1974-75 WCLH Season

 

Standings

1. Lethbridge Cougars

2. Saskatoon Cats

3. Fargo Owls

4. Medicine Hat Hawks

5. Nanaimo Greyhounds

6. Abbotsford Forest Kings

7. North Battleford Crusaders

8. Kenora Pioneers

9. Moose Jaw Wings

10. Brandon Buffalos

Story:

On January 5, 1975, Greg Peterson passed away, his brother Jake takes over the club. One of Greg’s requests is to have his brother change the team’s name. Jake will announce the team’s new name comes to the 1975 off-season. The team put a patch with “GP” on both jerseys to honour Greg.

The new team, the Kenora Pioneers, surprised many critics with some good key wins, including winning the season series against the defending Jade Trophy champions Brandon Buffalos (2-1-1.) The team played well enough to finish 8th place and becoming the first team in WCLH history to make it to the playoffs on their first season.

Thanks to that history by the Pioneers, another one was made but not in a pretty way for the Buffalos. They lost their players from expansion drafts to Pro hockey drafts during the off-season. The team went through a rough season, including a 15-game losing streak that landed them in the last place, making them the first team in WCLH history to ever miss the playoffs after winning the Jade Trophy title a season ago.

Fargo made a big jump this season thanks to their goalie Shawn McNaughton of Grand Forks ND, with 20 wins and eight shutouts, the highest made by a goalie to this date. Owls rookie Tom Gregson made an impression with 25 goals, 32 assists. It would not be enough for the Owls to get swept by the Cats in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

3rd time was a charm for the Cougars as they seeded 1st for the third season in a row and went all the way to the finals beating the Saskatoon Cats 3 to 1 to win their first Jade Trophy title since winning the title in 1965.

1974 CIHA Off-season

Expansion Draft

It’s the day that many fans are excited about and the team GM’s nightmare as the rules go the Expansion teams can take two players from each current team unless they can trade them for late draft picks (round 4 to 6) to make things scarier the expansion team gets early access to tryout camps to find that right players/goalies to be part of their team.

WCLH

Moose Jaw Wings

1. F - Jake Oak, Brandon

2. D - Ed Queen, Nanaimo

3. G - Keith Sanders, Saskatoon

4. F - Alex Grant, Abbotsford

5. F - Paul Russell, Brandon

Kenora Pioneers

1. F - Peter Ekman, Brandon

2. G - John Dickerson, Brandon

3. F - Don Jones, Medicine Hat

4. D – Chris Dawson, North Battleford

5. D – Kevin Holly, Lethbridge

OMJHA

Barrie Admirals

1. F - Jack Farrell, Milton

2. F – Brian Bedford, Kitchener Generals

3. G – James Roy, Waterloo

4. D – Blake Hunt, Guelph

5. F – Lawson West, Kitchener Generals

Oshawa Diamonds

1. F – Doug Lyle, Kitchener Legionnaires

2. D – Ronald Haas, Owen Sound

3. F – Dusty Armstrong, Oakville

4. G – Danny Caldwell, Burlington

5. D – Joe Wright, Oakville

AQHL

New Glasgow Highlanders

1. F - Jaune Gill, Sherbrooke

2. G - Guy Dionne, Drummondville

3. D - Jean Guevremont, Trois-Rivieres

4. D - Brian Briere, Laval

5. D - Ian Ward, Portland

Verdun Knights

1. D - Denis Parizeau, Trois-Rivieres

2. F - Alain Charbonneau, Laval

3. G - Daniel Blanchard, Sherbrooke

4. F - Marc-Jean Belanger, Moncton

5. F - Aaron Richards, Fredericton

1974 AQHL Draft

This year was a surprise for the Titans fans, where the team received the 1st pick, and former 1st picked Rey LeClair from Fredericton for a 2nd pick and goalie Max DePaul, the Titians select forward Halifax native Mark Lewis. At the same time, the Vikings take forward Phillip Neuville from Blainville QC. And Moncton picks defence Rick Wyn from Summerside PEI.

1974 OMJHA Draft

Guelph's 1st pick was Rick Donaldson, a forward from North York who made an impression on the team good enough to give the Crusaders a chance to get out of the bottom of the standings. Owen Sound picked forward Fred Norm of Guelph, hoping for some signs of a proper rebuild after losing 4 of their top players to the expansion draft. The Micmacs tried to trade their 3rd pick to the Generals for a veteran defenseman after losing Hal Russell. The Generals shot the offer down. So, the Macs gave the same offer to the Legionnaires, and they took it, which led to a pick that reignites their feud with the Generals as they pick Gerald Herbco’s son John Herbco a power forward from Thamesville, Ontario. The pick did not sit well with the higher-ups of the Generals. The Generals are hoping that they would not make any more mistakes mainly in the next two years when Gerald’s other son Patrick who’s been on top of the game and ready to hit the juniors and hopes to be part of the Generals like his father was in his junior days.

