1972 Memorial Cup

With the Edmonton Oil Kings representing the WHL in the Memorial Cup tournament that opens Friday in Shawinigan, Que., let’s take a look back at four of the franchise’s appearances in the national championship.
We start with a look at the 1972 tournament. Then, as this week progresses, we’ll revisit 1971 and then the Oil Kings’ two Memorial Cup championships, in 1966 and 1963.
Enjoy!

1972 MEMORIAL CUP
Cornwall Royals, Edmonton Oil Kings and Peterborough Petes
at Ottawa (Civic Centre)

“It will be a classic, one of the best junior finals ever played and Edmonton will win it,” said Del Wilson, a scout for the Montreal Canadiens and the president of the Regina Pats.
Wilson, whose Pats lost the WCHL final to the Oil Kings in five games, was speaking as the Edmonton Oil Kings, Peterborough Petes and Cornwall Royals gathered in Ottawa for the first Memorial Cup to be decided using a round-robin format.
As what was once simply junior hockey split into two distinct groups – major junior and junior A – the premier group formed three leagues, one in Ontario, one in Quebec and another in Western Canada.
The three major junior leagues would continue to compete for the Memorial Cup, but it was obvious it no longer could be capped with two teams playing a best-of-seven final.
It was decided, then, that each league would send its champion to a predetermined site and the Memorial Cup would be decided there.
Originally, this was done in a single round-robin tournament – each team would play the other team once. The two teams with the best records would meet in the final. If each team finished the round-robin with a 1-1 record, the finalists would be decided using a formula based on the ratio of goals-for to goals-against.
All three coaches who would appear in this Memorial Cup – Edmonton's Brian Shaw, Peterborough's Roger Neilson and Cornwall's Orval Tessier – were against the new format.
According to a Canadian Press report, “They complain of the pressure put on their players in so short a series, the lack of home crowds and other factors.”
However, NHL president Clarence Campbell told folks at the Memorial Cup luncheon in Ottawa that junior hockey just might be on to something here.
According to CP: “To accomplish this, Campbell noted, the series would need television coverage (which was) lacking this year. The strike at CBC, and CTV's already hefty sports programming, ruled out TV coverage.”
(The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) was on strike.)
Edmonton, with Shaw running the bench, featured goaltenders Larry Hendrick, Doug Soetaert and John Davidson, the latter added from the Calgary Centennials with whom he had been named the WCHL's most valuable player.
The Oil Kings had finished second in the West Division, their 90 points from a 44-22-2 record leaving them 11 points behind the Centennials.
Edmonton was a team that scored 320 regular-season goals, the league's fifth-highest total, but didn't have a scorer in the top 10. In the postseason, Darcy Rota led the offence with eight goals and nine assists in 16 games. Terry McDonald, at 15 years of age, was Edmonton's best penalty-killing forward.
On defence, Edmonton was led by Keith Mackie, at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds perhaps the first of the really big defencemen who would become so common in future seasons.
The Oil Kings opened by eliminating the New Westminster Bruins in five games. Edmonton then took care of Calgary in six games, setting up what was a five-game final with Regina.
Edmonton's style of play was similar to Peterborough's – physical and close-checking.
Neilson and his Petes opened postseason play by dumping the St. Catharines Black Hawks 4-1 in games. They then finished off the Toronto Marlboros, also 4-1.
And, in the final, the Ottawa 67's also went out in five games, but in this instance – remember, these were eight-point series – the Petes won three and tied two.
With the Ottawa Civic Centre the predetermined home for this first tournament, organizers were not overly thrilled to see the 67's get bounced. Still, they forecast good crowds for the games in the 10,000-seat facility.
Tessier's Royals, meanwhile, counted on goaltender Richard Brodeur in a big way.
Brodeur, who would go on to some fame as King Richard with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, sparked the Royals past the Verdun Maple Leafs 4-0, the Shawinigan Bruins 4-1 and, in the Quebec final, the Quebec Remparts in seven games (the Royals won four, lost two and tied one).
(The Remparts, Memorial Cup champions in 1971, promptly announced that head coach Maurice Filion's contract wouldn't be renewed because of differences of opinion between he and the team's board of director. Within a week, he had replaced the fired Ron Racette as general manager and head coach of the Sherbrooke Castors.)
As the tournament opened, the CAHA revealed that 70 reporters had applied for accreditation and that 50 of those were from outside the Ottawa area.
