MAY 2, 1969
VANCOUVER SHOCKS NAHC ESTABLISHMENT WITH CUP WIN
Second Year Club Claims Challenge Cup After Knocking Off Chicago in Finals When the North American Hockey Confederation admitted six new teams to the league a year ago the expectation was it would take years, maybe even a decade before those new clubs could compete with the six established NAHC teams. That was the reason the newcomers were all placed in one division, so that they would at least be competitive with each other. What a shock it was for the hockey established when in just its second year of existence the Vancouver Totems would win the Challenge Cup.
With two division winners and two wildcard qualifying for the postseason in 1968, the Totems were the lone playoff team from the West a year ago. Vancouver finished with the best record in the West Division last season and this year they would once again be the class of the six newcomers. Vancouver ended the current campaign with 87 points, which would only be good enough for a fifth-place tie with the established clubs were they in the East Division, but it turned out to be 19 points more than any of the other West Division squads could accumulate.
Vancouver had much going for it. The Totems roster was handpicked and coached by a man with as rich a history in the sport as one could find. That would be Doug Yeadon, who was a long-time NAHC player and the son of one of the early founders of the sport. Yeadon built his team from the backend out and that meant starting with a solid veteran goaltender in Justin MacPhee (17-14-9, 3.09). The 35-year-old had won a Juneau Trophy as the league's top goaltender early in the decade and was also the proud owner of a pair of Challenge Cup championship rings. His reflexes may not be as sharp as they were early in his career but MacPhee, and goaltending partner Francois Campeau, who had plenty of NAHC experience from four years in Boston, made a solid duo.
There was also veteran leadership on the blueline in the form of team captain Jack Charest and Jeff Gaudreault. Each had seen plenty of action with the Montreal Valiants prior to moving west in the expansion draft of 1967 and both had a pair of Challenge Cup titles on their resume.
With the focus on blueline talent in the expansion draft the club had less experience up front but picked up a key addition with summer trade to bring Alan Porter (33-48-81) over from Toronto. The 26-year-old made his NAHC debut a year ago and was a finalist for the rookie of the year award. He blossomed with first line minutes in Vancouver and led all expansion team players with 81 points. Ben Jacobs (21-29-50), Matt Sinclair (22-22-44), rookie Sam DaSilva (13-36-49) and another veteran from Montreal in Roy Forgeron (10-31-41) gave the Totems enough offense to dominate the West Division.
Vancouver finished with a 36-26-15 record and were the only West Division club to top the .500 mark. The St Louis Sawyers finished in second place and found a breakout star in Pat Valentine (23-44-67), a 21-year-old forward who won the McLeod Trophy as the league's top rookie. Prior to the season's start St Louis made a trade with Philadelphia to add goaltender Ben Nachbaur (14-14-8, 2.46) and while he split the netminding chores with incumbent Carl Dutove (14-22-2, 3.03) the 28-year-old Nachbaur did look like the Sawyers goaltender of the very near future.
The third place Los Angeles Stingrays also had strong goaltending with former Juneau Trophy winner Mike Connelly (22-36-15, 3.21) taking charge but the defense was not up to the standards the 37-year-old Connelly was used to from his days in Toronto. Cody Walsh (25-21-46), who spent some time with Detroit before joining the Stingrays prior to last year, was the only reliable goal scorer on the Los Angeles roster.
