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History of the A's |
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Athletics Again Play For The Mann Cup |
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A’s IN GOOD SHAPE
The
St. Catharines Standard Tuesday
September 17, 1963 CORNWALL
– St. Catharines Athletics, Eastern Canada senior lacrosse champions,
held a 90 minute workout at the Cornwall Arena last night in preparation
for the opening game of the Mann Cup finals tonight against Vancouver. Handling
the St. Catharines team was playing coach Jim McNulty. “The
board floor was something new for most of the players but I don’t think
it will be a real handicap,” said McNulty. Practicing
with the A’s were five players they picked up for the series: Brian
Aherne of Port Credit, Bill Castator and Bruce Wanless of Brampton, Glenn
Lotton and Cy Coombs of Brooklin. The
only absentees were Wally Thorne and Pete Berge, both unable to leave
their places of employment in St. Catharines. However, they are expected
to join the Athletics for the Saturday and Sunday afternoon games. THROUGH THE
SPORTS GATE
By JACK GATECLIFF, SPORTS EDITOR The
St. Catharines Standard September 17, 1963 One
malady which won’t affect the St. Catharines Athletics when they open
the Mann Cup finals in Cornwall tonight is overconfidence. As a
matter of fact few would blame the club if they suffered from an extreme
inferiority complex as it faces the vaunted power of the west represented
by Vancouver. “Everywhere
we go we hear the same thing,” said Athletics manager Joe McNulty before
leaving this morning for the site of the best-of-seven series. “People
congratulate you for winning the Ontario championship, they say that even
if we don’t win a game against Vancouver we’ll have had a good year.
Well we’re not thinking that way at all. If we didn’t think we had a
real chance we wouldn’t bother going.” McNulty
isn’t talking that way just to buoy his own spirits and those of his
team. He
honestly believes that the A’s will give a good account of themselves
and we are inclined to agree. They
have sound goaltending, at least as much experience as the western
champions and with the addition of Bill Castator and Bruce Wanless of
Brampton, Glenn Lotton and Cy Coombs of Brooklin, Brian Aherne of Port
Credit, the Athletics boast the best possible senior club for Eastern
Canada. What
may escape lacrosse observers in both the East and West is that it
wasn’t so long ago that an Ontario team won the Mann Cup. In
fact you only have to go back three years…to 1960 to find a shield
bearing the name Port Credit on the $30,000 (approximate value) trophy. In
1960 Victoria Shamrocks came into the east with just as much ballyhoo as
the present Vancouver club. And included on the Victoria roster was the
player considered by many to be the best in the game today, Jack Bionda. Despite
Bionda’s presence, Port Credit won that best-of-seven series 4-2 and the
Sailors that year weren’t, in our opinion at least, as strong or well
balanced as the 1963 Athletics. Bionda,
who is reported to draw a large (for lacrosse) salary of $5,000 in New
Westminster this year, naturally won’t be with the westerners this trip
as his club lost to Vancouver by a 4-2 margin in games in the British
Columbia final. Incidentally,
that $5,000 is more than double the budget which carried the entire St.
Catharines team during its 24 game schedule and 11 playoffs this year. Although
it’s been 17 years since a St. Catharines-based team reached the
Canadian senior finals, trips to Cornwall by local lacrosse clubs are
almost commonplace. And
if it will help the Athletics morale any, they have an undefeated record
in that city. In
1932, the year junior field lacrosse was changed to box lacrosse across
the country (the seniors switched in 1931); Bill Hope Sr. coached the
Athletics to the OLA two game, goals-to-count series with Cornwall. “Hopey,”
who has a remarkable memory for dates and scores, recalled this week that
the junior A’s played to a tie in Cornwall, then won the return game of
the goals-to-count series 15-3 in Burlington. St. Catharines in 1932 had
no arena and inadequate outside lacrosse facilities. (Mr Hope’s memory
is so good he remembered that two of the cars taking the team to Cornwall
were called “Hups”…which could be the old Hupmobile…and that the
club stayed over in Kingston the first day out of St. Catharines, then
went the rest of the way the next day.) In
1934 under the direction of Marty Cahill the juniors with fundamentally
the same team which four years later started bringing this city quantities
of senior championships, won the first game of the finals here at Haig
Bowl. Ties
must have been in style at the time because the A’s played to a draw in
Cornwall but took the series on total goals. Two
years later the Athletics juniors again won decisively in Cornwall and in
1938 the seniors were halfway to the Mann Cup after trimming the Cornwall
club both at home and away. But
enough of the past. What of the immediate future? The
Athletics go into tonight’s game with a string of seven straight playoff
victories behind them. However, these wins were in Ontario where,
admittedly, the opposition is inferior to what they’ll meet in the Mann
Cup. On
the other hand the addition of five outstanding players from the other
three Ontario teams should give them the bench ballast needed to stay with
the quick-passing and fast-running team from west of the Rockies. We’re
not rash enough to predict a Mann Cup for St. Catharines but we didn’t
ascribe to the all-too-prevalent belief that the A’s will be outclassed.
