1986 - REDMEN/SALMONBELLY RIVALRY CONTINUES 


 The Major League nearly fell apart prior to the '86 campaign.  During
 the off season half the teams in the league dropped out.  Owen Sound,
 Scarborough and St.Catharines were gone, leaving just Brooklin,
 Peterborough and Brampton.  It was the worst disaster to befall the
 league in its 75 year history.  Year 76 would proceed, however Sr.A
 lacrosse in Ontario was on a downward spiral it has yet to recover
 from.

 Poor Brampton was the one loyalist which had to pay the price.  During
 an abbreviated 12 game schedule, the Excelsiors won only twice.  In the
 Double Round Robin playoff they lost all four of their games.  It was a
 two team league and Brampton was no match for Brooklin or Peterborough.

 The Lakers were regular season champs for the fourth straight year.  It
 would also be the last time they'd finish in first place.  Their record
 was a modest 9-3, still that was two wins better than the Redmen.
 Brooklin could boast to having the scoring champ John Fusco.  He was
 followed by teammate John Jordan.  In total, Brooklin had four in the
 Top Ten.  Peterborough had the other six.

 Consequently, May through July was basically passing the time awaiting
 the OLA Final in August.  The series started at Keene, on the north
 shore of Rice Lake.  This was cottage country, were the mosquitoes come
 out after dark and outnumber the fans in the arena.  These mosquitoes
 are big suckers, big enough to wear advertising billboards!  Thus the
 Eastern Canadian championship  began on a hot summer night, with
 malaria in the air.

 Keene was not kind to the hometown Lakers.  Brooklin doubled them 14-7.
  It was a Redmen club playing their first meaningful game since the
 previous September.  Peterborough would retreat up the Otonabee River,
 to the Memorial Centre,  for their remaining home games.

 The next two contests went the Laker's way.  They won in Brooklin
 15-12(another small town arena which had no business hosting a
 Provincial Final) then doubled the Redmen 10-5 back in Peterborough.

 Game Four was when the momentum in the series shifted one last time.
 Brooklin earned a hard fought 11-8 victory at home.  Derek Keenan put
 the game away with two power play insurance goals.  The next match in
 Peterborough drew 1,500 fans.  It was a flop.  Ron Harinck beat Wayne
 Colley midway through the second period for the Lakers one and only
 goal.  The Redmen scored a dozen to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
 They clinched the title the next game with a 17-5 rout.  Keenan led
 them with 10 points.

 The Mann Cup Final was held at Whitby's Iroquois Park Arena.  New
 Westminster provided the opposition.  The Salmonbellies had tied for
 first in the WLA with a 14-10 record.  Then they narrowly survived a
 seven game Semi Final series with Vancouver.  The Bellies were nothing
 special on offence.  They had only two players average more than a goal
 per game, while the team averaged less than ten a game.  Their defence
 was the best in the west.  That was what carried them through to
 another championship.

 With only 22 games under their belt - many of them meaningless affairs
 - the Redmen were ill prepared for a Championship final.  To make
 matters worse, Gil Nieuwendyk would miss the opener on his honeymoon.
 Derek Keenan would miss the first two contests for school.

 New Westminster hit them with Ben Hieltjes right off the bat.  Hieltjes
 had sat out the previous summer because he would only play for the
 Salmonbellies.  That allowed him to become a free agent and join New
 Westminster the next season.  He wasted no time surging to prominence.
 Five of his six goals in the series came in Game One.  The contest was
 tied 8-8 when the westerners broke it open with six consecutive
 tallies.  Then they held on for a 14-10 triumph.

 The beginning of Game Two was delayed 15 minutes because of a violent
 thunderstorm.  Once it commenced Nieuwendyk burst into the series with
 two quick goals.  He'd contribute four assists later on.  Brooklin
 knocked former Laker goaltender Shawn Quinlan out in the second period.
  Doug Zack entered with his team down 8-3 and went on to earn game MVP
 honours.  It wasn't enough to save the day.  The Ontario champs won
 comfortably 11-6.

 The next contest was the highlight of the Final.  Todd Lorenz completed
 his hattrick by breaking an 11-11 tie with three seconds remaining.
 Lorenz would finish top scorer in the final with 7 goals.  The
 Salmonbellies led 2-1.  Things were about to turn ugly.

 Game Four was spoiled by a terrible brawl at the end of the first
 period.  Eight Game Misconducts were handed out as the "Big Bad"
 Salmonbellies lived up to their reputation.  Not that the Redmen were
 any angels.  However Brooklin ran a high flying offence - finesse, not
 brute force was how they succeeded.  Several Brooklin regulars - like
 Tom Wreggitt, John Jordan, Calvin Avison, Kevin Van Sickle and Murray
 Graham - had less then 10 minutes in penalties the entire year!  Van
 Sickle  picked up 17 minutes in the six game series with New
 Westminster.  The doneybrook concluded with  Brooklin claiming that
 Brian Nikula had spat on John Fusco.  Funny that the pair would be
 teammates two years later.  In spite of all the extracurricular
 activities, the home side found a way to win Game Four.  Wreggitt
 snapped a 5-5 tie with less than 3 minutes remaining for the victory.

 Game Five was another defensive struggle which had Salmonbelly coach
 Steve d'Easum raging over, what he considered, biased officiating. "It
 was like they had seven on the floor all night.  It was so onesided,"
 he complained.  The Redmen had a shot edge of 39-29.  Yet New
 Westminster prevailed 10-8.  Three shorthanded goals were the
 difference.  Brooklin also lost John Fusco with a broken finger.

 Wayne Colley held the westerners scoreless through the first 36 minutes
 of Game Six.  Shawn Quinlan kept the Salmonbellies in the contest with
 some big saves.  Three times he stopped Kevin Van Sickle on breakaways.
  When New Westminster finally hit the score sheet, they struck twice 16
 seconds apart.  John Gilchrist notched the first goal and Steve Voelpel
 followed immediately after.  That cut Brooklin's lead in half to 4-2.
 The last 20 minutes the BC champs came on strong to win the series.
 They scored six times in the third period to pull out an 8-6 victory.

 With Whitby losing so many Juniors, Peterborough became the power in
 the east again.  Whitby and St.Catharines would fight it out for second
 best for the rest of the decade.  Peterborough Maulers would reign
 supreme.  John Martin and Dan Dunn's youthful '86 crew swept through
 the OLA without a loss.  A perfect 28-0 record propelled them west for
 the Minto Cup.  The Maulers also had the top four scorers in the
 league.  Jamie Batley won the scoring title.  He was followed by
 teammates Kevin Evans, Kurt Drury and Joe Hiltz.

 Out west they faced the Gait led Victoria-Esquimalt Legion, a club
 determined to make up for their narrow loss the previous year.
 Victoria dominated the double round robin playdown by winning all four
 of their games.  On top of two losses to the Legion, Peterborough only
 managed a split with Coquitlam.  The Ontario champs squeaked into the
 one game final on goal difference.

 Victoria had done everything right.  Yet in one period they threw away
 a Canadian championship.  The Maulers surprised them in the Final and
 jumped out to a 5-0 lead.  The stellar goaltending of Terry Preston
 combined with the typical hard nosed Peterborough defending made that
 lead stand.  Kevin Evans scored four times, Kurt Drury added five
 points and Andy Oglivie chipped in a four point effort.  It all carried
 the Maulers to an 11-7 win and the Minto Cup.