Peterborough got great goaltending from Mike Veisor and opened with a 4-2 victory over Cornwall before 7,893 fans in the Civic Centre on May 8.
The Royals pressed the Petes for much of the game and were in it until the dying seconds when defenceman Ron Smith lost control of the puck in front of his empty net and Peterborough's Ron Lalonde pounced on it to score his second goal of the game.
Peterborough's other goals came from Doug Wilson and Paul Raymer, who gave the Petes a 3-1 lead six minutes into the second period.
The Royals' goals came from Bob Murray and Yvon Blais, the latter pulling Cornwall to within one, at 3-2, with two minutes left in the second period.
The first period was awfully physical – referee Joe Cassidy, a WCHL regular from Calgary, hit the Petes with eight of 14 minors and gave Cornwall's John Wensink a misconduct – but the teams settled down afterwards.
Cornwall dominated the third period but wasn't able to beat Veisor.
“He has been doing that for us for a long time,” Neilson said of Veisor, who was backed up by Rolly Kimble and Michel (Bunny) Larocque, the latter having been added from the 67's.
By now, most of the scouts were touting the Oil Kings as the favourites.
But Shaw, with his boys preparing to meet Peterborough in the tournament's second game, wasn't buying it.
“The scouts have been wrong before,” he said, pointing out that earlier in the season the scouts had tagged the Marlboros as the country's best junior team. “Peterborough beat them, so Peterborough must be better than the Marlies.”
As for Cornwall, Shaw said that the Royals “come from the league that last year won the cup, so they have to be strong.”
Still, Shaw liked his team's chances.
He said his players “are extremely dedicated. We had to come off the floor four times to get this far.”
Shaw added: “We have been able to win key games and we play well away from home.”
What the Oil Kings hadn't counted on was running into Neilson, who was just beginning to carve out a reputation as a coach who would play the game by the rules and take advantage of the loopholes when it was needed.
In the second game, on May 10, the Petes beat Edmonton 6-4 before about 5,800 fans, clinching a berth in the tournament's final in the process. Peterborough hadn't been in the Memorial Cup final game since 1959.
The score was 4-4 when, prior to the start of the third period, Rota was fingered for playing with an illegal stick. Referee Michel Vaillancourt of Sherbrooke, Que., found the stick to be 1 3/8 inches thick at the tip of the blade, while CAHA rules called for a minimum of two inches.
Peterborough, which got two goals and two assists from Doug Gibson, scored on the ensuing power play.
“They're sick . . . it's the cheapest way I know to win a hockey game,” seethed Edmonton general manager ‘Wild’ Bill Hunter. “If we're going to lose to them, we're going to lose on the ice . . . not through cheap penalties . . . we'll win it.”
Hunter's demeanour wasn't helped any by the fact that Brian Ogilvie was fingered for playing with an illegal stick later in the third period.
Said Neilson: “I know it's a cheap penalty for the Memorial Cup . . . I didn't call it.”
As for the play on the ice, Neilson said: “We heard that Edmonton was better than Cornwall but I'm not sure now . . . the edge for us was in the goals.”
After Gibson's power-play goal, the Oil Kings managed just two shots on goal as the Petes put on the defensive clamps.
Overall, though, the Petes outskated, outhit and outclassed the Oil Kings, outshooting them 49-33.
Lalonde, Jim Turkiewicz, Rick Chennick and Jim Jones also scored for the Petes.
Edmonton got its goals from Ogilvie, Gerry McDonald, Don Kozak and Rota.
The next day, Shaw was trying to forget about the first illegal-stick penalty.
“That was just an excuse,” Shaw said. “We didn't play as well as we can. We'll just have to win the next two games.
“We didn't have six goals scored against us before this year in the playoffs. We didn't play our game.”
While most observers felt the illegal-stick call was the turning point, Shaw pointed to a missed opportunity early in the second period. With the Oil Kings leading 2-1, they hit a goal post with Veisor cleanly beaten.
“We're a good checking team, too, and able to protect a lead,” Shaw said. “We didn't hit nor shoot as well as we can.”
The Oil Kings didn't do anything very well on May 12 as coach Orval Tessier's Royals blanked them 5-0 before 8,408 fans.
Cornwall, which scored two power-play goals, led 3-0 in the third period before scoring two empty-net goals, by Dave Johnson and Gary McGregor, as Shaw pulled Davidson with just less than three minutes to play.
After McGregor's goal, Cornwall fans unveiled a banner that read: ‘Happiness is a Royal Memorial’.