We’ve
watched this team all season, during the games they were sharp and games
they could do little right. They’ve got tremendous spirit at the moment
and anything they accomplish from here in will be on sheer effort. THROUGH THE
SPORTS GATE
By JACK GATECLIFF, SPORTS EDITOR The
St. Catharines Standard September 28, 1963 Defeated,
tired, almost broke but far from disgraced, St. Catharines Athletics made
the seven-hour motor trip back from Cornwall Friday. The
A’s could be compared with the guest who came for a weekend and simply
refused to leave. Few
people (this reporter included) felt that the series would go longer than
the minimum four games. In fact even the hard-working Mann Cup committee
in Cornwall was so awed by the reputation of the Western Canada Champions
that all the signs advertising the senior lacrosse finals listed only the
first four dates. The
Mann Cup was polished up and ready for presentation at the fourth game
last Sunday. Vancouver, as has been pointed out earlier, had already
booked their flight out of Dorval for the following day. The Cornwall
arena had even scheduled wrestling matches for Tuesday night. However, the
Athletics forced a revision of plans by winning Sunday and Tuesday before
finally capitulating to the well-conditioned Vancouver club Thursday. Although
they lost the series 4-2, the Athletics did much for lacrosse, not only in
Cornwall, but across the country. It
may sound cornball but this is a team and management which acted like
gentlemen not only when they won (which is easy) but when they lost.
“It’s a strange thing,” said Wally Cattell of Dundas after hearing
the unsavoury comments from the Vancouver club after they lost the Sunday
game. “When the Athletics lost the first three games they didn’t
complain once about the officiating. One defeat to Vancouver and we’re
threatened with their withdrawal from the series.” And
before going on we should point out that any complaints about the
officiating were pure, unadulterated nonsense. Bill
(Whitey) Frick of this city who worked all six games, Boyd Bockwell of
Orillia who handled the first four and Gord Hammond of Port Credit who
moved in for the last two turned in as nearly flawless a job as is humanly
possible. They called the game strictly and according to Canadian Lacrosse
Association rules. There was absolutely no reason for the tantrums which
came out of the Vancouver camp after the fourth and fifth game. Spectators
are usually the first to take exception to the referees. Proof of how well
they were received was evidenced when Frick and Hammond ran onto the floor
Thursday night they were greeted with spontaneous applause…a rare
tribute to an official in any sport. The
controversy over the officials was not without its humorous side. When
Hammond was told Vancouver wouldn’t go on the floor if he was refereeing
he promptly replied: “I’ll show them. If they come on the floor I
won’t referee.” As
things turned out Vancouver did appear, Hammond did referee and what could
have been a serious black eye for lacrosse was averted. It
should be pointed out here that the longer the finals continued the more
money it cost each member of the St. Catharines team. Thanks to a generous
contribution from the City of St. Catharines and several other donations
from business firms and private individuals the Athletics had their
expenses taken care of during the almost two weeks they were away from
home. However almost all the players…and the much maligned referees lost
10 days pay. This cannot be taken lightly when you consider that most of
those concerned are on hourly rates and supporting young families. |