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Home > Articles > Today In Jr. Hockey Playoff History > Today in Kingston junior hockey playoff history
Today in Kingston junior hockey playoff history
Posted: April 7th, 2013 @ 1:10pm
Today's installment in a daily feature that looks back at this date in Kingston junior hockey playoff history.
Monday, April 7, 1975
An overflow Memorial Centre crowd, announced at 4,335, cheers wildly as the stubborn Canadians peck away at a seemingly comfortable 8-4 Toronto lead with three third-period goals but the upstart second-year Kingston team could not get all the way back and it dropped a 9-7 decision in the deciding game of an eight-point quarter-final series.
The Canadians, who struggled into the final playoff spot on the last night of the regular season, had taken the Marlboros, who finished in first place by 19 points, all they could handle, as Toronto finally prevailed in the series 9-7.
"I've never been so proud of a group of players as I am of this one, and I've been around a lot of them," Canadians general manager-coach Walter (Punch) Scherer told Art Wright of the Whig-Standard.
Regular-season scoring champion Bruce Boudreau, held to only two goals through the first seven games of the series, scored three goals and assisted on two others. John Anderson, who ended the game with an empty-net goal, also scored three times while Mark Napier scored twice and John Smrke once for the Marlboros. Napier finished the series with 12 goals and 12 assists.
Alex Forsyth, Tony McKegney and defenceman Mike Forbes, with his first goal of the season, scored the third-period goals for the Canadians, at 4:49, 8:47 and 14:06. McKegney's goal was a shorthanded effort and Forbes' goal came on a power play. McKegney scored twice for the Canadians with their other goals coming from Dave Hynek and defenceman Richie Dunn.
The game swung on a goal by Napier in the first period. With the score tied 1-1 he fired a backhand shot off right wing that slid along the ice and appeared to hit the far goal post. The goal judge flashed the red light but play continued until referee Bob Nadin eventually whistled it dead. After consulting with the goal judge, the official declared it to be a goal.
"Even Napier knew it wasn't in," Canadians goaltender Mike Freeman said later. "He never even started to raise his stick - he kept going after the puck."
The Canadians lost their composure at that point. Boudreau scored 38 seconds later and the Marlboros struck for two more goals early in the second period, both by Boudreau, for a 5-1 lead that Kingston could never completely overcome. "You can't blame the whole game on that goal," said Kingston defenceman Mike O'Connell, "but something like that has to have an effect on a team. That was one of the breaks everybody said before the game it would take to win it."
The significance of Kingston's achievement would not be fully appreciated until after the Marlboros won the Memorial Cup, without losing a single game the rest of the way.
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