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| By: Tom Larry Anstett, KW Record - April 23rd, 1982 |
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It would have been the ultimate for hockey fans in the Ottawa-Hull area. If things would have worked out, Ottawa 67’s and neighbouring Hull Festivals might have battled for the Memorial Cup championship in the May 8-15 national junior showcase in Hull, Que. But the Festivals, who led the Quebec Major Junior League for three months and finished in second place, two points behind Sherbrooke, suffered a stunning elimination in a whacky round-robin playoff. Now it’s up to the 67’s to give the Ottawa region at least one representative in the Canadian championships. But it won’t be easy. Standing in their way are defending Ontario Hockey League champion Kitchener Rangers, who for a year have been dreaming about returning to the Memorial Cup title game after losing last year’s championship contest to the Cornwall Royals. For the dreams to materialize, Rangers have to gain at least a tie in the Capital City, where in recent years they have managed only one win – a 5-4 decision the last time the two teams met more than two months ago. Rangers are hoping to duplicate the feat tonight when the eight-point OHL finals open at the 9,500 seat Civic Center, where close to 10,000 fans cheered Ottawa to a dramatic semifinal triumph over the Oshawa Generals Tuesday. The 67’s were outshot 42-27, but rode goaltender Jim Ralph’s heroics to a 5-4 victory in a seven-game series in which neither club won on the road. The 67’s are pinning their hopes on their big line of Moe Lemay, Jeff Vaive and Don McLaren, who have scored 34 of Ottawa’s 56 playoff goals, which comes to 61 percent. Official statistics released by the 67’s Thursday showed Kitchener native McLaren, an ex-Ranger, with 14 goals in 12 playoff, followed by Vaive with 12 and Lemay with eight. Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea has said he’ll match his sizzling line against Kitchener’s spectacular unit of Brian Bellows, Jeff Larmer, and Grant Martin, who have scored 27, or 54 percent, of Rangers’ 50 playoff goals in 10 games. Hull might still be in contention for the Memorial Cup if it weren’t for an unsual playoff setup in the Quebec League. Eight of the league’s nine teams advanced to a home-and-away round-robin series, in which each club played 14 games. Hull , coming off its best regular season in history, had the best offensive and defensive records in the round-robin but managed only a 7-7 record and finished fifth, two points out of fourth. Only the top four teams advanced to the semifinals. Hull had the best road record during the regular schedule but won only one of seven road games in the playoffs. Laval, which finished seventh in the regular season, won the round-robin. Pennant-winning Sherbrooke finished second, sixth-place Chicoutimi was third and fourth-place Trois Rivieres was fourth. Sherbrooke then hammered Lavel in four straight games in one semifinal while in the other, Trois Rivieres beat Chicoutimi four games to two after romping 11-1 Thursday.
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