1951 - PETERBOROUGH LACROSSE MAKES ITS MOVE 


The lacrosse town of the half century had not accomplished much in the
sport prior to 1951.  That was all about to change.  Peterborough
Timbermen made the key off season signings and built a powerhouse
overnight.  Two St.Catharines Junior grads(Harry Wipper and Don 'Nip'
O'Hearn) joined Bob Thorpe and Jerry Fitzgerald in the Lift Lock City. 
The big coup was attracting three of Owen Sound's best players.  Lloyd
Wotton, Russ Slater and Jack Mason all made the jump to Peterborough. 
The Timbermen were ready to win a Mann Cup.

Peterborough won the regular season pennant with a 23-7 record.  They
were followed by Mimico(19-10-1) Hamilton(18-12) St.Catharines(16-14)
Brampton(10-19-1) Fergus(9-21) and Toronto(9-21).  Owen Sound had
dropped out of the league.  Besides the trio who went to Peterborough,
their other stars either retired or headed down the road to Fergus.  Don
Campbell, Jack Foote, Harry Kazarian, John Lumley and Arnold Smith all
suited up for the Thistles.

Mimican Don McPhail led the league in scoring and penalty minutes.  His
108 points were 18 better than top goal scorer Harry Wipper.  The
Timbermen placed five in the top ten: Wipper, Ike Hildebrand, defending
scoring champ Arn Dugan, Mason and Slater.  Hildebrand had come from BC
to play for Peterborough.  Blain McDonald slipped into the number ten
position with 66 points.  For McDonald it was a record setting seventh
consecutive year in the top ten.

The playoffs opened with Fergus and Toronto dueling for sixth place. 
Frank Facto scored four times for the West Yorks as they won at home
12-7.  Jack Howes added a hattrick.  The Thistles overcame that five
goal deficit with a 14-5 victory, taking the series 21-17.  Frank
Chambers scored four goals in the second game.  John Lumley and Elmer
Harris had three each.  That earned the scotsmen the right to face
Peterborough.  On August 22nd, the Thistles pulled the upset by beating
the Timbermen 7-5.  Stellar goalkeeping from former Pete Ralph Speck
gave Fergus their only win of the series.  They had already lost in
Peterborough 10-2 and would lose the remaining two contests by scores of
14-5 and 16-9.  Harry Wipper had seven points in one game and Jerry
Fitzgerald led with six in another.

The Quarter Finals did have one oddity: a tie game.  The
Hamilton/St.Catharines best of five series went six games.  The first
game at Cannon Bowl had to be called at an 11-11 tie.  The A's then
doubled the Tigers 12-6 as Ken Croft scored four times.  The goaltender
took over after that, with Doug Favell and Whitey Frick battling.  The
Bengals won 9-3 only to lose again 6-3.  With their backs to the wall
the Black and Gold responded with two big victories.  They won at home
7-6, George Masters trio saving the day.  Then they travelled to the
Haig Bowl for the deciding match.  Hamilton won it 10-6.

Mimico won the other series in three games.  Archie Dixon scored three
goals in the closest game, an 11-8 Mountie victory.  After that it was
all downhill for Brampton.  Red Hartley held them to four goals in a
15-4 win.  That was followed by a 20-9 rout.

The Mountaineers continued their winning ways in the Semi Final. 
Hamilton was coming off a sixth game triumph in St.Catharines the
previous night and were ill prepared for Mimico.  Pop Chard, Ken Dixon,
Hal Downer and Denny Peterson scored two goals each as the Tigers were
tamed 13-6.  Tom Love was high man with a triple for the losers.  A few
days rest over the long weekend made no difference in the rematch.  Pop
Chard scored four times in the Mounties' 10-3 win.

The League Final commenced at the Miller Bowl in Peterborough.  Lloyd
Wotton silenced the Mimico gunners throughout a 15-3 game.  Russ Slater
potted four goals, while Ike Hildebrand and Jerry Fitzgerald counted
four points each.  The Lakeshore crew had as much trouble at home, where
they couldn't stop tiny Ike Hildebrand.  He was involved in half of
Peterborough's goals as they won 14-8.  The series lead was soon three
games, thanks to a 19-5 romp.  Six goals and two assists for Bob Thorpe,
four tallies by Harry Wipper and five helpers from Hildebrand made life
miserable for the Mimicans.  They did stay alive with a 13-9 victory in
Game Four.  Peterson scored seven times for the Mountaineers.  Over
4,000 fans came out to the Miller Bowl for the last game in the series. 
Fitzgerald beat Red Hartley three times and Wotton surrendered only five
goals.  An 11-5 Peterborough win, their first provincial championship
ever!

A Canadian championship was soon added to the Timbermen resume.  It had
been ten years since an Ontario team had won out west.  None had even
been able to win two games in a series.  Peterborough won four, though
it took them seven games to achieve.  They prevailed over a Vancouver
club which had placed third in ICLL play but upset Victoria in six games
in the league final.  Lloyd Wotton went the distance in the Petes goal
and became the first repeat winner of the Mike Kelly Award.  The eastern
champs picked up Denny Peterson and Don McPhail(Mimico) plus Merv
McKenzie and Ross Powless(Hamilton).  Peterson scored 10 goals and
McPhail added 5 in 4 games.  McKenzie tallied 10 points while Powless
counted 4 assists.  Jack Mason led the series with 11 goals.  Russ
Slater picked up 16 points.