1978 - CANADA'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Manchester, England was the site of the fourth World Field Lacrosse
Championship. Granted lacrosse was a curious sport to be holding a
World Championship as so few countries played the game. In Britain it
was considered a schoolgirl sport. The Americans only played it in
college. Even in Canada, the birthplace of the game, it was just
played in small pockets around the country. With only Australia,
Canada, England and the United States competing lacrosse made Curling's
world championship seem like the World Cup of soccer. Even sports such
as cricket and baseball were played by more countries. Unlike cricket,
lacrosse had an even bigger handicap - lack of competitiveness. The
Americans had won every game in every championship going back to 1966.
Made one wonder what the point was in even holding a world
championship. A Box World version would come along a couple of years
later - with Canada replacing the United States as the dominant
country. In fact Canada would be split in three(Canada East, Canada
West and the Iroquois Nation). Excuse me but what kind of a World
Championship is that? The Iroquois Nation would eventually compete in
the field game as well. True the Iroquois are a people but they are
not a country. One could point out correctly that England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland are not countries either. At least such
teams had a long history dating back to the beginning of international
soccer and rugby. In the case of lacrosse, it all smacked too much of
revisionism. Our game pretending to be on the scale of other major
international sports.
Nevertheless, there was a world field championship held in Manchester
in 1978 and the unthinkable happened. For the first and only time the
Americans failed to win the Gold Medal. They did beat Canada in round
robin play by a record score. The pair met again in the Final and the
Canadians pulled off the upset. Stan Cockerton scored in overtime as
Canada won its first and only World Field title.
Major lacrosse in Ontario lost the Six Nations Braves. The league did
welcome back Peterborough and Windsor. It would be the Warlocks last
appearance in Senior A. Orangeville was left with the only team in
Senior B, thus they played a full schedule against the Major clubs.
Things had certainly changed from the beginning of the century, when
the Dufferins were the dominant team in the province. Even their last
stint in Senior A in 1932-33 had produced two respectable seasons.
Percy Bradley had even won the '32 scoring title! Following in his
footsteps, Terry Sanderson led Orangeville and the league with over 50
goals. Yet the modern version of the Dufferins won only 4 times while
losing 20 games.
Sanderson was the league's only 50 goal scorer. Bram Wilfong and Ron
Smith both fell one goal shy. That didn't do the Excelsiors much good
as Brampton had the other losing record in the circuit. The defending
champs missed the playoffs in sixth place. Windsor, at least, managed
a 12-12 mark. They also missed the post season.
Owen Sound finished on top of the table with 18 wins and 6 losses.
They were followed closely by the Red Oaks of Peterborough(sponsored
by the Red Oak Hotel) with a 16-8 record. The Petes swept the scoring
race. Paul Evans set up 96 goals, remarkable considering that only two
other players in the league scored more than 96 points. Evans ran away
with the championship and was the only player over 100 points.
Teammate Pete Guerin narrowly missed with 99. Brooklin and Fergus
rounded out the contenders.
The playoffs were a disaster. It only took 12 games to complete the
three series. Again the North Stars fell short in the end.
Peterborough was back and would host the Mann Cup. They also won their
first championship in five years. One could call it a successful title
defence. Peterborough had last been in Senior A back in 1973 - a
repeat five years in the making. The Red Oaks were down 3 games to 2
in the Mann Cup Final but rallied to take the last contests.
Goaltender Tim Barrie won the Mike Kelly Award. Paul Evans set a Final
record with 21 assists. His brother Brian led Victoria with 19
helpers.
For the only time between 1971 and 1990 the Peterborough juniors failed
to make the OLA Final. Arguably they had the second best team in the
province, however the system sabotaged their chances. The Jr.A League
was divided into two divisions. The top six clubs from the previous
year formed the East Division, while the five lowest returning teams
made up the West Division. The two division champs met in the Final.
That forced the Gray-Munros to play Whitby in the Semi Final. They
first disposed of the Green Gaels in a six game Quarter Final, ending
Jim Bishop's two year return to the Junior game. The defending
champion Builders swept Peterborough in the next round. They went on
to sweep Elora and repeat as champions.
Whitby had virtually the same team as the year before. One big
difference was their signing of Mississauga hold out Rob Gemmell before
the season. Despite a competitive regular season fight with
Peterborough and Oshawa, the Builders were untouchable in the playoffs.
Mississauga went the other way. Going back to their Toronto Township
days, Missy had always been near the top in Junior Lacrosse. Twice
they'd come second to the Mighty Gaels and twice they'd been runner up
to the great P.C.O. dynasty. From 1978 on it would be all downhill.
It all came apart during the '77 playoffs. After finishing second in
the league, they were upset by Elora in the Quarter Final. Thus 1976
would be the last time the team made the Semi Finals.
Whitby had only one more win left in their season - the 13-11 Minto Cup
opener in Burnaby. In each of the following games the Cablevision
scored 17 goals or more. The Builders could not keep up. Like their
first visit to the West Coast in 1960, Whitby were beaten in five
games. They joined Brampton as the only Ontario teams to have lost
three Minto Cup Finals.
