1950 - SEVEN GAME MANN CUP 


At exactly the mid century mark the Dominion championship switched to a
best of seven final.  The timing was perfect as the New Westminster
Adanacs and Owen Sound Crescents would duel in a classic series.  On top
of that, Ontario fans would also be treated to a seven game OLA Final.

The regular season pennant was claimed by Owen Sound with a 22-6 record.
With Lloyd Wotton tending goal they surrendered a league low 219 goals.
St.Catharines followed with 20 victories.  Jim McMahon, Bill Nelson and
Stu Scott all rejoined the A's after having been suspended the entire
1949 season for playing professionally during the off season.  Roy
Morton was the other player suspended and he promptly retired.  The
Double Blues also got into a pre-season fight with the Tigers over
Barney Welch.  The St.Catharines native had played the previous two
seasons with the defending champions.  Barney eventually chose to stay
in Hamilton.  Even with some additions the Athletics had the smallest
crew in the league.  The Burly Bengals placed third(18-10).  George
Masters bolted for the west coast and Richmond but discovered he was too
late to play in the ICLL.  Thus he returned to Hamilton and, after a
short hold out, resigned.  Brampton Excelsiors were next at 16-12. 
Three BC boys(Archie Browning, Whitey Severson and Lew Landess) powered
their offence.  Browning finished runner up in the league scoring race
with 100 points and Severson's 47 assists were also second best.  Mimico
also came home at 16-12.  Peterborough had a winning record of 15-13. 
The Timbermen desperately worked to improve their club.  They tried to
lure Don McPhail from the Mounties, then went after Weston's redheaded
goaltender Bill Hartley.  Both efforts failed.  They actually lost
talent as Leo Teatro and Jim McNulty returned home to St.Catharines. 
Still Peterborough held on to former Athletic Bob Thorpe and added Jerry
Fitzgerald.  Both would be top ten scorers.  Not only did Weston nearly
lose Hartley, Gus Chard was actually practicing with Brampton before the
league forced him to return to his old team.  Weston only won twice. 
One less than Toronto West Yorks three victories.  Both clubs missed the
playoffs.

It was a rough year for lacrosse support in St.Catharines.  While
Hamilton, Mimico and Peterborough consistently drew over 2,000 fans a
game, the Athletics struggled to attract a thousand.  There was some
unhappiness to ticket prices being raised 10 cents to cover a hospital
tax.  Adults were charged 60 cents and kids 25.  For the A's home opener
half the sales went to Winnipeg flood relief.  Over $200 was raised.

In spite of their terrible Senior club, the game was booming in Weston. 
Their minor system could boast of over 300 players.  Weston drew 2,000
for their season opener(a 17-8 loss to Brampton) but such support was
impossible to sustain throughout a 26 loss season.

The '50 campaign had its casualties.  St.Catharines' curly thatched
defensive ace Frank Madsen was forced to retire after a knee injury. 
Brampton's Bob Hilson was suspended for a year after punching referee
Bill Fitzgerald.  Boston Bruin star Eddie Sandford played sparingly for
Mimico.  The most serious losses were off the floor.  In June,
Hamilton's Tom Oliver suddenly died at home, at the age of 44.  A native
of Selkirk, Manitoba, Oliver had played in the Allan Cup in 1930 and won
a Mann Cup with the Tigers in '33.  The other loss was western icon Dan
McKenzie.  On July 12th, he passed away after a heart attack at the age
of 65.  McKenzie was formerly CLA President.  He had also managed the
Canadian Olympic lacrosse teams in 1928 and 1932.  During his final
years his doctor forbade him from attending games due to his weak heart.
 He would often sneak into arenas and be spotted hiding behind a post.
"I can't stay away," he once explained. "I tell the doc I work too hard
in the garden."

On the bright side, St.Catharines junior Norm Corcoran was signed by the
Bruins.  Brampton's Memorial Arena opened and over a thousand spectators
watched the hometown boys defeat Hamilton 19-8.  An even brighter note
was the season Arn Dugan had.  The Peterborough sniper was runaway
scoring champ and top playmaker with 69 assists and 124 points.  Owen
Sound's Russ Slater was high goal scorer with 65.  In one game Dugan
challenged Gordon Gair's records with a 12 goal 17 point night in
Oshawa.  Toronto Ravinas moved to the Oshawa Arena in mid season and
changed their name to Riverdales.

For the post-season the old format of 1 vs 6, 2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4 was
revived(no more easy ride for the fifth place team).  First order of
business was breaking the Brampton/Mimico tie.  Excelsiors took the two
game series, outscoring the Mountaineers 37-27.  More costly than the
loss was a back injury to Mimico's Don McPhail.  He would miss their
opening Quarter Final game.

The pennant winners opened against Peterborough.  They split the first
two games.  Owen Sound won at home 15-6.  Peterborough responded when
Ralph Speck outduelled Lloyd Wotton in a 7-3 contest.  Moon Wotton ruled
in the end as the Crescents won the next three by scores of: 19-3, 9-5
and 13-4.

