1973 - MADE FOR TELEVISION 

 This was to be the final season for many players.  Some, like John
 Davis, went out in style. 'Shooter' Davis became only the second OLA
 player to produce four consecutive 50 goal seasons.  In his six year
 Senior career he counted better than fifty every time, which tied Bill
 Brunskill's record.  He also won his fourth scoring title, second only
 to Bill Isaacs' mark of six.  Davis scored over 100 points every year
 he played, making him the only one to ever do it six times.  Which
 meant that he also recorded four straight 100 point seasons.  Once
 again the only player to do it in league history.

 Another professional league loomed on the horizon. Thus 1974 marked a
 mass extinction of the league's top talent.  Consequently a four year
 Mann Cup drought followed for Ontario.  The trophy would come east in
 '73 but not return again until 1978.  In between the OLA champs would
 take their lumps.

 Brampton and Brooklin returned to Senior A, with mixed results.  The
 Excelsiors were a competitive side.  They won 11 out of 24 games to
 finish third ahead of Toronto.  The Redmen lasted half the year, lost
 all twelve games, then dropped out.

 Lacrosse's best rivalry in recent years would go head to head one last
 time.  Again Brantford won the regular season pennant.  Twenty-one
 victories gave them a runaway first place finish.  Peterborough was a
 distant second with a mere fifteen wins.  A 3-5 start killed any chance
 they had at top spot.  The frontrunners dominated the scoring records
 as well.  Four out of five of the league's 100 point men came from
 Brantford or Peterborough.  Brampton's Steve Mastine slipped into
 second place, thanks to a 77 assist year.  John Davis' scoring
 championship meant that former Green Gaels had won six straight.  Davis
 became only the third player in OLA history to score over 1000 points.
 His 503 goals and 1148 points topped Roy Morton but were not quite
 enough to overtake Bill Isaacs.  The Warriors had three players reach
 the 100 point plateau.  Ron MacNeil led the league with 78 goals.  Paul
 Suggate and Earl MacNeil finished with 104 and 103 points respectively.

 The Semi Finals were a mere formality.  Both the frontrunners won four
 straight to set up one last showdown in late August.  The series opener
 in the Telephone City was a wild affair.  The home team led 16-15 after
 two periods.  The lead see sawed back and forth over the last twenty
 minutes.  First Jim Wasson and Ken Henderson put Peterborough in front.
 Next Earl MacNeil tied it after being set up by Bob McCready.  Bill
 Coghill put the home side ahead but Henderson tied it 18-18 with 6
 minutes remaining.  Jerry McKenna notched the winner for Brantford with
 less than 3 minutes on the clock.

 The Lakers returned home to put their perfect record on the line.  They
 would use Game Two to propel them on a three game winning streak.
 Terry Davis led them with 4 goals and 4 assists.  Six power play goals
 would decide the contest.  A four goal run early in the third period
 put the Petes up 14-10.  They would come home 16-12 winners.  Ken
 Henderson was named first star.

 Brantford also had an undefeated home record.  Their first loss came at
 the worst possible time.  Cy Coombes scored four times as the visitors
 built up a 13-7 two period lead.  Brantford came at them with
 everything in the last session.  They outshot Peterborough 21-9 but
 could not solve the outstanding goaltending of Wayne Platt.  The Lakers
 hung on for a 16-11 win.

 Pat Baker was in goal for the fourth contest.  This one was dominated
 by the Peterborough offence.  The rookie line of Gord Floyd, Jim
 Wasson, John Grant, Len Powers and Jim Vilneff scored six first period
 goals.  Floyd finished the evening with five tallies.  During the
 second session Davis potted five markers.  By the time 60 minutes had
 concluded the Lakers had doubled the Warriors 20-10.

 The champions were on the ropes but rallied for a 17-10 victory at
 home.  They outscored the Lakers 5-1 in the second period to pull away.
 Back in Peterborough for Game Six it was a different story.  A crowd
 of 2,263 watched the home side win the opening period 3-2 while
 outshooting the visitors 23-12.  Jim Hickey dominated the draws the
 full 20 minutes.  Carm Collins stepped up as the second period hero.
 His penalty killing - at one point ragging the ball for over a minute -
 allowed Peterborough to take an 8-6 lead to the third.  They then
 clinched a series deciding 14-9 win.  Pat Baker scored the final goal
 from his own crease.  With McCready out of goal, Baker fired a two
 bouncer into the empty net.

 A remarkable accomplishment for a club which had lost half its players
 from the previous season - either to retirement or out west.  The
 Lakers began the year with only 14 signed players and injuries reduced
 their roster to 10 at one point.  33 year old Jim Vilneff was coaxed
 out of retirement and he led the Rookie Line.  Peterborough finished
 7-1, before their playoff success.  Brantford coach Morley Kells
 predicted that, "Peterborough should win the Mann Cup easily."

