1890 - TWO BLUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
A season for blue shirted celebrations. In the east Cornwall romped to
a 7-1 record. To the west the Double Blues of St.Catharines were
perfect. The A's went 8-0, sweeping away challenges from Niagara
Falls, Toronto Capitals, Paris and Brantford. With John Notman on
offence, Jack Downey controlling the midfield and Frank Williams on
defence the Garden City club was invincible.
Cornwall was the class of the N.L.U., though they needed to win some
close games early to carry them through. They edged M.A.A.A. 3-2,
Toronto 4-2 and Shamrocks 5-4. Their only loss came in the rain when
Toronto doubled them 4-2. The Queen City club already had two losses
and proceeded to tie their remaining games. Alex Black dominated for
the Colts. He scored 13 of their 30 goals, 5 more than anyone else in
the league. 'Red' Dave Danaher and James Broderick also helped
Cornwall's cause with 5 markers each.
With three defeats in their first four matches the Winged Wheels never
gave themselves a chance to repeat. Tom Paton and Hodgson had
retired(half of their offensive output from 1889) leaving the offence
solely on the shoulders of Archie McNaughton. Archie was in his final
year with the Triple A's. He would head west during the off season and
be instrumental in building New Westminster into a lacrosse powerhouse.
For M.A.A.A. the decline was only beginning. The previous year's
championship was to be their last winning season until 1905!
It was another difficult year for Shamrocks. Their only win came at
Ottawa's expense, a 7-1 rout. They declined to play the rematch in the
nation's capital, at season's end. Yet irish fortune was also about to
change. Thanks to good, young players such as: James McVey, Willie
McKenna and Tom Dwyer Shamrocks would soon be Montreal's number one
team again.