*** A Big Trade Brings Another Pollack To Toronto ***
The bottom three clubs in the West Division had plenty of holes. Philadelphia fired its coach in February and did show a slight burst under new bench boss Joe LaRose and that gave them some momentum heading into the playoffs. The line of newcomer Billy Bradley (16-35-47) centering Jack Cameron (25-29-54) and Bill Soltys (20-18-38) did provide some excitement for Philadelphia fans but the price to bring Bradley over from Toronto was a costly one. Philadelphia sent the first overall draft pick to the Dukes for the 26-year-old Bradley and 28-year-old defenseman Tim Musselman (4-11-5). The Dukes used the selection on underage forward Jack Pollack -the son of Toronto legend Quinton Pollack- and if young Jack turns out to even be half the player his old man was it could go down as one of the worst trades in hockey history. Rogues fans have to hope that Bradley can continue to shine because all Jack Pollack did in his first season of pro hockey, played for the Cleveland Eries of the Hockey Association of America, was collect 55 points in 62 games. Young Jack also made hockey history when on March 22 the Dukes called him for a game against Detroit. It marked the first time in NAHC history that a father and son had participated in the same game. Dad Quinton had a goal and an assist in the game while son Jack did not appear on the scoresheet but did log 7 minutes of ice time. Interesting to note is that two of Jack's cousin are Hobie and Benny Barrell and they were both playing for Detroit in the game. The Pollack's and the Dukes got the bragging rights with a 4-1 victory. Jack would also play for Toronto the next night in a victory over Chicago but he again failed to register a point.
Four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs so that left the Minneapolis Norsemen and San Francisco Gulls as the West Division clubs on the outside looking in.
In the East Division the Montreal Valiants finished in first place for the fifth consecutive season. The Valiants defense remains the best in the game with veteran netminder Nathan Bannister (53-13-10, 2.02) winning his seventh Juneau Trophy and tying his own record for wins in a season by a goalie. On defense Mark Moggy (12-62-78) won his sixth Dewar Trophy as the top blueliner and also became the first defenseman to win the McDaniels Trophy as league MVP. Moggy established a new single season record for assists and points by a rearguard and seem to revolutionize the sport with his willingness to carry the puck into the offensive zone rather than move it to forwards. It was not like the Valiants did not have talent up front. They had loads of it led by Tim Bernard (50-53-103) who become just the second NAHC player to score 50 goals in a season. His teammate Scott Dueck (48-54-102) had 50 a year ago but settled for 48 this time around.
There was plenty of concern in Toronto as training camp commenced after Quinton Pollack blew out his knee last January and missed the second half of the season. At 46, many felt that was the end of the line for the all-time scoring leader but buoyed by the thought of playing with his son in Toronto, Pollack (46-55-101) made a full recovery and played in every game, setting a career high in points with 101. 28-year-old winger Hank Knackstedt (36-53-89) also set a new personal best for points and the duo was a big reason why Toronto was the highest scoring team in the league and finished in second place.
The Boston Bees accumulated 94 points but that was only good for third place, four ahead of fourth place Chicago. The Bees were led by the tri of Ray Dupuis (33-52-85), Nick Quinn (33-40-73) and captain Neil Wilson (17-56-73) while the big stars for the Packers were winger Ken York (43-53-96) and netminder Andrew Bomberry (39-25-12, 2.64) who, along with Montreal's Bannister, were the only two goalies to play every game this season.
It must be tough being a New York Shamrocks fan. The club finished 9 games over .500 with a franchise record 87 points but even that could not stop the Greenshirts from missing the playoffs for the 9th consecutive season. The Detroit Motors went from winning the Challenge Cup two years and making it to the finals last season, only to finish in last place in the East Division this time around. Detroit's 82 points would have put them in second place in the West Division but instead they may now be looking at rebuilding an aging defense and, as often seems to be the case in the Motor City, desperately searching for an upgrade in net.
NAHC PLAYOFFS
Editor's Note -FHM is well, lets say a "challenge" for those that like to run fictional leagues so the reason the opening round of the playoffs is just a 1 game elimination is because our league commissioner did not realize you needed to set the series length when choosing the default NHL system of the era for his playoff structure. It will be corrected next year but for the 1969 playoffs we get a very exiting, but brief opening round - and it provided plenty of upsets.
The NAHC expanded its playoff format from four teams to eight for the 1968-69 season with the introduction of a single game playoff in the opening round. After three of the four lower seeds prevailed you can bet that the league will re-evaluate the plan for next season.
The Montreal Valiants had the best record in the league and finished 20 points ahead of the third place Boston Bees but one bad period cost the Vals their entire season. A single game elimination quarterfinal series saw Boston score four goals in the second period and led by a 5-point night from both Ray Dupuis and Ollie Lariviere, the Bees held off Montreal 5-4 to advance to the semi-finals.
