1965 - COMPETITIVE SIXTIES CONTINUE 


While Ontario had been frustrated in most of their Mann Cup bids, the
advantage of a weaker Senior League was that it was more balanced.  In
the first half of the decade four different clubs had won the
championship.  Of the fifteen playoff series, seven had gone the
distance and only one had been a sweep.  In comparison, during the first
half of the 1990s the OLA won four Mann Cups.  They did have three
different league champions but none of those winners lost more than
seven league games all year.  More importantly, of the eleven playoff
series during that period six ended in sweeps, only three went past five
games and none went the distance.  If competitive lacrosse is
entertaining lacrosse then fans in the sixties were blessed.

The '65 pennant race was the most competitive of them all.  Brooklin and
Brampton both finished with 16-8 records, Peterborough one point back. 
St.Catharines, Port Credit and Huntsville all failed to keep pace.  Each
finished with a losing record.  That was all for the Sailors and Hawks
as neither club would return next year.  A sad fate for Port Credit,
considering their meteoric rise and first season championship.  Elmer
Lee coached the Sailors all six seasons.

The scoring race was also tight.  Five different players scored fifty
goals: Larry Ferguson(63) Cy Coombes(57) Don Arthurs(54) Glen Lotton(50)
and John Roberts(50).  Point wise, Ferguson edged defending champ
Arthurs 113-110.  Coombes was close by at 106 and Lotton also broke the
100 point barrier - without picking up a single penalty minute.  Second
year man Don Arthurs became only the fourth player in league history to
produce consecutive 100 point seasons.

This was the season Brooklin began two of it's greatest rivalries.  The
Merchants faced Peterborough in the playoffs for the first time and
later met the great Salmonbellies for their initial encounter.  First
came their Semi Final series against the Speedy Erns.  Drawing the
15-8-1 Petes, some reward for winning the pennant!  Meanwhile the
Excelsiors drew 11-13 St.Catharines.

It had been an eventful regular season for the Red Shirts.  They had to
play out of the Whitby Arena and Children's Arena in Oshawa until mid
July.  They started the year on a ten game winning streak but
immediately turned around and lost five in a row.  With the club sitting
at 12-7 player/coach Ken 'Red' Crawford was replaced by Bud Christie. 
In contrast, all was calm in Peterborough, where Bob Allan made his
coaching debut.  The most dramatic event was the appearance of Miss
Salad Queen, Wendy Sanders, to perform the ceremonial opening draw for a
contest and hand out the Three Star Awards at its conclusion.

It was another short post season for goaltender Russ Dunn.  He was
injured midway through the opening playoff game and knocked out of the
series.  Ted Higgins replaced him but was unable to contain the Brooklin
onslaught.  He was beaten twelve times as the defending champions won
17-10.  Next came a bit of outlandish political manoeuvring which had
Brooklin fans already referring to Peterborough as "cheaters".  The Erns
were allowed to bring in Porky Russell to replace Dunn.  The same Port
Credit Russell Peterborough had twice beaten in overtime earlier in the
season.  That made things tight for the Red Shirts but they pulled off a
12-11 victory for a 2-0 lead.  The final nail in the Petes' coffin came
in Game Three.  They blew a 10-4 lead in Brooklin and lost 14-13 in
overtime.  The Merchants also took the last game 13-5.

This set up another Brampton/Brooklin showdown.  The Excelsiors got by
St.Catharines, though they needed seven games!  Neither of the finalists
were strangers to seventh games.  Both clubs had seen their past two
seasons ended by seventh game defeats.  Thus it was a safe bet the '65
Final would go the distance.

The Excelsiors were missing starting netminder John Jefferson for the
opener.  They trailed much of the match but Gord Thompson gave them
their first lead with 1:28 left.  Brooklin scored twice in the dying
seconds to win 12-11.  A crowd of 2,800 attended the second contest in
Brampton.  Nine different players scored for the home team as they
doubled the Merchants 10-5.  Back home, Brooklin claimed another one
goal victory.  They led 11-7, but a late comeback by the visitors made
the final 11-10.  Both Glen Lotton and John Spicer led their sides with
four goals.  Brampton again won at home, a narrow 9-7 triumph.  Don
Arthurs had four goals, while Ken Lotton counted three for the losers.

The series advantage shifted to the Excelsiors in Game Five.  Another
one goal encounter in Brooklin, however it was the visitors who
prevailed on this occasion, 10-9.  John McCauley's hattrick lead the
way.  Grant Heffernan appeared for the first time in the series and
scored a deuce for the Merchants.  Brampton led 10-7 with 8 minutes
remaining, then hung on for the win.  The Excelsiors may have been
poised to end it at home but Brooklin turned up with their best game and
smoked them 13-6.  Grant Heffernan scored five times.  