Hamilton also advanced after a five game series.  They edged past
Brampton 11-9 thanks, in part, to Tom Love's hattrick.  The Excelsiors
evened the series with a convincing 13-6 victory.  The famous Adanac
Gold Dust Twins dominated.  Browning scored three and Severson added
five points.  The Tigers narrowly won the crucial third game 8-7.  Tony
Capula fired in three timely goals to offset Harry Graham's four points.
 The defending champs then dominated the remaining contests.  A 15-9
win, with George Masters bulging the twine four times, was followed by a
17-10 victory.  The racing redhead, Blain McDonald scored six goals.

The best Quarter Final series involved the second and fifth place clubs.
St.Catharines opened at the Haig Bowl on September 6th, facing a Mimico
squad without McPhail, Sandford and Archie Dixon.  The A's biggest
concern was the officiating duo of Lewis Vipond and Joe Murphy.  They
were notorious for letting the teams play and calling virtually nothing,
a disadvantage for the featherweight Double Blues.  The first game was
one of their more active nights as the referees handed out 17 minutes in
penalties.  The Athletics won it 13-10, though their shot edge was only
42-41.  Mimico rebounded at home in front of a disappointing crowd of
1,200.  McPhail had three assists and Jack Williams counted a pair of
goals as the Mounties won 14-10.  St.Catharines dominated an ugly third
contest, winning 14-3.  It took Mimico over forty minutes to beat Bill
Whitaker.  On this evening Murphy and Vipond lost control.  With two
minutes left Bill Nelson - back from a bout of the flu - fired the ball
at Jack Kapasky's head.  At the end of the game Don McPhail took his
revenge.  He popped out of the penalty box and hit the 200 pound Nelson
on the head.  A donneybrook ensued.  When completed, and the players
shooed off, a score of fans combed the floor on their hands and knees
looking for Leo Teatro's teeth.  Both his plates had been smashed and
shattered.  The teams only had a day to cool off before going at it
again.  The Mountaineers were victorious at home 13-9.  Denny Peterson
score 26 seconds into the match as the home side roared out to a 6-1
lead.  The Double Blues battled back to 8-5 by three quarter time and
10-9 late in the fourth.  Mimico scored the final three goals in the
last three minutes, off the sticks of Bill Harwood, Bernie Pritchard and
Williams.  An odd 1,000 spectators turned up in St.Catharines for the
next meeting.  Tom Teather made a surprise appearance in Double Blue and
veteran Carson Myers joined him.  Leo Teatro was in fine form as he
scored seven points.  The A's romped to a 20-6 win.  The sixth game was
delayed a day due to a rainout.  St.Catharines led much of the way but
Chuck Simpson tied it twice in the third period.  He then put Mimico
ahead 10-8.  Ken Croft scored in the last minute of the quarter and that
shifted momentum again.  Whitaker shutdown the Mountaineer shooters the
remaining fifteen minutes and captain Pat Smith did the rest.  He set up
Tony D'Amico to tie it then scored a pair himself.  He even set up the
last goal as the A's took the game 13-10 and the series in six.

St.Catharines was granted one night off before having to deal with the
defending champions in a best of three series.  Thus it was no surprise
they lost the opener 10-9.  A Bill Nelson major penalty set the stage
early.  Hamilton scored three times on the power play, a pair from Norm
Shortridge.  They were up 7-0 before the A's solved Doug Favell.  They
solved the Favell riddle in a big way.  Late in the third quarter, Harry
Wipper scored his second, on a solo effort, to tie the game 8-8.  Blain
McDonald got it back with an underhand shot then set up Jack Dorney with
11 minutes remaining.  The Double Blues closed to 10-9.  In the dying
seconds Wipper beat four defenders but Favell stopped him at the bell.

A Whitaker/Favell duel featured in the next match.  George Masters put
Hamilton ahead 4-3 in the second quarter.  Later Alex Edmonds gave the
Tigers a 5-4 edge on a shot which appeared to hit the post. 
St.Catharines overcame that controversy as Teatro scored on a twisting
solo run in the third period.  D'Amico then completed a neat three way
play with Frank Bird and Jim McMahon to put the A's in the lead.  Tony
Capula tied it 29 seconds later when he backed McMahon into Whitaker
then bulged the twine.  It remained knotted 6-6 until the final four
minutes.  Smith collected a rebound off a Wipper shot and beat Favell
for the winner.  The game's only casualty for Stu Scott getting injured
when he took a Steve Oneschuk shot on the jaw.

The deciding contest lacked all the drama of the first two games.  Four
thousand turned out to see the Athletics jump ahead 6-0 early enroute to
a 19-7 win.  The great Doug Favell faced 31 shots but could only save a
dozen.  Jim McMahon and Tony D'Amico beat him four times each.

