MacPherson had North Bay's lone goal.
It was the aftermath of the second game of May 13 that drew most of the attention.
On the ice, Kamloops outshot Laval 49-20 in posting a 5-4 victory in front of 1,843 fans.
Fernandez was outstanding, making 44 saves, including 21 in the first period.
"I was getting a lot of shots and I wasn't getting much help from my defence on rebounds,” Fernandez said. "You could tell we weren't ready.”
Deuling, Stevens, Ryan Huska, Tucker and Domenichelli scored for the Blazers.
"We had the shots, but we have to find a way to bury them,” said Dumont, who set up three goals. "But that was a good goaltender against us.”
Goneau and Beaucage had two goals each for the Titan.
Things turned sour in a big way in a parking lot following the game when Lachapelle, who had refereed the game between Kamloops and Laval, was injured.
Lachapelle, who filed a complaint with police, was left with cuts to his face and head and a slight concussion after being struck by flying glass when the window of the car in which he was riding was smashed.
According to QMJHL referee-in-chief Doug Hayward, Lachapelle and linesman Sylvain Cloutier were leaving the Colisee when their path was blocked by four men.
According to a report by The Canadian Press:
"Hayward said Cloutier told him a man approached Lachapelle on the passenger side of Cloutier's car and that, as the referee was lowering his window, another man punched the glass.
"Lachapelle . . . was treated at the scene in an ambulance and then taken to hospital, Hayward said.”
Lachapelle had handed out 15 minor penalties during the game, nine of them to Laval. The Titan were 2-for-6 on the power play; the Blazers were 2-for-9.
After the game, Therrien wouldn't comment about the officiating.
The following day, May 17, Morrissette resigned as Laval's general manager.
"I have resigned,” he said. "I have to respect the Memorial Cup committee, the league and my own organization. It's the only conclusion I could come to.”
Morrissette was one of three nominees as the CHL's executive of the year. However, he withdrew his name prior to the awards banquet. The award was presented to Kamloops general manager Bob Brown.
Morrissette was later charged with assault and causing property damage under $1,000. He was alleged to have broken the car window with his fist.
A CHL disciplinary committee fined the Titan $10,000 and barred Morrissette from the Colisee for the remainder of the tournament. He was also hit with a three-year suspension from all CHL events. The QMJHL later suspended him from all league activities with any team for the 1994-95 season.
After hearing from the disciplinary committee, Morrissette said: "People asked me what I expected and I said, ‘Life plus a day.' But they wanted to make sure this didn't happen again.”
At the same time, Therrien was placed on probation for the rest of the tournament.
Bob Hartley, Laval's head coach at the 1993 tournament, was named the Titan's interim general manager. He had spent the 1993-94 season as an assistant coach with the American Hockey League's Cornwall Aces, a farm club of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques.
Through all of this there was also discussion of what to now had been dismal attendance at the Colisee. None of the first three games had drawn more than 2,000 fans.
Between the assault on Lachapelle and the lack of fans, this was not going the way the QMJHL had hoped it would.
"I feel bad,” QMJHL president Gilles Courteau said. "This isn't what we expected.
"We've always had good crowds when we hosted the Memorial Cup, whether it was in Hull, Chicoutimi, Quebec . . . I don't know why it's so difficult this time.”
Morrissette was disappointed, too.
"It's a shame,” he said. "We've been a very successful organization but we haven't been successful at bringing people in.
"It's the smallest attendance in Memorial Cup history and that hurts me deeply. Everyone worked hard to make this successful. The City of Laval spent about $500,000. Yet people didn't come out.”
Attendance picked up a bit on May 17 as 2,621 fans watched Kamloops shut out Chicoutimi 5-0 to earn a bye into the tournament's championship game.
Tucker sparked the Blazers with three second-period goals. Chris Murray and Keller added one each for Kamloops, which outshot the Sagueneens 51-25.
"It was probably the easiest shutout I've ever had,” Passmore said.
The Blazers really had things rolling now and, on May 19, they beat North Bay 5-1 before 2,740 fans. That left the Centennials at 0-3 and out of the playoff picture.
Again, Tucker led the way for the Blazers. This time, he had a goal and two assists and now led the tournament in goals (five) and points (eight).
Stevens, Domenichelli, Murray and Tyson Nash also scored for the Blazers, who held period leads of 2-1 and 3-1 as they outshot the Centennials 41-17.
Lang scored for North Bay.
The game was refereed by Lachapelle in his first appearance since the incident four days earlier.
This left Chicoutimi and Laval to meet on consecutive nights, closing out the round-robin portion of the tournament in the first game and following that up with the semifinal game.
In the first game of the doubleheader, on May 19, the Sagueneens got second-period goals from Beauregard and Lojkin and 33 saves from Fichaud in a 2-0 victory before 2,979 fans.
Prior to the game, the Titan players taped the letters J.C. on the backs of their helmets. This was in support of the suspended Morrissette.
"We were flat,” Therrien said. "All the ingredients were there for an emotional game and then we didn't have one.”
The Sagueneens now had beaten the Titan in five straight games. And by beating the Titan in the round-robin game, Chicoutimi had won the designation as home team in the semifinal game even though it was to be played in Laval's arena.
The home-team designation didn't do the Sagueneens much good, however, as they were beaten 4-2 by the Titan in the May 20 semifinal game.
Laval held period leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in front of 2,953 fans.
Gaul, with two, Goneau and Beaucage scored for the Titan, with Roy and Steve Dulac scoring for Chicoutimi.
The Titan became the first QMJHL team to move into the final since the Drummondville Voltigeurs lost 5-1 to the Spokane Chiefs in 1991 and only the second QMJHL team in the final since 1986. That year, the Hull Olympiques lost 6-2 to the Guelph Platers.
On May 22, Kamloops won the Memorial Cup for the second time in three years, getting goals from five players in beating the Titan 5-3 in front of 3,119 fans.
"I went in there with high expectations and was expected to do well,” said Tucker, a draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens who was named the tournament's MVP. "I was in the backyard of the team that drafted me.
"I knew how much pressure there would be from the media and I knew the Canadiens would be watching. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well.”
He scored what turned out to be the winning goal, one that gave Kamloops a 4-1 lead in the second period. It was his tournament-high sixth goal.
Tucker was one of seven players who had also been on the 1992 Memorial Cup champions. The others were Nash, Huska, Deuling, Ferguson, Murray and Stevens. Only Stevens was graduating, meaning the others might be heard from in 1995.
Dumont scored the only goal of the first period, at 12:20, and the Blazers went up 2-0 early in the second on goals by Huska (1:37) and Mike Josephson (2:02).
Goneau got Laval on the board with his fourth goal of the tournament at 3:08, but Tucker restored Kamloops' three-goal lead at 12:03.
Cote and Goneau pulled Laval to within one in the third period, scoring at 13:09 and 14:03.
That's when Hay called a timeout.
"He just said that we were going good until we let a couple of checks get away and unfortunately the shots went in,” said Dumont. "He just said we had to screw our heads back on.”
The Blazers hung on until Bob Maudie wrapped it up with an empty-net goal at 19:08.
And guess who refereed the final game?
Yes, it was Lachapelle.
Laval was 1-for-7 on the power play; the Blazers were 0-for-7.
While Tucker was hauling away the MVP award, Dube got the sportsmanship award and Fichaud was selected the top goaltender. The all-star team comprised Fichaud, Keller and Baumgartner on defence, and Tucker, Cote and Stevens on the forward line.
While Laval was hoping to win the QMJHL's first title since 1971, the Blazers became the 11th WHL team to win in the 23 years since a round-robin format was adapted. It was also the WHL's eighth title in 12 seasons.

NEXT: 1995 (Kamloops Blazers, Brandon Wheat Kings, Detroit Jr. Red Wings and Hull Olympiques)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan...1995 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/07/memorial-cup-history-1995.html)

1995 MEMORIAL CUP
Kamloops Blazers, Brandon Wheat Kings, Detroit Jr. Red Wings and Hull Olympiques
at Kamloops (Riverside Coliseum)


