1958 - A NEW CHAMPION 


One wonders if Commissioner Ed Blair had seen enough Peterborough
championships and wanted to end the dynasty at all costs.  If that was
his goal his actions in Victoria the previous September succeeded
perfectly.  Peterborough fielded a team for the '58 season, however with
all their Senior players suspended from lacrosse for five years the team
was made up of Junior players.  Hardly the recipe for a successful title
defence.  Peterborough's provincial dominance was about to end.

The kids gave a good account of themselves.  Larry Ferguson won the
scoring championship, Cy Coombes and Paul Parnell both scored over 30
goals and Dan Quinlan had a 45 point season.  The Petes even made the
playoffs by grabbing fourth spot with a 9-14 record.

The league had grown to six teams with the return of Brampton and
Mimico.  The Excelsiors had a strong, young club.  They placed second
with a 17-5 record.  Bill Castator was the leader of a very balanced
attack.  Other notable marksmen were: Revis Bennett, Bill Wanless,
Clarke Pulford and Jack Madgett.  Mimico's final attempt at Senior
lacrosse had them floundering at the bottom of the league with only
three victories.  The didn't have a single scorer make the top twenty.
On their last visit to Peterborough they were beaten 14-6.  Prior to the
game a minute's silence was held was the recent passing of Lou
Vitarelli.  Vitarelli had played Senior prior to the Mann Cup winning
years and had coached the Peterborough Juniors in the early fifties.

One other change to the circuit was St.Catharines' move out of the
Garden City.  They headed down the road to Welland, becoming the
Crowland-Switsons.  Ironically they had more local St.Catharines talent
then the A's had had.  Nip O'Hearn came home, plus none of the '57
Athletics jumped ship.  The Switsons rolled to first place with a 19-2
record.  Don Baker finished runner up for the scoring championship.
Skip Teal, Doug Smith, O'Hearn, Ron Roy, Ted Howe and veteran Jim
McMahon all made the top ten scorers.

Long Branch Monarchs placed a disappointing third with 11 wins and 10
losses.  Larry Ruse was their best player with 41 goals and 58 points.
Florie Tomchishen was next with 21 goals and 21 assists.

Hamilton Lincoln Burners last season of Senior lacrosse was not too
successful.  They missed the playoffs and won only seven games.  They
had imported more talent but it still wasn't enough to keep the
franchise from failing.  Ross Powless was again one of the league's
leading playmakers.  His 35 assists were second only to Nip O'Hearn.
Scoring the majority of Hamilton's goals were Willie Logan, Jim McNulty
and Tony D'Amico.

The regular season concluded without finishing the schedule.  Bad
weather cancelled many games and prevented some from being replayed.

The playoffs went according to form.  Welland defeated Long Branch 4
games to 2 and Brampton dispatched the defending champs in five games.
Larry Ferguson missed the entire series with an injury.  In the OLA
Final, the Switsons swept the Excelsiors four straight.  They took the
first game 11-9.  Hattricks for Doug Smith, Skip Teal and Joe McNulty.
12-8 was the seond game result.  The third contest was a 16-4 rout.  Jim
McMahon scored six goals.  Welland nipped Brampton 10-9 in the
concluding match.  Harvey Madgett was top playoff scorer with 11 goals
and 21 points.  Clarke Pulford scored 19 points.

Once again the OLA cause was lost in the Mann Cup without Peterborough
to represent the province.  Welland was no match for the New Westminster
Salmonbellies.  The Fishmen made it twelve consecutive victories for the
ICLL with four impressive road wins.  Only in Game Two did the Switsons
challenge.  After Justin Howe had been blasted from the Welland goal in
the 20-7 opener, the Switsons hastily rushed Gordie Johnston into the
net.  Johnston had only just returned east and not played a single game
in the OLA.  Yet eastern hopes rested on him and he gave a spectacular
performance.  He held the Salmonbellies to seven goals in a 7-4 loss.
New Westminster solved Johnston by the next match and ran away with a
17-6 win.  Welland turned to Jack Timlock for the finale but he also
could not stop the westerners.  The Fishmen won going away 14-6.

Skip MacKay led all scorers with 22 points.  Ken Oddy was top goalgetter
with 11.  Les Norman began his sensational Mann Cup career by holding
Welland to 5.75 goals per game.  Skip Teal was best for the Switsons
with 5 goals and 9 points.  No one else on the OLA champs averaged more
than a point a game.