1948 MEMORIAL CUP
Port Arthur West End Bruins vs. Barrie Flyers
at Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens)
It was a powerful Port Arthur West End Bruins team that qualified for the 1948 Memorial Cup final.
Coached by Ed Lauzon, the Bruins were sparked by two players who had spent the 1947-48 season with the Memorial Cup-champion Toronto St. Michael's Majors -- Rudy Migay and Benny Woit. Migay, in fact, was the Bruins' captain.
Also in the Port Arthur lineup was flashy Danny Lewicki, who had been added to the roster from the Fort William Columbus club. And the Bruins featured goaltender Lorne Chabot, one of the best around in those days.
The Bruins would meet the Lethbridge Native Sons in the western Abbott Cup final.
The Native Sons, under coach Scotty Munro, had advanced to that point by winning a six-game series from the Moose Jaw Canucks, a team that featured the likes of Jackie McLeod, Jim Bedard, Hugh Coflin and Larry Popein.
The Native Sons featured the highest-scoring line in junior hockey that season. Eddie Dorohoy, Freddie Brown and Bill Ramsden accounted for 418 points in 63 games, including Ramsden's mind-boggling 107 goals and Dorohoy's 86 assists.
Lethbridge would finish the season with a 50-10-3 record (six of those losses were in the playoffs), but with Dorohoy on the limp and not nearly as effective as he had been earlier in the season.
Playing in Moose Jaw, the Canucks won the opener 3-2, lost the second game 8-5 and won the third 3-2. The scene then shifted to Lethbridge and the Native Sons won three straight, 4-3, 5-2 and 7-2.
At the same time, Port Arthur was needing six games to oust the Winnipeg Monarchs. The Bruins won 12-3 and 6-4 at home and then traveled to Winnipeg where they won 10-4, lost 7-5 and 5-3, and won 7-2.
The western final -- now pay attention here -- opened with two games in Lethbridge. The next four were played in Port Arthur. And the seventh game was played in -- yes -- Maple Leaf Gardens, a purely logical site to decide the western Canadian junior hockey championship.
Actually, in those days they preferred to play a seventh game at a neutral site. In this instance the Winnipeg Amphitheatre was tied up with an ice show, and with the Memorial Cup scheduled to open on April 24 in Maple Leaf Gardens, there wasn't time to move Lethbridge and Port Arthur as far west as Regina and then have the winner get to Toronto.
Anyway, the Native Sons won their home games, 6-1 and 7-6. Port Arthur won its first home game, 7-4, lost the second, 5-4, and then won three in a row, 5-0, 6-4 and 11-1. That last game, in Toronto, was played on April 21 in front of about 1,200 fans.
And so it was that Port Arthur advanced to the Memorial Cup final for the first time in 21 years. In 1927, Port Arthur had lost to the Owen Sound Greys.
This time the opposition would be supplied by the Barrie Flyers. Coached by Leighton (Hap) Emms, a man on his way to becoming a hockey legend in the east, Barrie had never before reached the final.
On the basis of what they had seen in Game 7 between Port Arthur and Lethbridge, the so-called experts were quick to establish the Flyers as heavy favourites.
So you can imagine the shock and dismay when the Bruins opened the best-of-seven final with a 10-8 victory before 13,075 fans on April 24.
Port Arthur held period leads of 2-0 and 8-3 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score would seem to indicate.
Migay scored three times for the winners, with Lewicki and Alfie Childs adding two each. Dave Creighton, Fred Bacarri and Bart Bradley added one each.
Barrie got two goals from each of Billy Barrett and Whit Mousseau, while Rusty Aikin, Stan Long, Bruno Favero and Alfie Guarda added one each.
And already Emms was crying the blues, something that would become a trademark of his, not only in this series but in the years to follow.
"We can't come back,” he moaned. “The team has too many injuries ... No, I don't think we can come back and I wouldn't be saying so if I thought differently.”
Barrie's Jerry Reid (ankle) and Paul Meger (leg) were listed as doubtful starters for Game 2.
Across the way, Lauzon was all smiles.
"We may take the series in straight games and then again it may go the full seven,” he said. "The outcome will depend on the boys themselves.”
Writing for the Regina Leader-Post, Dave Dryburgh reported: "Barrie's gaudily attired Flyers looked for two periods as if they had reached the Memorial Cup final by false pretenses; but Port Arthur Bruins were good sports about it all and proceeded to give a 20-minute show of how a good hockey team shouldn't peform ...
"If the guys out west who holler about rough play had seen the game, they'd seek a court injunction to halt the series. Barrie has a character named (Ray) Gariepy who makes Moose Jaw's Jim Bedard look like a Lady Byng Trophy winner. But Mr. Gariepy made one mistake on one of his wild sallies and was flattened like a rug by Port Arthur's Benny Woit, who has been around a while, too. It was the bodycheck of the decade ...
