Hockey History

The 1946 OHA Playoffs – Chapter 3
Round Two – Hamilton defeats Toronto with 4-1 series, heads to Timmins

On the road to the 1946 Allan Cup, The Hamilton Tigers met up with the Toronto Staffords in a seven-game series for the first of their OHA Senior playoffs.

Played at the Barton Street Arena early in March of 1946, the Tigers were guided by their second line to a 5-1 victory over Toronto.

Paced by Brady and Dillon with two goals apiece, the Tigers were constantly under pressure from the Staffords, but kept up the attack:

“The close-checking and rugged visitors showed up the Bengals with heavy bodychecking and close stickwork, but they could not prevent the Bengals from fashioning many smart attacks, nor could they keep them out of the scoring zone,” noted a newspaper account of the game.

“As a matter of fact, the yellow and gold (the Tigers) missed a dozen well-manufactured opportunities to count by the narrowest of margins, and at all times they forced the Toronto goaler to display his best wares.”

After a 3-2 win in Toronto, and then a 7-0 pounding, the Tigers were up in games 3-0, and appeared for a sweep, but Toronto prolonged the series with a 3-2 win over Hamilton, where much attention was given to the Toronto net-minder in press reports of the day.

“Staffords are still in the race for senior OHA honors, but their continuance in quest of the amateur crown depends entirely on the showing of diminutive “Red” Gilbert. The half-pint hemp-tender came up with a sensational effort at Maple Leaf Gardens last night, which enabled the Men of Horner to topple Tigers 3-2.”

For some translation, “Men of Horner” were the Stafford players, coached by Red Horner. It’s doubtful if the term “half-pint hemp-tender” would make it on the airwaves or in print today.

Scoring in the Hamilton loss were defenseman Paul Miocinovich with a marker in the second, and winger Frank Liscombe in the third period.

Spectator Sports Editor Ivan Miller also praised the efforts of the Toronto net-minder:
“Red Gilbert, Staffords goaler, stopped enough rubber to pave the Queen Elizabeth highway from Toronto to Hamilton. Tigers threw everything at Gilbert but Referee Hayes, and they felt like tossing him too when he failed to check Staffords in some of their most glaring attacks.

“Gilbert was really on the prod, and while he stopped shots he didn’t see on several occasions, he stopped everything and anything with one of the greatest displays in years, drawing plaudits even from dejected Hamiltonians.”

So a fifth game was necessary in the series, and Hamilton won this final series game 4-2, as Johnny Conick led the Tigers with three goals.

Played in front of a hometown crowd, Coach George Redding and his Tigers earned the right to advance to the all-Ontario championship series against the McIntyre Mine of Timmins.

Playing on a less-than-ideal ice surface (“The puck refused to lay flat, passes slithered every which way in the sticky going), Conick scored twice in the opening frame, and after two Toronto goals in the second, the center put his third of the night past Toronto goalie Red Gilbert. Taking the fourth Tiger goal was Dillon Brady.

Next up for Hamilton was the McIntyre Mine team, and the first game between the Tigers and the “Macs” was to be played March 9, 1946, at the Barton Street Arena.

Next: The Yellow and Gold discover gold in Timmins

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