Hockey History

A packed house witnesses some terrific hockey at Copps
1990 Memorial Cup – Oshawa gets by Kitchener in double OT to win series

Oshawa goalie Kevin Butt fends off a shot from Kitchener’s Gilbert Dionne in the 1990 Memorial Cup final. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

“It’s great. I tell you this is great, a full building, two great teams, overtime…Hollywood couldn’t have done better.”

Those were the words spoken by Sherry Bassin, then the General Manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after the final game in the 1990 Memorial Cup, held at Copps Coliseum.
It was the 72nd annual Cup, comprised of a four-team round-robin event.

The Ontario Hockey League Tournament was one of the shining moments in Hamilton hockey history as the Oshawa Generals beat the Kitchener Rangers 4-3 in double overtime in front of a crowd of over 17,000 fans.

The May 13 victory gave the Generals its first Memorial Cup title in 46 years. And the winning goal was scored by Bill Armstrong, who had been the captain of the Hamilton Dukes earlier in the season.

Oshawa Generals Captain Iain Fraser hoists the Memorial Cup in front of packed Copps Coliseum crowd. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

Started in 1919 as a two-game total goal affair between eastern and western teams in Canada, the Memorial Cup is the top prize in men’s under-21 hockey. For the 1990 Cup played in Hamilton, the four teams involved were Oshawa, Kitchener, the Laval Titan, and the Kamloops Blazers for the nine-day series.

While the city of Hamilton had been awarded the tournament in August of 1989, the automatic entry of the Dukes was a non-issue in the proceedings.

After months of poor performance by the Dukes, team owner Mario Cupido pulled the team out of the tourney, which led to Kitchener’s qualification. Cupido expressed some bittersweet sentiments after the final game had been played.

“I still have mixed emotions about it all,” Cupido is reported as saying. “I look around and see 17,000 people and that’s great but it is still disappointing to think about our (the Dukes) season.”

The Kamloops team was never in contention, loosing games to both Oshawa and Kitchener in overtime. The Laval team had been considered a long shot in the series, eventually loosing 5-4 to the Rangers in semi-final round play.

Oshawa Generals celebrate their double-overtime victory to win the Memorial Cup at Copps Coliseum in 1990. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

In the final match-up, the Rangers scored first with a powerplay goal from Jason York, and Oshawa responded at the 14:58 mark of the first period courtesy of Cory Banika. In the second, Joey St. Aubin scored for Kitchener, and Brent Grieve added another for Oshawa. Grieve opened up the scoring in the third at 3:47, but Gilbert Dionne tied it up for Kitchener a minute later.

With no scoring in the first overtime period, the teams regrouped for the second overtime period with Armstrong getting the winner past Ranger goalie Mike Torchia at the 2:05 mark.
While Kitchener had a 3-4 record for goals-chances on the powerplay, and Oshawa was 0-3, the Generals far outdistanced the Rangers for shots on net with 54 against 38 for the Generals.

The Generals, winners of the OHL’s Leyden Division, was the first undefeated team with its 4-0 record since the tournament format established in 1972.

Winner of the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy for the Most Valuable Player of the series was Oshawa team captain Iain Fraser. Jason Firth of the Rangers received the George Parsons Trophy for Most Sportsmanlike Player, and teammate Torchia won the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Goaltender.

An overtime goal gave the Oshawa Generals a 7-6 win over Kamloops in Memorial Cup action at Copps Coliseum in 1990, and here the team celebrates. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

Leading the series in points was Shayne Stevenson of Kitchener with four goals and seven assists for 11 points. Next was Dionne of Kitchener, with four goals, six assists, and 10 points. Oshawa’s Fraser was next with three goals, seven assists, and ten points. Future NHL star Eric Lindros had nine points, all in assists, for Oshawa.

While obviously the Generals were pleased with their performance at Copps that May of 1990, the tournament demonstrated that Hamilton could provide a successful hockey event of this magnitude. Over 70,000 fans attended the Memorial Cup games, and the games were televised nationally. It was proof that Hamilton had what it takes to support an NHL franchise.

“The NHL should be getting down on its hands and knees,” editorialized Mike Hanley in the Hamilton Spectator. “The city is hockey mad. We proved it during the world junior championship, we proved it during the Canada Cup and we proved it again during the Memorial Cup tournament that wrapped up at Copps Coliseum last night.

“Without benefit of a local team, we bought 70,563 tickets for the eight games, including a capacity crowd for last night’s overtime thriller between Oshawa and Kitchener. And the 17,383 fans gave themselves a warm ovation after hearing they had just established a single-game Memorial Cup record.

“Surely this sends a strong message to the NHL brass who will be selecting sites for the league’s expansion.”

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