1940 MEMORIAL CUP
Kenora Thistles vs. Oshawa Generals
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre)
This was it for the Kenora Thistles.
Never before had a team from the north-western Ontario community qualified for the Memorial Cup final.
Nor would it happen again.
Coached by Bobby Benson and managed by R.H. (Shorty) Elliott, the Thistles played out of the 1,800-seat Thistle Rink.
Benson was well-known in amateur hockey circles. He had played for the 1920 Allan Cup-winning Winnipeg Falcons, who had won the gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Antwerp, Belgium. Benson had also coached the 1932-33 Brandon Native Sons who lost the western Canadian junior final to the Regina Pats.
The Kenora lineup included the likes of goaltender Charlie Rayner, who was also the team captain, and defenceman Bill (The Beast) Juzda, who would go on to play in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers and earn the reputation as one of the toughest body-checkers the game has known.
In the western Canadian playoffs, it came down to the Thistles and the Edmonton Athletic Club.
Edmonton defeated the Trail Tigers 11-1 after which the remainder of the best-of-three series was cancelled. Edmonton advanced into a best-of-five series against the Regina Abbott Generals, winning the first game 6-4, losing the second 5-4 and then taking the next two, 6-2 and 6-2.
Kenora, meanwhile, was defeating the Port Arthur Juniors. The Thistles actually lost the opener 5-4, before winning the best-of-three series with 5-4 and 4-0 victories.
Edmonton and Kenora, which arrived by train just five hours before game time, opened a best-of-five series in Edmonton on April 4 with Rayner turning in an outstanding effort in a 2-2 tie.
The E.A.C.'s roared back with a 7-1 victory on April 7 in a game that featured, according to one report, "three free-for-alls, 31 minor penalties, eight majors and three penalty shots against Charlie Rayner ... Ten policemen rushed on the ice to end the biggest of the brawls.”
The series moved to Winnipeg where Kenora won it, winning 3-1 before more than 5,000 people on April 10, scoring a 6-5 victory on two goals by each of Dick Milford and Walter (Pinkie) Melnyk on April 12, and then earning a 2-2 tie on April 13.
The Thistles stayed in Winnipeg, as the Memorial Cup was to open there on April 16.
Oshawa was in the final for the third consecutive season.
Tracy (The Fox) Shaw was again coaching the Generals, while Matt Leyden was back as the Oshawa manager.
Among those returning players who had been on the 1939 Memorial Cup team were Buddy Hellyer, brothers Norm and Jud McAtee, and goaltender Dinny McManus. Jud McAtee was the captain.
The eastern final featured Oshawa and the Verdun, Que., Maple Leafs. Oshawa had ousted the Toronto Young Rangers and Toronto Marlboros, and then had thrashed the South Porcupine Dome Miners (they were known as the Porkies), 10-1 and 10-1, sweeping the best-of-three series. Verdun had done the same to the Perth Blue Wings, winning 9-4 and 7-5.
Oshawa won the opener against Verdun, 6-3 in Toronto on April 5, and then wrapped up the best-of-three series with McManus posting the shutout in a 4-0 victory in Montreal on April 10.
"Kenora seems to have plenty of speed and a fairly strong defence but our polish and finish around the nets will beat them,” predicted Shaw.
Milford, Kenora's starry centre, stated: "We'll be outweighed in this series but that's nothing new for us -- it's been the same all year.
"Those McAtee boys looked good out there, but Benson will have them figured out for us by game time.”
The series opened in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre on April 16, with Oshawa posting a 1-0 victory behind McManus's goaltending and a goal by centre Roy Sawyer 31 seconds before the end of the second period.
"Dinny's a good boy,” Shaw said of his goaltender, "and has played some good games for us in the past two seasons but he never gave us more support than he did out there tonight.”
The game also featured a brawl, as reported by Charles Hood to the Regina Leader-Post:
"Play was rough in the early minutes. Hard play between the two teams came to a head late in the first session when Juzda, trying to bodycheck Jud McAtee of Oshawa, sent him flying into the boards. The pair rose with their fists flying and a brief free-for-all broke out.
"Six policemen rushed on the ice as the trouble started ... only the 12 players on the ice were involved.”
Elliott, the Kenora manager, wasn't concerned with the loss. After all, his boys had been hammered 7-1 by Edmonton in Game 2 of the western final.
"If we can come back from a licking like that, we're not worrying about our one-goal defeat tonight,” he said. "We'll go home with the Memorial trophy yet.”