Not since the halcyon days of the New Westminster Bruins (1975-78) had the WHL seen anything close to what the Kamloops Blazers had accomplished.
While the Bruins won four straight WHL championships and back-to-back Memorial Cup titles, the Blazers went into the 1994-95 season having;
(a) posted six straight seasons of at least 40 victories;
(b) reached the West Division final in each of the past 11 seasons;
(c) reached the WHL final six times in those 11 seasons; and,
(d) won five WHL titles over that span.
On top of all that, the Blazers had won two of the past three Memorial Cups -- winning the 1994 title in Laval and the 1992 championship at Seattle.
By the time the 1994-95 hockey season wound down, the Blazers had added to each of those distinctions.
Make it seven straight seasons with more than 40 victories, 12 straight West Division finals, seven WHL finals in 12 seasons; and, six WHL titles over that period of time.
There can be no denying this was a dynasty.
And the 1994-95 edition of the Blazers, under general manager Bob Brown and head coach Don Hay, would simply add to it.
This team did it knowing that it was already in the Memorial Cup tournament. That's because the 5,122-seat Riverside Coliseum would serve as home to the 1995 tournament.
The Kamloops lineup included three players -- centres Darcy Tucker and Ryan Huska and left-winger Tyson Nash -- with a chance to win three Memorial Cup rings.
The Blazers breezed through the WHL's regular season, posting a 52-14-6 record. Their 110 points left them on top of the West Division, 22 points ahead of the Tacoma Rockets and 15 better than the Brandon Wheat Kings, who topped the East Division with a 45-22-5 record.
Tucker was the spark on this team, both through his offensive talents and his ability to get under the other team's skin.
Offensively, he totaled 137 points, including 64 goals, in 64 games. That left him three points shy of WHL scoring champion Daymond Langkow of the Tri-City Americans, who played 72 games. Tucker went on to lead the WHL playoffs in goals (16) and points (31).
Left-winger Hnat Domenichelli also broke the 100-point barrier, his 114 points including 52 goals.
Centre Shane Doan chipped in with 94 points, while Ashley Buckberger, a midseason acquisition from the Swift Current Broncos, had 82 points.
Although this team led the WHL with 375 goals -- there were eight 20-goal men and nine players with at least 50 points -- it wasn't recognized as a high-powered offensive machine.
For the record, the 50-point men were Tucker, Domenichelli, Doan, Buckberger, defenceman Aaron Keller (80), Nash (75), Ivan Vologjaninov (72), Jarome Iginla (71) and Huska (67).
Rather, this was a team that could play defence with the best of them.
In fact, the Blazers surrendered only 202 goals, the lowest such total in the WHL since the Saskatoon Blades allowed 184 goals over a 68-game schedule in 1972-73.
The defence featured the likes of Keller, Brad Lukowich, Nolan Baumgartner and Jason Holland, who combined for 45 goals and 210 points. And they made a great midseason pickup when they acquired 20-year-old Keith McCambridge, who was a rock defensively, from Swift Current in the Buckberger deal.
In goal, the Blazers counted on Rod Branch and Randy Petruk.
Branch had been the No. 1 guy through most of the 1993-94 season but then took a backseat to Steve Passmore in the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup.
In 1994-95, Branch set a franchise record with a 2.60 GAA and tied another Kamloops record with five shutouts. He was 35-11-2 with a .900 save percentage in 50 games.
Petruk was the backup. A 16-year-old rookie from Cranbrook, B.C., who would turn 17 during the playoff run, Petruk got into 27 games, finishing 16-3-4 with a 2.91 GAA.
Come the postseason, Branch would go 10-4 with a league-best 2.19 GAA in 15 games. Petruk would get into seven games and finish 5-2 with a 2.70 GAA.
In the Memorial Cup, however, Petruk would start and finish all four of the Blazers' games.
The Blazers opened the playoffs in a first-round West Division round-robin series. They and the Portland Winter Hawks each went 3-1 to eliminate the Seattle Thunderbirds (0-4).
Kamloops then took out Portland, winning a best-of-seven semifinal series in five games. In the division final, the Blazers got past Tri-City 4-2.
That moved Kamloops into the WHL's championship final, against Brandon. It went six games, with the Blazers wrapping it up at home, thanks to a 5-4 overtime victory on May 7.
That gave them their third WHL title in four seasons, as close as a team can get to New Westminster's record streak of four in a row.
"I think when we're working hard, we're unbeatable,” offered Brown, the primary architect of this organization. "And when we're not working hard, we're just average.
"As far as team camaraderie and work ethic goes, this has to rank up there with the best ever.”
With the Blazers already in as the host team, the Wheat Kings, as WHL runner-up, also moved into the Memorial Cup tournament.
They had come awfully close to winning the WHL championship. After all, they had opened the final series by winning the first two games right in Kamloops. Alas, they would lose the next three games in Brandon and then lose Game 6 in overtime in Kamloops.
Brandon had not been in a Memorial Cup since 1979 when it lost the final 2-1 in overtime to the Peterborough Petes in the Verdun Auditorium.
The Wheat City was still the only city to have had a team in the final for the Stanley Cup, Allan Cup and Memorial Cup, and to never have won.
It wasn't that long ago that the Wheat Kings were the laughingstock not only of the WHL but of junior hockey in general.
This franchise had bottomed out in 1990-91, when it won only 19 games, and in 1991-92, when it posted just 11 victories.
But through it all general manager Kelly McCrimmon had a plan. He stuck to that plan and now it was paying off.
The Wheat Kings finished second in their division in 1992-93, with a 43-25-4 record, but were upset by the Medicine Hat Tigers in a first-round playoff series.
In 1993-94, Brandon again was second in its division (42-25-5) and this time made it to the East Division final.
And then came 1994-95.
The Wheat Kings, under head coach Bob Lowes, went 45-22-5 to finish first in the East Division.
Like the Blazers, the Wheat Kings had two 100-point men (Marty Murray, the league's most valuable player, with 128, and 62-goal man Darren Ritchie, with 114). And, like Kamloops, Brandon had nine players with at least 50 points -- Chris Dingman (83), Alex Vasilevskii (83), Mike Leclerc (69), Bryan McCabe (69), Wade Redden (60), Peter Schaefer (59) and Bobby Brown (51).
(Redden's father, Gord, had played in the 1959 Memorial Cup final with the Regina Pats. A postseason pickup from the Weyburn Red Wings, Gord scored the winning goal for Regina in the seventh game of the Western Canadian championship series for the Abbott Cup.)
McCrimmon made a key move in midseason by acquiring McCabe, a skilled defenceman, from the Spokane Chiefs. He and Redden gave Brandon an awesome one-two punch on the blue line.
Byron Penstock was the go-to goaltender in the regular season at 27-16-4 with a 3.16 GAA and four shutouts. Brian Elder was no slouch, either, as his 16-5-1 record and 3.12 GAA in 23 games would attest.
The Wheat Kings earned a first-round bye and then won a best-of-seven series from the Moose Jaw Warriors in five games. Next up, in the East Division final, were the Prince Albert Raiders. Brandon won that series in seven games.
Then, of course, the Wheat Kings were beaten by the Blazers in the championship final.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, under head coach Paul Maurice, were winning their first OHL title.
An expansion franchise granted on Dec. 11, 1989, and beginning play in 1990-91, the Jr. Red Wings had shown annual improvement.
They had won but 11 games in their first season, and improved to 23 the second season.
In 1992-93, they were legitimate contenders, going 37-22-7 and finishing second in the Emms Division. They followed that up with a 42-20-4 record and a first-place finish in 1993-94 when they lost Game 7 of the championship final to the North Bay Centennials.
This time, they rang up a 44-18-4 record, good for first place in the West Division (the OHL now was a three-division league). Their 92 points left them tied for second in all of the OHL (with the Sudbury Wolves), seven points in arrears of the Central Division-winning Guelph Storm.
The Red Wings offered up a well-balanced team -- their 306 goals scored was the third-highest such figure in the league and their 223 goals-against left them with the third-best defence.
Without a doubt, there were three key players.
The first was goaltender Jason Saal. He got into 51 of Detroit's 66 games and put up a 3.18 goals-against average.
The second was defenceman Bryan Berard. In his rookie season, he totaled 75 points, including 20 goals, in 58 games. In the end, he was the league's rookie of the year. He was also on the league's first all-star team as well as the rookie all-star team.
The third was centre Bill McCauley, who would finish 11th in the OHL scoring derby, with 102 points, including 41 goals.
And, Sean Haggerty was no slouch, either, as he proved with 40 goals and 49 assists in 61 games.
Still, this was the season in which Guelph was supposed to win it all.
The Storm finished with a 47-14-5 record and wound up with three all-star players to Detroit's one, along with the league's best defensive record.
But the Storm wouldn't win it all.
With the new division format, a team now would have to go through four best-of-seven series to win the championship.
Detroit began by sweeping the London Knights and Peterborough Petes.
Sudbury was next and this series went seven games, the Red Wings taking Game 7 by an 11-4 count.
And, in the final, it was as it should be -- Detroit versus Guelph. The Red Wings won it in six games, becoming the first American-based team to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions.
The Red Wings won the sixth game 5-4 on Berard's goal at 9:35 of the third period.
As for being a U.S. team, Berard told the Toronto Sun: "We don't think about that kind of thing. We're playing in the Canadian Hockey League. We don't say, ‘This guy is American, this guy is Canadian.' What makes this so great is that we're a team.”
Berard was brilliant in the playoffs, scoring four goals and setting up 20 others in 21 games. McCauley led the playoffs in assists (27) and points (39), with Haggerty second, at 37 points.
Saal played in 18 postseason games, putting up a 2.88 GAA, the best in the league.
At the same time, the Hull Olympiques, under head coach Robert Mongrain, were earning the right to carry the QMJHL's colors into the tournament. Mongrain had scored three goals for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs in the 1979 tournament.
And now he would try to help the Olympiques become the first Quebec-based team to win the Memorial Cup since Guy Lafleur and the Quebec Remparts won it in 1971. By now, this was become a far too familiar refrain in the QMJHL.
Hull had put together a 42-28-2 regular season, its 86 points leaving it 10 behind the first-place Laval Titan in the Lebel Division.
This was a Hull team that would beat you on offence -- plain and simple. Led by captain and centre Sebastien Bordeleau, a first all-star team selection, it scored 340 goals in 72 games, 38 more than Laval and 15 more than the second-best offence in the league. But on defence the Olympiques gave up 274 goals, only the sixth-best such figure.
Which is why goaltender Jose Theodore was so important. His 3.46 GAA was only the fifth-best among goaltenders who played in at least 30 games. But he was named the winner of the Shell Cup as the league's best defensive player and was named to the second all-star team.
Bordeleau's father Paulin had played for two Memorial Cup champions -- the Montreal Junior Canadiens (1970) and Toronto Marlboros (1973) -- and also coached the Laval Titan in the 1989 tournament. Sebastien was born in Vancouver while his father was with the NHL's Canucks.
Like father, like son. Paulin was a sniper, and so was Sebastien, who finished second in the QMJHL points derby, with 128, including 52 goals.
Hull's other big gun was centre Martin Menard, who finished with 100 points, while right-winger Michael McKay had 88 points, including 60 assists.
Again, the QMJHL was using best-of-seven series and a round-robin series in its playoff format.
The Olympiques began by ousting the St. Hyacinthe Laser in five games. They then moved into a six-team round-robin series and while they only managed to go 3-3 that was still good enough to move into the third round
There, they met up with the Beauport Harfangs, whom they sidelined in five games.

[nivek_wahs]

1995 continued......