 Obviously Kells was not calling for a four game sweep.  Simply because
 the Mann Cup would be a one game final.  Even during the field era
 finals were at least two games.  Yet the CBC wanted to televise the
 game nationally, therefore they had to have a one game final.
 Peterborough fans lost out as the game was hosted by Brantford.  But it
 would be the losing team of the final which would always wonder what
 might have been in a seven game series.

 Coach Bob Allan planned to use Wayne Platt in goal.  Call it divine
 intervention but he changed his mind and went with 36 year old Pat
 Baker.  Baker's final game in a career going back to 1959 would be one
 of his best ever.  He would make 53 saves while endlessly frustrating
 the Vancouver shooters.  The Burrards started Dave Evans in goal but
 he'd be replaced in the final period by Don Hamilton.  Hickey was again
 solid at centre, continuously outdrawing Gord Frederickson.  The
 Ontario champs came out fast and won the first period 4-0.  Pat Differ
 and Bob Salt cut the lead in half early in the second frame, however
 the Lakers maintained a 6-3 advantage heading home.  They would proceed
 to register a 9-5 final score.  A short and sour trip east for the
 western champs.

 Next came the Peterborough juniors bid for a Kawartha Double.  They
 romped to a first place finish with a 26-2 record, while scoring a
 league high 459 goals.  Yet the P.C.O.'s did not place a single player
 in the top ten.  Rexdale's Blair Campbell won the scoring title.  His
 171 points barely exceeded his 161 penalty minutes.  At the other end
 of things, the mighty Gaels fell to last place in the eight team
 circuit.

 Peterborough won two playoff series without too much trouble.  Bramalea
 Excelsiors challenged them in the OLA Final by beating them twice.  The
 fight they put up on the floor wasn't always legal.  Game Three in
 Peterborough turned into a donnybrook when Ian Robinson high sticked
 Ken Byers.  The benches cleared, fans joined the players on the floor
 and the brawl took thirty minutes to subside.  One could only hope for
 nothing but lacrosse in the Minto Cup.

 The P.C.O.'s returned to Richmond, scene of their dramatic seven game
 loss two years earlier.  They were given a rude welcome, losing the
 opener 15-5.  Paul Evans said it best, "we've never had to play hard
 all year.  But now we will." True to those prophetic words, it was a
 different Peterborough squad the rest of the way.  They threw a zone
 defence at the Roadrunners in game Two.  It worked early, however
 Richmond solved it in the second period and ran in six straight goals
 for an 11-7 lead.  Brian Evans and Steve Plunkett both scored late in
 period to switch momentum back.  The eastern champs followed that with
 seven more goals to start the last period and waltzed to a 16-12
 victory.  The third contest was very evenly played.  Richmond held a
 42-38 shots on goal edge.  Peterborough took a 7-5 lead into the final
 20 minutes but it didn't last.  With the affair knotted 7-7 Plunkett
 scored to give the visitors the lead for good.  Roadrunner coach Ron
 Phillips claimed the goal came after the 30 second shot clock had
 expired.  Nevertheless it counted and the Petes went on to a 10-9 win.
 3,150 attended the fourth game at Queen's Park Arena and the westerners
 were inspired to greatness.  They outshot their opponents 49-35 and
 chased goaltender Fred Gardner(picked up from Mississauga) to the bench
 during the second period.  Four goals in 92 seconds put the contest out
 of reach.  The 16-7 triumph would not be an uneventful one.  At one
 point someone tossed a octopus onto the wooden floor.  Later there were
 fights near the Peterborough fans' section.  The players were ordered
 off the floor for 25 minutes and the police were brought in.  In the
 end the series was even at 2-2, with memories of '71 dancing through
 everyone's heads.  For the P.C.O.'s it was a troubling image.  Not only
 had they been thumped twice but they'd lost two star players - J.J.
 Johnston and Mark Vitarelli - to injury.  Matters only got worse the
 next night.  Richmond led all the way, including an 8-4 edge at the 40
 minute mark, and hung on for a 10-9 win.  Weak goaltending hurt the
 easterners.  Both Gardner and Tim Barrie played.  Barrie struggled with
 long shots.  Game Six the Petes danced on thin ice much of the night.
 They barely escaped the second period still in contention.  Three
 Roadrunner power play goals gave them a 6-3 advantage.  It could have
 been much worse.  Fred Gardner stopped three breakaways before having
 to leave injured.  At the other end John Lewis was outstanding.  Barrie
 would be even better in the third period, while his teammates would
 figure Lewis out.  Brian Evans began the rally 11 second into the
 session.  Paul Evans concluded it with the game winner 61 seconds from
 the end.  10-9 Peterborough as they were outshot 50-49.  Another
 seventh game, with 3,875 in attendance to witness it.  Gardner was back
 between the pipes.  He led the Petes to a 5-0 start.  Richmond battled
 back to deadlock it 6-6.  Ken Byers scored the winner early in the
 third period.  Most Valuable Player Paul Evans counted the final two
 goals.  9-6 Peterborough as 1971 was put behind them.