Hockey History

Johnny Conick was a vital part of the Hamilton Tigers in the 1946 season as the team headed to the Allan Cup. Here he is pictured in 1940. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator.

The 1946 OHA Playoffs – Chapter 4
Round four – Hamilton dispenses with the Miners three games to one

The next opponent in the Hamilton Tigers’ road to the 1946 Allan Cup was the McIntyre Mines All-Stars, a tough Timmins-based team that had just defeated the Sudbury Wolves.

In the first game of the best-of-five OHA Senior play, the Hamilton squad had a rough go against the Miners early in March of 1946, but the Tigers managed a 4-3 win before a packed house.

The report of the contest was somewhat dramatic:

“They (the Miners) conceded defeat only when the final siren interrupted a slashing, tearing display that clawed the Bengals from start to finish, carried a threat and a wallop every minute, and sent another capacity crowd into a veritable delirium before the end came, with the Yellow and Black in possession of their hardest-earned victory.”

While the Tigers started the scoring thanks to Liscombe and Brady in the first period, McIntyre picked up the only marker of the second. Robertson opened up the scoring in the third for a 3-1 Tiger lead, but McIntyre came back with two quick goals only 30 seconds apart half-way through the period to tie up the game.

But as the clock ticked off the final minutes of the game, Claire Shillington, assisted by Dillon Brady and Johnny Conick, slipped one by the McIntyre Mines goalie at the 16.00-minute mark of the third.

The next game belonged to the northern club, as it took a 4-2 victory over Hamilton to tie the series. But Hamilton came back with a vengeance in game three with a 6-1 romp.
Going into game four at the Schumacher Arena in Timmins, the Tigers easily out-classed the McIntyre Mines with a 5-0 win to give them a 3-1 winning margin in the series and the right to go to the next round of playoff contention.

Once again, the newspaper account was loaded with superlatives:

Shown here in a 1934 portrait, George Redding played with the Boston Bruins in 1924-26, coached the Hamilton Patricias in the mid-1930s, and coached in England for three seasons, also in the 1930s, before becoming the bench boss for the Hamilton Tigers in 1941. From 1942 through 1953, Redding led the team to OHA Senior champs six times, the Eastern Canada final five times, and as Allan Cup finalists in 1946. Courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator.

“With a brilliant 5-0 victory over the northland’s champions, they (the Tigers) tacked a great shutout on to their sweeping victory of Wednesday night (the 6-1 win), they punched three decisions in four starts and left not the slightest doubt of their complete superiority over the rugged McIntyre squad which petered out badly on the larger ice surface here.”

While Tiger goalie Art Childs recorded a shutout for the game, his teammates owned the ice with four goals in the first period, courtesy of Mason, a pair from Shillington, and Conick. There was no scoring in the second period, but Robertson put another goal past the McIntyre goalie to finish off the game in the third with five unanswered goals. The Tigers were really on their mark, both offensively and defensively, according the report.

“The Bengals bewildered the rugged northerners with a superlative team display that saw every man on the ice contribute heavily. They combined clever offensive work with speed, back-checking that stopped the homesteaders time and again, and were at their best went the going became tough as the Miners sailed in to attack with all the power at their command. Repeatedly the Bengals eluded the Miners’ front line and raced in on Brownlee, the stalwart McIntyre goaler.”

Tiger coach George Redding and his team, now the all-Ontario Senior champs, were ready board an east-bound train and take on their next opponent, the Saint John Beavers.

Next: Solid Tiger teamwork gets the job done in Saint John.

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