1949 - BRAMPTON'S FRUSTRATION CONTINUES 


Since the arrival of box lacrosse the Excelsiors had failed to win any
championships.  As the fourties drew to a close, Brampton appeared ready
to end that drought.  With former Adanac star Archie Browning, plus
young talent like the Madgett brothers, the Excelsiors finished in first
place with a 26-10 mark.  Then tradegy struck.  At the tail end of the
regular season Carl Madgett was crippled by polio.  Madgett was the
teams fifth highest scorer and second best playmaker with 40 assists. 
Unfortunately his career was over.

The Senior League welcomed Peterborough Lumberjacks as a new team and
played a record 36 game schedule.  The playoff format was unchanged,
however this would be the last year fifth place would meet sixth place
in the Quarter Finals.  The defending champions finished fifth and
Hamilton took advantage to sweep their first round series, then grab a
week's rest before meeting an Owen Sound club coming off a seven game
series.  Hardly a fair arrangement.

There were only four points separating second to fifth place.  From Owen
Sound(22-13-1) through St.Catharines, Mimico and Hamilton(20-15-1) they
were all evenly matched.  After that the level fell badly.  Peterborugh
won only eight times, while Weston claimed six victories.

It was a good year for the shooters.  Mimican Jim 'Doc' Mckay set a
record during a 19-11 win over Peterborough.  He beat goaltender Ralph
Speck three times in 22 seconds.  The other standouts on offence were
Ken Dixon and Jack Gair.  They dueled all summer long for the scoring
title with Dixon eventually prevailing 135 to 132.  Dixon's 86 goals
were also league best.  Meanwhile teammate Don MacPhail led all
playmakers with 63 assists - one shy of Bill Isaacs record.

Brampton entered the playoffs in shock and immediately lost a 12-7 game
to St.Catharines.  Along with Madgett, they were also missing Elmer
Taylor and Nick Ferri.  Still the Excelsiors battled back by winning
11-7 then a 9-8 overtime contest.  The Athletics responded with an 8-7
victory followed by an embarrassing 16-1 decision.  Veteran Bill
Whitaker narrowly missed a shutout.  It was the goaltending at the
opposite end which would decide the series.  Blake Eatough was at his
career best and led Brampton to wins in the final two games.  They were
both by narrow margins, 6-4 and 6-5.

Hamilton once again saved its best for the post season,  They started
their title defence by beating Peterborough four straight.  First came a
convincing 16-6 victory.  Tony Capula lead with three goals and Blain
McDonald had four points.  The next three contests were all tight.  A
12-9 game was even until late.  McDonald scored four times.  That was
followed by wins of 18-13 and 9-8.

The best Quarter Final series involved Owen Sound and Mimico.  The
Crescents had home advantage but chose to begin at the Drummond Bowl. 
Close to 2,000 fans saw stocky Don McPhail drive straight up the middle
and score at the 5 second mark.  After that penalties killed the
Sounders.  The Mounties tallied seven of their goals with the
manadvantage, plus added two shorthanded counters.  Four first quarter
power play markers set them off enroute to a 16-6 win.  Up north, the
Crescents power play got their turn and scored ten goals!  Yet Owen
Sound's special teams unit was far from perfect.  They led 7-2 just
before the half and had a major penalty to work with thanks to McPhail
high sticking Doug Gillespie in the face and drawing blood.  Mimico
answered with a pair of shorthanded goals from Ken Dixon and Jack
Williams.  Williams was on centre stage for the contest's turning point.
 The home side led 8-7 in the third quarter when Mountie netminder Ray
Mortimer tripped Don Campbell in front of the goal.  The netminder had
to serve his own penalty.  Even worse, all penalties had to be served in
their entirety regardless of how many goals were scored.  Thus Williams
replaced Mortimer, for the longest two minutes of his life!  Owen Sound
beat him four times.  Mimico managed a bit of a rally later on after
Dixon sparked them by scoring with his club two men short.  Still the
Crescents won 14-9.  The homer series continued as the Mountaineers next
won 13-6.  A six goal second quarter was key.  Jack Williams had a six
point night and diminuative Scoop Hayes wriggled through the Crescent
defence for four goals.  Mimico did lose Williams with a shoulder
injury.  He missed Owen Sound's 8-6 triumph to even the series 2-2.  It
was a clean game with only four penalties called.  Ray Mortimer was the
star and robbed Crescent shooters six times in the first half.  Two
quick goals won it for the Sounders.  Jack Mason picked the corner with
a backhand shot and Bun White took a pass from Arnold Smith to score 15
seconds later.  Mimico won at home yet again. a comfortable 10-2 result.
 Ray Mortimer shutout the Crescents for over 47 minutes.  The game was
fairly close until an injury sidelined Lloyd Wotton in the fourth
quarter.  The match was delayed 15 minutes as Wotton was tended to.  He
left with ligament damage to his ankle.  That should have sealed Owen
Sound's fate.  On top of the Wotton injury, Don Campbell was hurting,
plus Don Ashbee had left the team to join the Buffalo Bisons training
camp.  At least the remaining two games would be in the north.  That
plus Wotton's miraculous return saved them.  Wotton moved with a limp
but he was still fast enough to turn aside 24 Mountie shots.  He also
shutout the Mimicans over the last 28 minutes of the game.  Bun White
tallied four goals and player/coach Doug Gillespie had five points. 
Owen Sound won it 16-5.  The finale saw more magnificent play from
Wotton.  he held his team in it through three defensive quarters.  The
clubs entered the last fifteen minutes deadlocked 3-3.  An Archie Dixon
elbowing penalty gave the Crescents their chance.  Don McWhirter scored
on the power play.  A couple of Jack Mason goals extended the lead to
7-4.  Mimico stayed close, down 8-6 with five minutes left.  But a Jack
Williams penalty, followed by a misconduct ended the Mountaineers hopes.
 Owen Sound took the game 10-6. despite being outshot 33-26.