The championship final also lasted five games, with Hull winning out over Laval. The Olympiques won the fifth game 4-3 in overtime, with Harold Hersh getting the winner at 14:04 of the first extra period.
Bordeleau led the playoffs in goals (13) and points (32). His next closest teammate was Jonathan Delisle, with 19 points.
Theodore went 15-6 in the postseason, with a sparkling 2.80 GAA.
The Olympiques, however, didn't get off to a very good start in Kamloops.
The tournament opened on May 13 with Brandon hammering Hull 9-2 before 5,500 fans, outshooting the Olympiques 42-29 in the process.
(Attendance for every one of the tournament's eight games would be announced as 5,500, providing a total attendance of 44,000.)
It was the most one-sided decision in the tournament since the hometown Regina Pats whipped the Cornwall Royals 11-2 on May 8, 1980.
Ritchie led the Wheat Kings with three goals and McCabe had two goals and three assists. Schaefer, Colin Cloutier, Darren Van Oene and Scott Laluk had Brandon's other goals.
McKay and Delisle replied for Hull, which trailed 3-0 and 6-0 by periods.
Theodore left at 9:34 of the second period, having stopped 15 of 21 shots and with Brandon ahead 6-0. Neil Savary finished up.
The Wheat Kings followed that up by losing 4-3 to Detroit on May 14.
"We didn't play very well,” Lowes said. "Having a few gifts at the end made it close, but for the most part we weren't a very good team.”
The Red Wings broke open a scoreless game with three second-period goals -- from Berard, Dan Pawlaczyk and McCauley.
Cloutier got Brandon on the board at 11:44 of the third period only to have Jeff Mitchell restore Detroit's three-goal edge at 13:16.
Mike Dubinsky and Schaefer closed the scoring for Brandon.
This game gave scouts a good look at Berard and Redden, the two highest-rated defencemen going into the NHL's 1995 draft.
"I just want to do anything to help the team win,” Berard said, after scoring once and setting up another. "I'm looking for the Memorial Cup trophy and hopefully that'll come true.”
Redden had the misfortune of getting his stick caught along the boards in the first period and skating into it. He suffered a bruise underneath his rib cage but was back in action in the second period.
The Wheat Kings also lost Murray, their captain, when he took a puck in the face with five minutes to play in the third period. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously hurt and wouldn't miss any games.
The Olympiques fell to 0-2 in the second game on May 14 when they dropped a 4-1 decision to Kamloops.
"We took some stupid penalties,” said Theodore, who made 45 saves and was beaten for three power-play goals. "Kamloops played a great game and it's hard to score goals when you're on the defence all night. I had to bounce back tonight, but we still lost.”
Iginla had two goals for Kamloops, including an empty-netter at 19:26 of the third period. Doan and Keller also scored for Kamloops, which led 3-1 after the first period.
Delisle, who had 59 points and 218 penalty minutes in the regular season, continued his fine play with Hull's lone goal.
"We were really excited and juiced up to play,” Iginla said. "It was good to get the jitters out and get our first game over with.”
You can bet there was some nervousness on the Kamloops bench when Tucker went down clutching his left knee late in the first period. But he was back for the start of the second period and played regularly afterwards.
The Blazers improved to 2-0 on May 16, getting two goals from each of Domenichelli and Doan as they edged the Red Wings 5-4.
Tucker had the other goal for Kamloops, which led 2-0 and 3-2 by periods and then scored twice midway in the third.
Haggerty, with two, Matt Ball and Mike Rucinski scored for Detroit.
Petruk stopped 25 shots in upping his record to 2-0. Saal made 29 saves.
"It's tough being here in Kamloops,” Doan admitted later, "because we're expected to win. But it's a bonus, too, because we play that much harder.
"When the fans get behind us, it's such a great feeling to hear the 5,500 going nuts with all the towels and wearing white shirts.”
It was a big game for Domenichelli, who was one of four Hartford Whalers' draft picks in the game, the other three -- Ball, Tom Buckley and Rucinski -- all being on the Detroit roster.
"They said I have to get a little more involved,” Domenichelli said of reaction to his play in the Blazers' first game. "I knew this was a big game with everybody here.
"I had to prove to the Hartford Whaler organization that they didn't make a mistake on me and that I'm as good as, if not better than, the guys that were on the ice for Detroit.”
Hull fell to 0-3 on May 17 and was eliminated as it lost 5-2 to Detroit, which got three goals from Haggerty.
Haggerty scored Detroit's first three goals, getting one in each period. McCauley and Carl Beaudoin, the latter into an empty net, also scored for the winners.
Bordeleau, with the game's first goal, and Hersh scored for Hull, which was outshot 34-29.
On May 19, with a berth in the final on the line, the Blazers got another big game out of Iginla, Domenichelli and Tucker as they beat Brandon 6-4.
"Hnat and Darcy help on and off the ice -- they demand a lot,” said Iginla, who had two goals. "They don't want me to come out and slow them up, so I have to be ready every game.
"It's good that they demand that.”
Tucker set up three goals, with Maudie, Doan, Nash and Vologjaninov getting Kamloops' other goals.
Mark Dutiaume, with two, Schaefer and McCabe scored for Brandon.
Schaefer opened the scoring only to have the Blazers score three times before the period ended. Vologjaninov gave the Blazers a 4-1 lead early in the second period, but Dutiaume scored twice before the period ended to get Brandon back into it.
Iginla and McCabe traded goals at 9:23 and 15:31 of the third period before Nash put it away at 18:32.
When it was over, Lowes pointed to Maudie's goal, a shorthanded effort that broke a 1-1 tie at 12:55 of the first period, as perhaps the key moment.
"The shorthanded goal really changed the momentum,” he said. "There were too many times that we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Kamloops outshot Brandon 37-29 with Petruk and Elder going the distance in goal.
Brandon had left-winger Chris Dingman back in the lineup for the first time in five weeks. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Dingman had been out with a knee injury.
But the Wheat Kings lost Ritchie, their key sniper, with a strained left knee. He was listed as doubtful for the semifinal against Detroit. He dressed but didn't score.
But then only one of the Wheat Kings did score as they lost 2-1 to Detroit in the semifinal game on May 20.
Defenceman Justin Kurtz gave Brandon a 1-0 lead at 6:35 of the first period and the Wheat Kings nursed that edge into the third period.
It lasted until 6:54 when Milan Kostolny scored to tie it. And then, at 14:50, Ball scored the game-winner on a power play.
Saal stopped 30 shots to up his record to 2-1; Penstock made 30 saves in his lone Memorial Cup appearance.
The following day, on May 21, the Blazers unleashed a 50-shot barrage, 28 of them in a six-goal second period, as they whipped Detroit 8-2 to win their second straight Memorial Cup title and their third in four seasons.
Kamloops became the seventh team to win back-to-back championships. The others -- Oshawa Generals (1939-40), Toronto Marlboros (1955-56), Montreal Junior Canadiens (1969-70), New Westminster Bruins (1977-78), Cornwall Royals (1980-81) and Medicine Hat Tigers (1987-88).
No team had ever won three Memorial Cup titles in four seasons.
Petruk kicked out 25 shots as he lifted his record to 4-0. Saal was lifted at 13:37 of the second period and replaced by Darryl Foster with Kamloops ahead 5-0.
Tucker, Huska and Nash, each of whom played on all three Kamloops Memorial Cup winners, scored in the game.
Huska scored twice, with Tucker and Nash adding one each. Keller, Maudie, Lukowich and Jeff Antonovich added the other goals.
Mitchell and Eric Manlow scored for Detroit.
"Everyone knew it was our third,” Tucker said. "We just relished the moment.”
As mentioned, he, Huska and Nash ended up with three Memorial Cup rings -- from 1992, '94 and '95.
That doesn't quite equal the feat performed by defenceman Robert Savard, who played on three straight Memorial Cup winners -- the Cornwall Royals in 1980 and '81 and the Kitchener Rangers in '82.
But, hey, three titles in four years is quite an accomplishment by anyone's standards.
Doan, who had missed the 1994 title game with a knee injury, set up two goals in the 1995 final and finished with a tournament-high nine points. He was selected the most valuable player.
Saal was named the top goaltender, with Iginla taking the sportsmanship award.
The all-star team comprised Saal, Baumgartner, McCabe, Tucker, Haggerty and Doan.
The final game was refereed by veteran WHL official Kevin Muench of Moose Jaw. He would later retire from the WHL, saying that he wanted to go out on top and refereeing the final game of the Memorial Cup allowed him to do that.
Two weeks after the Memorial Cup, Kamloops president Colin Day fired Brown, the man who had put together three Memorial Cup winners. It was time, Day said, to go in a different direction.

NEXT: 1996 (Brandon Wheat Kings, Guelph Storm, Peterborough Petes and Granby Predateurs)

[nivek_wahs]

From Gregg Drinnan....1996 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/07/memorial-cup-history-1996.html)

1996 MEMORIAL CUP
Brandon Wheat Kings, Guelph Storm, Peterborough Petes and Granby Predateurs
at Peterborough (Memorial Centre)


