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From ST.CATHARINES STANDARD

FRIDAY JUNE 4, 1954

ST.CATHARINES -- The faithful 500 can skip this column.

It is aimed specifically at sports followers in the St. Catharines district who are still recovering from the Memorial Cup play-offs and haven’t yet given their vocal cords a workout on behalf of the St. Catharines Athletics.

The “faithful 500” of course refers to those regular patrons of the lacrosse games who turn out regardless of the weather, date or opposition. They don’t need to be told that this is a big weekend of lacrosse here in St. Catharines.

However, several thousand other fans, who have followed city lacrosse teams from the early boxla days, through the gala Mann Cup years of the late thirties and early forties and now into the fifties, still don’t realize that in double blue jerseys this year is another potential Canadian Championship club.

It is to those fans especially that this appeal is offered.

Here is the situation.

Immediately following their elimination to Peterboro Trailermen last fall, the Athletic executive started rebuilding for the present season.

From the championship Petes, the two native (TC edit) aces Ross Powless and Roger Smith were contacted and were more than willing to change their affiliation to St. Catharines. In recent years defence has posed a problem for the Athletics so, Coach Doug Cove scouted the intermediate leagues and came up with Paul Soper of Sarnia, the outstanding defenceman in the strong Border Group.

From Orillia, via Toronto, the Athletics re-signed Ken “Weiner” Croft, for years one of the leading scorers in the OLA senior league. Although still not in top condition, Croft will be of invaluable aid long before playoff time.

Soper has proven more than adequate at his position and it is needless to say that Powless and Smith have given the Athletics the needed dash and drive which has changed them from a good team to a definite contender for the Canadian title held the past three years by Peterboro Trailermen.

A few of the older players announced their retirement following the 1953 season but their positions as club leaders have been taken over by players like Derry Davies, Ted Howe, Norm Corcoran, Don Moore, Al Frick and Doug Smith, all now with three years of senior experience behind them.

Still the solid rock back on defence is Bill Nelson, one of the most colourful players in senior lacrosse history. Goaltending is well taken care of by Doug Favell, a Mann Cupper himself on four occasions.

That is some of the highlights of the building program undertaken by Doug Cove, President E. J. Graves and Players Committee Joe Cheevers.

The team has done everything expected of it so far despite the loss of the opening game of the year to Peterboro. They nullified that score by defeating the Petes in the Miller Bowl and that victory, added to two over Hamilton and one against Mimico places them in a tie with the champs for first place.

The only part of the story which has been disappointing so far is the lack of response from lacrosse followers.

Here we have a team which is fighting out with Peterboro for first place . . . a team which is still formed 90 per cent of St. Catharines born players and a team which is definitely aiming at Canadian and World lacrosse supremacy. Despite these facts the crowds have dropped off until the financial structure of the club is definitely shakey.

“What else can we do?” would be the obvious question asked by President Graves.

The answer to that query can be made amazingly simple and direct.

Tomorrow night at the Garden City Arena the Peterboro Trailermen, still rated by lacrosse observers as the team to beat for the Ontario title, make their second appearance here. A crowd of better than 2,000 would satisfy the Athletic executive that their work has not been in vain.

Bob Thorpe, who has left the coaching bench in a desperate attempt to lead the Petes to an unequalled fourth straight championship will have his entire squad for the game which he claims is the most important of the season to date.

In goal the Petes have Lloyd (Moon) Wooton who broke several of the Athletics hearts the last time the teams met here with some absolutely astounding saves. Gerry Fitzgerald, Harry Wipper and Lou Nickle lead the defence corps and forwards include names as Curly Mason, Russ Slater, Don Ashbee and the current league-leading scorer Denny Peterson.