1948 - ST.CATHARINES TALENT DRAIN BEGINS
Tom Teather was actually the first to leave town. After the war he
joined the Hamilton Tigers. Next came Joe Cheevers in '47. He also
switched to Black and Gold. Neither of those departures compared in any
way to what the Athletics lost prior to the 1948 season. Their starting
goaltender Doug Favell moved to Tigertown. Also joining the Bengals was
Blain McDonald. In his initial season with the Tigers McDonald won the
league scoring championship with 64 goals and 97 points. In one of the
tightest races ever he edged out Ken Dixon(66 & 94) Don Campbell(63 &
94) and Doug Gillespie(57 & 94). There was a huge gap between the top
four and the rest of the league. Noteworthy in the Number Five spot was
Orillia native John Hewitt. His 54 assists were third highest in OLA
history.
Owen Sound changed their nickname to Crescents and surged to the top of
the standings. Their 23-5-1 record was slightly better than 23-7
St.Catharines. Mimico followed(16-11-1) then Hamilton(15-13-2)
Brampton(10-19-1) and Weston(8-19-1). Fergus missed the playoffs with
only 4 wins.
One nightmarish week in early September ended Owen Sound's fine run.
Mimico ambushed them to begin their series by winning 21-12. Don
McPhail scored six points, as Jim McKay and John Hewitt both had five.
Next came a 13-10 win for the Mountaineers. The Crescents led 9-6 late
in the third quarter. Sandy Milne scored then set up Ken Dixon 8
seconds later and Hewitt 31 seconds after that. McKay put the Mounties
ahead for good 14 seconds into the fourth period. After a couple of
days off, the Pennant Winners got back into the series with a 12-8
victory. Norm Shortridge led their balanced attack with four points.
The next evening Owen Sound won the first half 6-4, only to be felled by
ten consecutive Mimico goals starting in the third quarter. The final
score was 14-7. Jack Williams beat Lloyd Wotton six times. The third
game in three nights once again saw the league's leading offence fade
late. Owen Sound were ahead 7-6 in the third but Mimico ended the
period with three goals in the last 75 seconds. They began the last
quarter with two more. Ray Mortimer contained the Crescents' offence
after that as the Mountaineers took the contest 12-9 and the series in
five games.
Meanwhile Hamilton put their mediocre regular season behind them to
upset St.Catharines. The A's had the league's best defence as Bill
Whitaker was back full time. That didn't matter in the opener as the
Tigers won 11-10. Balanced scoring all around but Bill Isaacs had a
notable goal and assist. Isaacs had started his season the week before
and scored nine goals in two games. No one did much scoring in the
second match, a 5-2 Bengal win. George Masters did count a pair. The
Double Blues came back with a solid 15-7 victory. Jerry Fitzgerald led
the renaissance with six points. Yet another one goal game went
Hamilton's way putting them up 3 games to 1. Merv McKenzie potted a
hattrick in the 11-10 win. St.Catharines responded with a second home
blow out. 17-4 was the final and Jack McMahon was tops with 4 goals.
At the Cannon Bowl the Double Blues forced a seventh game. The Tigers
led 3-1 early and 5-4 by halftime. St.Catharines tied it with the only
goal of the third quarter. They were soon in front, however Doug
Davidson knotted it 8-8 with 2 1/2 minutes left. The winner was scored
by Vern Whitely as he took advantage of a two man break. A turnaway
crowd of 4,000 witnessed the deciding match. Hamilton again led at the
half, 5-3. The A's tied it in the third only to have the Black and Gold
jump ahead 7-5. A three goal spurt by St.Catharines gave them the
advantage. Still the contest went to the wire once again deadlocked
8-8. Off a three man fast break Jack Gair beat Whitaker with just 31
seconds remaining.