The final game was another controlled by the Red Shirts.  Red Crawford
(now just a player) and Jack Madgett both counted hattricks.  Crawford's
trio made the difference in a 12-9 victory.

Like other Ontario champs of late, The Merchants headed west as huge
underdogs.  The O'Keefe's looked like a sure bet after they dismissed
the eastern challenge with an 11-5 first game victory.  Pat Baker had to
make 38 saves or the beating would have been worse.  He was unable to
stop Cliff Sepka.  The New Westminster sniper potted four goals.  When
Bill Castator tried to slow Sepka down with a high stick he paid dearly
for it.  Ron Loftus came charging across the floor and send Castator
sprawling.  Both recieved two minute penalties.

Brooklin found their form in time for Game Two.  They slowed down the
westerners' offence enough to prevail 6-5.  Ken Ruttan was outstanding
on defence and scored the winning goal with 2:44 left on the clock. 
Coach Doug McRory described it as New Westminster's worst game of the
year!  He expressed disappointment with the play of Sepka, Paul Parnell
and Wayne Shuttleworth - one goal between them.  He was still confident
of victory but, not to take anything away from the Merchants, admitted
that it might take six or seven games.

The Friday night game was a thriller.  Brooklin overcame a 10-4
disadvantage, thanks to six goals in five minutes.  They also overcame
41 penalty minutes, compared to New Westminster's 23.  In the end, Grant
Heffernan scored the winner with five seconds left in overtime, 15-14
Merchants.  Over 3,600 attended the match and saw Larry Ferguson and
Sepka with four goal efforts.

The series resumed Monday.  Once again New Westminster started fast,
grabbing a 4-1 lead.  Yet the Brooklin fast break kept beating the
O'Keefe's defence back, thus the Red Shirt offence kept rolling.  Led by
Glen Lotton's hattrick they won 14-9.  The Merchants only loss was when
Jack Madgett was crushed into the boards by Shuttleworth.  He had to be
taken to hospital and was finished for the series.  Madgett had scored
five times in the first four contests.

For the second consecutive year Brooklin led the Dominion Final 3-1. 
This time they hoped to get that fourth win.  They nearly succeeded
Wednesday evening.  In a tight game New Westminster played in front. 
They led 3-2 at quarter time and 5-3 by the half.  The key play to the
game and the series came in the third quarter.  Brooklin captain Don
Craggs lost his cool and pounched upon referee Whitey Severson.  That
act got him thrown out of the game and suspended for the remainder of
the final.  The Merchants stayed close without their leader.  Red
Crawford scored midway through the fourth quarter to narrow the lead to
8-7.  New Westminster successfully ran the clock down, thanks to great
ragging from Don Boyd and Rudy Reisinger.

Brooklin was now missing Craggs, Madgett and Ruttan(work committment at
home) but it was the loss of Craggs, their inspirational leader, which
transformed the series.  The westerners smelled blood and struck fast in
Game Six, on Friday.  They built up a 10-2 lead enroute to an easy 17-7
victory.  Sepka scored four times, while Shuttleworth registered a
hattrick.  New Westminster did lose Parnell in the first quarter when he
was crosschecked by Castator.

There was no rest for the weary.  Both clubs were back at Queen's Park
Saturday night.  A five goal second quarter busted it open for the
O'Keefe's.  They led 7-2 at the half and cruised to an 11-3 triumph. 
Les Norman turned aside 25 shots as he won a record sixteenth career
Mann Cup game.  Coach McRory decribed Brooklin as "just too tired to
win."  He couldn't understand why the Merchants dressed sixteen runners
but only used ten of them the last two games.  Close to 5,000 watched
New Westminster hoist the Mann Cup yet again.

The Ontario County Double had fallen one game short for the second
successive year.  Still, one out of two wasn't bad.  The Oshawa Green
Gaels were Canadian Junior Champions again.  They went 29-1-1 in league
play, then disposed of the Salmonbellies in a six game Minto Final. 
Individually, Hastings' Bill Armour denied John Davis what would have
been a record third scoring title.  Davis concluded his spectacular
career with twelve goals in the New Westminster series.  In 24 career
Minto Cup games Davis scored 43 goals and 73 points, both records at
that time.  Davis left Junior lacrosse the OLA's all time leading scorer
with 960 points in 170 games.  He was also the first player to score
over 500 goals in a junior career.