They had arguably the greatest tradition of any major junior hockey team in the Canadian Hockey League.
But the Peterborough Petes had never played host to the Memorial Cup tournament.
Their record-setting seventh tournament appearance would change all that. The Petes, a non-profit private company since 1967, would play host to the 1996 tournament in the 3,866-seat Memorial Centre, a square-cornered facility which first opened its doors in 1946.
Bench seating for 756 was added for the tournament. Throw in 240 standing room spots, and capacity was shown as 4,854.
"With all due respect to other past events -- which I admittedly wasn't involved in organizing -- I think this will probably be the biggest thing to ever hit Peterborough,” Bob Neville, chairman of the host committee, told The Canadian Press.
It's fair to say the city of 70,000 people was alive with hockey fever.
Prior to the tournament, Petes head coach Dave MacQueen visited a local school.
"I drive up to the school and the principal and the teachers were all out in the parking lot with 500 kids chanting ‘Go Petes, Go!' It's just a tremendous rush right now in this city,” MacQueen stated.
And therein lay the biggest battle for the teams involved in this event.
"If we can keep our players away from all the bands and concerts and other things going on, we'll be OK,” offered E.J. McGuire, the head coach of the Guelph Storm, the OHL's other entry. "They may be able to come back as 40-year-olds and enjoy the Memorial Cup. But not now.”
It would be hard to avoid the hype. After all, Memorial Cup week actually got under way on the morning of May 11 with a parade that featured some 30 floats and 100 vintage automobiles, along with all of the competing players.
The 1996 tournament would feature three of the CHL's four highest-rated teams -- the OHL's Guelph Storm was No. 2 in the last rankings, followed by the QMJHL-champion Granby Predateurs and the WHL-champion Brandon Wheat Kings. And it was the Wheat Kings, the only one of the four teams who was in the tournament for a second straight season, who had knocked off the No. 1 team, the Spokane Chiefs.
In fact, at one time or another, Guelph, Granby and Brandon were all ranked No. 1. The Petes came in ranked 10th.
"We're no more favoured than anybody else,” offered Brandon head coach Bob Lowes. "I hear Guelph has a good team, I hear Granby has a good team and I hear that Peterborough has a good team. How do you compare?”
How indeed?
Only the Petes, who had won the OHL title, weren't in the top four.
The Petes found out in midseason that they would be the host team for the 1996 tournament. The decision to award the tournament to Peterborough and its older facility drew considerable criticism, especially from the Ottawa area.
The folks of Peterborough chose to greet it all with good humor.
The Ottawa Sun was especially vitriolic, referring to Peterborough as a burg with only one bar worth visiting and few other attractions.
During Memorial Cup week, Zeke's, the bar to which The Sun referred, had a sign in its front window: "The Ottawa Sun says we're the only good bar in town.”
"We were truly and genuinely surprised,” Neville told Mike Sawatzky of The Brandon Sun. "We were hurt (but) we also recognized it was coming from one place.
"We knew Ottawa had the best arena (a refurbished Civic Centre) and the most money to offer.
"I think the attraction of Peterborough is we offer more than hockey games. (The Memorial Cup) has grown to be an event for fans. You want to make it a festival for the week where people can really enjoy themselves.”
All of the criticism didn't slow down the Petes in their quest for the crown.
At the time that Peterborough was named host city, the Petes came under fire. There were some folks out there who didn't think the club was competitive enough.
"Our guys got tremendous motivation off of some of the press that we weren't a good enough team to host the Cup, let alone a good enough city,” MacQueen stated. "We've got tremendous pride in that. We wanted to get in through the front door.”
They put together a 35-22-9 regular season to finish second in the East Division, four points behind the Ottawa 67's.
This Peterborough team started slowly and only got better as the season progressed.
Right-winger Cameron Mann led the Petes with 102 points, including 42 goals. Centre Rob Giffin totalled 88 points, with 34 of them goals, and centre Mike Williams had 20 goals and 77 points.
Mann went on a real tear in the playoffs. He led the league, with 43 points, including 27 goals, in 24 games. He smashed the franchise record of 19 goals set by Mike Ricci in the spring of 1989. Mann was a premier penalty-killer as well -- he had 11 shorthanded goals during the regular season and added seven more on the playoff trail.
Williams helped out with 41 postseason points, second in the league to Mann, including a playoff-high 29 assists.
And left-winger Dave Duerden, who hadn't missed a game in two seasons with the Petes, had 27 points, including 14 goals.
The defence featured captain Adrian Murray, first-team all-star Kevin Bolibruck and Mike Martone, all of whom knew the way around their zone.
And in goal the man was Zac Bierk, who was perhaps better known because of the accomplishments of three members of his family than for his goaltending.
David Bierk, Zac's father, is an internationally acclaimed artist. Sebastian Bach, Zac's brother, is the lead singer for Skid Row, a heavy metal band that was based in New Jersey. And sister Heather is a model.
It shouldn't be surprising then that Zac Bierk was not your conventional goaltender. He was big -- 6-foot-4 and 202 pounds -- and didn't do a whole lot by the book. A lot of hockey people talked about his going down every time he saw the puck; Bierk preferred to call it a butterfly style.
But, hey, it worked. He was 31-16-6 with a 3.17 GAA in the regular season. He followed that up by going 14-7 record with a 3.60 GAA in the playoffs. He had help, too, from former NHL goaltender Marv Edwards, who was one of the Petes' assistant coaches.
Still, the Petes were well off the pace set by Guelph. The Storm had been favoured to win everything the previous season but had lost out to the Detroit Jr. Red Wings in the championship final.
Guelph roared back in 1995-96 to finish on top of the Central Division with the OHL's best record -- 45-16-5.
Head coach Craig Hartsburg had left Guelph for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks after the 1995-96 season. He was replaced by McGuire, a man with NHL experience who knew lots about the Petes as he had, at one time or another, worked with former Peterborough coaches Mike Keenan, Roger Neilson and Jacques Martin.
McGuire chose to come to Guelph as a head coach in an attempt to turn around a career in which he feared he was being branded as a career assistant coach. He had been an assistant for nine seasons, the last three with the NHL's Ottawa Senators.
"I was in Ottawa for three years, that's why I look 68,” McGuire said. He was actually 43.
Guelph general manager Mike Kelly was quick to credit McGuire with being worth 10 to 15 points in the standings.
No one played defence like the Storm which set an OHL record by allowing only 186 goals in the 66-game regular season.
The defence was keyed by goaltender Dan Cloutier, who joined the Storm after three season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He was with the Greyhounds at the 1993 Memorial Cup tournament, which they won, but didn't see any playing time. With the Storm, he went 11-7-0 with a 3.34 GAA.
Chris Hajt was the most highly touted of Guelph's defencemen. His father, Bill, was a stay-at-home type during his NHL career and Chris played the game the same way.
The offence, which totaled 297 goals, relied on balance -- there were 11 players with at least 30 points.
Guelph's top scorer was Herbert Vasiljevs. He had 67 points, including 34 goals, and was tied for 40th in the OHL's scoring derby.
Left-winger Jamie Wright had 66 points, including 30 goals, and centre Jeff Williams scored 15 times and set up another 49.
Williams caught fire in the OHL playoffs, scoring 13 goals and setting up 15 others. His 28 points left him fourth in the postseason scoring race.
Peterborough opened the playoffs -- all series were best-of-seven -- by ousting the Kingston Frontenacs in six games, both losses coming in overtime.
The Petes moved into a quarterfinal series where they took out the Sarnia Sting in six games. Only one game went into overtime -- the Petes won Game 5, 7-6.
Peterborough met Detroit in one semifinal series and eliminated the Jr. Red Wings in five games, winning two of them in overtime.
Meanwhile, the Storm had received a first-round bye and then eliminated the Niagara Falls Thunder in five games. (Shortly thereafter, the Thunder announced it was relocating to Erie, Pa.)
In the other semifinal series, Guelph went five games in ousting the Belleville Bulls.
The Petes and Storm would meet in the OHL's championship final and, oh, what a series this would be.
It went the full seven games and, strangely enough, the visiting team won each of the seven games.
And Game 7 needed overtime before it was decided -- the Petes winning 8-7 in Guelph. In fact, two of the games went to overtime, meaning Peterborough played in seven postseason OT games.
The winning goal was scored by Martone, one of those stay-at-home defencemen. It was his second overtime goal of the series and seventh goal of the postseason.