1974 WCLH Draft

The Crusaders were one of 3 teams that got lucky to not feel the expansion draft's effects as they select Red Deer Alberta’s Ron Stevens, a scoring defenseman that could give the team a big offence push. The Hawks took Raymond Taylor, a forward from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to help the team’s captain Al Gordon after losing his brother Jim from the expansion draft. Fargo may have got themselves a star player with their pick of Tom Gregson from Winnipeg, MA. He played forward very well and got the character that owner Ed Jackson and the fans would like to see and bring the Owls to the top of the WCLH.

News

Both the CIHA President Joseph McGeorge and the Name brothers announced that beginning in the 1974-75 season, all players in their leagues must wear helmets, no ifs or buts about it. The rule is to keep the players safe from any head injuries moving forward. For the owner of the Waterloo Maroons, Guy Perry, its closure for his brother, who suffered a career-ending head injury in 1949. Since then, he’s been pushing for helmets to be mandatory “it’s what should have happened a long time ago; I believe that this is a change that needs to be done.” Guy said.

The CIHA President Joseph McGeorge named Montreal QC as the host for the 1975 Valor cup tournament. Montreal was supposed to host the 1974 tournament. But, other event schedules for that year were put to kibosh. The 1975 Valor Cup should not go through any problems this time around.

WCLH news put the fears on everyone, including the Nanaimo Greyhounds fans, as the team’s owner Greg Peterson was diagnosed with lung cancer. It is unknown if he makes it through or not for the time being. His brother Jake Peterson would take ownership of the team if Greg passed away. Jake was best known for being the team’s GM and one of the reasons why the Greyhounds won both the 1973 Jade Trophy and the Valor Cup. He wanted to own a team, but a few issues kept him from owning one.

1974 Valor Cup tournament

 1974 Valor Cup tournament: Toronto, Ontario

Standings

Sherbrooke Loups: 4 W, 0 L

Burlington Metros: 2 W, 2 L

Brandon Buffalos: 0 W, 4 L

Story

For the 2nd year in a row, the Valor Cup tournament is playing in the Toronto Forum in Toronto, Ontario. Before the match started, the League had a banquet at the Toronto Sparkle Hall with the Name brothers announcing the names of the six new teams coming in for the 1974-75 season.

Paul Name, the AQHL president, was the first to announce the names for the two teams from Verdun QC. They are called the “Verdun Knights.” From New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the team’s name is the “New Glasgow Highlanders.”

The OMJHA president Franklin Name welcomes the League from Barrie after many fan votes; the team’s name will be the “Barrie Admirals.” Oshawa named their team the “Oshawa Diamonds,” the same name as the team was called since the 1930s until the team folded in 1969 due to the passing of Jack O’Brian.

WCLH president James Name did not waste time and announce the two teams are the “Moose Jaw Wings” and the “Kenora Pioneers.” Moose Jaw Wings, named in honor of the Royal Canadian Air Force. For the town of Kenora, the Pioneers is the team’s new name from a “name a team contest” and voted the best name.

Sherbrooke went perfect for the 2nd time, while the Metros went split 2 apiece, and the Buffalos did not do so well, ending in winless. The tournament rule goes if the 3rd seeded team goes winless; they are eliminated.

With the Buffalos out of the picture, it is just the Metros vs the Loupes. It was a back and forth in both the first and the second period, but in the 3rd period, the Loupes top star forward Jaune Dupont score three straight goals as the Loupes takes it 6-3 over the Metros to win the 1974 Valor cup championship, Jaune Dupont is named the 1974 Valor Cup MVP.

1973-74 AQHL Season

 

1. Sherbrooke Loups

2. Cape Breton Warriors

3. Drummondville Les Rouges

4. Laval Tigers

5. Portland Clippers

6. Moncton Bears

7. Trois-Rivieres Titans

8. Fredericton Vikings

Story:

In Moncton, the folks were in shock with the news that the ownership of the Bears had change hands when Todd Lowe sold the team to Ron and Don the Reese brothers, even bigger news to everyone in Moncton, the brothers announced the team is going back to the team’s old colours of brown and white for the first time since the 50s. The previous owners had been buying hand-me-downs jerseys, even when the team played the entire 1969-70 season wearing pink.

Another announcement is next season. Both Verdun QC and New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, are the League’s new additions. The names for both teams will announce during the 1974 Valor Cup tournament.

One year after missing the playoffs due to lack of wins, this time, the Vikings won 8 games, enough to make it to the playoffs. In the playoffs, the Vikings got eliminated by Sherbrooke in 2 games, with both ended in overtimes.

After the 1st round, the Loups went on sweeping the Portland Clippers in the 2nd round and then lastly claim their 2nd straight Bronz Cup title by sweeping Cape Breton Warriors in 3 games. With that victory, the Loups are heading back to the Valor cup tournament.