Johnson and McGregor both had two goals for the Royals. The other came from Gerry Teeple.
The Oil Kings apparently played better than they had against the Petes, but they weren't able to beat Brodeur, who kicked out all 40 shots he saw.
The game was marred by an injury to Mackie, who was struck in the face by a deflected puck. Mackie, who was wearing contact lenses, was hit in one eye. He was carried off the ice on a stretcher and taken to Ottawa General Hospital where an eye specialist was called in to look at him.
The diagnosis was a torn iris, and Mackie spent a week in hospital.
As for the game, Hunter said: “Cornwall had a wide edge in play. We disappointed ourselves . . . but I'm proud of the team.”
Shaw felt that his club had been beaten by a better team.
Asked to pick a winner in the final, Shaw said: “I have no predictions . . . but I would like to see Cornwall win.”
Looking ahead to the final, Tessier said: “We have to take control of the game early. We have to come out skating and hitting.”
Tessier also thought his club had something of an edge – the Royals were “a little bit fresher” – because he used four lines a lot, while the Petes went primarily with three.
Cornwall, in the Memorial Cup final for the first time, then edged the Petes 2-1 on May 14 in front of 10,155 fans to win the title.
It was the second straight year a team from the Quebec Junior Hockey League had won the Memorial Cup. Governor-General Roland Michener presented the trophy to the Royals after the game.
The busiest guy around in the first period was Cassidy, who handed out 76 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct to Peterborough's Craig Brown. By period's end, the fans were chanting: “We want hockey.”
McGregor scored the winner at 2:01 of the third period as a hooking penalty to Peterborough's Danny Gloor expired.
Cornwall's Brian Bowles scored the game's first goal early in the second period when his slapshot from the point bounced off the end boards, hit Veisor and rolled into the net.
The Petes' Mike St. Cyr tied it at 11:17 of the second.
Peterborough outshot Cornwall 47-38 but couldn't put more than one puck behind Brodeur, who was selected the tournament's most outstanding player. As such, he was the first recipient of what was then called the Conn-Stafford Smythe Trophy.
“He's never been in a playoff game before,” Tessier said of Brodeur. “He's just a great goaltender.”
As for Brodeur, he sat in one corner of the Royals' dressing room, smoking a cigar and saying he didn't deserve the award.
“They're the toughest bunch of kids in the world . . . they've never stopped since last fall and will probably want to practise tomorrow morning,” Tessier said.
“Peterborough was the toughest club we've played this year.”
It was a tough loss for the Petes, who had been the only team to win both its round-robin games.
“Cornwall outhustled us a little,” Nielson said. “It was a goalkeepers' duel.
“We knew what to expect . . . it's tough to lose the Memorial Cup.”
With this being the first time around for this format, a tournament all-star team was selected – Brodeur, defencemen Colin Campbell of Peterborough and Murray, Teeple at centre, and wingers Bob Smulders of Peterborough and Johnson.
As for the new format, CAHA officials said the Memorial Cup would be decided the same way in 1973. And, because of the great reception the teams received in Ottawa, the nation's capital apparently had the inside track as the host city.
That turned out to be just talk, however. The 1973 tournament would be played in Montreal.
 
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How the Winterhawks ended up in Portland . . .

This story, written by Dean (Scooter) Vrooman five or six years ago, appeared on this blog on March 30, 2008, and again on Nov. 4, 2008. Originally, it was to have been one chapter in a book about the Portland Winterhawks.
With the Winterhawks having advanced to the WHL final against the Edmonton Oil Kings, it’s worth another look. After all, the Winterhawks, who not that long ago were the Winter Hawks, started life as the Oil Kings.
Here then is Vrooman’s story of the Three Amigos and how the WHL ended up in Portland . . .

PORTLAND’S THREE AMIGOS

Written by DEAN (SCOOTER) VROOMAN
Edited by Gregg Drinnan

It was the summer of 1975 and Brian Shaw, Ken Hodge and Innes Mackie were unemployed. With nothing but time on their hands, they decided to go duck hunting in Stettler, Alta.
Shaw and Hodge had been fired by ‘Wild’ Bill Hunter, who owned the World Hockey Association’s Edmonton Oilers and the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. Mackie had just returned from Kimberley, B.C., where he had turned down a job offer at a mine. The offer Mackie had received included a chance to play a little hockey on the side.