The Toronto Dukes suffered the same fate as Montreal. Despite finishing well ahead of fourth place Chicago it was the visiting Packers who pulled out a 5-4 victory in their one game playoff. Chicago's Tommy Gordon was the hero as the veteran winger scored a hat trick and added an assist in the victory. Ken York also had a four point night for the winners.
The Vancouver Totems were the only higher seed to advance as the West Division leaders downed Los Angeles 6-1 behind Liam Lavigne's two goal and one assist performance. The other series between St Louis and Philadelphia required overtime and the underdog Rogues won 3-2 when Ron Deschamps scored his second of the game on the powerplay early in the first overtime.
Most assumed that the semi-final between Chicago and Boston would be basically the series that decides the Cup winner since few expected the club to come out of the West to give either of the established clubs much trouble. The Packers made short work of the Bees, sweeping the series in four games. The opener was a 2-1 road win thanks to a goal late in regulation from Chicago veteran Pete Bernier. Two nights later Andrew Bomberry had a 21 save shutout as the Packers prevailed 4-0. The series shifted to the Windy City and the Packers, after killing off a penalty early in the overtime, got the game winner from Sam Alderson to beat Boston 3-2. Chicago wrapped up the sweep with a 5-2 win in game four.
Vancouver finished with 42 more points than Philadelphia did during the regular season so a Totems sweep was not at all unexpected. The series was not even close as the Totems outscored the Rogues 29-6 in the four contests to advance to the finals where they would face the Packers.
While everyone seemed to be picking Chicago to win the series and claim just the third Challenge Cup in franchise history, those that looked closer might put to a February 27th meeting between the two on the west coast. Vancouver doubled Chicago 6-3 in that game to even the season series at three victories apiece and Totems coach Doug Yeadon used the predictions as bulletin board material for his club.
Game one started with the Packers building a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the game but then Alan Porter, the young Vancouver forward who had scored 6 times in the series with Philadelphia, beat Chicago netminder Andrew Bomberry to get the Totems on the scoreboard shortly before the end of the second period. The third period saw Vancouver carry the play and surprise their hosts by pulling out a 4-3 victory.
Chicago's Lakeside Auditorium crowd was even more shocked when the visitors took a 3-0 lead in the first 5:13 of game two. Vancouver would go on to win the game 5-3 despite being badly outshot by the Packers. Vancouver netminder Justin MacPhee was outstanding in the contest and Porter scored again to give him 8 in the playoffs so far.
The series shifted west but again it was the Totems who had a 3 goal first period. All the scoring came in the opening 20 minutes with Chicago putting just one puck past MacPhee despite again outshooting Vancouver. The 3-1 final put the Totems in complete command of the series.
Chicago staved off elimination with a spirited comeback in game four. The Totems led 3-1 with 2 minutes left in regulation but Chicago scored twice to tie the game and then Al Piche, with his first of the playoffs, was the overtime hero, keeping Chicago's slim hopes alive with a 4-3 victory.
Back in Chicago, game five also went to overtime. The Totems had built a 2-0 lead after forty minutes on goals from Joe Crosby and Pete Stojanov but Chicago scored twice in the final eight minutes to tie the contest. It took 38 minutes and 41 seconds of overtime, during which the Packers fired 28 shots at Totems goaltender Justin MacPhee but could not find an opening. Vancouver in contrast, had just 12 shots in the overtime but the final one proved the Cup winner as playoff scoring leader Alan Porter set up Ben Jacobs, a 33-year-old who had joined the Totems in the expansion draft after splitting a decade between New York and Boston, with the series clinching goal.
The Totems, in just their second year, were Challenge Cup champions after beating Chicago 3-2 to take the series in five games. Vancouver goaltender Justin MacPhee, who won a Juneau Trophy with Toronto seven years ago and Challenge Cups with both Toronto and Detroit, was named the winner of the David Welcombe Trophy as playoff MVP. The 35-year-old MacPhee became the first goaltender to win the award in its four year history. The award is named after Welcombe, the former long-time owner of the Toronto Dukes.
