1977 MEMORIAL CUP
New Westminster Bruins, Ottawa 67's and Sherbrooke Beavers
at Vancouver (Pacific Coliseum)
Ernie (Punch) McLean's New Westminster Bruins made it three trips in a row to the Memorial Cup tournament and this one opened with the New Westminster bench boss talking of retirement.
"I love working with the kids,” McLean, then 45 years of age, said. "But sometimes it seems like the challenge of coaching juniors is gone for me.”
McLean, it seemed, was tired of being accused of coaching rough-house hockey. And he seemed to be constantly in opposition to the powers that be. At this tournament, for example, he was critical of the round-robin format (this year's event was the first to go to a double round-robin), calling it "a one-game wonder.”
But was he serious, or was he only tilting at windmills?
No matter, because playing at home the Bruins owned this event, as they had owned the WCHL's West Division in the regular season.
There weren't any secrets as to how the Bruins won -- they did it with defence. They allowed only 216 goals, the lowest goals-against for any team since the 1972-73 Saskatoon Blades had allowed 184. After 1976-77, no team allowed fewer than 216 goals until the 1994-95 Kamloops Blazers held opponents to 202 goals.
The keys on the blue line were Barry Beck, Brad Maxwell, Brian Young and Miles Zaharko.
"This defence is the best group of four guys I've ever seen in junior hockey in Western Canada,” McLean said. "It's hard to imagine another club, anywhere in Canada, getting this type of talent together at the same time.”
New Westminster finished the regular season with 105 points (47-14-11), best in the West and second only to the East Division-champion Brandon Wheat Kings (54-10-8).
It took the Bruins only 14 games to win their third straight WHL championship. They eliminated the Victoria Cougars in four straight and then ousted the Portland Winter Hawks in five games.
In the final, they silenced the highest-scoring line in junior hockey -- Brandon's combination of Bill Derlago, Ray Allison and Brian Propp -- and sent the Wheat Kings packing in five games.
While right-winger Mark Lofthouse was the only one of the Bruins to crack the regular-season top 10 -- his 112 points was good for a tie for seventh -- Maxwell led them in playoff scoring, with 22 points, eight behind Derlago and four in arrears of Propp.
The Bruins had three players -- defencemen Maxwell, who by now was playing with a heavily wrapped right wrist, and Beck and Lofthouse -- who were on their third-straight Memorial Cup team. Beck had been named the league's most valuable player and top defenceman for his regular-season play.
New Westminster also got big-time play down the stretch from goaltender Blaine Peterson. He had been unable to play in the 1976 tournament after breaking his collarbone in the warmup before Game 1 of the league final against the Saskatoon Blades. This time, he carried a 2.61 postseason GAA into the Memorial Cup.
The Sherbrooke Castors, of coach Ghislain Delage, had won the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship for the second time in three seasons.
The Castors had won the Robert Lebel Division, their 40-23-9 record the third-best in the league, behind the Quebec Remparts (41-21-10) and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens (42-24-6). But five of the league's 10 teams were within six points of each other, from 86 to 92.
Come the playoffs, the Castors need the full seven games to get rid of the pesky Laval National, a team that had finished 26 points behind them in the regular season. But Sherbrooke could take some solace from having outscored Laval 33-17 in the seven games.
Sherbrooke then took out the Cornwall Royals in a nine-point semifinal, winning three games and tying three. And, in the best-of-seven final, the Castors buried the Remparts in five games to earn their second trip in three seasons to the Memorial Cup.
Jere Gillis was the best of the Sherbrooke forwards in the regular season, with 55 goals and 85 assists. His 140 points left him sixth in the scoring derby.
In the postseason, however, it was Ron Carter who led the charge. In fact, he topped all QMJHL playoff scorers with 30 points, including 12 goals, in 18 games.
The Castors also counted on the likes of Rick Vaive and goaltender Richard Sevigny.
Delage let the world know in advance that his team was headed for Vancouver, not "for a pleasure trip” but "to win the Memorial Cup and nothing else.”