Shaw was in the process of putting together a group of investors to buy the Oil Kings from Hunter. Shaw would run the show. Hodge would coach. Mackie would be the trainer. They didn’t know it at the time but they were embarking on a 20-year relationship — relationships of hockey, business and friendship.
The Three Amigos became inseparable until Shaw passed away in the summer of 1994.
On this day in Stettler, the three men, who would become the three original members of the Winter Hawks’ front office, were solidifying the mutual respect and trust needed. The ducks weren't flying that day, at least not in the Stettler area, so the three erstwhile hunters headed for a local bar to shoot a little pool. Everyone was having fun, too, until a cowboy in a black hat came over and started yipping at Hodge for monopolizing the pool table. After an unflattering comment from Hodge regarding the cowboy’s hat, feathers started to fly — and it had nothing to do with ducks.
"He started to take his jean jacket off and when it got about half way down each arm, I smoked him," Hodge remembers. "It's Saturday night and the place is full. There were five of us — and two of them bailed out. Brian, who was always quick with the wit, was not ready to handle this type of negotiation. So that left Innes and I — and, needless to say, we had our hands full. There were probably eight of them involved by now. The pool cues are getting broken, I'm getting thumped in the back of the head and Innes got jumped. Finally, we hear sirens and red lights. The three of us were never so happy to see the RCMP."
That incident was neither the first nor the last for friendships that would last more than 20 years.
When he was 16 years of age, Hodge earned a job as a defenceman with the Jasper Place Mohawks — a high-profile team in Edmonton. Coincidentally, the general manager and head coach was Shaw, who was working in the first of what would be many dual roles. It didn't take Shaw long to earn his reputation as a slick team manager.
"The team was the talk of the town," Hodge says. "People in Edmonton were very envious. Brian started out with just one bantam team and ended up with the first true feeder system in the Edmonton area when he expanded to midgets and junior. The Jasper Place Mohawks were first class all the way. They paid all their bills, wore flashy uniforms and won lots of hockey games."
Hodge was one of four players from Jasper Place chosen by Shaw to play the next season with the Moose Jaw Canucks of the newly formed Western Canada Hockey League. Shaw was the general manager and head coach and Hodge was a key defenceman.
Other than the Canucks, the WCHL featured the Oil Kings, Estevan Bruins, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades, Weyburn Red Wings and Calgary Buffaloes. Moose Jaw finished fourth in a 56-game regular season, 16 points behind the first-place Oil Kings, but went on to win league’s first championship trophy by beating the Oil Kings — the Canucks won that series 3-2 with four games tied — and then Regina, winning the best-of-seven final, 4-1.
It was the pivotal season of Hodge’s career. In a regular-season game against Regina, Hodge was struck in an eye by a high stick. In the playoffs, he again was hit in the same eye. After a series of operations during the summer, doctors told him that they would know by early 1968 if his eye would ever recover.
On Nov. 15, 1967, Hodge received a call from Gordon Fashaway inviting him to Portland to play for the Buckaroos of the professional Western Hockey League. Hodge was excited about the offer and pushed the doctors for an answer. Unfortunately, the answer he received wasn’t the one he had hoped to hear. Hodge's playing career was over.
The next season, Shaw moved on to the St. Catharines Black Hawks of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. While Hodge was helping with training camp, he accepted an offer to coach the Sorel Eparviers of the Quebec Junior A Hockey League.
Hodge, at 21 likely the youngest head coach in the history of Canadian junior hockey, had quite a debut season. Sorel put up a 33-16-1 regular-season record and went all the way to the Eastern Canadian best-of-five final where it lost 3-1 to the Montreal Jr. Canadiens, who would go on to win the Memorial Cup. It’s worth noting that the Jr. Canadiens played in the OJHL, where they ousted Shaw’s Black Hawks from the best-of-seven championship final in five games.
Hodge’s impressive season in Sorel opened up an opportunity for him to coach in the International Hockey League, with a team in Flint, Mich. He would spend four seasons in Flint.
Meanwhile, Shaw returned to Edmonton where he coached the Oil Kings, winning the WCHL’s 1971-72 title in his first season. That put the Oil Kings into what was the first Memorial Cup to be decided in a tournament format — this one also featured the Peterborough Petes and Cornwall Royals, but no host team — in Ottawa. The Oil Kings were eliminated with a 5-0 loss to Cornwall during which Edmonton defenceman Keith Mackie, Innes’s brother, was struck in an eye by a deflected puck and suffered a torn iris. For the record, Cornwall edged Peterborough 2-1 in the final.
