1951 MEMORIAL CUP
Winnipeg Monarchs vs. Barrie Flyers
at Winnipeg (Amphitheatre) and Brandon (Wheat City Arena)
The Regina Pats, of coach Murray Armstrong, and coach Walter Monson's Winnipeg Monarchs hooked up in quite an Abbott Cup final in the spring of ‘51.
The best-of-seven final would go eight games.
It opened in Regina on April 12, before 3,642 fans at the Stadium.
Regina won the opener 3-1 as its rookie line scored two of the goals. Warren Dowie and Bill Papp, who played on that line with Doug Killoh, scored, as did Gordon Cowan. Laurie Mitchell replied for Winnipeg.
Two nights later, in front of 4,578 fans at the Stadium, Winnipeg goaltender Don Collins stole the show in a 5-5 overtime tie.
Collins was especially sharp in the third period when his side was outshot 16-3.
The Winnipegs were without one of their top forwards, captain Elliott (Specs) Chorley having suffered a charley horse in the opener.
Cowan was the hero for Regina as he scored twice, including the tying goal in the overtime period. Doug Killoh, Brian McDonald and Garry Edmundson also scored.
Jim Zarie scored twice for the Monarchs, with Ross Park, Mitchell and Don Johnston adding one each.
Regina had to come from behind three times, including in the overtime period after Zarie scored on a power play just 32 seconds into the extra session.
Game 3 was played before 4,793 fans in Regina on April 16 and Winnipeg came away with a 2-1 victory, thanks to a huge defensive stand in the dying minutes.
All of which left the series even, each team with one win, one loss and one tie.
Mitchell scored for Winnipeg in the first period and Dave Trainor, on a pass from Chorley who was back in the lineup, made it 2-0 at 17:37 of the second period. Eddie Litzenberger scored Regina's goal at 19:34 of the second.
The Pats, with goaltender Bob Tyler on the bench, forced six faceoffs in the Winnipeg zone in the game's final minute but weren't able to capitalize.
The scene shifted to Winnipeg for Game 4 and there was a soldout crowd of some 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre on April 19.
Winnipeg, with Collins continuing to play superbly, blanked Regina 2-0 in a game that featured, according to the Regina Leader-Post’s Harvey Dryden, "brawling and scuffling and other back-alley antics not in the hockey book.”
"A total of 79 minutes in penalties were meted out to the two clubs in the two hectic periods and the first 30 minutes of the game took one hour and 35 minutes to complete,” Dryden wrote. "The soldout crowd of 5,000 fans trooped wearily out of the rink at 11:15 Winnipeg time, two hours and 45 minutes after the first faceoff.”
Mitchell got Winnipeg on the board at 4:40 of the first period. Ross Parke got Winnipeg's other goal, into an empty Regina net at 18:48 of the third period.
The game was also marred by fans along the boards "taking swipes at the Pat players.”
The Monarchs moved to within one point of clinching the series when they beat the Pats 5-2 before 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre on April 21.
Again, it was a rough game with 20 penalties, including three majors, being handed out.
Winnipeg led 2-1 after one period and 3-2 after the second before scoring the third period's only two goals.
Zarie and Johnny Novak had two goals each for the winners, with Parke getting the other. Litzenberger and Bunny Smith replied for the Pats.
This game was notable for one other thing -- the junior debut of Gerry James, who would later become a Canadian sporting legend in hockey and football, and who would later coach the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors. As reported by Dryden: "Monarchs called up another juvenile, Gerry James, son of gridiron great Eddie. A defenceman regularly, James saw action on the wing. An aggressive youth, he tossed his weight around and stirred up things with the Pats.”
Regina began its comeback on April 23 by posting a 2-1 victory before 5,000 fans in the Amphitheatre.
Cowan scored both Regina goals, with Johnston counting for Winnipeg.
"The boys played it well,” Armstrong said. "They were right on the bit. I thought they were skating better than at any time in Winnipeg.
"We'll just take 'em one game at a time and Wednesday is the next one.”