"We feel great,” he said. "That's the way we wanted to do it -- going in the front door.
"None of this back door stuff for us; we're going in the front door.
Prior to Game 5 on May 2, which the Petes won 5-3 in Guelph, MacQueen's wife, Nancy, gave birth to their third child, son Dylan.
"It might have been the best day of my life,” said MacQueen, who was given the game puck after Game 5 and said he would put it in his son's crib.
"I gave the boys a pretty emotional speech before the game,” MacQueen said. "A lot of people said it would be a miracle if we advanced in the playoffs. That it would be a miracle if we beat Guelph. I told the players I witnessed a miracle with the birth of my son and it would be no miracle to beat Guelph.”
A few days later, on May 13, the Wheat Kings added a new member to their family when Lowes' wife, Shelley, gave birth to Robert Joseph, their third child and first son. They named him after Bob's father, who died in 1990 with his son's coaching career in its infancy. In fact, Bob was coaching the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Nipawin Hawks and was boarding a bus to the Centennial Cup when he was informed of his father's death.
The night his son was born, Lowes was named the CHL's coach of the year. In an emotional acceptance speech, he dedicated the award to his father.
In Brandon, the Wheat Kings had won their first WHL championship since 1978-79. That team, featuring the high-powered line of Ray Allison, Laurie Boschman and Brian Propp, along with defenceman Brad McCrimmon, lost in the tournament final, dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to the Petes in the Verdun, Que., Auditorium.
This edition of the Wheat Kings led the WHL with 369 goals, but didn't have the firepower of the 1979 champions. Still, the 1995-96 Wheat Kings offered much better balance.
Brandon had the WHL's best regular-season record (52-19-1) and its 105 points were one more than Spokane accumulated.
Left-winger Mike Leclerc, a midseason acquisition from the Prince George Cougars during the 1994-95 season, was Brandon's best offensive player. He totaled 111 points, including 58 goals, good for seventh spot in the scoring race.
Peter Schaefer, another left winger, was right there, too, with 108 points, including 47 goals.
The Wheat Kings got an early-season break when centre Cory Cyrenne, a native of Winnipeg, left Colorado College and headed for Brandon. He would scored 38 goals and set up 59 others in his rookie season.
Brandon also got a big lift when general manager Kelly McCrimmon swung a deal with the Moose Jaw Warriors for goaltender Jody Lehman.
Lehman had asked to be dealt from Moose Jaw but there weren't any early takers. In fact, he was out of the WHL for about a month before the Wheat Kings came calling.
He got into 29 games with Brandon, going 22-5-0 with a 2.49 GAA.
The backup was Brian Elder, who was 23-9-1 with a 3.46 GAA but was plagued by knee woes in the latter half of the season.
Some observers would tell you that the key to the Wheat Kings was on defence, where they surrendered 231 goals, the second-lowest figure in the league.
Defenceman Justin Kurtz, easily the most under-rated player on the team, had 74 points in 53 games while Wade Redden picked up 54 points in 51 games. And the Wheat Kings got amazing play out of two 16-year-olds -- Daniel Tetrault and Burke Henry.
The Wheat Kings opened the postseason by taking a best-of-seven series from the Saskatoon Blades in four games. Brandon followed that up by sweeping the Red Deer Rebels in four games, and then took out the Prince Albert Raiders in six games in the East Division final.
The championship final featured the WHL's two best teams -- Brandon and Spokane -- and the Wheat Kings won it in five games.
Brandon played 19 playoff games and lost just three of them. Right-winger Bobby Brown, who had 88 points in 59 regular-season games, was named the playoff MVP. He had 27 points, including 14 goals, in 19 games.
LeClerc had 25 playoff points and left-winger Chris Dingman, the biggest of the Wheat Kings at 6-foot-4 and 235-pounds, played the best hockey of his career and wound up with 23 points, including 11 goals. Schafer also had 23 points, while Cyrenne finished with 20.
And Lehman was easily the best goaltender in the playoffs. He played all 19 games and finished with a 2.59 GAA, shutting out the Chiefs 3-0 in Spokane in the title-clinching game.
This Wheat Kings team would be prepared -- you could count on that.
In the WHL, teams take individual 12-minute pregame warmups during which they use the entire ice surface. In the Memorial Cup, which would be played under OHL rules, teams warmed up together, each using half the ice surface, for 20 minutes.
So, before leaving for Peterborough, the Wheat Kings practised their pregame routine to get used to using only half the ice.
"It's the way we have to get ready for a game,” assistant coach Mark Johnston said. "We have to prepare as effectively as we can.”
Meanwhile, in Granby, a couple of faces familiar to the Memorial Cup scene were pushing the Predateurs to their first QMJHL title.
Jean-Claude Morrissette was one of six brothers who owned the QMJHL's Laval Titan, who played host to the 1994 tournament. And it was during that tournament when Morrissette, the Titan's general manager, found himself on the hotseat after referee Luc Lachapelle was assaulted in a parking lot after the Titan had lost 5-4 to the Kamloops Blazers.
At the time, the Titan were fined $10,000 and Morrissette was, among other things, suspended from all Canadian Hockey League activity, including the Memorial Cup, for three years, or through the completion of the 1997 event. The QMJHL then suspended Morrissette through the 1994-95 season, but he was reinstated halfway through that season.
He and five of the brothers sold the Titan to another brother, Leo-Guy, and Jean-Claude laid low for a bit.
Prior to the 1995-96 season, Morrissette purchased the Granby franchise, brought in younger brother Georges as general manager and hired Michel Therrien to coach the Predateurs. Therrien was no stranger to the Memorial Cup, having been an assistant with Laval in 1990 and head coach in 1993 and '94.
There was good news on the eve of the 1996 tournament when CHL president Ed Chynoweth announced that the Memorial Cup's discipline committee had lifted Morrissette's suspension.
"(The QMJHL) really felt we'd be doing them a favour if we could take a serious look at it,” Chynoweth said. "If we were soft, we were soft. We took into consideration that he's been pretty clean and now we're giving him an opportunity to see whether it's going to continue.”
Morrissette was pleased.
"I did something wrong and I paid very dearly for it,” he told The Brandon Sun. "As far as my reputation and everything goes, I suffered greatly. But I felt I was treated justly.”
Therrien, for one, felt this would give his club a boost.
"We are family and Jean-Claude Morrissette is part of our family,” Therrien said. "We're more than happy to have J.C. back.”
The Predateurs enjoyed quite a season.
Along the way, they added seven players who would play an important role. In fact, a case could be made that the following seven players formed the guts of this team.
1. They added Jimmy Drolet, a veteran defenceman, from the St. Hyacinthe Laser.
2. They also dealt with the Laser for right-winger Georges Laraque, a tough guy with some offensive touch.
3-4-5. Left-winger Daniel Goneau, right-winger Jean-Francois Brunelle and defenceman Francis Bouillon were acquired in midseason from Laval.
6-7. In mid-January, they picked up defenceman Jason Doig and centre Benoit Gratton from Laval.
"We got five kids from Laval and I knew what I was getting,” Therrien said.
The Predateurs finished the regular season at 56-12-2, their 114 points leaving them eight points ahead of the Hull Olympiques in the Lebel Division.
They scored 389 goals, so came into Peterborough with the reputation as a highly offensive team.
Their roster included four 100-point men, led by 5-foot-6 centre Martin Chouinard, whose 134 points included 52 goals.
Right-winger Xavier Delisle, a second-team all-star, totalled 120 points, including 45 goals.
Gratton was described by some as the "heart and soul” of the Predateurs. He wasn't bad on offence, either, as his 118 points, including 85 assists, would prove.
Goneau, a first-team all-star, had 105 points, including 51 goals, and also had Memorial Cup experience. He was with Laval in 1993 and 1994, totaling five goals and six assists in 10 games.
But the Predateurs, a big and physical team, could play defence, too, witness their 191 goals-against over 72 regular-season games.
They were solid in goal, with first-team all-star Frederic Deschenes and Frederic Henry, both of whom had already been drafted by NHL teams.
Deschenes, now in his third season with Granby, was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 1994 draft. He was 34-7-0 with a 2.63 regular-season GAA and then went 9-2 with a 2.72 GAA in the playoffs.
Henry, 19-5-2 with a 2.71 GAA in the regular season, went to the New Jersey Devils in 1995's eighth round.
This team depended a whole lot on Doig, a defenceman they called The General. In three QMJHL seasons, he had played for St. Jean, Laval and now Granby. He was big -- 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds -- and talented, and had spent 15 games with the NHL's Winnipeg Jets. In 29 games with Granby, he had 43 points.