Juzda, however, was in tears. He had been beaten by Sawyer for the game's only goal.
"I stood still as he stepped around me,” Juzda sobbed.
Oshawa went up 2-0 with a 4-1 victory on April 18, scoring twice with Juzda in the penalty box early in the first period.
Jud McAtee, at 4:11, and Orville Smith, at 5:30, counted early in the first period, both on passes from Norm McAtee with Juzda off.
Ron Wilson scored another power-play goal for Oshawa before the first period ended, this one coming with Vince Jorgenson in the penalty box.
Sawyer scored Oshawa's other goal, in the second period. Melnyk, who was back in the lineup after missing the third period of Game 1, scored for Kenora early in the third period.
"Generals have a good club but they're certainly no better than the clubs the western champs have beaten out in former years,” offered Harry Neil, who had coached the Winnipeg Monarchs to national junior titles in 1935 and 1937. "If Kenora can produce the hockey (in Game 3) that they showed us a month ago, they'll be sure of one game in the series at least.”
Kenora wasn't dead yet. The Thistles posted a 4-3 victory on April 20 before 4,500 fans to cut the Generals lead to 2-1.
"We beat 'em, boy, we beat 'em,” shouted Kenora defenceman Vic Lofvendahl, as the pain of a bruised ankle brought tears to his eyes. He had played through the pain to score twice and provide his mates with leadership.
"The boys played their best hockey in years, even if they did seem a little shaky near the end,” said Benson, "and if we can take this next one we'll be home-free.”
Melnyk and winger Eddie Dartnell also scored for Kenora, which was beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Melnyk suffered a slight concussion and was taken to hospital. Lofvendahl bruised his right ankle near the end of the first period and hardly played afterwards. Winger Nick Knott didn't play, thanks to a knee injury suffered in Game 2.
Jud McAtee figured in all three Oshawa goals, scoring twice and setting up Orville Smith for the other.
Kenora led 3-1 after the first period and 4-1 after the second. Smith and McAtee pulled the Generals to within one with eight minutes left and the Thistles were hanging on at the end, with Rayner the difference.
However, the Thistles' dream ended on April 22 with Oshawa posting a 4-2 victory in front of fewer than 3,000 fans, far short of the capacity crowds of at least 4,500 that had watched each of the first three games.
With the victory, the Generals became the first team to win the Memorial Cup in back-to-back seasons.
"Their class overcame the greater aggressiveness of the Thistles,” wrote Charles Edwards.
After a scoreless first period, Melnyk opened the scoring at 13:24 of the second period. Don Daniels tied it for Oshawa at 14:45.
Hellyer sent Oshawa out front at 2:45 of the third period, only to have Milford pull the Thistles even at 11:10.
Then, with Milford in the penalty box, Daniels, a veteran of five seasons with Oshawa, scored what proved to be the Memorial Cup-winning goal at 15:02. Sawyer added the insurance on a breakaway some 59 seconds later.
When it was over, the teams mixed and mingled in the Kenora dressing room.
Reported Hugh C. Chatterton: "Thistles hardly had time to unlace their skates before Generals rushed in to laud the fighting spirit of the Kenora boys.
"The cry of ‘three cheers' rang out for each individual player and when the turn came for Bill Juzda, the hardy Thistle blueliner, the Oshawans, many of them bearing bruises from Bill's jolting bodychecks, discarded words and hoisted the 185-pound defenceman off his feet.”
Mayor Percy Williams of Kenora, a star with the Thistles around 1910, was last seen with Sawyer's helmet on his head. Sawyer was left with a slightly oversized fedora.
"Winning Memorial Cups is just like olives -- the more you get the more you want and it gets better every time,” Shaw said.
Strangely, the Generals journeyed from Winnipeg to Regina where on April 24 they played an exhibition game against the Regina Abbott Generals.
Some 1,500 spectators gathered in the Queen City Gardens to watch Regina hammer the newly crowned champions 12-4 with speedy Grant Warwick scoring three goals and setting up two others.
As Dave Dryburgh pointed out in the Regina Leader-Post: "Of course, (Regina) had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Perhaps the Generals realize today the folly of these late-season exhibitions. No championship squad likes to take a 12-4 drubbing and it's safe to bet that Oshawa hadn't considered the possibility of such a crushing setback.”
Oh well ... the Generals traveled on to Banff for a few days of rest before they took home the spoils of victory -- the Memorial Cup.
NEXT: 1941 (Winnipeg Rangers vs. Montreal Royals)
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