The comeback continued on Wednesday, April 25 as the Pats posted a 4-3 overtime victory before 5,000 fans at the Amphitheatre.
Litzenberger's second goal of the game, at 1:47 of overtime, stood up as the winner as the Pats evened the series at three wins each with one tie.
The Pats at one time trailed 3-0 as Winnipeg got goals from Bruce Bell, James and Trainor.
Tony Schneider and McDonald scored Regina's other goals.
Litzenberger scored the winner when he stepped out of the penalty box, took a pass from Billy Papp and cut in on goal, drawing Collins out of the net and tucking the puck past him.
The eighth game was played before another sellout crowd of 5,000 in the Amphitheatre on April 28.
It was no contest.
Chorley, who had been kept in check through most of the series, got untracked to score two goals and set up another in an 8-4 victory.
Winnipeg raced out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back.
Parke, used on a checking line with James and Ron Barr, scored three times. Trainor, Zarie and Bill Burega also scored for Winnipeg. Regina's goals came from Harvey Schmidt, Tony Schneider, Edmundson and Dowie.
The Monarchs then moved on to the Memorial Cup final and they knew they'd be in tough against the Barrie Flyers, a team that was coached by the legendary Hap Emms and featured the likes of left-winger Real Chevrefils, winger Jerry Toppazzini and centre Leo Labine, all of whom would go on to play in the NHL. The Flyers had gone the full seven games to eliminate the Quebec Citadels in a bitterly fought series.
One of Barrie's forward units featured two Emms boys -- Paul and Don -- on the wings with Bill Hagan. Paul Emms was Hap's son; Don was a nephew.
The Monarchs went in having won three Memorial Cups in four trips to the final.
And going into this final the West and East had each won 16 championships since the trophy was first put up for grabs in 1919.
The final opened on May 2 with Barrie winning 5-1 in the Winnipeg Amphitheatre.
CP reported: "The well-conditioned Barrie club passed the Monarchs dizzy for the first two periods and only in the last session did the Regals show any resemblance to the form which carried them to the western title.”
Jack White, Toppazzini, Jim Morrison, Labine and Danny O'Connor scored for Barrie, with John Riley getting Winnipeg's lone goal at 15:01 of the third period to spoil the shutout bid by Lorne Howes.
The Flyers were in the catbird seat; after all, since 1938 the team that won the first game had gone on to win the Memorial Cup in every instance.
The Flyers then recorded their second straight 5-1 victory in the Amphitheatre.
Morrison, a defenceman who would go on to a steady NHL career, had a goal and two helpers for Barrie, with singles coming from Labine, Don Emms, Doug Towers and Chevrefils. Toppazzini set up three goals. And, again, Riley kept Howes from the shutout, this time scoring eight minutes into the third period.
"Playing away above their heads,” Hap Emms said of his Flyers.
The teams moved to Brandon and the Wheat City Arena for Game 3 on May 5. But the outcome was the same as Barrie won 4-3 to close to within one victory of sweeping the final.
Chevrefils got the winner at 11:31 of the third period with James in the penalty box.
Labine, Hagan and Don Emms also scored for the Flyers. Winnipeg got two goals from Chorley and one from Zarie.
The sweep was completed on May 8 when the Flyers won 9-5 at the Amphitheatre.
It was Barrie's first Memorial Cup title. The only other time the Flyers had been in the final was in 1948 when they lost in four games to the Port Arthur West End Bruins.
The fourth game had been scheduled for May 7 but was postponed due to leaking ammonia fumes in the Amphitheatre.
Chevrefils sparked the Flyers with a goal and three helpers. Labine and Toppazzini had two goals and an assist each. White, Chuck Wood, Towers and George Stanutz also scored.
Parke got two Winnipeg goals, with singles from Mitchell, Chorley and Zarie.
Barrie roared out to a 6-0 lead and it was that sixth goal, by Stanutz, that stood as the Memorial Cup-winner. It came at 7:27 of the second period.
"Nothing to be ashamed of against a club like that,” Monson said.