[nivek_wahs]

1996 continued...

The leader of Granby's physical game was Laraque, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound banger, who had 20 goals, 44 points and 260 penalty minutes.
Bouillon, who had also appeared in two Memorial Cup tournaments with Laval, was a second-team all-star.
The QMJHL opened its playoffs with a round-robin series that included the top six teams from each division. Granby went 5-1 in the Robert Lebel Division round-robin -- scoring 39 goals and allowing only 14 -- and moved into a best-of-seven quarterfinal against St. Hyacinthe. The Predateurs prevailed in five games, outscoring the Laser 32-7.
Granby came up against Chicoutimi in one semifinal and ousted the Sagueneens in five games. The Predateurs won the fifth game 12-1 and outscored the Sagueneens 38-17 overall.
That put Granby into the championship final against the Beauport Harfangs.
The series lasted five games, with the Predateurs winning the last game 4-3 and outscoring the Harfangs 24-16 in the series.
(Lachapelle refereed three of Granby's playoff games with the Predateurs winning each of them.)
Doig was selected as the most valuable player of the playoffs -- he had 32 points in 20 games -- in which the Predateurs finished with a 17-4 record.
Delisle led the postseason in assists (27) and points (40), just ahead of Gratton who had 26 assists and 39 points.
Centre David Brosseau caught fire in the playoffs, with 34 points, including 22 goals, in 22 games, while Goneau helped out with 33 points. Philippe Audet and Chouinard each had 30 points.
Henry posted a 2.08 GAA in 12 games; Deschenes, who would be the No. 1 guy in the Memorial Cup, went 2.98 in 14 games.
And the Predateurs, as the QMJHL representative, would be haunted by the fact that a Quebec-based team hadn't won the Memorial Cup since 1971 when Guy Lafleur led the Quebec Remparts to the title.
"I can't change the past,” Therrien told Sawatzky. "We've got a lot of pressure from the media in Quebec but we were able to deal with pressure all year.
"I know one thing . . . we're going to be the underdog here.
Frank Bonello, the top bird dog with the NHL's Central Scouting Service, said Granby "is about the best team Quebec has sent in recent years.”
The Predateurs opened with a bang, hammering Guelph 8-0 on May 11, with Deschenes turning aside 23 shots.
"I think we took a lot of doubts out of some people's minds,” Doig, who scored twice, told Bruce Cheadle of The Canadian Press. "They were questioning our defence. We wanted to prove right from the start our goalies are as good as any in this tournament.”
Therrien had his own theory.
"Lots of times with Quebec teams they get so impressed by the OHL and the Western Hockey League that they forget the recipe that got them here,” he said. "There was not any message in our game. I just asked our players to play the way they did all season.”
This was the worst loss for an OHL team since May 10, 1974, in Calgary, when the Quebec Remparts whipped the St. Catharines Black Hawks 11-3. It was also the first time a QMJHL team had shut out an opponent from another province in Memorial Cup play since the Cornwall Royals, an Ontario-based team that played in the QMJHL, blanked the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-0 on May 12, 1972, in Ottawa.
"We thought we were ready,” McGuire said. "A lot of credit goes to Granby for putting it to us. Our team didn't come out with a lot of energy. That's a mystery to me.”
Delisle and Goneau gave Granby a 2-0 lead before the game was four minutes old and the Predateurs were never headed as they skated to period leads of 2-0 and 6-0.
Audet totalled a goal and four assists, with Goneau scoring twice and singles coming from Delisle, Brunelle and Brosseau.
McGuire, with a PhD in psychology on his wall, knew he had his work cut out for him.
"It's my job,” he said, "to re-energize their enthusiasm level.”
He had to get it done in a hurry because the Storm was on the ice the following afternoon -- May 12 -- against Brandon.
And the Wheat Kings skated to a 2-1 victory before 4,862 fans.
Defenceman Ryan Risidore gave Guelph fans some hope when he opened the scoring at 4:36 of the first period.
But before the period was out, Brandon got goals from Darren Van Oene (8:24) and Dorian Anneck (11:01).
The teams then played through two scoreless, tight-checking periods.
Cloutier, who had been peppered with 41 Granby shots the previous day, was sharp against Brandon as he turned aside 31 shots, five more than Lehman.
"We have a chance to take this thing all the way,” Anneck, a right winger, said. "All we have to do is keep working hard.”
McGuire felt he had a tired hockey team on his hands.
"The lack of scoring chances might have had a little bit to do with fatigue,” he stated. "We played on adrenalin, but that's not an excuse. The Brandon Wheat Kings outplayed us for long stretches.”
In the Brandon room, Lowes admitted this wasn't a terribly exciting game.
"Guelph didn't set an OHL goals-against record for nothing,” he said. "They have a good system, but we had a territorial advantage. We had more puck possession and, because of that, it turned into a clutch-and-grab game.”
The Storm now was 0-2 and some people were writing it off.
"We're still a member of this tournament,” McGuire said. "We're determined to win the only game we have left. If we win that, we'll let the numerical people figure it out.”
That night, before a crowd announced at 4,862, Peterborough doubled Granby 6-3.
(Attendance for the tournament's first game wasn't announced, but tournament organizers revealed on May 14 that paid attendance for the first three games was 13,287. Factor in the announced attendance of 4,862 for Games 2 and 3, and that leaves Game 1 attendance at 3,563, which doesn't sound quite right. Old building . . . limited seating . . . you figure it out.)
Mike Williams gave Peterborough a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal at 9:06 of the opening period.
Audet pulled Granby even at 2:16 of the second, only to have Peterborough come back with two straight goals -- by Duerden at 6:09 on a power play and Mann at 8:52.
The crowd thought the rout was on, but the Predateurs tied it before the period ended when Doig got his third goal in five periods at 10:10 and Gratton added another at 14:44.
But that would be it for the Predateurs, who scored all their goals with the man advantage.
The Petes put it away with third-period goals by Mann, Steve Hogg and Duerden.
"We didn't put the puck in the net when we had our chances,” said Therrien, who pointed to the Petes' fourth goal, by Mann, as the straw that broke the Predateurs' backs.
Peterborough got a big game out of Bierk, who stopped 38 shots, five more than Deschenes.
"When I'm playing well I'm in position and a lot of pucks hit me,” Bierk said. "And you have to have some luck, too.”
One other note from that game: It was MacQueen's 100th victory as head coach of the Petes.
The tournament's fourth game, on May 14, would feature Peterborough and Brandon, the first time these teams had met since May 13, 1979, when the Petes beat the Wheat Kings 2-1 in overtime in the championship game.
Brandon and Peterborough had split two round-robin games in 1979, both of them one-goal games and the one won by the Petes going to overtime.
This time, it was the Wheat Kings winning in overtime. Schaefer, a product of Yellow Grass, Sask., scored the winner at 3:58 of overtime in front of 4,429 fans.
The victory clinched at least a semifinal berth for Brandon.
The winning goal came off a play that featured Schaefer, Dingman and Kelly Smart. Dingman grabbed the puck in the Brandon zone and lugged it through the neutral zone. He tossed the puck to Smart, who fed Schaefer as he was busting down the left side.
"(Dingman) was on his backhand,” Schaefer told The Brandon Sun. "He raised it and it landed flat on Smartie's stick. Smartie gave me the exact same pass over their defender's stick and it landed flat. I had a great opportunity to score and I put it in the top corner.”
Dingman scored the game's first goal, giving Brandon a 1-0 first-period lead.
Williams and Scott Barney, a 6-foot-4 17-year-old centre, scored in the first six minutes of the second period to give the Petes a 2-1 edge.
Redden tied it for Brandon just 45 seconds after Barney's goal.
The Wheat Kings had outshot the Petes 36-20 through two periods and only Bierk kept Brandon from holding the lead.
Bierk made 45 saves as he was again the Petes' best player.
"(Bierk) gave us a chance to win the hockey game that I didn't feel we deserved to win,” MacQueen said. "(The Wheat Kings) do a lot of the little things really well. They basically controlled the neutral zone and when they did cycle the puck we had to be very patient because their size and strength along the wall was very impressive.”
Dingman said: "I don't thing we ever got frustrated. We controlled the game the way we wanted . . . It was as good as we cycled it in a while.”
The Wheat Kings were back on the ice less than 24 hours later as they met the Predateurs on May 15.
And while the Predateurs had lots of jump, the Wheat Kings were a step behind as they dropped a 3-1 decision before 4,429 fans.
"My hat's off to Granby. I think they made us panic a few times based on how hard they worked,” Lowes said. "They deserve to be in the final.”
All the scoring was done in the first period.
The Predateurs grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Brosseau (3:57) and Delisle (8:20). Brown, with his first goal in two Memorial Cup tournaments, got Brandon on the board at 12:43 with the man advantage. And Audet got what turned out to be the game's final goal at 19:23.
"Fatigue might have been a factor,” Brown said. "There was a quick turnaround time but, at this point in the season, we can't use that as an excuse. In the league final with Spokane, three of those games were back-to-back.”
The individual star was Lehman, who kicked out 42 shots. By game's end, it was all he could do to get back to his feet after going down.
Both teams finished the round-robin with 2-1 records, but while Brandon would play in the semifinal game, the Predateurs were awfully close to a spot in the final.
"We came here with the big pressure because it has been 25 years,” Delisle said of the Memorial Cup drought in Quebec. "But we can win the Cup. We will win the Cup.”
There was on game left in the round-robin -- Peterborough vs. Guelph -- and the Petes would have to win handily to deny Granby the bye into the final.
On May 16, after Bierk's Skid Row brother, Sebastian Bach, sang O Canada, the Petes got it on with the Storm.
(The anthem is certain to go down in history as one of the most unique moments this tournament has seen. As TSN play-by-play man Paul Romanuk said: "Now that is an anthem.'' Upon finishing the anthem, Bach yelled: "Be loud! Be proud!”)
And, in the end, Peterborough posted a 2-1 victory before a crowd that was again announced as being 4,429 strong.
That meant the Storm went home with an 0-3 record, one of only three OHL teams to go winless in a Memorial Cup tournament. The others? The North Bay Centennials, who were 0-3 in 1994 in Laval, and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, who were 0-3 in Quebec City in 1991.
But Guelph suffered the ignominy of setting a tournament record for fewest goals scored. The Storm scored only two goals in the three games, breaking the record of four goals set by Edmonton in 1972 in Ottawa. The Oil Kings played two games in the '72 tournament.
"Our inability to finish sometimes reared up and bit us during the year,” McGuire said.
After a scoreless first period, Guelph opened the scoring when Williams scored a power-play goal at 1:50.
The Petes then struck for two goals 27 seconds apart -- Corey Crocker at 4:05 and Mann at 4:32 -- and that was it for goals in this one.
Mann's goal was his 30th of this postseason.
The star, however, was Bierk. He finished with 30 saves, including 17 in the first period when the Storm played its best 20 minutes of the tournament.
The Petes' victory allowed Granby to clinch first place and set up a Peterborough-Brandon semifinal on May 18.
"It'll be a great game,” said McGuire. "I mean, bring a lunch, there might be overtime.”
For the fourth straight year, the host team qualified for the final when the Petes beat the Wheat Kings 4-3 before -- again -- 4,429 fans.
That was Peterborough's 19th Memorial Cup tournament game victory, tying the record held by Kamloops.
Brandon jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, getting a shorthanded goal from Schaefer at 6:42 and a power-play score from Brown at 9:30.
"We always do things the hard way,” said MacQueen. "I just went in and told them it only takes two shots to get right back in the game.”
The Petes came back with the game's next four goals, scoring two in each of the last two periods.
Bolibruck got the home team on the board at 3:57 while the Petes had the man advantage. Jason MacMillan tied it at 14:53, scoring just moments after a Brandon penalty expired.
And, at 7:39 of the third period, perhaps the most unlikely player of them all, defenceman Andy Johnson, gave the Petes the lead. It was the first goal of the 1995-96 season for the 18-year-old first-year player from Fredericton, N.S.
"I don't usually do that a whole lot,” Johnson said of his journey to the front of the Brandon net. "I was there and the puck was lying there so I just banged at it.”
And broke Brandon's heart in the process.
"They hang in there very well; they're a very resilient group,” offered Lowes of the Petes. "It was anybody's game in the third and they found a way to net that third goal.”
Mann provided some insurance at 17:34 before Leclerc scored for Brandon with Lehman on the bench for an extra attacker.
In the end, Mann's goal -- on his second breakaway in a matter of minutes -- was the game-winner, his record-tying third of the tournament. Two players scored three winners each in the 1991 tournament -- Zac Boyer of Kamloops and Rick Kowalsky of Sault Ste. Marie.
"I tried to go top shelf on the first one and their goalie stopped me,” Mann said. "I thought if I had another chance, I'd stop and cut back to the forehand.”
For the second straight year, Brandon lost out to an OHL team in the semifinal game. A year earlier, the Detroit Jr. Red Wings had beaten the Wheat Kings, 2-1.
"This year it probably hurts more,” Lowes said.
Dingman, the team captain, offered: "It's tough to pinpoint. It doesn't matter. We just lost. It hurts.”
The game was hampered by poor ice conditions and fog patches, brought on by warm, humid weather. Things would only get worse the next day.
And so it was down to this -- Granby, which hadn't played since May 15, and Peterborough, which would play its third game in four days, would meet in the final on May 19.
"We have to use our speed and be physical,” Therrien said. "They're going to be tired.”
MacQueen agreed: "The whole key is if we can recover physically quick enough in order to compete with their speed.”
In the end, the Petes didn't get any help from playing at home. That's because the weather conditions outside resulted in horrid conditions inside.
The final, played in front of, yes, 4,429 fans, was stopped three times in the second period and on 10 occasions in the third to allow players to skate around the ice surface in an attempt to disperse the fog.
"It was dangerous,” Therrien said.
Bierk admitted to having his problems with the conditions.
"I couldn't see anything,” he said. "But more than that, what was worse for me, was there was so much water in my crease that every time I went down on my knees, I'd end up on my back or my side because I would just slide.
"But I don't want to make any excuses. Deschenes found a way to stop everything.”
Humidity meant the plexiglass surrounding the ice surface was coated with water, thus fans in the first few rows of seats had problems seeing.
Chances are they wouldn't have liked what they would have seen anyway.
The Predateurs, getting a tournament record second shutout from Deschenes, whipped the Petes 4-0, bringing the Memorial Cup to Quebec for the first time since 1971.
As the Predateurs stood at centre ice, yelling "Respect! Respect! Respect!” and waving the Quebec flag, some fans chose to boo the flag.
The booing upset Doig.
"That's kind of disappointing to see,” he said. "I think we really deserved to win it. The best team won. And I don't think they have the right to boo us.”
Therrien added: "The guys are proud to come from Quebec, just as a lot of people are proud to be from where they come from.
"We didn't come here to make politics. We came to play hockey.”
Which is exactly what they did.
After a scoreless first period, Audet got Granby rolling with a power-play score at 6:21 of the second period.
Chouinard, Brosseau and Goneau wrapped it up with third-period goals.
The only blemish on the Granby victory was an injury to his left knee suffered by Delisle in a knee-to-knee collision with Martone, who was uninjured.
As for the playing conditions, Goneau said: "It was just awful. We didn't like it; they didn't like it.”
Mann was named the tournament's most valuable player.
"It's a learning experience,” he said. "This is the first time we've been here. We've got to be happy to make it this far.”
The sportsmanship award went to Mike Williams, Mann's linemate. Deschenes was selected the top goaltender.
Audet led the tournament in points with eight and tied with Mann for the lead in goals, with four each. Williams and Gratton each had five assists.
The all-star team comprised Deschenes, Doig and Redden on defence, and Mann, Delisle and Audet on the forward line.
Deschenes became the first goaltender to post two shutouts in one tournament and the first to put up a shutout in the final. His four-game GAA of 1.75 was just off the record of 1.68 held by Trevor Kidd (Spokane, 1991) and Richard Brodeur (Cornwall, 1972).
"This was not only a good win for Quebec,” Jean-Claude Morrissette said, "it was a good win for Canada.
"Now we can once again say Canada has three outstanding junior leagues.”
What did it mean to the Granby players?
"It was 25 years,” Bouillon said. "When I took the trophy in my arms, I saw Guy Lafleur right away. I said to myself, ‘This is it, it's not a dream any more.' ”

This is the final chapter in the history of the Memorial Cup, only because I completed the project after the 1996 tournament. I hope you have enjoyed it. Thanks to all who have e-mailed me about the series.)

