1969 - ONTARIO COUNTY DOUBLE 


While much of the lacrosse world was preoccupied with the second and
final professional season, the good, old teams just kept right on
winning.  Brooklin and Oshawa repeated as champions once again, another
Ontario County sweep and the last for the county soon to be renamed
Durham Region.  The sixties were the decade for the area east of
Toronto. From insignificance a meteoric rise had taken place leading to
thirteen OLA championships, seven Minto Cup wins and a pair of Mann
Cups.  Lacrosse's balance of power had shifted.

It was an eventful year for scoring champ Elmer Tran.  Brooklin's
diminuitive sniper began the year suspended, along with Merv Marshall,
for not honouring a professional contract.  The suspension lasted five
days.  Next Tran, Marshall and Peterborough's "Golden Jet" Bill Armour
were all suspended until their amateur status could be cleared.  All
this transpired before the season had even started!  Once play began
Tran was unstoppable.  He won the scoring race with a record setting 96
assists.  He worked well with fifty goal scorer Neil Armstrong.  Thus
begining a partnership which would coach Whitby to a Minto Cup win years
later, then lead Toronto Beaches to their only Jr.A playoff successes.

The Senior B Brantford Warriors jumped to A ball and enjoyed immediate
success.  They had the league's top offence, though they finished four
points behind Brooklin in the standings.  Jim Squires finished second in
league scoring, with Bill Squires right behind him.

The other three clubs all had losing records.  Brian Thompson led
Huntsville and everyone with 66 goals.  The Hawks had four top ten
scorers but not enough depth to succeed.  The Excelsiors moved next door
to Bramalea.  Senior lacrosse in Peterborough continued its eastward
trek.  From Hastings the club shifted to Belleville, becoming the
Merchants.

The playoffs commenced in early August.  Armstrong scored seven points
as Brooklin upended Bramalea 18-14.  Julie Kowalski counted four goals
for the losers.  In Game Two the Redmen had to outscore the Excelsiors
6-2 in the third period for a 17-15 win.  Marshall came off the bench to
replace Justin Howe and spark the rally.  Don Craggs led with five
goals, while Dave Houston chipped in four.  Marshall played the final
two games and held Bramalea to seven goals.  In Brooklin the score was
20-3.  Five goals for Houston and a nine point effort from Tran.  The
last game was slightly more respectable at 11-4.  Glen Lotton starred
with a hattrick.

Brantford and Belleville hooked up for a more competitive series.  The
Warriors began with a 19-14 victory.  Ivan Thomas scored four times and
Jim Squires added a trio.  Pat Hickey was best for the Merchants with
five points.  The first ever post season contest in Belleville was a
narrow 13-11 loss for the home side.  Hattricks for Ivan Thomas and Bill
Squires as Charlie Squires contributed five assists.  Bill Armour beat
Ron Thomas five times for the Merchants.  Back in the Telephone City,
the Warriors won 13-8.  Charlie Thomas was the only notable scorer with
six points.  Belleville avoided elimination by winning at home 17-15. 
Seven goals from the stick of Armour while Hickey added six points. 
Brantford ended the series with a tight 11-10 triumph.  Another super
effort by Armour as he tallied half his team's goals.  Bill and Jim
Squires both counted three for the winners.

The Redmen opened the Final with a 15-11 win.  Elmer Tran led with six
assists, however three third period goals by Glen Lotton were key.  Dave
Houston also had a hattrick and Jim Squires scored four times for the
losers.  Brooklin then blasted Brantford 21-12.  A Homeric eleven point
game from Tran was just the tip of the iceberg.  Jim Henderson scored
four goals, while Neil Armstrong, Glen Lotton and Jim Campbell each had
five points.  Charlie Thomas and Bill Squires were best for the Warriors
with three goals a piece.  The defending champs again struggled at home
but came away with an 11-9 victory.  Lotton counted three goals as Tran
and Armstrong both contributed four assists.  Bill Squires had a five
goal night.  Squires was shutout by Merv Marshall in the finale, a 14-9
Brooklin triumph.  Lotton, Henderson and Campbell all found net three
times.

The year concluded with another Redmen Mann Cup victory.  They defeated
New Westminster Blues four games to one.  Bill Squires was picked up and
he led the series with thirteen goals.  Elmer Tran was top point man
with twenty-four.  This gave Tran the triple as regular season, playoff
and Mann Cup scoring leader.  A rare triple only previously done by John
Davis three years earlier and Oddie Core back in 1931.  The only player
to since duplicate the feat was John Tavares in 1993 and 1994.

The Green Gaels won their seventh straight Minto Cup.  Oshawa set a
league record, which has never been matched, by averaging 23.79 goals
per game.  Remarkably they placed only two scorers in the top ten.  Jim
Higgs won his third McConaghy.  Ageless Don Stinson finally graduated
from Junior.  He had played on all seven winners.  Jim Bishop also moved
on.  He would coach some Senior lacrosse before making the first of
three returns to Jr.A in 1977.