1933 - RUSSELL KELLY'S CREW
It was not a happy year for the previous season's James Murphy winner.
Hugh Houghton had followed Gordon Thom as the second defensive
specialist to win Most Valuable player honours. Houghton had combined
the trophy with a Mann Cup win. Quite a year! The Mimico native's '33
campaign was short and catastrophic. The big fellow broke his leg and
was forced to retire. The second of two major losses for Mountaineers.
Tom Scott had jumped ship during the off season and headed north to
Orillia.
A greatly expanded Senior League was split into four groups. As in '32,
there was no inter-divisional play. The groups winners would eventually
playoff for provincial honours. The premier group had Hamilton take top
spot with a 10-4 record, followed by Mimico(7-2) Fergus(4-5)
Orangeville(4-10) and Brampton(1-5). Excelsiors did not last the summer,
which threw the schedule off terribly. Group Two was headed by an
undefeated Orillia squad and included Richmond Hill and Native Sons.
Mount Dennis Mounties claimed Group Three. The Niagara-Brant Group
featured St.Catharines(9-4) Ohsweken(6-4) Brantford(3-5-2) and Port
Dalhousie Lakesides(3-8-2).
No point in mentioning the league's top scorers because not all scoring
is available. Thanks to the Hamilton Spectator and Orillia Packet &
Times we know the top scorers for those local clubs. Tigers were led by
Alex McPherson, Matt Rohmer, Bill Wilson, Hal Wallace, Peck O'Malley and
Jack Worthy. Terriers best men were: Ernie Curran, Gord Boettger and Bill
Wilkes.
St.Catharines and Ohsweken paired off for their division title. On
August 30th, the Double Blues won the opener 11-9. Hattricks for Max
Peart, Bill Fitzgerald Jr. and Winston Millar. Athletics took the
rematch 16-6. Ryan and Rowdon both scored four goals and Fitzgerald
added three. St.Catharines run was ended the next week by Mount Dennis.
They won at home 13-10. Millar's five goals was a bit better than Ted
Hatton's trio. The Mounties rebounded with a resounding 17-5 victory,
giving them the series 27-18. Jack Graham fired seven goals, while Len
Wilkes chipped in
three.
Two rounds of playoffs, beginning August 11th, decided Group One
honours. Hamilton opened by doubling Orangeville 10-5. Hugh Kelly and
Matt Rohmer both scored a pair. Five days later they finished Dufferins
off with an 11-2 rout. Peck O'Malley and Alex McPherson both had
hattricks. Mimico and Fergus duelled through two tough games.
Mountaineers took the opener 9-5. Three goals each from Joe Murphy and
Duke Harrison led the defending champs. Wattie Henderson stepped into
the spotlight for Game Two by scoring five goals. The trouble was he
only got support from Joe Bergin and Jack Simpson. The Mounties got
goals from six different players to prevail 11-7. The division final
was a best of three affair. Tigers took the initial contest 8-6. Four
points from Matt Rohmer, while Bill Coulter was 2 and 2 for the losers.
Mimico rebounded with a thrilling 11-10 victory. Jack Campkin counted
three and Maurice Murphy, Joe Murphy and Norman Gair each scored a pair.
The final match was a tight goaltender's duel between Bob Rohmer and
Fred Harrison. Alex McPherson's deuce was the difference as Hamilton won 6-4.
Orillia and Hamilton would meet for the first time in Senior. Both
longtime Intermediate teams had surged to the top in a flash. Terriers
helped themselves by importing Tom Scott from Mimico, Bill Wilkes from
Toronto and Howard Clarke from Brampton. They also had veteran Terrier
Gord 'Butch' Boettger, originally from Hanover. Still, the '33 squad was
essentially a local team.
Which was more than could be said for their rivals. Tiger town had never
been much of a lacrosse centre. Big Four football had always monopolised
the city's interest. Hamilton Lacrosse did have one chief asset, its
geographic location. The bay area was relatively near three major
lacrosse centres: St.Catharines, Six Nations and west end Toronto.
Manager Russell Kelly's ability to lure nearby stars to the Steel City
would mean three decades of Senior Lacrosse for Hamilton. Brantford
Warriors, of the seventies, and the Mann Cup winning Six Nations Chiefs,
of the nineties, were basically Hamilton Tiger squads. The difference
was that Manager Kelly was no longer around to dress those players in
black and gold.
The '33 Tigers were packed with imports: Bill Wilson and Ed
Downey(St.Catharines) the four Rohmers(Orangeville) Jack Worthy and
Claude Clarke(Brampton) and Hugh Kelly(Brantford). Shipwreck Kelly was
not the famous flagpole sitter of the twenties. Hugh Kelly had never
been up a flag pole in his life! Nevertheless, he received the nickname
'Shipwreck' because of his notorious namesake.
The league semi-final was a classic tale of two cities. Up north,
Orillia won 14-9. Scott, Wilkes, Larry Arisenault and Ernie Curran all
recorded hattricks. In Hamilton, goaltender Bob Rohmer shut the door on
the Terrier offence. Tigers rolled to a 16-5 victory, taking the series
25-19.
Orillia was Hamilton's chief threat, however Mount Dennis did have a
game crew. Their problem was that they couldn't score more than five
goals on Rohmer. Tigers took the opener 13-5 - five points for Matt
Rohmer. The second match was only slightly closer, 11-5. Hal Wallace led
with three goals and an assist.
The road west for Kelly's heros started with one more provincial
challenge. They paused at Thunder Bay long enough to defeat Fort William
Pontiacs 21-2! Five goals each from Shipwreck Kelly and Dunc Littlefair.
Next stop was in Winnipeg. They routed the Argos 16-5. Five more for
Littlefair, while Alex McPherson had four goals and four assists.
Calgary Shamrocks were the next victim, 15-4. Six for McPherson!
On the west coast, little changed. Tigers opened by routing New
Westminster 15-5! McPherson scored three, with two goals each credited
to Littlefair, Peck O'Malley, Bill Wilson, Kelly, and Ed Downey. No
wonder the BC boys had missed the first boxla Mann Cup. This was all too
easy. Yet a change was in the wind. Hamilton also won the second game in
the best of five final, narrowly. 13-11 was the score as Hugh Kelly's
five goals saved the Bengals. With their backs to the wall,
Salmonbellies struck back. They took the next two games by scores of 8-7
and 12-10. Suddenly Hamilton was reeling. They recovered. In the
deciding match Tigers defeated the Fishmen 12-7.
This was the Mann Cup Final Canada definately needed. Box Lacrosse had
not yet been entirely accepted by the purists. The exciting Hamilton-New
Westminster series settled the debate once and for all. Box Lacrosse was
here to stay.