The senior Excelsiors had not done much to excite their fans that
summer. They had lost nearly twice as many as they had won despite
scoring 321 goals and giving up only 288. The Juniors had made more
news by routing Dundas 50-3! Seven different players had scored four
goals or more that night. Interestingly, none of the seven would ever
play Senior Lacrosse. That would explain why Brampton had to drop out
of the league in the mid fifties.
Brampton goaltending had been a lottery much of the season as Bob
Lagerquist, Fred Cuthbert and Sam Arthurs split the duty. They
eventually settled upon Arthurs. Fortunately Weston had the league's
worst offence. Bill Brunskill had retired and Gordon Gair only played
intermittently, which left Jack Dorney to carry the load. Brampton
swept them aside four straight. The only easy win was the 15-7 opener.
After that came a 7-6 victory, followed by scores of 17-14 and 12-9.
Nick Ferri was the Excelsior star scoring at least two goals in every
game. Carl Madgett missed the middle two matches but scored four goals
in Games One and Four. For Weston, Gair appeared for the latter two
contests and chipped in three goals Dorney was contained most of the
series. He only broke loose for a third game hattrick.
Mimico chose to play Brampton in the best of three Semi Final, leaving
Hamilton the direct route to the Final. The defending champs took the
opening game 14-10. John Hewitt's four goals were the difference. Ken
Dixon had four points, as did Cam Sheppard for the losers. The second
contest was played on September 19th. The first half featured stellar
netminding from Sam Arthurs. He held the Mountaineers to two goals
while the Excelsiors scored four. The third quarter was played in a
light drizzle. Brampton's Mann Cup aspirations also fell as the
Mounties outscored them 6-1 and took control. Later four big lights
blew out, showering fans with fine glass. Excelsior lights were soon
turned out as Mimico held on for an 11-10 win.
The OLA Final commenced at Drummond Street Bowl. Brilliant goaltending
from both Favell and Mortimer in the opener. Hamilton never trailed in
the contest and held a 6-5 lead throughout the last fifteen minutes.
The next match was a convincing 10-4 win for the Tigers. Doug Davidson,
Al Doyle and Blain McDonald each counted duces. With the way Favell was
playing, the last thing the Mountaineers could afford to do was to fall
behind. In Game Three they were down 2-0 in the first minute of the
contest. Jack Gair and McDonald(his first of four) got the Black and
Gold going. It was 5-1 by quarter time and 9-2 at the half. The
defending champs did finally solve Doug Favell but not until they were
down 13-2! They scored three times in the final minute to make it a
respectable 16-10 loss. Facing elimination, the Mounties did get their
act together. They played with the lead in the fourth match and at one
point during the second quarter were ahead 6-2. By the end of the third
quarter Hamilton had battled back to within a goal, at 7-6. They
eventually tied it, then Archie Dixon put Mimico up 9-8, with 4 minutes
remaining. 90 seconds later, Tom Love made it 9-9, sending the contest
into overtime. 28 seconds into the extra period the Bengals grabbed
their first lead of the night. The defence created a turnover and Joe
Cheevers broke away to score his fourth of the game. The Mounties kept
battling unitl longtime Tiger Bill Isaacs appropriately scored the
insurance marker. 12-10 Hamilton. The first time a fourth place team
had won the OLA championship in the Box Era.
The best of three Eastern Canadian Final began October 3rd in Montreal,
before moving to Cornwall for the concluding games. This would be the
last time the east would challenge for the Mann Cup. Cornwall
represented them and they were throughly beaten in the opener. Hamilton
led 8-1 after 30 minutes, enroute to a 13-4 decision. Doug Favell
suffered an arm injury and was replaced by Fred Harrison for the second
half. The Tigers travelled to Cornwall without Bill Isaacs, Merv
McKenzie or George Masters, plus an injured Favell. They got a rude
welcome from the hometown boys. Cornwall led 11-2 in the third quarter
before the Bengals mounted a comeback. They cut the lead to 11-6, then
13-8 and finally 14-12 before running out of time. Thus, for only the
second time, the OLA champs faced elimination against an eastern
opponent. Hamilton handled it by dominating Cornwall. Blain McDonald
and Tom Love each scored four times in the 20-10 romp. The Tigers were
up 9-2 at halftime and 15-6 with 15 minutes left.