The Ottawa 67's, of head coach Brian Kilrea, were sparked by three key performers -- defenceman Doug Wilson, their captain; goaltender Jay O'Connor, who was but 17 years of age; and, centre Bobby Smith, who checked in with 16 goals and 17 assists in 19 playoff games after a 65-goal regular season.
They also featured Tim Higgins, Ed Hospodar, Steve Payne and Stuart Gavin.
They went 38-23-5 in the regular season to finish atop the Leyden Division. They got past Peterborough and Kingston in the first two rounds of eight-point series, although they trailed 5-3 at one point in the semifinal.
And in the championship final they took care of the London Knights, a team that had enjoyed a 51-13-2 regular season.
This was the first Memorial Cup tournament to feature three teams playing a double round-robin format. After everyone had played everyone else twice, the top two teams would move into the one-game final.
Organizers were quite up front in stating the reason for the shift to a double round-robin affair -- more games meant more money. Period.
The Bruins opened on May 8 by edging Ottawa 7-6 as Lofthouse scored two goals and set up two others in front of more than 10,000 fans.
New Westminster also got a huge boost from centre Ray Creasy, who arrived just an hour before the game after being in Winnipeg where his father had died. Creasy set up four goals. He would play again the following day and then return to Winnipeg for his father's funeral, which was to be held on May 10, an off-day for the Bruins.
Brian Young, Beck, John Ogrodnick, Randy Rudnyk and Rick Greenwood also scored for the Bruins.
Smith had three Ottawa goals, with Higgins, a right winger, adding a pair and Steve Marengere, another right winger, getting the other.
The Bruins led 2-0 and 5-3 at the breaks and were ahead by three goals before Higgins and Smith scored late in the third period.
Peterson, 21, stopped only 18 shots, one more than O'Connor.
"We played very well offensively,” McLean said, "but not nearly as well defensively as we are capable of playing.
"It seemed like every time we made a mistake in our end Ottawa got a goal. We'll have to go back to our hitting game against Sherbrooke.”
Across the way, Kilrea was singing the same tune.
"We were standing around a lot in our own end and wondering what we should do next instead of doing it,” he said. "You can't play this game when you hesitate like we did today.
"A lot of our kids owe me a lot better game than they played today and I expect to get it Tuesday.”
As for Beck, he admitted he hadn't played very well in his zone.
"Anyone can score goals when you hand them chances like we did today,” Beck stated. "I think we built up their confidence as the game went along because we didn't stick to our hitting game.”
The next night, with 10,154 fans in the Pacific Coliseum, the Bruins downed the Castors 4-2 as Maxwell broke a 2-2 third-period at 17:54. It was a picture-perfect goal as Maxwell went coast-to-coast to beat Sevigny, who finished with 50 saves -- 23 in the second period and 21 in the third.
Maxwell admitted his offence was limited by his injured right wrist and that the winning goal had come after some power-play opportunities in which "I failed to put the shot where I wanted because of my wrist . . . I should have been shooting lower.”
Still, he gave Sherbrooke credit.
"Sherbrooke is a much better skating team and they won't be intimidated,” he said. "Our hard work in the second period paid off.”
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals by Creasy and left-winger Dave Orleski. Gillis tied the score with his second power-play goal of the game at 7:45 of the third period.
The Bruins forechecked hard and it paid off with numerous chances, but they couldn't beat Sevigny. At one point, he kicked out seven shots on a Bruins' power play, three of them from Maxwell.
The winning rush began behind the Bruins' net. Maxwell fed left-winger Randy Betty at the Castors' blue line and headed for the net. He got there in time for the return pass and one-timed it past Sevigny.
Centre Doug Derkson added the insurance goal 13 seconds later.
Carey Walker went the distance in goal for the Bruins. He made 23 saves.
Delage was of the impression that his club was hurt by a warm building and by the Bruins' depth. He chose to go with three forward lines, while the Bruins used four.
The key, however, was the Bruins' hitting, which allowed them to take advantage of their superior depth. They also took 63 of the 122 penalty minutes, although the game featured only three scraps.
New Westminster right-winger Stan Smyl sat out with an ankle injury, and Creasy left right after the game to attend his father's funeral.