The next season, Hunter, the Oilers’ general manager who was most impressed with Shaw's championship season with the Oil Kings, offered him the head-coaching job with the WHA team. When Shaw accepted, Hunter hired Hodge to coach the Oil Kings.
"I jumped at the opportunity because the Oil Kings were a very prestigious team," Hodge remembers. "I wanted to get on with my career in hockey and I saw too many people stagnating in Flint."
As it turned out, Hodge made the wrong move at the wrong time. He got caught in a rebuilding program with the Oil Kings. Much of the talent from the previous season graduated and Hunter gave Hodge a little over a year to win. He didn't, so Hunter fired him.
Meanwhile, Shaw's Oilers got off to an amazing start — winning 18 straight games. Unfortunately for Shaw, the team was playing over its head and it didn't take long for reality to set in. Hunter enjoyed the winning streak and wanted it to continue. When the wins stopped coming, Hunter, never know for his patience or for a willingness to avoid headlines, fired Shaw.
Two months later brought Shaw, Hodge and Mackie to a pool room in Stettler.
Eventually, Shaw's group bought the Oil Kings from Hunter and 16 games into the 1975-76 WCHL season the three amigos became the WCHL club’s new management team. Shaw was the general manager, Hodge the head coach and Mackie the trainer.
However, things weren’t all coming up roses. Shaw's one year at the helm of the Oil Kings was less than successful. Edmonton hockey fans weren’t in any hurry to go to the old Memorial Gardens to watch the Oil Kings when they could watch the WHA’s Oilers in the brand new Northlands Coliseum.
"Brian and I felt we knew more about the game than anyone else," Hodge says. "We thought we would be able to turn the Edmonton Oil Kings into the premier franchise in the Western Hockey League and a very profitable venture. We found out very quickly that we weren't as smart as we thought we were. We thought we could compete with a major league team on a minor league budget, but we lost more money than any of us could afford to lose.”
Mackie had played on Shaw’s and Hodge's Oil Kings and, contrary to what you might have guessed, the relationship didn't begin on the best of terms. When Mackie was an 18-year-old defenceman playing for Shaw in Edmonton, he had been asked to go to Crosstown Motors, an Oil Kings sponsor, and pick up a new car for Shaw.
"Innes and Brian probably came to an understanding after Innes smacked up two of Brian's brand new cars," Hodge says with a laugh. "One of the accidents was just one of those things, but the other was pretty funny. Innes went to Crosstown Motors, picked up Brian's big Dodge, and only had to cross one busy two-way street. Smack! He couldn't have been more than 40 feet out of the parking lot when he's done and it's tow truck city."
As a player, Mackie quit the Oil Kings early in the 1973-74 season after being taken out of a game by Hodge.
"It's all water under the bridge now," Mackie says. "When I was 18, I played for Brian as a fifth or sixth defenceman. At that time they only used four defencemen and sometimes three. I wasn't getting very much ice time and I wasn't going to go through the same thing when I was 19. So, Hodgie sat me out one game and that was it. Goodbye.“
"Innes and I didn't see eye to eye as coach and player," Hodge agrees. "But I always enjoyed Innes as a person. His brother Keith and I were golfing buddies and Innes was the little brother who always tagged along."
Even through their trials and tribulations, Hodge had enough respect for Mackie to make him the Oil Kings trainer.
Since then, Mackie has always been more than just a trainer. He looks for statistics, quotes and any other information he can find out about every player in the league. One of his attributes is a near photographic memory, and Hodge and Shaw came to depend on that over the years. If there is ever a question about a player, Mackie is the first person asked.
"Innes sometimes confirmed my feelings about hockey players," Hodge says. "He has always been a very knowledgeable hockey person. Innes helped Brian and I on some of our decisions on who we would keep and who we would release or trade. He also had input on people from other teams that might help our franchise if we traded for them. The early years of the Winter Hawks was basically built through trades. Most of our trades were very positive for us and Innes had a role in many of them.”
Mackie also scours the rule book on the long bus rides. He knows the rules inside and out — and has a knack for memorizing them, no matter how obscure.
Mackie earned the nickname ‘Eagle Eye’ for his ability to spot illegal curves in the blades of opponents' hockey sticks. Players with illegal sticks were sent to the penalty box with minor penalties and several Portland victories were been earned as the result of subsequent power plays. In 18 seasons, he was wrong about one stick — and he still claims that the referee didn’t measure that one properly.
