1917 - THE UNFINISHED SEASON
On June 9th, Nationals defeated Shamrocks 11-7. During the contest a
disagreement arose between George Roberts and Ambrose Degray. It
concluded when Roberts bit Degray. Where? At the Maissoneuve Grounds.
Naturally the irish player was thrown out of the game. Commissioner
Joe Lally, from Cornwall, suspended him indefinately. Heavy handed
leaders were rare in lacrosse and Shamrocks did not hide their
displeasure over the decision. Still, they proceeded to win their next
two contests without their best player. They continued to trail the
frenchmen by a game but had two matches left against them.
As if the league did not have enough problems, Cornwall lost its
largest gate of the year on Dominion Day. Tecumsehs did not show for
the contest. The Toronto team had returned to the N.L.U. but was
struggling to find players. The Queen City had plenty of players but
the majority of them were amateurs who could not play with Charles
Querrie's professionals. In canadian society there were still many
people who viewed professionalism in sport the way we view prostitution
today. Remember, Sunday lacrosse was taboo and decades away. Three
days later, Manager Querrie wrote an open letter to the Montreal Star
explaining his position. He had singlehandedly tried to keep the team
going but it was a losing battle. Querrie would turn his attention to
hockey matters. Tecumsehs were no more.
The demise of Tecumsehs was a blow but not a disaster. There were
still four teams in the league, plus the N.L.U. had often gotten by
without Toronto clubs. Ottawa assured Shamrocks they would be in town
for their scheduled Saturday match. It would be business as usual.
Unluckily the Roberts controversy resurfaced. The irish stated that
they would not play Capitals without their star. Indeed the game was
not played. The following Monday, Shamrocks announced that Roberts
would dress against Nationals in the upcoming match. Commissioner
Lally would not back down. In his view Roberts and the irish club had
not been sufficiently punished. The star player had missed two games,
easy wins. The only way to really punish Shamrocks was to make Roberts
miss a Nationals game because both Montreal squads were miles ahead of
the other teams. The irish were not going to let that happen. They
were so concerned that they insisted on bringing Roberts back a week
early to prepare him for the frenchmen. Lally did have the support of
Cornwall and Ottawa. Interestingly, the one team which stood to gain
from the suspension remained quiet. In fact, Nationals were not
opposed to Roberts return.
On July 14th, George Roberts played against the violet et blanc and
scored in the Shamrock win. Two frenchmen, Dare Devil Gauthier and
Oncle Lamoureux, quit in protest. Nationals played without them. In
the days that followed it became clear that the big city/small town
split of 1912 was occurring again. Both Montreal clubs stood together
in opposition to the Commissioner and his Cornwall/Ottawa supporters.
For the rest of the summer Nationals and Shamrocks would play
exhibition games - likewise for Colts and Capitals. The 1917
championship season was over.
St.Catharines entered O.L.A. play with a good team. Strong enough to
even challenge Young Torontos. Yet they showed little of that
potential when the season opened. A Dominion Day home encounter
against Riverdales ended in a 4-4 tie. Five days later the same
Riverdale club was routed 9-2 by Young Torontos. Next, Athletics
travelled to Don Flats and again drew with the bottom team, 5-5.
The big match was on July 21st. What slim championship hopes the
Double Blues had depended on their performance against the
titleholders. They responded by shocking Young Torontos 6-1! Suddenly
the defending champs were in trouble. They answered back with a 10-3
win over Riverdales, then avenged their one loss by beating
St.Catharines 5-1. Attention shifted to the A's and they won both
their replays against Riverdales to finish 3-1, tied for first.
A straight forward two game tie break was to follow. In this year of
aborted championships nothing was straight forward. A week before the
series was to begin the Double Blues travelled to Chicago to
participate in a fund raiser for the Red Cross. $8,000 were raised as
a crowd of 5,000 watched the two sides play to a 7-7 tie. Harry Flynn
led A's with a trio. Two St.Catharines' natives led the american team.
Short of players, Chicago used two professionals, George Kalls and
Bill Fitzgerald. When word reached the O.L.A. that the amateur
Athletics had played against professionals the tie break games were
called off. It took five weeks of negotiating before St.Catharines was
allowed back into the championship. Not everyone was happy with the
decision. In fact Young Torontos were greatly weakened because their
starting netminder Bill MacArthur refused to play. Ironic that
MacArthur would not play against players who had played against
professionals. Later, in 1932 MacArthur would join a pro box league!
When the tie break resumed the titleholders started Tommy Thornton in
goal, only his second senior game. He won 4-3. A week later, the two
squads played a dramatic 4-4 tie. Wendell Holmes tied the game and won
the series with his second goal, late in the contest.
