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History of the A's |
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1914 Junior Champion Athletics |
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In
the fateful summer of 1914 war clouds were looming over Europe, and Canada
would soon find itself caught up in “the war to end all wars”. The
newspaper headlines of all of the dailies were filled with accounts of
decisive victories by our allies and the feeling was that the whole affair
would likely be over by Christmas. Better enlist fast or you’re going to
miss the grand adventure! Well,
it seems that sportswriters weren’t the only ones to embellish the
strengths of the home side. As
the St. Catharines Standard dedicated itself to the important news of the
day, the sport of lacrosse had by now slipped away from the hearts and
minds of the local populace. When the Senior Athletics were dethroned by
Brampton as perennial Globe Shield Champions in 1913, hardly anyone seemed
to care. Yes, the times they were a changin’ down at the old corner lot. The
Senior team dropped down to intermediate in 1914 and then struggled to get
the attention of their once loyal fans or faithful press. Even a trip to
New York and an exhibition win over the Crescents would hardly warrant a
line in the local newspaper. But
the notion that lacrosse was dead in old St. Kitts would be under dispute
from an unlikely place. Rarely in the past had the Juniors put together a
team that truly challenged for the championship, but now in the summer of
1914, the Young Athletics were indeed for real. There
would be moments when the Standard would report as glowingly of these
Juniors as they had so often in the past for the Senior Athletics. The
newspaper would declare, “The junior team is an aggregation of
world-beaters. Every man on the team is a star—nothing less. Full of the
vitality of youth, they are Trojans to work, and the spectator is kept
busy all the time following the lightning-like plays. And they are a
gentlemanly lot, too.” With
rhetoric like that, they had better be good. The
Young Athletics won their division that largely consisted of the
Toronto-based teams; Riverdales, Maitlands, Parkdale and Beaches. Their
semi-final opponent would then come from Brampton, with the victor getting
to play against Bracebridge for the proclaimed “Junior Championship of
Canada.” The “vitality of youth” would be tested, now and in the
long years ahead. And
the rest is history. JUN. ATHLETICS GET
STRANGLE HOLD ON SEMI
The St. Catharines
Standard
Monday September 14,
1914
The
junior Athletics got a stranglehold on the semi-finals and drew close in
on the possibilities of the finals of the O. A. L. A. Junior championship on
Saturday by defeating the Brampton team by the generous score of 22 to 1.
They meet Brampton again at Brampton next Saturday, but as the number of
goals count, the lead of 21 goals which the Athletics have tucked under
their belts, now, is hardly likely to be overtaken. Should they win the
semi-finals by defeating Brampton, the Athletics will play Bracebridge for
the junior championship. Saturday’s
game was played before a small crowd, much smaller than it should have
been considering the brand of lacrosse the Athletics have been putting up
all season. The
Brampton team was outclassed thoroughly and while not finding it necessary
to extend themselves, the Athletics were able to score just about any time
they wanted to. They excelled the visitors in running, checking and
shooting, everything that had anything to do with the playing, and it
seemed as if the ball was in centre most of the time being faced off after
an Athletic score. The rest of the time the rubber was flying around in
the vicinity of the Brampton goal. The
Athletics scored six goals in the first quarter, four in the second, five
in the third, and seven in the last. Brampton’s single tally came in the
third after a brilliant rush, which helped to liven up an uninteresting
game. The teams— St.
Catharines—Goal, Eberhart; point, May; cover point, Purdy; defence,
Nelson and Bennett; centre, Richards; home, N. Kalls and Sheehan; outside,
Teather; inside Pople. Brampton—Goal,
Hammond; point, N. Anderson; cover point, Harcourt; defence, McCulloch and
Fleming; centre, Stephens; home, Furlong and McClure; outside, R.
Anderson; inside, Watson. Ernie
Doyle refereed to the general satisfaction, dividing his penalties evenly. LACROSSE
The St. Catharines
Standard
Monday September 21,
1914
Manager
W. J. Westwood, of the Athletics Lacrosse Club, received notification
to-day that the Junior Athletics will play Bracebridge at Newmarket on
Friday next for the Junior O.A.L.A. championship. Brampton team defaulted
to the Athletics, and the game was not played at Brampton on Saturday. The
Brampton team evidently considered that a lead of over twenty goals was
too much to overcome in one game, so they very wisely called it off.
Undoubtedly a good crowd of rooters will accompany the Athletics to
Newmarket next Friday. THE
JUNIORS ARE CHAMPIONS YOUNG
ATHLETICS TRIMMED BRACEBRIDGE 15 TO 7 THE
BEST
TEAM
WON JUNIOR
CHAMPIONSHIP
OF
CANADA A
SIGNAL
HONOR The St. Catharines
Standard
Monday September 28,
1914
St.
Catharines has once more claimed the title of being the hotbed of
lacrosse, by defeating Bracebridge in a sudden-death final game at
Newmarket on Saturday by the tidy score of 15 to 7, thereby winning the
Junior Championship of Canada, and bringing to St. Kitts an honor to which
hitherto no claim has ever been laid. While
the Globe Shield has lain intact here for years, the youngsters have been
fighting season after season for the junior honors, always running up to
the finals, but under the capable management of Mr. Westwood, an
ex-Brantford lacrosse man, the boys have made a record this year which
they may well be proud of. Playing a total of nine games, eight victories
were credited to the boys, with a summary of 119 goals for and 43 against. Before
an attendance of 300 people in a cold, drizzling rain Ernie Doyle called
the game at 3:45 and in about two minutes play St. Kitts notched the first
goal. Bracebridge then came back and evened matters up. End to end play
followed and with the lightning passes and clever stick work of the home
working, and the defence strong as the bulwark of the Allied forces, the
heavy Bracebridge team were played off their feet. First quarter ending 7
– 1. Second
quarter opened up with Bracebridge playing a steadier game, and with two
St. Kitts men on the fence soon became aggressive but to no avail the
quarter ending 8 – 2. The
third and fourth quarters were practically a runaway after that, score at
third quarter 12 to 3 and final 15 to 7. Had
the grounds been in better shape for playing the score would have been
even larger because everybody who saw the game admitted that the Athletics
outplayed their opponents at every point. Though
the Bracebridge men were larger and heavier than the Athletics they were
out-checked and out-generalled and in fact the Athletics won as they
pleased. In the last quarter the St. Kitts boys eased down a little and
didn’t press the play. It
was a remarkably clean game and the referee had to penalize only four
players. Every man on the team played a star game and it was the unanimous
opinion of the spectators that the better team brought home the bacon. |