New Westminster Adanacs travelled to Toronto to defend their Mann Cup
title. They were greeted by a crowd of 4,776 in the opener. The
goaltending of Doug Favell and Gordie Pogue topped the shooters early
on. The A's got two late first quarter goals to break the ice.
Hamilton replied in the second with five unanswered markers. Against
the heavier Tigers, New Westminster battled back. They scored the only
three goals of the third period to knot the contest at 5-5. They
continued in the next frame with another four counters. The period
featured a horrific collision between Hamilton's #16 Elmer Lee and New
West's John Douglas. They both became tangled and crashed into the end
boards. Douglas was lost with a sprained ankle. Lee returned later
with a blood soaked bandage around his head but was not allowed on the
floor. The Mann Cup holders took Game One 11-6.
Doug Favell shutout New Westminster through the first quarter of the
next contest. That allowed the Tigers to grab a 3-0. The following 15
minutes Favell couldn't stop Archie Browning. Browning scored two men
short to begin the period and concluded it with a blistering drive,
while looking at the clock, which eluded the netminder. The defending
champions had evened the match 5-5. They went on to win the third
quarter and take an 11-9 lead home. Jack Gair brought the Bengals back
with a pair of goals in the first two minutes of the fourth. By the six
minute mark Arnie Ferguson put the Adanacs up 12-11. Ralph Douglas
notched an insurance marker with 90 seconds remaining. The Mann Cup
holders outshot the Ontario side 41-27. After the game, Manager Alex
McPherson expressed a curious memory. A member of the '33 Mann Cup
winning Tigers, McPherson assured the press that all was well. "Hamilton
was been down 2-0 in 1933 and came back to win." The trouble was that
the Tigers had been UP 2-0 in '33 and very nearly blew it!
The third game was preceded by the OLA Midget Final. St.Catharines
defeated New Toronto 7-4. Hamilton was without Tom Love for the
contest, while New Westminster missed John Douglas for the second
consecutive night. The westerners grabbed leads of 3-1 and 5-3.
However a tiger is never more dangerous than when trapped. Two Joe
Cheevers goals turned things around as the Black and Gold took a 7-6
lead into the final quarter. The last period began with five scoreless
minutes. Then the Ontario champs ran in four straight goals. They took
the match 12-7. Coach Ken McDonald claimed his Adanacs had a night off.
"Some of the boys were a little leg sore after too much sightseeing."
The fourth game was the Doug Favell Show. The A's outshot the Tigers
40-23 but that wasn't good enough. Tom Love was back in the lineup and
scored two goals. John Douglas also returned but he had no luck around
the net. The opening 15 minutes ended tied 2-2. Hamilton took control
by winning the second quarter 4-1. They extended that lead to 9-4
before the defending champs started to find net. They drew back to 9-7
with 5 minutes remaining. That was as close as Favell allowed them to
get.
A five game final for the first time since the controversial '44 series.
Luckily teams were not allowed to pad their line ups with all-stars
after that disputed series. The Adanacs and Tigers would meet at Maple
Leaf Gardens to decide which was the best lacrosse team in the world.
Their would be no excuses for the losers this time.
The westerners took advantage of early Hamilton penalties to take a 4-0
lead. Gradually the heavy bodychecking of the Bengals slowed down the
speedy A's. Hamilton closed the gap to 5-4 by halftime. Joe Cheevers
gave them their first lead, at 6-5, in the third quarter. Blain
McDonald put them up for good 7-6. The Black and Gold won going away.
The final result was 12-8. Doug Favell was named MVP, making him the
first two time Mike Kelly winner. Elmer Lee fractured his leg while
chasing down a loose ball in the fourth period. Immediately after the
game he celebrated lying on a stretcher, before being wheeled away to a
waiting ambulance.
