MAY 26, 1947
NAHC TEAM RECAPS: NEW YORK SHAMROCKS
19-23-6 44 pts: 4th place - Lost to Boston in Semi-finals
The New York Shamrocks can take some positives to build on after their performance in the 1946-47 campaign. Starting with the fact that the club ended a 4 year postseason drought by nosing out the Montreal Valiants and Brooklyn Eagles for the fourth and final playoff berth. The Shamrocks also laid the groundwork for some solid offensive depth with the debut of several youngsters led by 22-year-old Gil Corbeil (7-21-28) and 20-year-old Joe Martin (7-9-16). Unfortunately, Martin -the club's first round pick in the draft- missed half the season with injuries but the young winger from Montreal projects to have a bright future.
The Shamrocks had struggled early with a clear turning point being a mid-December deal that brought talented, but reportedly troublesome, center Laurel Albers from the Toronto Dukes. Cast out of Toronto after being in the center of dressing room troubles with the struggling Dukes, Albers would be a model citizen in New York. He would also prove to be a key contributor to the offense, averaging nearly a point a game for the Shamrocks after the trade and gave the club a solid second-line center to lessen the load on veteran Orval Cabbell. Prior to the aquisition of Albers the Shamrocks were 5-9-1 but once he arrived the club was over .500, posting a 15-13-6 record after the December 16th transaction.
MONTHLY RECORD
NOV: 3-5-0 6 points
DEC: 4-7-1 9 points
JAN: 6-4-1 11 points
FEB: 5-5-2 12 points
MAR: 1-2-2 5 points
OVERAL 189-23-6 44 points
PLAYOFFS
A terrible late season swoon by Brooklyn helped pave the way to the playoffs for the Shamrocks, ending a 4 year post-season drought. Unfortunately, the post-seasons stay was short-lived as the eventual Cup champion Boston Bees proved to be far too much for the Shamrocks and swept their semi-final series by winning 3 straight games. The Shamrocks previous two playoff appearances were also semi-final losses to the Bees leaving New York without a playoff series win since 1938-39 when they won a quarterfinal matchup with Brooklyn under the old format where six of the league's seven clubs qualified for the playoffs.
March's matchup with Boston was farily one-sided. The Bees were swarming in the opener and blasted the Shamrocks 6-1 despite the fact the New Yorkers outshot Boston 33-25. It was a rough introduction to the playoffs for the Shamrocks 25 year old goaltender Etienne Tremblay who surrendered 6 goals from the first 19 shots he ever faced in NAHC post-season play. New York's best effort came in game two when the Shamrocks peppered Boston netminder Pierre Melancon with 50 shots. Tremblay was solid as well, coming up with 30 saves as the game, tied 4-4 at the end of regulation thanks to a late goal from the Shamrocks Orval Cabbell, needed overtime to determine a winner. That winner would come from Boston just under 11 minutes into the extra frame.
The backdrop of Bigsby Garden -the most famous arena in sports- hosting its first NAHC playoff game since 1942 was not enough to inspire the Shamrocks to victory. Melancon in the Boston cage was once more the foil, recording a 27 save shutout as Boston, on the strength of two third period goals completed the sweep with a 2-0 victory.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Mark Fountain, who recently lost his heavyweight title bid to reigning champ Hector Sawyer, tasted defeat again losing in an upset to Syl Vaughn -a solid fighter but certainly not one of championship caliber. Rising welterweight Ira Mitchell won again, knocking out the fast-fading George Gibbs in round two of their scheduled 10-rounder.
- The Cincinnati Cannons lead the Continental Association by 4 games over the New York Stars while in the Fed it is the surprising St Louis Pioneers still on top, and now with a 5 game bulge on Detroit and Washington.
- President Truman signed the $400 million dollar Greek-Turkish aid bill setting in force a historic American foreign policy of bolstering weak countries against outside agression as a "support" to the United Nations.
- Reports from London indicate Britan is setting the stage to hand military responsibility in the Mediterranean and Middle East over to the United States and withdraw empire defenses in East Africa.
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