Clarke’s orders: ‘We have to take him out’
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA The London Free Press
It’s the kind of incident that is woven into the history of a small town.
In its recall, the details often get expanded or become hazy. But it doesn’t prevent the telling of the tale.
In this case, it’s former Philadelphia Flyer Reggie Leach. Actually, it’s former Flin Flon Bomber Reggie Leach. But it could have been anyone else. It could have been former Bomber and NHLer Bobby Clarke.
Leach returned to St. Thomas as a head table guest for the 33rd St. Thomas Sports Spectacular on Thursday.
It was his first time back in St. Thomas since the infamous 1969 junior A hockey championship between his Bombers and St. Thomas Barons.
It was more than a hockey series. It was more like a head-on collision.
The Bombers won the series
.. . sort of. The best-of-seven never finished. The Barons abandoned the series in the fourth game, skating off the ice in Flin Flon. They blamed the Bombers’ rough play for their decision to withdraw.
“It’s more than 40 years and they still talk about it in St. Thomas, honest to God,” said Harold Kewley, a member of that Barons team. His dad Keith was the coach. “I get a kick out of it. I didn’t back then.”
When the list of guests was announced, Kewley was asked if he wanted to go get his picture taken with Leach.
“Only if he’s in handcuffs,” Kewley said, laughing.
It didn’t take long for the subject to come up once Leach arrived at the afternoon reception.
After being introduced to everyone, he was asked when was the last time he’d been to St. Thomas.
“When we kicked the s--- out of you,” he said with a laugh.
Leach went on to a terrific NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers. Known as the Riverton Rifle, he shares the record for most goals in one p ostseason with 19.
But Leach had a lot of demons to battle. He began drinking at age 12 and admits that his NHL career was shortened because of his alcoholism.
Now 60, he says he’s been sober for “a lot of years,” and calls helping young people “his passion.”
Leach lives on a reserve called Sucker Creek on Manitoulin Island.
“According to all you white guys, I must have been the only person who ever drank in the National Hockey League,” he said.
He now spends time travelling around the country, usually speaking to First Nation peoples about a program called Life Choices.
That is now, but back in 1969, Leach was a member of a rough and wild Bomber team.
“We weren’t the toughest team in the world and they were,” Barons goaltender Ron Marlow said. “If they didn’t beat you on the scoreboard, they beat you on the ice.”
With players such as Leach and Clarke, though, the Bombers were more than just tough. They had a lot of skill.
“They were better than us, no doubt,” Kewley said.
Leach doesn’t remember much about the series. He was only 17, but he called the Bombers the “toughest junior team I ever played on.”
The Bombers were leading the series 2-1 before the Barons skated off midway through Game 4 in Flin Flon. Kewley remembers the breaking point.
“Doug Macauley went down along the boards and one of their guys tried to kick him in the head,” Kewley said. “At that point, my dad just called us off the ice.”
Marlow remembers that incident vividly: “The player missed and his skate stuck in the boards.”
How did it all start?
In 1969, both the Barons and Bombers were playing in outlaw leagues. The Western Ontario Junior A Hockey League and Western Canada Hockey League were part of the Canadian Hockey Association, not the officially recognized Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The next few years would see the structure of junior hockey change to what it is now. But at that time, it was in a state of flux.
This series was big news in both Flin Flon and St. Thomas, but it became evident fairly early that this wasn’t going to be your normal series.
“Not only were they tough, but they were dirty,” Marlow said.
Agreed Leach: “We were dirty, but it was the way I learned to play.”
That’s not to say that it was particularly comfortable for the Bombers to play in St. Thomas either, Leach said.
A report in The London Free Press after the first game of the series in St. Thomas seems to support that theory.
“The game was delayed by a barrage of eggs, cherry bombs, whiskey bottles and other debris,” the account read.
It took almost four hours to play the game.
Barons’ Jack Criel was taken off the ice on a stretcher. A fan was taken to hospital after getting hit by a stick and getting in a fight with a number of Bomber players and the coach.
CHA president Ron Butlin called the game “a disgrace.”
After the first two games in St. Thomas, there was some question as to whether the Barons were going to bother making the trip to Flin Flon because of the nature of the hockey.
It was a trip they probably wished they hadn’t made.
“They beat us 5-0 in the first game there and I had something like 78 shots,” Marlow said. “It was pretty much one way. But it wasn’t a three-ring circus, it was more like one big ring.”
Marlow swears he’s not exag-gerating.
“The fans, most of them were miners and they weren’t there to see good hockey,” he said. “They wanted to see a few fights. They threw stuff at Flin Flon to get them going to fight, never mind just us.
“There were whiskey bottles and a knife or two on the ice and I’m not exaggerating.”
Leach didn’t disagree.
“It was a tough, tough mining town,” he said. “There were more fights in the stands than on the ice and after the game with us.”
Then things really got wild when the Barons abandoned Game 4.
“We were in the dressing room for two hours,” Kewley said. “Then we all walked out together carrying our hockey bags and sticks and there was 200, 300 people outside the rink throwing bottles and stones. We went back in. They brought the Mounties in and they took us to the hotel. They stood on guard at the hotel all night.”
At this point, Butlin, the CHA president, was upset at the Barons for abandoning the series. He cancelled all the Barons’ flight reservations, hotel rooms and expense money, refusing to pay for anything. The Barons were forced to pool their money and ask for help, which they received, from the city of St. Thomas to get home.
“I remember getting home to St. Thomas and (the Ford dealer) got a bunch of convertibles and we had a parade down Talbot St.,” Kewley said.
The fallout from the series was considerable. The Bombers offered to come east to finish the series in either London or St. Thomas. That offer was rejected.
“I was disappointed, but there was no way they were going to come back, especially in our little sardine can rink,” Leach said. “At that time, they didn’t have the glass, they’d have the screen. You go along the boards and they’d grab you. That was good-time hockey.”
The CHA suspended Keith Kewley and general manager Jack Cassidy for a year.
“My dad didn’t care,” Kewley said. “He knew he’d done the right thing.”
E-mail morris.dallacosta@sunmedia.ca, or follow MoDaCoatlfpress on Twitter.