Ottawa followed up with a 6-1 victory over Sherbrooke on May 10 in front of 4,015 spectators. The 67's forechecked ferociously and most of the game was played in the Castors' end.
Tom McDonell led Ottawa with two goals. Higgins had a goal and three assists, and goaltender Pat Riggin, a 17-year-old pickup from the London Knights, turned aside 18 shots.
"Riggin really helped us in the second period when we got away from our game for nearly 20 minutes,” Kilrea said. "Thank goodness we came out of it in the third period. The boys realized they can't just play 20 minutes of good hockey and win.”
It was the line of McDonell between Higgins and left-winger Shane Pearsall, who had two assists, that showed the way for the 67's. The threesome didn't play together until the playoffs, when McDonell was inserted in place of Yvon Joly, who suffered a broken leg.
Smith and Hospodar also scored for Ottawa, which took control with three goals inside eight minutes of the first period.
Gillis scored a second-period goal for the Castors -- they had three goals to this point and he had all of them.
"New Westminster is a good club,” said Kilrea, looking ahead to the next game, "and it will be our biggest test of the tournament. Our forechecking finally improved and I'm looking forward to it doing the job against the Bruins.”
The '67s made it two in a row on May 11 when Marengere scored his second goal of the game at 2:45 of overtime for a 5-4 victory over the Bruins.
Ottawa, which got its first goal from defenceman Jim Kirkpatrick, trailed 3-1 late in the third period. The 67's tied it on goals by Marengere, at 17:37 on a pass from Smith, and Kirkpatrick, at 19:20 with Riggin on the bench for the extra attacker. Kirkpatrick's shot from the point deflected off one of Maxwell's skates and past Walker.
"Kirkpatrick made a hell of a play at the blue line to keep the puck in for the tying goal,” Kilrea said. "He just outmuscled the New Westminster player for the puck and it paid off.”
On the winning goal, Marengere got through the New Westminster defence and fired the puck through Walker's legs.
"I picked my spot and it went in,” Marengere said. "I don't think Walker saw it.”
"I don't think I'm too small to play this game,” added Marengere, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound speedster who had rebounded from a broken ankle suffered earlier in the season and turned into Ottawa's sparkplug at this tournament. "I can take a check and I can dish it out.”
Lofthouse, Beck and Betty scored for the Bruins.
"Our guys just weren't strong enough late in the game,” McLean said. "We had enough chances to get the puck out of our own end, but we didn't.”
The Bruins had four opportunities to clear the zone before Kirkpatrick's tying goal, but weren't able to get the job done.
Kilrea also had praise for two defencemen -- Wilson and Jeff Geiger.
"Wilson hasn't been feeling well up to now and he came on strong and played his best game of the series,” Kilrea said. "Geiger is the hardest worker on the team and the best bodychecker in the tournament.”
New Westminster clinched a spot in the final on May 13, improving its record to 3-1 by beating Sherbrooke 4-2 before 7,473 fans.
Although there was one game left in the double round-robin affair -- Ottawa, at 2-1, had to play Sherbrooke (0-3) again -- the final was set. It would feature the Bruins and the 67's. Total attendance, with two games remaining, was already at 41,273, and officials were talking of wanting to play the tournament in a big building every year.
Beck, for one, liked the Bruins' chances against Ottawa.
"This team is a lot like the one we had two years ago in Kitchener,” said Beck, who keyed the Bruins' attack with a goal and two assists as New Westminster moved into the Memorial Cup final for a third straight season. "In Kitchener, we got there because we were young, worked hard and got great goaltending from Gordie Laxton. Last year, we had a lot of talent and could score goals, but something was missing.
"Now we've got a bunch of guys who just know how to go out there and work their hardest, hoping the breaks go our way.”
Lofthouse, Creasy and Orleski also scored for the Bruins, who got a big lift in the third period when Beck administered a fierce beating to Sherbrooke defenceman Allen Demers, who suffered a suspected broken nose.
There was a disturbance behind the Sherbrooke bench immediately following that scrap, but police moved in quickly and nothing developed.
Carter and Gillis replied for the Castors.