FEDERAL CAGE LOOP EXPANDS AGAIN
Houston and Milwaukee Boost FBL To 14 Clubs The expansion craze continues in pro sports with not just baseball adding additional teams. The Federal Basketball League, despite continued defections of some top talent to the upstart Continental cage league, grew again prior to the 1968-69 season with the addition of two more teams. The Milwaukee Hammers joined the East Division while the West Division adds the Houston Apollos. That brings the league to 14 teams and further intensifies competition for top talent with the 12 teams in the Continental Basketball League.
A number of talented players left the FBL for the new league but none had a higher profile than Steve Barrell. The long-time leader of the Boston Centurions had won 3 FBL playoff MVP awards and guided the Centurions to titles each of the past two years. He left the Centurions for Louisville of the CBL.
Boston did find a more than adequate replacement for Barrell in Ted Stallsmith. The 24-year-old was an undrafted free agent out of Whitney College who joined Boston in a reserve role a year ago as Barrell's backup. This year Stallsmith embraced the opportunity to play every day and averaged nearly 19 points per game to give the Centurions an outside scoring threat to compliment big men Art Owens and Charlie Brock.
Boston failed to match last year's win total as their 51-31 record was 7 victories shy of last seasons total but the Centurions did finish second in the East Division just as they had a year ago with Barrell. Top spot once more went to the Washington Statesmen who were led by their veteran tandem of guards in Joe Godfrey and John Caffery. The New York Knights ended a four year playoff drought by finishing third with Dick Van der Linden and rookie Roger Higenbotham playing key roles. The final playoff berth in the East Division went to the Philadelphia Phantoms, who were once more led by center Dan Holland.
The second year Atlanta Vipers nearly doubled their win total of 20 in their first season by going 39-43 but they missed the playoffs, as did the suddenly fading Toronto Falcons who continued to struggle since being moved over from the West Division. The expansion Milwaukee Hammers finished last but may have found a player to build around in Bill Crawford, who they drafted in the first round out of Mississippi A&M. Crawford started all 82 games and averaged 19.2 ppg.
*** Rockets Take Off In West ***
The best regular season record in the FBL belonged to the St Louis Rockets, who set a new regular season record with 69 victories while losing just 13 times. Rockets 29-year-old forward Al Denning led the loop in scoring and received plenty of secondary support from the likes of John Brantner and Clarence Turgeon. The Chicago Panthers finished second and made the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season thanks in no small part to the efforts of the veteran Chicago duo of Tom Midgett and Dick Brown, although Brown did miss a quarter of the season with an injury.
Rounding out the playoff teams in the West Division were the Detroit Mustangs and San Francisco Miners. For the third year Miners it was the first time in club history they qualified for the playoffs. The Los Angeles Condors, Seattle Emeralds and the brand new Houston Apollos all missed the post-season.
PLAYOFFS
The Federal League opted to make all playoff rounds a best-of-seven series, changing the long-standing tradition of the quarterfinals being a best of five. None of the series went the distance as Boston swept New York while Washington turned back Philadelphia in five games on the eastern side while in the west St Louis disposed of San Francisco in five and the Chicago Panthers needed six games to eliminate Detroit.
The semi-final on the West Division side saw the Chicago Panthers, led by Tom Midgett's 44 points, draw first blood with a 154-150 victory in a game that required overtime. The rest of the series featured some close games but the Rockets won each of them to advance to the league finals for the first time since 1962-63. The highly anticipated series between Washington and Boston went the distance with the Centurions pulling out 1 point victories in both game six and seven to advance to the finals for the third consecutive season.
It marked the fourth time that Boston and St Louis met in the league final. The Centurions won the most recent meeting in the spring of 1963 but St Louis had claimed the title in the two final series between the duo in the 1950s. With the best record in the league the Rockets were favoured.