[scoreboard]

From Gregg Drinnan...1969 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1969.html)

1969 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens
at Montreal (Forum) and Regina (Exhibition Stadium)


Once again, the politics of junior hockey played a role in determining a Memorial Cup champion.
Unable to see eye-to-eye with the CAHA, the Western Canada Junior Hockey League bolted once again, choosing to operate independently.
Three teams -- the Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Canucks and Weyburn Red Wings -- didn't agree with the move and returned to the security of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The WCJHL changed its name -- this time to the Western Canada Hockey League -- and operated with eight teams, rather than the 11 of the previous season.
Ironically, one of the teams that left the WCHL -- Regina -- would represent western Canada in the Memorial Cup final.
The Pats, under head coach Bob Turner, who had five Stanley Cup titles under his belt as a defenceman with the Montreal Canadiens, featured goaltender Gary Bromley, defenceman Barry Cummins, and forwards Laurie Yaworski, Ron Garwasiuk, who had played with the Estevan Bruins in the 1968 Memorial Cup final, Larry Wright and Don Saleski. Also here was forward Bob Owen, who would go on to coach the Regina Pat Blues of the SJHL and then move into the NHL scouting ranks.
Regina won the SJHL championship by ousting Moose Jaw in four games and Weyburn in six.
Entering into interprovincial play, the Pats took six games to sideline the Lethbridge Sugar Kings and then went seven games in the Abbott Cup final with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Dauphin Kings. Regina had held a 3-1 lead in games over Dauphin, only to have the Kings pull even at 3-3 by winning a sixth game 3-2 in overtime.
It's of interest that the Estevan Bruins, even though they were members of the WCHL and therefore not eligible for Memorial Cup play, were making some noise here. You see, the Bruins were the defending Abbott Cup champions and their coach, Ernie (Punch) McLean, was heard to say that he wasn't about to give up the Abbott Cup without a fight.
McLean's reasoning? He said the Abbott Cup was a challenge trophy and that no one had challenged the Bruins for it.
(When the Pats finally won the west, the Abbott Cup wasn't anywhere to be found. And it wouldn't turn up for a year, at which time some people would say it had been missing for two seasons, while others would claim it hadn't been seen for three years.)
No matter. The Pats beat hometown Dauphin, and goaltender Ron Low, 4-3 in the seventh game before 3,194 fans, defenceman Gord Redden's goal at 11:18 of the third period standing up as the winner. Redden, whose son Wade would make two Memorial Cup appearances with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1990s, had been added to the Pats' roster from Weyburn after the Red Wings were sidelined. The crowd included quite a few Reginans, who were able to get return bus fare and a game ticket for $10.
One other item of note from the Dauphin-Regina series: Dauphin management brought in Kelly Sveinson, a specialist from Winnipeg, to spend up to three hours a day working with the team on the powers of positive thinking.
Turner, for one, wasn't impressed.
"I do the positive thinking for this club and we don't need anyone from outside to come in and tell us how good we are,” the Pats coach said.
Afterwards, Regina added three Kings -- centre Butch Goring, left-winger Dennis Schick and defenceman Bob Neufeld -- for the Memorial Cup series. Goring, Dauphin's best player, suffered a separated shoulder in the final seconds of the sixth game of the Abbott Cup final and didn't play for the Pats until the third game of the national final. Prior to the series with Dauphin, the Pats had added four Weyburn players -- Redden, centres Murray Keogan and Ross Butler and goaltender Wayne Bell -- and right-winger Doug Kerslake from Moose Jaw.
As it turned out, the Pats were no match for the Montreal Junior Canadiens, of coach Roger Bedard, a team that boasted the likes of Guy Charron, Rejean Houle, Marc Tardif, Richard Martin and Gilbert Perreault, along with goaltenders Wayne Wood and Jimmy Rutherford, the latter a playoff addition from the Hamilton Red Wings.
Houle, a right winger, had won the Ontario Junior Hockey League scoring title, with 108 points, including 53 goals, in 54 games. In the playoffs, he had added 19 goals and 10 assists. Perreault, in the regular season, had scored 97 points, including 60 assists. They played on a line with Bobby Guindon on the left side.
The second line featured Bobby Lalonde between J.P. Bordeleau and Tardif. Tardif, who was just starting to mature into a superb player, followed up a 72-point regular season with 22 goals and 19 assists in the playoffs.
And there was the Kid Line -- Richard Lemieux between Norm Gratton, the right winger, and Charron, who had 54 points, including 27 goals, in the regular season.
The defence was keyed by Jocelyn Guevremont, Serge Lajeunesse and Andre Dupont. Claude Moreau and Gary Connelly also patrolled the blue line.
Montreal had gone through four playoff series before reaching the Memorial Cup final.
In league play, the Junior Canadiens eliminated Hamilton in a best-of-seven series -- without overtime they were sometimes called eight-point series -- that lasted five games. Montreal won three games and two were tied. The Junior Canadiens then swept the Peterborough Petes in four games, to advance against the St. Catharines Black Hawks in the final -- a series they won in five games to claim the Robertson Cup as OJHL champions.
That moved them into the best-of-five eastern Canadian final against the Sorel Eperviers, a team coached by Ken Hodge, then 21 years of age. Hodge, who would go on to earn 742 coaching victories in the WHL, had suffered a career-ending eye injury two seasons previous while with Moose Jaw. At 21, he may well have been the youngest fulltime junior hockey head coach in history.
Montreal won the George C. Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian finalists by taking out Sorel, 3-1 in games.
The Junior Canadiens were gunning for their city's first Memorial Cup since 1950. The Montreal Royals had won it in 1949, the Junior Canadiens won it in '50.
The Pats, who hadn't been in the national final since 1958, hadn't won it all since 1939.
The two teams had met earlier in the season in Regina, with Montreal winning, 5-2.
The series opened on April 30 in the Montreal Forum where, including playoffs, the Junior Canadiens were 32-2-3.
Charron scored three times as the Junior Canadiens won 5-3 before a crowd of 8,821. (Attendance was not what had been expected, and it was speculated that the fact the Montreal Expos were playing their first night game of the National League baseball season may have had something to do with that.)
It was the first time this playoff season that Regina had trailed in a series.
Tardif and Perreault scored Montreal's other goals. Keogan, with two, and Wright scored for the Pats, who trailed 5-1 before scoring two late goals.
Bromley turned aside 40 shots, 20 of them in the third period. At the other end, Rutherford was spectacular, stopping 32 shots.
Toe Blake, coach of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, was heard to say that the Junior Canadiens were fortunate to have Rutherford in goal, especially in the first period when the Pats dominated play.
"The Pats deserved a better fate than a 3-1 deficit after two periods of hockey,” stated New York Rangers general manager-coach Emile Francis.
The Pats spent the next afternoon, an off day, watching the Montreal Expos play the New York Mets at Jarry Park.
The Junior Canadiens wrapped up their home portion of the series with a 7-2 victory in front of 10,862 fans on May 2.
Guindon scored twice for the Baby Habs in a game marred by a third-period bench-clearing brawl sparked by a scrap between Dupont and Regina's Gary Leippi. In the end, only six players from each team weren't given game misconducts.
Perrault, Charron, Gratton, Lemieux and Arthur Quoquochi added Montreal's other goals. Regina got its goals from Saleski and Garwasiuk.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead into the second period, only to have Regina tie the score. But Charron's goal late in the second period gave the Junior Canadiens a 3-2 lead and the Pats weren't able to recover.
Had it not been for the play of Rutherford, however, Regina may have been off and running. The Pats threw 15 shots at Rutherford in the first period and 18 more in the second, but could only score twice.
The brawl began with an altercation between Dupont and Leippi. Before you knew it, there were seven more scraps taking place.
Then, just when it seemed calm had been restored, Rutherford, who had gone to the bench in favor of Wood after Montreal's final goal, chose to go after Bromley, who was taking in the proceedings from near the Pats' bench. That resulted in both teams dumping their benches and it became a full-scale donnybrook.
After the game, never mind the scraps, both teams boarded the same charter flight and headed for Regina, landing around 3 a.m.
The series resumed on May 4 before 5,120 fans at Regina's Exhibition Stadium.
Only the location changed, however, as the outcome was the same.
Lalonde, a 17-year-old in his first season, scored four times as Montreal won 5-2 to close to within one victory of the national title. Lalonde had six shots on goal in the game; his goals came on his first four shots.
Tardif had Montreal's other goal. Butler and Goring scored for Regina.
"You can't score goals if you don't shoot the puck,” Turner said. "You can't take anything away from Canadiens; they're a real good club, but our guys continually tried to work in too close. (Montreal) played better as a team here than in Montreal and they backchecked harder than they did in the previous two games.”
Bedard agreed, saying: "We played much better as a unit than we did in the first two games.”
Bedard also had a bit of praise for Lalonde.
"He played really well,” Bedard said, "but if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. This has been a rotating club all year, first one player stars and then another.”
By now, Turner knew the writing was on the wall.
"John Statz and Barry Cummins played steady,” he said, "but you could have thrown a blanket over the rest. We're going to need a better effort out of all our own guys. A couple of our pickups played well, but the rest were terrible.”
Goring played his first game since being injured in Game 6 of the western final. Turner felt he played well, although his conditioning was obviously lacking.
Montreal wrapped it up the next night with an 8-6 overtime victory, scoring twice in a 10-minute extra period before 4,500 fans.
Charron scored twice, including the first goal in overtime, at 2:06, while Dupont also had two goals. Gratton scored the other overtime goal, just 52 seconds after Charron found the range. Singles came from Martin, Quoquochi and Tardif. Charron finished the series with six goals.
Regina, which built up a 5-1 lead before fading, got two goals from each of Saleski and Goring, with Garwasiuk and Statz adding one each. Goring played only the last two games, but totalled three goals and two assists.
The Pats led 5-3 when Martin scored at 6:05 of the third period. Saleski got that one back five minutes later.
The overtime was forced on goals by Tardif (14:02) and Dupont (15:19).
Charron's winner came when he broke free at the Montreal blueline and beat Bromley on the breakaway.
Turner pointed to a Montreal line (Perreault between Tardif and Houle) as the difference. "When Bedard put those three together they dominated the play,” Turner said.
Ironically, on the same night the Junior Canadiens were winning the Memorial Cup, the Flin Flon Bombers were winning the first championship of the Canadian Hockey Association.
The Bombers, ahead 3-1 in a best-of-seven final with St. Thomas, Ont., were leading the Barons 4-0 in Game 5 in Flin Flon when the visitors left the ice midway in the second period.
The walkout happened following several fights, after which St. Thomas manager Jack Cassidy said his club wouldn't continue the series.

NEXT: 1970 (Weyburn Red Wings vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens)


One thing Gregg omited at the start of story with Montreal Canadiens and Regina Pats was the following:

An Air Canada strike caused a long bus trip to Minot, North Dakota, U.S.A. that started Monday night at 10 p.m. plus a 3 hour wait in Minot. Next came a 5 hour plane ride stopping at Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto, Ontario; finally we arrived Tuesday, night at 8 p.m. at Montreal. That trip took a lot of steam out of the Western Champions.