Creasy scored what turned out to be the game-winner. The shift began with his being bodychecked into the Sherbrooke bench. He then took another hard hit in one corner, following which he was tripped at centre ice. It was during the delayed penalty call, with Peterson on the bench for an extra attacker, that Creasy scored.
"I saw only a little bit of the net to shoot at,” Creasy said, "took the shot and it went in.”
The Bruins got a big game from Peterson, who stopped 40 shots, which was a few too many for McLean's liking.
"I don't think we played that well,” McLean said, "but just well enough to win -- that's our style.
"We look for the breaks and we got them when it counted. I expected this type of game from Sherbrooke after our first game with them.
"We can't score six or seven goals every game . . . we've got to try and keep the score down.”
Ottawa ran its record to 3-0 before 4,266 fans on May 13, beating the Castors 5-2.
Smith, Wilson, Warren Holmes, Higgins and McDonell scored for Ottawa, with Daniel Chicoine and Raymond Roy scoring power-play goals for the Castors.
Sevigny was outstanding again, with 37 stops, while Riggin turned aside 31 shots.
Kilrea was looking ahead to the final, knowing his guys were in tough.
"We have to take the corners away from the Bruins,” he explained, "because that's where they work the hardest and come up with a lot of second effort.
"The Bruins are a good club and they will try to run you out of the rink. But we've got lots of ability and if we can move the puck quickly out of our end, we should be all right.
"If we let them play their game, we're in trouble. New Westminster is big, strong and doesn't quit.”
As for McLean, he was downplaying -- or trying to -- the importance of the game.
"I like to think it's more important to have won the Western Canada championship three years in a row than to have won one sudden-death game in the Memorial Cup,” he said. "I know our kids really want to win this one big . . . guys like Beck, Maxwell and Lofthouse have been here before and come away empty-handed.
"This is a great experience for our younger kids. They've played so well all week. This will make them even better players in the future.”
As for Delage, he said the keys to the final would be Beck and Maxwell.
"You've got to watch those two defencemen,” he stated. "Maxwell likes to use the give-and-go coming out of his end and Beck shoots the puck low and on the net with such velocity from the point.”
And Maxwell was the hero, scoring the winner on a great individual effort at 14:06 of the third to give the Bruins a 6-5 victory on May 15 before 13,460 fans.
The Bruins led 5-2 in the third period only to have Ottawa tie it 5-5 before Maxwell again went coast-to-coast to beat Riggin between the legs with a 20-foot wrist shot.
"I didn't think I could score from that angle cutting off the wing,” Maxwell said, "so I just tried to get it on the net and hope we'd get the rebound.
"We played so well for two periods that it just didn't seem right that we could let the cup slip away again.”
In fact, Maxwell admitted to having negative thoughts in the third period.
"I thought maybe the old jinx was coming back again when they got those three goals in the third,” Maxwell said. "Ottawa has a lot of great hockey players, but we didn't let up.”
Lofthouse scored twice, giving him six goals in the series. Creasy, Ogrodnick and Zaharko also scored for the winners, who led 2-0 and 5-2 at the breaks.
Holmes had two third-period goals for Ottawa, with Smith, Wilson and Payne adding singletons.
"I wasn't worried when they got those three goals,” McLean said, knowing that no one believed him. "This team has come from behind all hear -- heck, we weren't even supposed to be here.”
As for his personal feelings, McLean said:
"I feel just great, super. This is an unbelievable experience for not only myself, but for a great bunch of kids who didn't quit when everyone expected them to.”
And then he started talking, again, about leaving.
"If I get the right pro coaching offer then I think I'll take it,” McLean said. "Life is a series of challenges and I'm looking for a new one.
"I remember when Sam Pollock was coaching the Junior Canadiens in Montreal. Now he's the best general manager in the National Hockey League. I like to think that I've got the knowledge and background to be in the NHL, too.”
Beck was selected the tournament's most valuable player, with Smith winning the award for sportsmanship and Riggin being named the outstanding goaltender.
The all-star team featured Riggin, Beck, Maxwell, Smith, Gillis and Lofthouse.
NEXT: 1978 (New Westminster Bruins, Peterborough Petes and Trois-Rivieres Draveurs)