St Louis won each of the first two games on their home court easily, taking the opener 124-104 and following that up with a 117-94 win in game two that was keyed by a 30 point effort from Al Denning. Back home in Boston's Denny Arena the Centurions pulled out a 112-99 win in game three despite another 30 point showing by the Rockets' Dunning. Boston could not stop Denning the next night as he scored 40 points and added 18 rebounds in a 112-106 St Louis win that put the Rockets up 3 games to one in the series. Charlie Brock led the way with 36 points as Boston stayed alive with a 118-103 victory in the fifth game but the Rockets wrapped up their third FBL title and first since the spring of 1960 with a 112-104 victory in game six. Denning, who averaged 31.5 points per game in the playoffs, was named the postseason MVP. Later he would named league MVP and All-League first team after leading the FBL in regular season scoring.
SPIRITS SCARE UP A TITLE
New Addition Lifts Louisville To Top of CBLThe Louisville Spirits emerged as the top team in year two of the Continental Basketball League thanks to a veteran addition. Louisville had much of the same cast that finished 8 games under .500 and was swept in the first round of the playoffs a year ago with one major exception. That would be Steve Barrell as the long-time Boston Centurions playmaker became the latest big name player to jump to the new loop. The 33-year-old Barrell averaged nearly 20 points per game and more than 7 assists while lending the knowledge and experience that comes with being a 3-time playoff MVP during his decade in Boston.
It took a while for the Spirits to gel with their new teammate and Louisville struggled early going 17-19 to open the season. However, they caught fire in the second half and finished second in the East Division behind the front-running Norfolk Mariners. Like the Spirits, the Mariners were a much improved club from a year ago thanks also to a key addition from the FBL. That would be forward Norm Bennett, who finished among the top scorers in the CBL after jumping to the new loop from the Washington Statesmen. With Bennett the Mariners went from missing the playoffs a year ago to owning the best record in the East Division. Pittsburgh finished third while the final playoff berth in the East went to last year's division champion Baltimore Chargers.
The West Division standings in 1968-69 much more closely mirrored the debut year with Dallas -the reigning playoff champs-, Kansas City and Denver finishing 1-2-3 just as they did last season. The final playoff berth went to the San Diego Breakers a year ago but this time around the Phoenix Scorchers finished ahead of San Diego in fourth place.
The opening round of the CBL playoffs went according to script with each of the higher seeds prevailing. The Kansas City Plainsmen had the toughest time, pushed to the full five games by Denver before eventually triumphing with wins in both game four and five.
The semi-finals saw the Plainsmen upset the defending champion and West Division leading Dallas Drillers by taking the best of seven series in six games. Kansas City guard Joe Williams was the star of the series, averaging over 27 points per game and leading all scorers with 30 in the series clinching 132-124 game six victory. The other series between Norfolk and Louisville went the distance. The Mariners led 2-0 and 3-1 in the series but the Spirits won games five, six and seven to take the series. Barrell played a key role but the big story was the emergence of Earl Arsenault as a star player. The 29-year-old was a former All-American at North Carolina Tech but never got a chance to prove himself in the FBL until the expansion San Francisco Miners selected him from Boston. He played sparingly during his days with the Centurions but was a key cog for the Miners in his one season with them. Prior to last season he jumped to the CBL and instantly became one of the top scorers and rebounders in the new loop. This year his 28.9 regular season points per game was second behind only Pittsburgh's Mike Borseth and he cracked the top ten in boards and blocked shots.
Arsenault's stellar play continued into the league finals as the Spirits faced the Kansas City Plainsmen. The series opened in KC but it was the visitors from Louisville who drew first blood as Arsenault had 31 points and 14 boards while Steve Barrell chipped in with a triple double as the Spirits won 127-121.
