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| By: Tom Conaway, KW Record - May 1st, 1982 |
| It
was shortly before the playoffs when Kitchener Rangers’ defenceman Robert
Savard arrived thinking seriously about the Memorial Cup again.
Oh, he had thought about it before all right but he didn’t dwell on the possibility of becoming the first ever to play on three straight major junior A national championship clubs. When he joined the Kitchener Rangers were playing Jan. 7 from Cornwall Royals for future considerations, Savard was simply grateful to have moved on to a contending team. Not that the Rangers were playing like contenders in early January. After Savard’s arrival, they proceeded to lose four and tie one of their next six games. They were still chasing the Soo Greyhounds for the Emms Division lead at that point and it would be another month before they caught them. But catch them they did, on Feb. 11 to be exact. What a coincidence for Robert Savard that his new team should push through to the pinnacle the a 6-4 victory against the Royals right in Cornwall. The Rangers are still pushing, and with Savard helping to provide coach Joe Crozier with the consistency he was looking for along the blueline, they’re within a tie of qualifying for that long-elusive Canadian title. Savard, who scored the winning overtime goal for Cornwall in the 1980 Memorial Cup against the Peterborough Petes, contributed three assists Friday night as the Rangers took a 7-1 points lead over the Ottawa ‘67s with a 5-3 victory in the eight-point final before 7,549 delighted auditorium fans. A little over a year ago it was the same Savard who played a major role in the Royals’ 5-2 triumph over the Rangers in Windsor. “I’d say the Rangers are more aggressive than those Cornwall teams were,” Savard said as he devoured a piece of Crozier’s eighth wedding anniversary cake amid the chaos of the noisy Ranger room. “Talent-wise, I’d say the two teams are about the same.” “Bellows is a different kind of player than Dale Hawerchuk (the Royals’ superstar now with the Winnipeg Jets). He’s stronger and more physical, Hawerchuk was more of a finesse player.” At that point the interview was interrupted by several of Savard’s team-mates, among them Mario Michieli who wanted it known that his future hockey plans didn’t include the International Hockey League. A huge, good-natured 19-year-old with a grin as wide as the elbow pads he plants so firmly in his opponents’ chops. Michieli was referring to Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea’s statement about he, Moher and Louis Crawford being IHL material. The IHL of course is well-known for its constant mayhem. “I want it known that I’ll be playing hockey back home for the Thunder Bay Twins and attending University, not playing in the IHL,” Michieli said, suddenly faking anger. “The big I is not in my vocabulary.” Joel Levesque, a thumping defenceman who like Michieli makes a better friend than foe, pointed out that he had scored four goals this season, not two as mentioned in a recent article. The recently-suspended Moher, another IHL candidate according to Kilrea, jokingly threatened Ranger writer Larry Anstett with decapitation if he called him irascible once more. “We didn’t have much scoring punch in Cornwall,” Savard continued. “Then we lost Scott Arniel to Winnipeg. When John Kirk returned from the International League, they explained to me that they needed help up front and that they’d be signing Kirk as the overage player. Savard said the Memorial Cup wasn’t on his mind at all when he first came to the Twin Cities. But he’s wondering now whether three national championships in a row would be a record. It will be unless some player on the 1940 Oshawa Generals, 1956 Toronto Marlboro’s, 1970 Montreal Junior Canadiens or 1978 New Westminster Bruins also played on a cup champion the following year. Those are the only other Major Jr. A teams to ever win two Memorial Cups in a row other than Cornwall of course. Mind you, Quebec Remparts, led by Guy Lafleur captured the Memorial Cup in ’71. But even if someone from the ’70 Canadien juniors joined the Remparts, he’d have to play on both Montreal winners. Savard, a native of Azilda 80 miles north of Sudbury, admits he was deeply disappointed when he was overlooked in the 1981 NHL draft. But by going to Montreal last spring, he gained an invitation to the Detroit Red Wings camp form now-fired coach Wayne Maxner. Nothing came of it. The Wings’ camp was a fiasco, and the swift-skating Savard returned to Cornwall after turning down an offer to pay for Kalamazoo of the IHL. “I’m not eligible for he draft anymore,” he said. “But maybe someone will pick me up if I continue to have a good year. “I’m doing a lot more skating than I did in Cornwall. I’m carrying the puck more, and since Grant Martin’s been suspended I’ve enjoyed playing the point on the powerplay.” That third straight cup would be the topper.
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