1955 - LONG, HOT SUMMER IN UNCOMPETITIVE OLA 


With Hamilton, St.Catharines and Fergus all playing indoors, Senior
Lacrosse fans were forced to sit through many uncomfortable evenings
during a very humid summer.  On top of that, Tiger, Athletic and Thistle
fans had to watched their boys being consistently thumped by dominating
Peterborough.  The Trailermen dominance was so great that even their own
fans lost interest.  While the Peterborough and District Softball League
was averaging 4,000 fans a game, the Trailermen were only able to draw
600 to the first game of the OLA Final!  At least the Junior League was
booming.  Jim Bishop's fastbreaking Newmarket Green Gaels tore up the
league with the kind of talent and speed the game had never before seen.
 Yet the Gaels would also succumb to the weather in the end.  Despite a
runaway first place finish, Newmarket would run out of gas in the OLA
Final and be upset by Long Branch Monarchs.  In the last game Long
Branch would win 5-4 in overtime.  In another game the Monarchs
prevailed 3-2!  So much for the Bishop offence which had been scoring 20
to 30 goals a game most nights.

These really were rough times for lacrosse.  When legendary Joe Cheevers
was asked about it he responded with a note of optimism: "Lacrosse is
presently in the low ebb of a cycle.  Other sports have felt the same
fall in interest and they've come back stronger than ever.  I feel sure
that lacrosse can also make a comeback.  It sure is too good a game to
fold up completely."

Three weeks before the season began Mimico Mountaineers dropped out of
the league.  A rule change dropped the four 15 minute quarter format to
be replaced by three 20 minute periods.  Another change, like the move
indoors, to copy hockey.  A second reform was a Residential Rule which
forced players to play for the Senior Club they lived closest too.  It
was suppose to help the weaker teams(not Peterborough) but really
changed little.  St.Catharines still could not use Harry Wipper or Bob
Thorpe as they lived in Peterborough, nor Jerry Fitzgerald who had moved
to Fergus.  Plus the rule did nothing to prevent Jim Bradshaw, Derry
Davies or Jim McNulty from moving west.  The three period idea did
nothing to revive interest either.  The Athletics home opener didn't
even draw 500 spectators.

The game did make television thanks to Channel 11 showing Hamilton
games.  Norm Marshall called every game in a suit and tie regardless of
how warm it was inside the Hamilton Forum.  Such a move to the big time
did not do much to boost the Lincoln Burners cause.  Sponsor/Manager
Lefty Jordan had spent as much as he could to bring in players but that
left no money on the payroll for a coach!  Late in the season Jack Gair
agreed to be player/coach.  Hamilton still defaulted a July 5th game in
St.Catharines due to lack of players.  They were fined $86 and the game
was rescheduled for the end of the season if it effected the standings.

Peterborough waltzed to first place with a 19-5 season.  They scored 100
goals more than any other club and surrendered 100 less.  Ike
Hildebrand, Bob Allan and Bob Curtis swept the top three spots in league
scoring.  Yet one writer described the Trailermen as an average team
with a phenominal goaltender.  This comment came after Lloyd Wotton had
a 51 save night in an 11-7 win over St.Catharines.  Wotton missed only
one game all year.  On July 22nd he was replaced by a 16 year old
Juvenile named Pat Baker.  Baker started his illustrious Senior career
with a 20-12 victory over the Double Blues.

St.Catharines battled with Fergus for second spot.  Yet it was a
troubled year for the A's.  Goaltender Justin Howe was briefly lost with
two broken ribs.  Doug Favell was called out of retirement by coach Roy
Morton.  Morton also brought in Lewiston Intermediate Ross Powless for a
number of games.  One of the reasons attendance at St.Catharines games
was dropping was due to so many late starts over the years.  If there
was anything worse than an 8:30pm start it was an 8:30 start which
didn't actually begin until well after 9pm!  Couple that with Athletic
home games being on a Tuesday night and it was a disagreeable
arrangement.  Case in point was the August 3rd game against the
Trailermen.  The Double Blues defeated the Mann Cup holders 12-6.  Yet
the win was marred because the Petes showed up 37 minutes late.  Why
were they late?  Because St.Catharines had been late their last visit to
Peterborough.  With attitudes like that, lacrosse was dying a
justifiable death.

The defaulted Hamilton/St.Catharines game needed to be played as the
fight for second place went right down to the end of summer.  A very
important battle because the third place club would draw Peterborough in
the Semi Finals.  The Athletics won the replay, setting up a Tie break
game against Fergus.  The two teams met at the Hamilton Forum.  The
Thistles led 4-3 with three minutes remaining in the opening period when
Ken Watkins went to work.  He scored then set up Don Gear.  By the
intermission it was 7-3.  The scotsmen poured it on in the middle frame.
 Gear had a goal and three assists as they outscored the Double Blues
7-1.  35 seconds into the third period Tony D'Amico made it 15-4.
Fergus went on to double the A's 18-9.