The OLA Final commenced up north and the opening match was dominated by
Owen Sound's cautious play.  They did break free midway through to run
in five straight goals.  That broke open a tight 2-2 stalemate. 
St.Catharines managed a trio late but fell 9-7.  Harry Wipper flew in
from Montreal for the second game.  His A's tripled the Crescents 9-3,
despite being outshot 37-30.  The Double Blues put it away with a three
goal third quarter.  Game Three was a rough affair but had few penalties
as Vipond and Murphy were officiating.  Owen Sound blasted the visitors
early with six consecutive goals.  They went on to win 12-7.  The homer
series continued the next night, a 16-3 St.Catharines rout.  They led
5-0 at the half then poured it on.  It was a very different game as Max
Peart and Milt Burrows refereed, handing out 85 minutes in penalties. 
Wipper's four goals were best.  On October 2nd it was the northerners
turn to win.  Wipper was absent, back at McGill University, and the A's
offence floundered.  It was a tight battle, only 4-3 midway through the
third quarter.  Then lacrosse's best Armenian, Harry Kazarian, sparked a
four goal rally with a counter and a helper.  The Crescents took it
11-5.  Only 2,000 chilled to the bone fans turned out for Game Six. 
Wipper was back and contributed an assist.  Owen Sound played very
defensively, ragging the ball as much as possible.  Eventually
St.Catharines got enough possession to produce a five goal second
quarter.  The result was an easy 13-4 win.

A long series but one desperately in need of a close result.  The
defensive style was also monotonous.  With a seventh game came the
argument over a neutral site.  Commissioner Jim McLeod(from Owen Sound)
chose the Fergus Arena.  Hardly middle ground as far as the Athletics
were concerned.  To make matters worse, 500 St.Catharines tickets were
guaranteed, yet when the Double Blue fans arrived they found their
section taken.  Many were turned away at the door.  None of them would
have enjoyed the final result.  It was close for better than 30 minutes.
 Owen Sound only led 3-2 by halftime.  Kazarian got the fourth on a solo
rush.  Next Doug Gillespie bulled his way in to score.  The Crescents
fired in four more in the last quarter to win 9-3.  The first major
lacrosse title for Owen Sound since their juniors had won the Ontario
Championship back in 1910 and 1911!

New Westminster Adanacs made their farewell appearance in the Mann Cup
against an Owen Sound club debuting in the Dominion Final.  The series
kicked off October 8th with an 8-7 win for the northern boys.  28 year
old Don Campbell scored four clutch goals.  A crowd of 2,671 took in the
second contest, a more convincing 13-6 victory for Owen Sound.  Grant
Gillespie scored four goals and Campbell potted three more.  It took
lightweight sub Stan Tyson to get the western A's into the series.  New
Westminster was down 7-4 during the Friday night game when Tyson scored
and later set up the tying goal, leveling the game 8-8.  The Adanacs won
the fourth quarter 5-1, for their first win of the series.  Bob Bremner
led them with a hattrick.  A Sunday afternoon contest drew an audience
of 4,775.  Coach Bob Lee's chargers evened the series with a 7-5 win. 
It was a rugged game, yet the duo of Joe Murphy and Max Peart handed out
only five penalties - four to Owen Sound.  New West won the first period
3-1 and led the rest of the way.  Big Gordon Pogue had his best game of
the series between the pipes.  Rearguard Jack Proctor scored three times
and 150 pounder Russ Slater counted four of the Crescents five markers. 
Two much need days off for the northern crew as they tried to regroup. 
Bremner greeted them in Game Five with a goal in 16 seconds! 
Fortunately Arnold Smith answered it at the 40 second mark.  The teams
battled to a 5-5 tie by half.  Lloyd Wotton shutout the A's in the
second half.  Doug Gillespie scored the winner with 4 minutes left in
the third quarter.  Then Owen Sound had to kill off penalties on three
seperate occasions.  Campbell and Jack Mason slipped in a pair of goals
in the last minute.  An 8-5 Crescent triumph.  New Westminster forced a
seventh game with a 6-5 Friday night victory.  Jack Northup's slump
continued as he was shutout.  The ICLL's scoring champ had managed only
six tallies in the series.  Midway through the opening period a Bob
Bremner shot caused Wotton to fall awkwardly on his ankle, tearing
ligaments.  Owen Sound had picked up Doug Favell and he stepped into
goal for the remainder of the series.  The Adanacs led after the first
30 minutes 4-0.  They advanced that lead to 6-2 thanks to a couple of
Harry Smith goals.  The Crescents rallied in the fourth quarter with
three goals in less than 2 minutes.  Harry Kazarian sparked it, then set
up Don McWhirter for the fifth counter.  Gord Pogue protected the one
goal margin over the last 8 1/2 minutes.

Bob Lee predicted an A's win by three goals on Sunday.  But they would
have to face their arch nemesis.  Doug Favell had practically beaten
them singlehandedly in '48.  He would deny the Adanacs again!  A crowd
of 6,588 watched the squads battle to a 6-6 halftime tie.  Favell came
up with 14 big second quarter saves to keep his side in it.  Over the
final 30 minutes he would surrender just one goal.  29 year old
Orangeville native Doug Gillespie broke the tie in the third quarter. 
He would finish the evening with a hattrick.  Harry Kazarian, Grant
Gillespie and Arnold Smith would each scored a pair.  Owen Sound
dominated the final half and took the match 15-7.  Injured Lloyd Wotton
was named the Mike Kelly winner.  In ten years no Ontario runner had yet
been named MVP(twice the award had been given to losing BC players).