[scoreboard]

From Gregg Drinnan...1969 (http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2008/06/memorial-cup-history-1969.html)

1969 MEMORIAL CUP
Regina Pats vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens
at Montreal (Forum) and Regina (Exhibition Stadium)


Once again, the politics of junior hockey played a role in determining a Memorial Cup champion.
Unable to see eye-to-eye with the CAHA, the Western Canada Junior Hockey League bolted once again, choosing to operate independently.
Three teams -- the Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Canucks and Weyburn Red Wings -- didn't agree with the move and returned to the security of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The WCJHL changed its name -- this time to the Western Canada Hockey League -- and operated with eight teams, rather than the 11 of the previous season.
Ironically, one of the teams that left the WCHL -- Regina -- would represent western Canada in the Memorial Cup final.
The Pats, under head coach Bob Turner, who had five Stanley Cup titles under his belt as a defenceman with the Montreal Canadiens, featured goaltender Gary Bromley, defenceman Barry Cummins, and forwards Laurie Yaworski, Ron Garwasiuk, who had played with the Estevan Bruins in the 1968 Memorial Cup final, Larry Wright and Don Saleski. Also here was forward Bob Owen, who would go on to coach the Regina Pat Blues of the SJHL and then move into the NHL scouting ranks.
Regina won the SJHL championship by ousting Moose Jaw in four games and Weyburn in six.
Entering into interprovincial play, the Pats took six games to sideline the Lethbridge Sugar Kings and then went seven games in the Abbott Cup final with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Dauphin Kings. Regina had held a 3-1 lead in games over Dauphin, only to have the Kings pull even at 3-3 by winning a sixth game 3-2 in overtime.
It's of interest that the Estevan Bruins, even though they were members of the WCHL and therefore not eligible for Memorial Cup play, were making some noise here. You see, the Bruins were the defending Abbott Cup champions and their coach, Ernie (Punch) McLean, was heard to say that he wasn't about to give up the Abbott Cup without a fight.
McLean's reasoning? He said the Abbott Cup was a challenge trophy and that no one had challenged the Bruins for it.
(When the Pats finally won the west, the Abbott Cup wasn't anywhere to be found. And it wouldn't turn up for a year, at which time some people would say it had been missing for two seasons, while others would claim it hadn't been seen for three years.)
No matter. The Pats beat hometown Dauphin, and goaltender Ron Low, 4-3 in the seventh game before 3,194 fans, defenceman Gord Redden's goal at 11:18 of the third period standing up as the winner. Redden, whose son Wade would make two Memorial Cup appearances with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1990s, had been added to the Pats' roster from Weyburn after the Red Wings were sidelined. The crowd included quite a few Reginans, who were able to get return bus fare and a game ticket for $10.
One other item of note from the Dauphin-Regina series: Dauphin management brought in Kelly Sveinson, a specialist from Winnipeg, to spend up to three hours a day working with the team on the powers of positive thinking.
Turner, for one, wasn't impressed.
"I do the positive thinking for this club and we don't need anyone from outside to come in and tell us how good we are,” the Pats coach said.
Afterwards, Regina added three Kings -- centre Butch Goring, left-winger Dennis Schick and defenceman Bob Neufeld -- for the Memorial Cup series. Goring, Dauphin's best player, suffered a separated shoulder in the final seconds of the sixth game of the Abbott Cup final and didn't play for the Pats until the third game of the national final. Prior to the series with Dauphin, the Pats had added four Weyburn players -- Redden, centres Murray Keogan and Ross Butler and goaltender Wayne Bell -- and right-winger Doug Kerslake from Moose Jaw.
As it turned out, the Pats were no match for the Montreal Junior Canadiens, of coach Roger Bedard, a team that boasted the likes of Guy Charron, Rejean Houle, Marc Tardif, Richard Martin and Gilbert Perreault, along with goaltenders Wayne Wood and Jimmy Rutherford, the latter a playoff addition from the Hamilton Red Wings.
Houle, a right winger, had won the Ontario Junior Hockey League scoring title, with 108 points, including 53 goals, in 54 games. In the playoffs, he had added 19 goals and 10 assists. Perreault, in the regular season, had scored 97 points, including 60 assists. They played on a line with Bobby Guindon on the left side.
The second line featured Bobby Lalonde between J.P. Bordeleau and Tardif. Tardif, who was just starting to mature into a superb player, followed up a 72-point regular season with 22 goals and 19 assists in the playoffs.
And there was the Kid Line -- Richard Lemieux between Norm Gratton, the right winger, and Charron, who had 54 points, including 27 goals, in the regular season.
The defence was keyed by Jocelyn Guevremont, Serge Lajeunesse and Andre Dupont. Claude Moreau and Gary Connelly also patrolled the blue line.
Montreal had gone through four playoff series before reaching the Memorial Cup final.
In league play, the Junior Canadiens eliminated Hamilton in a best-of-seven series -- without overtime they were sometimes called eight-point series -- that lasted five games. Montreal won three games and two were tied. The Junior Canadiens then swept the Peterborough Petes in four games, to advance against the St. Catharines Black Hawks in the final -- a series they won in five games to claim the Robertson Cup as OJHL champions.
That moved them into the best-of-five eastern Canadian final against the Sorel Eperviers, a team coached by Ken Hodge, then 21 years of age. Hodge, who would go on to earn 742 coaching victories in the WHL, had suffered a career-ending eye injury two seasons previous while with Moose Jaw. At 21, he may well have been the youngest fulltime junior hockey head coach in history.
Montreal won the George C. Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian finalists by taking out Sorel, 3-1 in games.
The Junior Canadiens were gunning for their city's first Memorial Cup since 1950. The Montreal Royals had won it in 1949, the Junior Canadiens won it in '50.
The Pats, who hadn't been in the national final since 1958, hadn't won it all since 1939.
The two teams had met earlier in the season in Regina, with Montreal winning, 5-2.
The series opened on April 30 in the Montreal Forum where, including playoffs, the Junior Canadiens were 32-2-3.
Charron scored three times as the Junior Canadiens won 5-3 before a crowd of 8,821. (Attendance was not what had been expected, and it was speculated that the fact the Montreal Expos were playing their first night game of the National League baseball season may have had something to do with that.)
It was the first time this playoff season that Regina had trailed in a series.
Tardif and Perreault scored Montreal's other goals. Keogan, with two, and Wright scored for the Pats, who trailed 5-1 before scoring two late goals.
Bromley turned aside 40 shots, 20 of them in the third period. At the other end, Rutherford was spectacular, stopping 32 shots.
Toe Blake, coach of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, was heard to say that the Junior Canadiens were fortunate to have Rutherford in goal, especially in the first period when the Pats dominated play.
"The Pats deserved a better fate than a 3-1 deficit after two periods of hockey,” stated New York Rangers general manager-coach Emile Francis.
The Pats spent the next afternoon, an off day, watching the Montreal Expos play the New York Mets at Jarry Park.
The Junior Canadiens wrapped up their home portion of the series with a 7-2 victory in front of 10,862 fans on May 2.
Guindon scored twice for the Baby Habs in a game marred by a third-period bench-clearing brawl sparked by a scrap between Dupont and Regina's Gary Leippi. In the end, only six players from each team weren't given game misconducts.
Perrault, Charron, Gratton, Lemieux and Arthur Quoquochi added Montreal's other goals. Regina got its goals from Saleski and Garwasiuk.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead into the second period, only to have Regina tie the score. But Charron's goal late in the second period gave the Junior Canadiens a 3-2 lead and the Pats weren't able to recover.
Had it not been for the play of Rutherford, however, Regina may have been off and running. The Pats threw 15 shots at Rutherford in the first period and 18 more in the second, but could only score twice.
The brawl began with an altercation between Dupont and Leippi. Before you knew it, there were seven more scraps taking place.
Then, just when it seemed calm had been restored, Rutherford, who had gone to the bench in favor of Wood after Montreal's final goal, chose to go after Bromley, who was taking in the proceedings from near the Pats' bench. That resulted in both teams dumping their benches and it became a full-scale donnybrook.
After the game, never mind the scraps, both teams boarded the same charter flight and headed for Regina, landing around 3 a.m.
The series resumed on May 4 before 5,120 fans at Regina's Exhibition Stadium.
Only the location changed, however, as the outcome was the same.
Lalonde, a 17-year-old in his first season, scored four times as Montreal won 5-2 to close to within one victory of the national title. Lalonde had six shots on goal in the game; his goals came on his first four shots.
Tardif had Montreal's other goal. Butler and Goring scored for Regina.
"You can't score goals if you don't shoot the puck,” Turner said. "You can't take anything away from Canadiens; they're a real good club, but our guys continually tried to work in too close. (Montreal) played better as a team here than in Montreal and they backchecked harder than they did in the previous two games.”
Bedard agreed, saying: "We played much better as a unit than we did in the first two games.”
Bedard also had a bit of praise for Lalonde.
"He played really well,” Bedard said, "but if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. This has been a rotating club all year, first one player stars and then another.”
By now, Turner knew the writing was on the wall.
"John Statz and Barry Cummins played steady,” he said, "but you could have thrown a blanket over the rest. We're going to need a better effort out of all our own guys. A couple of our pickups played well, but the rest were terrible.”
Goring played his first game since being injured in Game 6 of the western final. Turner felt he played well, although his conditioning was obviously lacking.
Montreal wrapped it up the next night with an 8-6 overtime victory, scoring twice in a 10-minute extra period before 4,500 fans.
Charron scored twice, including the first goal in overtime, at 2:06, while Dupont also had two goals. Gratton scored the other overtime goal, just 52 seconds after Charron found the range. Singles came from Martin, Quoquochi and Tardif. Charron finished the series with six goals.
Regina, which built up a 5-1 lead before fading, got two goals from each of Saleski and Goring, with Garwasiuk and Statz adding one each. Goring played only the last two games, but totalled three goals and two assists.
The Pats led 5-3 when Martin scored at 6:05 of the third period. Saleski got that one back five minutes later.
The overtime was forced on goals by Tardif (14:02) and Dupont (15:19).
Charron's winner came when he broke free at the Montreal blueline and beat Bromley on the breakaway.
Turner pointed to a Montreal line (Perreault between Tardif and Houle) as the difference. "When Bedard put those three together they dominated the play,” Turner said.
Ironically, on the same night the Junior Canadiens were winning the Memorial Cup, the Flin Flon Bombers were winning the first championship of the Canadian Hockey Association.
The Bombers, ahead 3-1 in a best-of-seven final with St. Thomas, Ont., were leading the Barons 4-0 in Game 5 in Flin Flon when the visitors left the ice midway in the second period.
The walkout happened following several fights, after which St. Thomas manager Jack Cassidy said his club wouldn't continue the series.

NEXT: 1970 (Weyburn Red Wings vs. Montreal Junior Canadiens)


One thing Gregg Drinnan omited at the start of the story with Montreal Canadiens and Regina Pats was the following:

An Air Canada strike caused a long bus trip to Minot, North Dakota, U.S.A. that started Monday night at 10 p.m. plus a 3 hour wait in Minot. Next came a 5 hour plane ride stopping at Fargo, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto, Ontario; finally we arrived Tuesday, night at 8 p.m. at Montreal. That trip took a lot of steam out of the Western Champion Regina Pats. The players, everyone was so tired.

I have writen an e-mail to Gregg, advising him of the above.

Ron "Scoreboard" Johnston, (Regina Pats - Statistican/Assistant Coach)

[iceman778]

what a series.........:)