1968 - PROFESSIONAL LACROSSE DECIMATES OLA 

Overnight Senior lacrosse in Canada was turned on its head.  The birth
of the National Lacrosse Association nearly ended the established
leagues.  Out west all four ICLL clubs abandoned their league and turned
professional.  Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster formed the
Western Division of the new league.  Coquitlam moved south of the
border, becoming the Portland Adanacs.  That left the ICLL with four
Sr.B teams representing Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey and North Vancouver.

In Ontario, Peterborough jumped to the professional league, however
Brooklin and Brampton loyally remained in the OLA.  They were joined by
a Hastings team(the same year the Hastings Juniors moved back to
Peterborough) and a Mississauga club.  Yet all the talent was gone.  Of
the top twenty five scorers from 1967, only Don Craggs returned to the
OLA the next year.

The Redmen coped best with the changes and ran away with a first place
finish.  In goal Brooklin started with George Stephens but that
partnership didn't last.  Another veteran Justin Howe was brought in,
spelled occasionally by junior call up Merv Marshall.  Howe also didn't
last.  By the playoffs Wayne Platt had been lured away from Hastings,
however he was replaced by Joe Tomchishen.  Professional league or not,
there were many experienced goaltenders around.  Offensively the Redmen
were led by St.Catharines' Sandy Doberstein.  He narrowly lost the
scoring race to Mississauga's Rick Bisson.  Along with player/coach
Craggs the supporting cast included: Neil Armstrong, Gerry Burrows, Jim
Campbell, Mike Gray, Dave Houston, Ken Lotton, Danny Sandford and Paul
Tran.  Some had been second line players in Brooklin for years.  Others
had won Mintos with Jim Bishop or been to the Minto Cup with the Red
Wings.  Thus there was enough talent and experience for the Redmen to
dominate.

The Excelsiors counted on many young players either just out of Junior
or still in Jr.A.  Their only experience was player/coach Gord Thompson
and John Spicer.  Julie Kowalski was their leading scorer.  Still the
Maroons finished in fourth spot.

The '68 scoring race was a mystery which took many years to solve.  Even
to this day, only the top two scorers are known.  The problem was a mail
strike which paralysed the exchanging of statistical information.  Game
sheets could not be sent to the OLA office and the statistician could
not finish his work.  By the time the mail strike had ended lacrosse
season was done and no one seemed to have cared enough to save the
information.  Jr.A suffered just as much, thought we know Ross Jones won
the scoring title and the local Huntsville paper saved their club's
scoring.  Jr.B and Sr.B scoring was lost completely!

Brooklin met third place Mississauga in the Semi Finals.  The Redmen won
the opener 16-3 but lost on the road 10-7.  Back home they flirted with
disaster when Justin Howe was injured halfway through.  Hastily Mike
Gray was thrown between the pipes and he gave up only four goals in 34
minutes of play.  The defending champs won 13-8.  Wayne Platt was picked
up to finish the series - wins of 18-5 and 18-7.

Second place Hastings tangled with the Excelsiors in the other Semi
Final.  Remarkably this series did not go seven games, ending Brampton's
run of eight straight.  The Excelsiors took the first two games by
scores of 12-8 and 12-10.  Kowalski scored five times in the opener and
a hattrick in the second match.  Jim McClure had four goals in Game One
and Bob Bartlett chipped in a second game hattrick.  Hastings came back
to win at home 13-5.  Roger Grant and Bernie Burns had four point
efforts.  A 10-6 Brampton win put them up 3-1.  John Spicer had four
points, while Bartlett counted another hattrick and Dave Rudge scored
three times.  The Legionaires extended the series with an 11-9 victory. 
Mike Self was high man with four points.  The Excelsiors dodged a
seventh game by ending the series with a 12-10 triumph.  Julie Kowalski
scored four times, one better than Grant's trio.

By the start of the final Brooklin had picked up Joe Tomchishen to tend
goal.  The Excelsiors and Redmen renewed their rivalry but this one
would be no classic.  Wayne Davidson scored four times as the defending
champions won the first game 15-7.  They were victorious in Bramptn
13-10 as Gerry Burrows and Dave Houston scored five each.  Back home,
six unanswered second period goals blew the Excelsiors away.  12-3 was
the final score as Davidson counted a hattrick.  In the last contest
Houston and pint sized speedster Jim Campbell buried Brampton with
hattricks.  Brooklin won 13-4.

Coquitlam won the ICLL but were beaten in the BC Final by Nanaimo
Luckies.  This marked the second and last time the ICLL champ did not
represent the west at the Mann Cup.  Nanaimo came east without their
starting netminder Alf Shuker.  He was Gone Fishing literally!  Off on a
expedition to the interior.  The Luckies made do with Port Coquitlam
pick up Harry Preston.  Neither Preston, Shuker or Tomchishen had any
Mann Cup experience.  Justin Howe had appeared in one game during the
'58 Final.

Brooklin took the opener 9-6.  They won the first period 4-2, grabbing a
lead they would never give up.  The westerners out shot them 39-36 but
couldn't beat Tomchishen consistently.  The eastern champs dominated the
second contest, outshooting Nanaimo 17-4 in the second period.  The
final shot totals were 38-23 as the Redmen won 11-6.  Before Game Three
Alf Shuker arrived in town carrying a twenty-five pound salmon.  His
appearance in goal changed nothing.  The Ontario champs outshot the
Luckies 36-24 enroute to a 12-5 victory.  Davidson led with three goals
and three assists.  Brooklin had twice blown 3-1 Mann Cup Final leads,
could they now blow a 3-0 lead?  Justin Howe was healthy and made the
Game Four start.  Shuker stoned the Redmen for two periods and held them
to three goals. The shots in the game favoured the home side 36-20, thus
it was only a matter of time before they broke through.  An eight goal
third period finished Nanaimo off.  The final score was 11-4.  Julie
Kowalski scored four times.  Bench warmer Joe Tomchishen was named the
Mike Kelly winner.  After the game the team drove to Oshawa in a parade
of cars, then returned to Brooklin on a fire engine.

The Green Gaels were nearly perfect in 1968.  With 101 goals Ross Jones
showed them the way to a 24-0 record.  The squad next ran off back to
back series sweeps to reach the OLA Final.  There they met a determined
Mississauga club which nearly beat them right in the Civic Auditorium. 
Oshawa squeezed out a 17-15 victory, despite seven point efforts from
Earl MacNeil and Al Gordaneer.  Two nights later, the bubble burst in
Mississauga.  Rick Dudley and Barry Salovaara both scored four goals as
the locals won 13-12.  All they really achieved was to get the Gaels
mad.  Oshawa took the next three by scores of 17-4, 15-3 and 13-4.  They
were just as merciless in winning the Minto Cup.  In their last ever
meeting with New Westminster the results were: 13-7, 16-7, 24-10 and
22-9.  Goaltender Merv Marshall won his sixth championship.