APRIL 1, 1947
PACKERS JOIN BEES IN CHALLENGE CUP SHOWDOWN
Moose Vezina scored twice and Tommy Burns added a pair of assists to lead the Chicago Packers to a 4-1 win over Detroit yesterday to win their semi-final series 3 games to one. The victory lifts the Packers to their first trip to the Challenge Cup finals since 1931 where they will take on the defending Cup champion Boston Bees, who swept the New York Shamrocks three straight in the other semi-final.
After winning games one and two in the Windy City by identical 3-0 scores it looked like the Packers were going to sweep the series with Detroit as Chicago built up a 3-0 lead on the Motors when Tommy Burns scored his second goal of the series just over 5 minutes into the third period. The spirited but short-staffed Motors then came to life before the home crowd at Thompson Palladium, ending a more than 168-minute scoring drought when rookie Bobo Davis finally beat Packers netminder Norm Hanson. Less than 4 minutes later goals from Mike Narand and Arnold Singleton had tied the contest and just over 2 minutes into overtime Morris Wright -who had been pressed into action because of multiple injuries on the Detroit defense- scored the overtime winner to equal his regular season output of 1 goal this season.
Any hopes Detroit had of a comeback ended two nights later when Vezina and Burns led the Packers to a series clinching 4-1 victory. David Rankin and Marsh Mansfield also scored for Chicago giving the Packers their first playoff series victory of the modern era.
The other semi-final had ended two nights early when Boston completed a 3-game sweep of the New York Shamrocks with a 2-0 victory at Bigsby Garden. The game was scoreless through two periods until Craig Simpson broke the gooese eggs with his second of the series from Harry Neighbor and Viv Napier just under 4 minutes into the third. Daniel Fortin would add an insurance marker with help from George Anderson 7 minutes later and Boston netminder Pierre Melancon took care of the rest, stopping all 27 shots the Shamrocks fired at him in the game.
The Bees are no stranger to Challenge Cup finals, having played in 8 of the last ten of them and were victorious in five. In all, the Boston squad has won the Challenge Cup a total of six times including last year's six game triumph over the Montreal Valiants. The Packers, on the other hand, have only played in the finals once befre and that was back in 1930-31 when they lost to the Shamrocks.
The regular season series between the Bees and Packers was dead even with each club winning 3 imes and the other two games ending in ties. Boston won three of the first four meetings between the pair while the Packers won three of the final four including back to back wins in early March.
BOSTON VS CHICAGO
1946-47 REGULAR SEASON
Nov 12 Boston 4 Chicago 2
Nov 21 Boston 4 Chicago 2
Dec 8 tied 3-3
Jan 5 Boston 5 Chicago 4
Jan 19 Chicago 3 Boston 2
Jan 28 tied 3-3
Mar 2 Chicago 4 Boston 3
Mar 4 Chicago 4 Boston 2
TOUGH TEST FOR SHORT-STAFFED PACKERS
Courtesy of the Chicago Daily News
A huge loss for the Packers as Marty Mahoney (15, 33) will miss the Challenge Cup against the Boston Bees. Mahoney finished the season 2nd in assists with 33 and recorded 48 points in 48 games as a member of the Packers star-studded first line. All-world center Tommy Burns (30, 37) is the only one that remains, as brother Wes (19, 19) is dealing with a fractured jaw, and has been moved down to the third line to limit his minutes. Tommy will now play between rookie Dave Rankin (11, 16) and veteran Bernie Ferrar (9, 20) as the Packers try to capture their first ever title.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- The national semi-finalists are set for the collegiate cage championship as the field of 32 is narrowed down to just Cental Ohio, Liberty College, Miami State and Whitney College for next weekends championships at New York's Bigsby Garden.
- Jiggs McGee's Federal Association predictions call for the New York Gothams to claim the Fed flag. He tabbed the Chicago Cougars as the projected Continental champs last week.
- 22 year old welterweight whiz kid Danny Rutledge won again, running the young army vets professional fistic record to 9-0.
- A German atom scientist, who said he recently escaped from a Russian government laboratory, asserts that the Soviet Union is "very near" to developing an atom bomb.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.