Lakers seeking 25th Mann Cup appearance
Pulled out in 1957 over ineligible player
If the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers prevail in this tight series with Oakville it will result in a Peterborough team’s 25th appearance in a Mann Cup series.
That number does need an asterisk because in 1957 they were on the floor warming up for the Mann Cup in Victoria when the CLA suspended the team and sent them home. It was over the eligibility of a player. The CLA replaced them with the team Peterborough beat, Long Branch, in the OLA final.
Also, it will be the 10th Mann Cup final but 11th Canadian championship played in Peterborough. In 1969 they played a Canadian final here against the New Westminster Salmonbellies when the top senior teams in Canada pulled out of the CLA for two years and played as a semiprofessional league.
Peterborough teams also played in three other Mann Cup finals in Ontario; two in Maple Leaf Gardens in 1952 and 1956 and one in Brantford in 1973.
In the 12 Mann Cup finals Peterborough teams have played in Ontario, their only loss was in 1956.
Interestingly, two of the series played in the city were split between two local venues. In 1954 the first ever Mann Cup game in the city was started on Sept. 16 in the outdoor Miller Bowl but never finished. Four minutes into the second quarter (lacrosse played four-15 minutes quarters in those days) the rains came with visiting Victoria leading 4-3. The game was postponed.
The next night the first full Mann Cup game was played before 4,000 fans. Victoria won the game 8-4. Peterborough won the next two games before Game 4 was cancelled for rain.
The Peterborough Trailermen won that rescheduled game in 0 C weather.
Victoria, from the sunny climes of B.C., complained to the CLA about the weather. The CLA decided to move Game 5 indoors to the Civic Arena where Peterborough won the Mann Cup 10-3.
The next Mann Cup final to be played in Peterborough was in 1966. In the 12 years between Peterborough had lost three finals out west as well as that 1957 Victoria debacle.
The Vancouver Carlings came to the city in 1966 and won the first game. The Peterborough Pepsi Petes tied the series with a Game 2 win. After the game the Memorial Centre unwisely turned on the ice plant to prepare for the upcoming hockey training camp. They laid plywood over the floor.
Between the large crowd and the outside temperature, condensation caused the plywood to become slippery. Peterborough slid to an 8-6 win. The CLA again forced the series to move to the Civic Arena. The Pepsi Petes won the next two games giving the city its fifth Mann Cup.
Three years later another Canadian final was played in the Memorial Centre but not for the Mann Cup. The Peterborough Lakers won the championship of the National Lacrosse Association, a semi-pro league in its last of two years of existence.
They beat the New Westminster Salmonbellies in what most observers of the era say was the best series of lacrosse ever played. Before a crowd of 4,684 fans the Lakers won the seventh game.
Peterborough returned to the Mann Cup in 1973 but had to play the one-game final in Brantford. The CLA decided a single game televised Mann Cup final would help sell the game. Brantford’s coach Morley Kells convinced the CLA his team, leading the league at the time, should host it. The Lakers beat Brantford in the
OLA final, and then had to play Vancouver in Brantford for the Mann Cup, winning 9-6.
Since then Peterborough teams have played seven Mann Cup series in the Memorial Centre, winning them all.