1962 - A MOST INOFFENSIVE OLA
Unless one liked to see plenty of goals. In that case it was a most
frustrating year. In both major leagues the offences played second
fiddle to the goaltenders and defences. It wasn't as bad as 1959, when
Junior teams averaged less than 8 goals per game, however the Jr.A
League has never again been as low scoring as it was in '62. The Fergus
Thistles were twice shutout. Long Branch's Brian Cuddy did it on May
28th. Eleven days later Brampton's Gary Drysdale also blanked them.
Sr.A shooters also struggled. Despite a 24 game schedule there were no
50 goal scorers for the third consecutive season. In fact Gary Moore
was the only player to reach the 40 plateau - even he did not average
two goals per game! Moore became the first Athletic to win the scoring
championship in twenty years and the last ever. He also did it on a
last place team, the first to lead the league since Jack Gair tied Bill
Isaacs in 1942. 1963 would be an even worse year for the offences in
Senior. Yet 1962 was the lowest scoring season since the mid 1930s!
The OLA champs also did nothing to offend their western counterparts.
Brampton clubs won both Jr.A and Sr.A but were brushed aside by the BC
boys. It would be fourteen years before the west again swept the
Canadian championships. Sure enough 1976 was the next time Brampton won
both provincial titles.
For the first time since 1940 the Senior League was identical to the
previous year. The same four teams returned to play another 24 game
schedule. That only goes to show how unstable the OLA Senior League had
been. Of course it had always been unstable. The same four teams would
be back again the next season - a record three straight! Only on one
other occasion would that be accomplished(1981-83). The rest of the OLA
Senior League's history was ninety years of teams coming or going or the
schedule changing or the playoff format - absolutely nothing for the
Ontario lacrosse fan to depend upon!
Brampton ran away with first place as they won nineteen games. They
scored 242 goals, making them the only side to average ten per game.
They succeeded with defence and great depth. Only Wayne Thompson and
Bert Naylor were among the league's scoring leaders and neither averaged
two points per game.
Brooklin was much improved and enjoyed their first winning season with
thirteen victories. They added Cy Coombes and Bob Curtis, plus picked
up Lou Nickle from Port Credit. Scoring champ Terry Davis made the jump
to Nanaimo and the ICLL. Glen Lotton finished runner up in the scoring
race and Larry Ferguson was right behind him. Bob Batley and Coombes
also made the top ten. The Hillcrests big offensive star was goaltender
Pat Baker. In 34 regular season and playoff games, Baker scored once
and racked up 31 assists.
Port Credit slipped to a 10-14 record. They lost Leo Teatro in mid
season with a seven game suspension for throwing a ball at a referee.
Florie Tomchishen led them in scoring, though Brian Aherne was their big
gun in the playoffs.
St.Catharines slipped to last place with six wins and three times as
many losses. Supporting Moore was Pete Berge with a 32 goal 52 point
season.
For the third consecutive year Brampton and Port Credit met in the
playoffs. Their Semi Final series lasted six games. With wins of 11-8
and 8-7, the Sailors were competitive. Brampton closed out the series
with victories of 7-5 and 6-5 as netminder Jim Thompson dominated.
In the other series, Brooklin dispatched St.Catharines in five games.
The key was a fourth game 9-8 overtime win for the Hillcrests. They
doubled the Athletics 12-6 at home to eliminate them.
The champions successfully defended their OLA title in the final. After
a 9-7 loss, Brooklin won their only game 8-4. Brampton took the next
three contests by socres of: 13-5, 7-4 and 6-4.
Brampton picked up goaltender Pat Baker for the Mann Cup, along with his
teammates Glen Lotton and Ken 'Red' Crawford. Florie Tomchishen was
also added. Baker saw the bulk of the work against New Westminster.
Still nothing could save the Ontario champions. New Westminster
O'Keefes were led by Les Norman. Norman recorded the only ever ICLL
shutout when he blanked Victoria 23-0 in a game that year. New West
also had Peterborough imports Paul Parnell and Bob Allan. Jack Bionda
joined them midway through the season and was also available for the
Dominion championship. They won a thrilling seven game final over the
Mann Cup holders from Vancouver. The deciding game was played at the
hostile Kerrisdale Arena. The O'Keefes prevailed 13-9. After such a
hard earned victory they headed east determined not to suffer the same
fate as the Nanaimo Labatts. The result was yet another sweep for the
ICLL. As in 1958, New Westminster won on the road in four straight -
the only teams to ever accomplish such a feat. Bionda was described as
a man playing amongst boys. He scored sixteen points and took home the
Mike Kelly Award. Bob Dobbie led Brampton with only nine points.
This marked the peak of BC dominance. They had won seven Mann Cups in
eight years - 29 victories and only 6 defeats! There were more Mann
Cups to come, however the OLA champs would be much more competitive.
The Minto Cup win was the West's seventh title in fifteen years. They
would not win again until 1971 and would need special rules in their
favour just to barely take that series. Ontario was about to claim
complete control of Junior lacrosse and, with the exception of the odd
break, they would own it for the next four decades.