The northerners had the weekend off to rest up for their Monday night
encounter against Hamilton.  In comparison, the defending champs were
enjoying the end of a nine day lay off.  The Semi Final being a best of
three series would help Owen Sound, however the three games were
scheduled over four nights(Monday, Tuesday and Thursday).  To make
matters worse, the Crescents travelled all the way to Hamilton Tuesday
only to have the game rained out.  Thus they made the long trek back
home, then returned south the next night.  The physical demands were too
much for a club trying to knock off the Mann Cup champions.

Still all started well for the Sounders.  On September 12th, they
defeated the Bengals by a 10-4 score.  Bun White accounted for half
their goals.  1,500 fans turned out to see another defensive battle at
the Cannon Street Bowl.  Owen Sound mustered only 15 shots on Doug
Favell!  Small wonder they managed only four goals as the Tigers doubled
that total.  Hamilton had only 27 shots on the night.  Such was a
combination of the Crescents ball possession style of play and the
Tigers physical game.  The home side scored the first four goals and
were never challenged.  Blain McDonald returned from a shoulder injury
to tally a pair.  Lloyd Wotton aggravated his ankle injury when making a
fourth quarter save on Merv McKenzie.  He completed the contest.  The
deciding match at the Owen Sound Arena was played before slightly more
than 2,000 spectators.  The visitors won it with a well balanced attack
- nine different players scoring.  The only two goal man was Tom Love. 
He counted the first two of the contest as Hamilton jumped out to a 3-0
lead.  Bill Isaacs made it 4-1 early in the third quarter after Jack
Gair won a scramble for the loose ball then fed the wide open sniper. 
On an evening when the Crescents fired 37 shots at Doug Favell, they put
up a much better challenge.  Grant Gillespie took a pass from Jack Mason
and beat Favell from an impossible angle.  Bill Allum came back 27
seconds later with a long shot to close the gap to 4-3.  However George
Masters answered with a shorthanded marker as he raced through the Owen
Sound team and dropped a shot past Wotton.  Before the end of the
quarter Mason scored a power play goal.  That was the last hurrah for
the home side.  McKenzie bumped the Hamilton lead to 6-4.  A minute
later McDonald drove home a low bouncer after Doug Davidson had beaten
three Crescents for a loose ball.  Gair eventually made it 8-4, dashing
Owen Sound's hopes.  The Tigers took the contest 10-5.  The busiest
Hamilton man was trainer Lefty Jordan.  He had to dash on to the floor
practically every time a Bengal player was touched.  Isaacs pulled the
most absurd fake when he slumped to the floor without even being
contacted!

Due to the length of the schedule, the Final was a best of five affair. 
The series was completed in four days.  The Excelsiors may have been the
better club through the regular season(they scored 97 goals more than
Hamilton) but they were no match for the Mann Cup holders in late
September.  With players like Bill Isaacs, Tom Teather, Merv McKenzie,
Jack Gair, Tom Love, George Masters and Eddie Powers Jr. Hamilton simply
had too much experience for Brampton.  Six players had been in the
league since the thirties.  Isaacs and Teather, the longest serving, had
debuted in 1935.  Even Coach Joe Cheevers had played on six Mann Cup
winners!

The Black and Gold started the series on one day's rest but didn't miss
a beat.  Their best player was Doug Favell.  He quickly silenced the
Excelsior gunners.  The Tigers took the first two games by identical 9-5
scores.  Bob Hilson was the only shooter to solve Favell, with a second
game hattrick.  That would be the only trio in the series as the Bengals
scoring was well balanced.  Six different players scored a pair as they
won the last game 14-4.  Six games in nine nights and five of them
victories!  Best of all, Favell holding the opposition to five goals or
less in each win.  Hamilton had proven they were still Ontario's best
team.

But their Dominion crown was soon to tumble.  Unfortunately I can't say
much about the '49 Mann Cup Final.  My two western sources are both
silent on the series - you'd almost think Vancouver lost!  They did win,
defeating Hamilton 3 games to 1.  Doug Favell's goal average took a
beating as he surrendered 50.  Hamilton scored 46 times on Jack Green,
thus they were competitive on the Coast.  George Masters was series
scoring leader with 10 goals.  Blain McDonald chipped in 9.  The
Burrards' Don Matheson was top point man with 12.  He also took home the
Mike Kelly Award.