St.Catharines had no more success against the Trailermen.  Up in
Peterborough they were beaten 19-9.  Ike Hildebrand and Bob Allan both
scored 5 goals.  Barney Welch had four in a losing cause.  The Athletics
best game of the year came at home.  Naturally the encounter began 20
minutes late.  The patient fans were rewarded with a strong 12 minutes
from the Double Blues.  They battled the Petes evenly but couldn't beat
Lloyd Wotton.  The best they could manage was six posts in the period.
Peterborough eventually broke the deadlock and ran in seven straight
goals.  They went on to a 14-4 victory.  Double Blue leading scorer Doug
Smith made his first playoff appearance but reinjured his sprained
ankle.  Wotton was star of the game.  The agile 210 pounder could still
cover all the corners despite being 30 years old.  Ken Croft expressed
Athletic frustration best: "how are you going to put the ball in the net
when you can't even see it behind Wotton?"  The rest of the series was a
cakewalk for the defending champions.  They outshot St.Catharines 40-28
in Game Three, a 15-5 win.  Allan had four goals and three assists while
Hildebrand set up five goals.  In desperation Coach Morton tossed Doug
Favell between the pipes for the finale.  It was only his fourth game of
the year, and the last of the hall of famer's career.  He wasn't able to
shutdown the Mann Cup holders.  Favell turned aside 28 shots, however
Harry Wipper beat him four times and Bob Thorpe three times.  Croft had
a hattrick for the Double Blues but they still lost 16-9.

Meanwhile Fergus was on its way to the OLA Final for the first time in
23 years.  Though a late entry to the league, Jerry Fitzgerald had
transformed the Thistles into contenders.  Fitzgerald also finished
eighth in league scoring.  J.J. Hill was the only player outside of
Peterborough to score 50 goals.  Plus Tony D'Amico and Don Gear both
cracked the Top Ten List.

The scotsmen defeated Hamilton 4 games to 1 but they were no match for
the Trailermen.  Peterborough blasted them 26-6 in the series opener.
At the Fergus Arena the Mann Cup holders won 15-6.  Gear managed a
hattrick in the third contest, however it was another loss, 18-6.  Lloyd
Smith scored four times in the last game - the Thistles best offensive
effort as they beat Wotton nine times.  Peterborough firepower netted
twenty-four goals!

Thus ended a disappointing OLA season.  The gloom was apparent as many
feared for the future of the Hamilton club.  On the bright side, Fergus
had established itself in the Senior ranks and along with Peterborough
and St.Catharines the league could count on three returnees.  A big deal
considering the league had lost five teams in five years.  There was
hope that Brampton would return.  There was also optimism that Long
Branch's many graduating Juniors might result in a Senior club on the
lakeshore again.  Even if it wasn't pretty, the Senior Circuit would
trundle along.

All eyes shifted towards Victoria and Peterborough's Mann Cup defence.
The Trailermen picked up Tony D'Amico for the series.  The Thistle star
would score five times in five games.  Victoria also added a
St.Catharines native, Derry Davies.  Their first choice had been scoring
champ Jim McNulty but he was out with a charleyhorse.  That gave the
Shamrocks a grand total of one ICLL top ten scorer on their side.
Despite finishing second and upsetting Nanaimo in the league final, the
irish did not have a single player among the top eleven scorers.  Not
even star import Jack Bionda, who would miss the Mann Cup Final due to
his hockey committment.

A crowd of 4,200 witnessed the series opener.  Victoria started fast but
Wotton came up with a dozen saves.  The first quarter ended 2-2.  The
Shamrocks played with the lead after that - 6-4 by halftime and 10-9
heading into the final fifteen minutes.  Ike Hildebrand, Harry Wipper
and Lou Nickle all scored early in the fourth period to turn the tables.
 The Petes went on to a 15-12 triumph.  Hildebrand was top man with
seven goals.  Jim 'Pee Wee' Bradshaw scored four times for the home
side.

That was the last game Peterborough won all year.  They lost the next
four while being outscored 51-29.  Former West York Gordie Johnston
stumped the Trailermen shooters at one end of the floor.  At the other
end the Victoria power play was devastating.  In the series the Petes
took the majority of penalties, 114 minutes compared to the Shamrocks
51, and they were punished while shorthanded.  Bill Bamford set up
twelve goals, most of them with the manadvantage.  Jim Bradshaw scored
eleven times and Larry Booth counted ten goals, including six in the
fifth game.  Ike Hildebrand was best for Peterborough with nine goals
and a series high sixteen points.  The chief culprits who ended the
Trailermen dynasty were Jack Mason(25 penalty minutes) Lou Nickle(20)
and Harry Wipper(19).  No one on the Shamrocks had more than eight
minutes.  Doubtless there was much grumbling about the officiating by
the dethroned champs.  But the Peterborough boys had been treated like
Kings in '55, compared to how they would be treated in two years time!