"When the game is on, I watch things differently," Mackie, who now is with the Tri-City Americans, points out. "I watch what's happening behind the play, on the other team's bench, and away from the puck. If I see something the coaches don't, I can help out once in awhile. Sometimes, I can relay information to the coaches if an opposing player misses a shift, or a guy is hurt."
All three of the amigos were involved in the move from Edmonton to Portland.
Originally, Shaw went to Vancouver to meet with Nat Bailey, who owned the Mounties of baseball’s Pacific Coast League. Bailey wanted to get involved in hockey and was going to underwrite all the costs of moving the Oil Kings to Vancouver. Bailey also was prepared to give Shaw plenty of working capital to get started. This dream move never happened, however, because the New Westminster Bruins, a nearby WCHL franchise, blocked the move.
At the time, Hodge wanted to move to Spokane. Shaw, though, wanted to check out Portland and arranged a meeting with Dick Reynolds, the general manager of Memorial Coliseum.
"I didn't have any idea where Portland was," Mackie says. "I had to get a map. All I knew was that the Edmonton Oil Kings were in the Western Canadian Hockey League — and Portland wasn't in Canada."
Shaw’s meeting with Reynolds and the Coliseum staff was very positive and soon the Oil Kings were to become the Portland Winter Hawks.
"It was one of the best decisions that Brian made," Hodge recalls. "At that time, we both had an equal vote. So, it was one vote for Spokane and one vote for Portland. Brian decided his vote was bigger than mine and he won."
The first three seasons were very difficult in Portland.
In spite of good, competitive teams, large crowds in 10,400-seat Memorial Coliseum were a rarity. The team was losing money and several of the original investors from Edmonton pulled out when the going got tough. But Shaw, Hodge and Mackie never doubted the potential of the Portland hockey market. The three amigos hung in there and waited for Portland fans to discover the excitement of junior hockey.
"We raised our level of communication — and we communicated without a lot of words," Hodge says. "We had a very good understanding of one another — and we went through some very difficult times in our early years in Portland. There were times when we didn't know if we had enough money to bring the bus home. We had a good, solid relationship. Relationships are built on trust — and we trusted one another."
That trust was only broken one time and that was in the early days of the Winter Hawks. On an off-night in Lethbridge during the 1977-78 season, Mackie went out to do the team laundry and ended up having a couple of beers with several players.
"At the time, I was about the same age as the players — and I had known them as friends and even played hockey with some of them,” Mackie recalls. “I should have been smart enough to know there is a fine line between being a staff member and getting too close to the players."
"I had to fire him," Hodge says. "I really didn't have any options there. I was told to do it because somebody else (Shaw) didn't want to. I can't remember if he was fired for two hours, four hours or a half-a-day, but during this other person's cooling-off period, I convinced him to rehire Innes. Eventually, that other person did the rehiring."
They stuck together in other times of strife, too. From 1987 to 1991, the Hawks had terrible teams — missing the playoffs three of four seasons. This did not set well with Portland fans who had become accustomed to the winning tradition established by the Buckaroos and the early seasons of the Winter Hawks. Hodge became an easy target for the fans. It even came to the point where petitions were being circulated among the Coliseum crowd to have him terminated as coach. Publicly, though, Shaw took most of the criticism for the Hawks' poor on-ice record and deflected as much blame as he could away from Hodge.
"I appreciated what Brian did, but I didn't really feel it was necessary," Hodge says. "My record spoke for itself through the good seasons and Brian knew a coaching change might have injected some short term life into the team, but it would not solve the problem long term.
"We didn't have a very good product on the ice. We had some very good people that were not necessarily very good athletes. Some of the problems with the product were Brian's fault and some were my fault. Brian did take a lot of the heat."
Shaw's passing in 1994 was clearly an emotional time for Hodge and Mackie. The three amigos had been through it all together. The highs and lows. The good times and the bad. They always stuck together even though many times they agreed to disagree.
"It's very obvious to anyone who has worked in this office or is in any way connected with the Portland Winter Hawks that Brian's sense of loyalty was tremendous," Hodge notes. "His sense of loyalty was unwavering and nothing got in the way. Not dollars. Not wins. Nothing gets in front of loyalty."
This is a sense of loyalty that has been ingrained from standing up for one another in a Stettler pool room to building a hockey franchise. Very few have achieved what these amigos have.



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