Think your teenage hockey is sometimes absurd? Nothing, except maybe the fictional Slapshot, compares with a legendary "hockey" series in 1969 between two teams in what was then a rogue Canadian junior hockey association.
The national final pitted the St. Thomas, Ont., Barons against the Flin Flon, Manitoba, Bombers. The Barons were local legends, still revered in the city where I worked for the daily newspaper for 17 years. But the Bombers featured Bobby Clarke, the win-at-all-costs diabetic who went on to captain the Philadelphia Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies years, and Reggie Leach, a native Canadian who went on to become one of the most feared snipers in the NHL.
Unfortunately, the series had little to do with hockey skill and everything to do with intimidation, fighting and deliberate attempts to injure. After opening with two games in St. Thomas, the series ended incomplete when the Barons quit part way through Game 4 in Flin Flon after a Bomber tried to kick a Baron in the head. He missed and his skate became caught in the boards.
The Barons were trapped in the dressing room for hours, needed a police escort to leave and had their hotel guarded by the RCMP overnight. When they tried to leave town, they found the league had cancelled their flight and refused to pay any expenses, leaving the players to pool their money and ask the City of St. Thomas council to help pay their way home.
The story is retold in full by London Free Press sportswriter Morris Dalla Costa in today's edition. The hook on retelling the story is the return of Reggie Leach, who as a 17-year-old deliberately fired the puck into the face of a mask-less Barons goaltender, to St. Thomas as a guest of the city's annual sports celebrity dinner.
Hopefully, no scuffles broke out in the buffet line.
Check this out: The London Free Press has posted 17 photos taken during the Barons-Bombers Jr. A series in 1969. The lack of protective equipment is a hoot, but the absence of glass around the rink must have only added to the circus-like interaction between players and fans. Not to mention the danger. Click London Free Press photo gallery.
The national final pitted the St. Thomas, Ont., Barons against the Flin Flon, Manitoba, Bombers. The Barons were local legends, still revered in the city where I worked for the daily newspaper for 17 years. But the Bombers featured Bobby Clarke, the win-at-all-costs diabetic who went on to captain the Philadelphia Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies years, and Reggie Leach, a native Canadian who went on to become one of the most feared snipers in the NHL.
Unfortunately, the series had little to do with hockey skill and everything to do with intimidation, fighting and deliberate attempts to injure. After opening with two games in St. Thomas, the series ended incomplete when the Barons quit part way through Game 4 in Flin Flon after a Bomber tried to kick a Baron in the head. He missed and his skate became caught in the boards.
The Barons were trapped in the dressing room for hours, needed a police escort to leave and had their hotel guarded by the RCMP overnight. When they tried to leave town, they found the league had cancelled their flight and refused to pay any expenses, leaving the players to pool their money and ask the City of St. Thomas council to help pay their way home.
The story is retold in full by London Free Press sportswriter Morris Dalla Costa in today's edition. The hook on retelling the story is the return of Reggie Leach, who as a 17-year-old deliberately fired the puck into the face of a mask-less Barons goaltender, to St. Thomas as a guest of the city's annual sports celebrity dinner.
Hopefully, no scuffles broke out in the buffet line.
Check this out: The London Free Press has posted 17 photos taken during the Barons-Bombers Jr. A series in 1969. The lack of protective equipment is a hoot, but the absence of glass around the rink must have only added to the circus-like interaction between players and fans. Not to mention the danger. Click London Free Press photo gallery.
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