Kansas City got back on level ground with a 114-107 victory despite another 31 point outing from Arsenault. Plainsmen guard Joe Williams had the hot hand with 42 points of his own while making 17 of 25 attempts from the field. The series shifted to Louisville for game three as the Spirits posted a 135-118 win with Arsenault once more topping the point parade with 30. Louisville moved to a three games to one series lead with a 145-134 victory in a fast-paced fourth game as Arsenault had 35 to once more lead the way. The tightest game of the series saw Kansas City stay alive with a 130-129 win on the road in game five as Plainsmen forward Chet Bancroft scored 42 points. Two days later the Spirit celebrated on the road as Arsenault, who was named playoff MVP, scored 33 points in a series clinching 126-100 victory for Louisville.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL RECAP
COLONELS FINALLY WIN THE BIG ONE
After reaching the title game of the AIAA basketball tournament in three of the previous four years only to fall short, the Noble Jones College Colonels finally won the last game of the season, thumping Custer College 73-43 in what was tied for the most one-sided title game in the 60 year history of the college basketball tournament.
The Colonels, who were led by senior forward Bill Nowell - a third team All-American- and junior guard Mickey Bell, lost just twice all season and finished with a 32-2 record. Both of their losses came in conference play but Noble Jones College still finished a game ahead of Mississippi A&M to win their third Deep South Conference title in the past five years. The 32-2 record is the third highest win total in school history, trailing a 33-2 club from 1965-66 and the perfect 34-0 1949-50 Charlie Barrell led team that remains the only team in AIAA history ever to go unbeaten in a season.
Seeded number one in the South Region, the Colonels did not have a nail-biter at any point in the tournament. They opened with a 61-52 victory over San Francisco Tech in a game in which Nowell, Bell and junior forward Steve Snowden all scored in double-figures. Next up was a 62-48 victory over another team from the west, the Coastal California Dolphins. They then defeated Deep South Conference rival Bayou State 66-55 in the regional final behind a 20 point afternoon from Mickey Bell.
Noble Jones College was the only number one seed to reach the national semi-finals. Third seeded Bulein came out of the East Region after the Hornets defeated Western Iowa -a 4 seed that eliminated #1 Maryland State- in the regional final. The top seed in the West Region, Lane State, also fell in the second round as the Emeralds were nipped 56-54 by Whitney College. The Engineers would punch a ticket to New York and the national semi-finals with a 62-47 victory over defending champion Indiana A&M in the West Regional final. The Midwest Region was the biggest surprise as Custer College, an 8th seed, ran the table with wins over #1 seed Detroit City College, #5 Redwood and #3 Northern California to become the first eighth seed in decades to reach the semi-finals.
Custer College kept their Cinderella dream alive with a 52-44 victory over Bulein in the first semi-final while Noble Jones took care of business against Whitney College. The Colonels did trail by five points at the break but dominated the second half to win 67-59. Bill Nowell led the way for the winners with 19 points while Mickey Bell added 16.
The clock struck midnight on Custer College very early in the final as Noble Jones College raced out to a 16 point lead at the half and would win by 30, with the final scoring being 73-43. That 30-point margin tied the 1953-54 Rainier College 66-36 win over Western Iowa for the largest victory margin in tournament title game history.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOTES
- Northern Mississippi junior forward John Jenkins was named the national player of the year for the second consecutive season. The Lewisburg, TN., native is considered a top pro prospect but before that he will have an opportunity to win a record third Barrette Trophy as the college cage player of the year. OSA feels that Jenkins is already the best pro prospect out of all the division one college basketball players but he will not be eligible for the FBL or CBL draft until the spring of 1970.
- Custer College became the first 8th seed to make the national title game. They were the second #8 to reach the semi-finals this decade as Dickson did so in 1964-65, but the Maroons were knocked out by eventual champ Redwood in the semis. Entering the tournament the Calvary had not won a tournament game since 1928 and had not qualified for the tournament in the past decade.
- CC Los Angeles two-sport star Tom Bowens Jr. finished off his college cage career with a terrific season. Bowens was among the nation scoring leaders in averaging 15.9 ppg for the Coyotes. The top scorer was Mississippi A&M senior Chuck Mitchell, a second team All-American selection. OSA has Bowens ranked as the number one pro prospect among graduating seniors and Mitchell is listed as number four on the list.
Next up will be the review of the 1969 baseball season.