1898 - BEAVERS' BITTER DEPARTURE
A bad year for the C.L.A. Senior League. Five clubs battled for the
championship, Georgetown, Orangeville, St.Catharines, Seaforth and
Tecumseh-Elms. The competition was spoiled when the Toronto team
defaulted its final game in Orangeville. This news came as a terrible
shock to Seaforth Beavers. They had already clinched the pennant and
could not be caught, even by an Orangeville victory. Unfortunately
C.L.A. rules stated that if a squad failed to complete its schedule all
its games must be thrown out. Thus Seaforth lost two victories while
Orangeville was able to shed an earlier loss to Tecumseh-Elms. This
created a tie between the two clubs and a one game playoff. The
Beavers shock soon turned to dismay as they lost the tie break to
Orangeville. It was the last Senior lacrosse game they ever
participated in. Orangeville Dufferins were Senior champs but they
were not the best team in the province. A further black eye was given
to Senior lacrosse when the Intermediate titleholders from Orillia
defeated the Dufferins 11-1! In fairness to Orangeville, the Terriers
of the 1890s, like the Orillia Kings one hundred years later, should
not have been in the B League. With stars like George Armstrong, who
scored six against the Dufferins, Jack Curran, Fred Grant and Bob
Watson they had dominated Intermediate for most of the decade. Their
reason for remaining B was practical. In their zone they faced clubs
from Markham, Beaverton and Peterborough. That was a great deal more
inviting than regular trips to St.Catharines and Seaforth. They
probably could have won several Senior crowns but never did challenge.
As with hockey, Montreal's francophones were slow to take to lacrosse.
With the M.A.A.A. out of senior, a void was left to be filled by the
frenchmen, Initially there were few french players on the team. The
Valois brothers and Cousineau were the only ones on the '98 side.
Montreal lacrosse was still dominated by irishmen thus the Nationals
wisely filled their line-up with the most talented available. Years
later the violet et blanc would truly be a french-canadian team.
It was an off year for Montreal's other squad. Shamrocks had lost Bob
Wall and star centreman Dick Kelly to retirement. After an opening win
the green shirts lost three straight and never recovered. A losing
season of 3 wins and 5 losses followed. They did salvage their pride
with a big September win over Ottawa, 5-3.
Middle of the pack for Cornwall Colts again. They split their eight
matches even though they had the worst offence in the league. Defence
bailed them out, in particular young goalkeeper Corey Hess. Hess
backstopped all four Cornwall wins.
Another wooden spoon for Toronto. They were competitive, averaging
four goals per game. Frank Nolan's 14 markers were second best in the
circuit. Nevertheless last place for the Queen City boys with a 2-6-1
record.
Mighty Ottawa and the new kids from Montreal fought for the pennant.
The titleholders won five out of their first six, including an 8-1 rout
of Nationals. On the otherhand the frenchmen also lost to and tied
Toronto before hitting their stride. The key to their championship run
came immediately after the Ottawa loss. They squeaked past Cornwall
2-1 as Shiner White scored both. Then came two narrow victories over
Shamrocks. Paddy Brennan fired a pair in the 4-3 win. The next week
the violet et blanc prevailed 6-4 in spite of John Tucker's hattrick.
The turning point for Capitals was a three week mid-summer break. When
they returned to action on September 10th the defending champs had lost
their edge. Shamrocks were without midfield sensation Harry Hoobin yet
still upset them. That set up the crucial match a fortnight later
against Nationals. Again the titleholders fell 5-3. White scored
twice and Walsh helped on three as the frenchmen triumphed. Top league
scorer George Donaldson was contained along with the rest of the Ottawa
attack. The following Saturday the violet et blanc replayed their
Toronto tie and clinched the pennant with a 4-2 win. Brennan's deuce
was the difference. Nolan replied with both Toronto goals. The
Shamrock/Capital juggernaut had been broken, by a first year team.