"Even those who like their hockey in the raw thought there was too much charging and boarding and the referees (Vic Lindquist of Winnipeg and Montreal's Ken Mullins) have been instructed to clamp down.”
The Bruins romped 8-1 in Game 2 before 11,828 fans on April 26 and the sniping started.
"We can't complain, but I've seen better officiating,” Lauzon said. "It was the first time I have ever seen a player banished for taking a swipe at the puck and clipping an opponent's boot tops in the process.”
The Flyers dressing room was closed to reporters. Emms would be heard from later.
Lewicki and Creighton led the way with two goals each. Robbie Wrightsell, Bacarri, Bob Fero and Childs added one each. Only Favero was able to score for Barrie.
The Flyers were without Reid (ankle), while the Bruins played without forward Bill Johnson (bruised hip, knee).
The Bruins closed to within one game of the title with a 5-4 victory in front of 11,555 fans on April 28.
"The eastern champion Flyers surprised the fans by coming up with their best game to date,” reported The Canadian Press. "They kept pace with the slick Bruins almost throughout and came from behind three times to tie the score.
"Flyers, however, didn't have the extra punch and drive to take over the lead any time. Bruins did not play as well as they did in the first two games and their defence suffered lapses at times while their forwards did little back-checking.”
Bacarri, Childs, Lewicki, Pete Durham and Allan Forslund scored for the Bruins. Gil St. Pierre had two goals for Barrie, with Mousseau and Aikin adding one each.
Forslund's goal, at 15:54 of the second period, broke a 4-4 tie. The teams played a scoreless third period.
After the game, Emms announced to the world that his Flyers wouldn't play the Bruins in a fourth game without a change of referees. Lindquist and Mullins handled the first three games.
"If they don't give us different referees, we won't show up,” Emms said. "They can suspend me or do anything they want, but we won't play.”
The next day, Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Al Pickard of Regina announced: "The fourth game will go on as scheduled ... and with the same referees.”
Dryburgh wrote: "It doesn't matter if (Emms) does drop out because he won't win the cup anyway. But why he should insult the referees is beyond us. They've been extremely lenient with his Flyers who play in such robust fashion that it is evident they gave the rule book only a cursory glance.
"What is annoying Emms is that Port Arthur Bruins have taken a liking to playing it he-man style, too. Ray Gariepy, the terror of the OHA, doesn't visit Benny Woit and Pete Durham any more. They've shown him a few tricks about carpet-laying and Bruins are calling all the shots in the series. Some papers said they were outclassed on Wednesday. That's all bosh. The Bruins were so over-confident that they hauled themselves down to Barrie's level. The Ports were flying on one wing and still won. They're home free in the series and they know it -- that's all that ails them.”
When Game 4 began, the Flyers were without Long, a solid defenceman who had separated a shoulder in Game 3.
The Bruins won the Memorial Cup on May 1, beating the Flyers 9-8 in overtime before 13,053 fans.
"The game was the most bitterly contested seen in Toronto junior hockey in years,” reported The Canadian Press. "The lead changed hands several times as both clubs went all out for victory. Tempers flared and sticks crept high and referee Vic Lindquist of Winnipeg was attacked by a Barrie player in the overtime session.”
Yes, indeed, Lindquist was given a going over by Guarda.
Here's CP's report: "Early in overtime, Creighton put Bruins up 8-7 while both teams were at full strength. At the four-minute mark, referee Lindquist was rushed by Guarda of Barrie when the official tried to call a penalty against Barrie's (Sid) McNabney. Guarda threw several soft punches at the official, but players soon separated them.
"Guarda was given a match misconduct penalty while (Ray) Mayer, who also did a little shoving, drew a misconduct and McNabney a minor at the same time.
"Flyers would not resume play until the officials finally gave them two minutes to ice a team.”
The Flyers were a man short when Mousseau tied the score 8-8. But Lewicki scored what turned out to be the winner at 8:37 of the overtime period.
Creighton totalled four goals and two assists, while Lewicki and Bradley had two goals each. Childs scored Port Arthur's other goal. Reid had three goals for Barrie, while Mayer added two. Sid McNabney, Guarda and Mousseau added one each.
"It was a tough game to win and a tougher one to lose,” Lauzon said. "I figure I should really head for the showers. I'm soaking wet.”
Emms, meanwhile, was still talking about the officiating.
Oh yes, he also found time to announce that he wouldn't be returning to the Flyers next season.
NEXT: 1949 (Brandon Wheat Kings vs. Montreal Royals)