Lakers-Salmonbellies matchup in 1969 a classic
The Lakers playoff series with New Westminster Salmonbellies is the sixth time these two iconic teams have squared off in a national final.
This will be the fifth time for the Mann Cup.
New Westminster won in 1959 and 1970; the Lakers prevailed in 1982 and 2010.
But arguably the best series of them all was in 1969. That season the Lakers played in a semi-professional league with three other Ontario teams. Called the Eastern Professional Lacrosse Association, it was the remnants of the 1968 National Lacrosse Association. The EPLA had the two holdovers from the NLA -- the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Peterborough Lakers with the St. Catharines Golden Hawks replacing Montreal and the Kitchener Nationals replacing Detroit.
In the west, Victoria, New Westminster and Vancouver returned from the western division of the NLA with Coquitlam taking over the Portland, Oregon franchise.
Both these leagues, the NLA and the EPLA were not recognized by the Canadian Lacrosse Association even though they had most of the best players in Canada. Therefore they could not compete for the Mann Cup. During those two years the Mann Cup was essentially a senior B trophy.
Peterborough handily won the eastern portion of the EPLA and New Westminster won in the west. The best-of-seven national final was slated for the Memorial Centre.
The series opened with the Lakers winning game one before a crowd of 2,427. In the game the Lakers’ Johnny Davis was hit by Wayne Goss in what was seen by the Lakers as a cheap shot. Davis sustained an injured foot forcing him from the series.
The Lakers’ Ken Henderson hit Goss in retaliation. Thinking the unconscious Goss was faking, Henderson picked him up and dropped him again to the floor. One of the fiercest bench clearing brawls I ever saw in lacrosse ensued.
The Salmonbellies won game two. The Lakers came back before 2,237 fans, with goalie Pat Baker wearing a brace on an injured knee and Davis still out, to win game three.
The Salmonbellies regrouped and won the next two games putting the Lakers within a game of losing the series. In game six, with the league’s leading scorer, Johnny Davis, back in the lineup, the Lakers forced a seventh and deciding game with a 9-8 victory. Davis had five assists as nine different Lakers scored.
Game seven drew the largest official lacrosse crowd in Peterborough history with 4,684 fans in attendance. In the 1978 Mann Cup final game the crowd was estimated to be more than 5,000 but no attendance was announced fearing fire code violations.
The Lakers eked out another 9-8 victory to win the title. When the Salmonbellies won the NLA title the year before, they claimed they were world champions. The Lakers were not as presumptuous.
The series drew more than 22,000 fans and for many it was the most exciting lacrosse series in Lakers history.
That ended the first try at professional box lacrosse in decades. The next year the CLA reluctantly allowed the teams to return and compete for the Mann Cup. The OLA, led by Brooklin, who had won the Mann Cup those two years, fought hard to keep the returning pros out of the OLA.
Ironically the 1969 EPLA finalists met in the 1970 Mann Cup final played in the Queen’s Park Arena in New Westminster. The Salmonbellies avenged their lost in Peterborough when they swept the Lakers in four straight games.
Five years later, when another professional league failed, the vindictive OLA finally punished the professional players by refusing to allow them to play in the senior league. It took the threat of a lawsuit and federal government intervention to have them eventually relent after three years.