The 1948

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

final was the 30th

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

championship of the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; french: Association canadienne de hockey amateur) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction include ...

(CAHA). The

George Richardson Memorial Trophy The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was presented annually from 1932 until 1971, by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. It represented the Eastern Canada junior hockey championship, and a berth in the Memorial Cup final versus the Abbott ...

champions

Barrie Flyers The Barrie Flyers were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1945 to 1960, from Barrie, Ontario. The Flyers played home games at the Barrie Arena from 1945 to 1960. History The Barrie Flyers junior team was founded in ...

of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labra ...

competed against the

Abbott Cup The Abbott Memorial Cup, commonly referred to as the Abbott Cup, was awarded annually from 1919 through 1999 to the Junior "A" ice hockey Champion for Western Canada. The Cup was named after Captain E.L. (Hick) Abbott who was a noted hockey p ...

champions Port Arthur West End Bruins of the

Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League (TBJHL) was a Canadian junior ice hockey league that existed from c. 1920 to 1980. The TBJHL operated in Northwestern Ontario, primarily in the Thunder Bay region. The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League wa ...

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. In a best-of-seven series, held at

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Port Arthur won their 1st Memorial Cup, defeating Barrie 4 games to 0.

Leadup and finals

CAHA president

Al Pickard Allan Wilfrid Pickard (January 2, 1895April 7, 1975) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1947 to 1950. When Canada opted out of the 1947 Ice Hockey World Cham ...

oversaw the playoffs in Western Canada. He supported a resolution where any radio station which broadcast a team's games during the regular season would not pay a premium for the additional playoffs games, and the appointment of

Foster Hewitt Foster William Hewitt, (November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985) was a Canadian radio broadcaster most famous for his play-by-play calls for ''Hockey Night in Canada''. He was the son of W. A. Hewitt, and the father of Bill Hewitt. Biography ...

as the national radio commissioner. Pickard did not want to grant exclusive radio broadcast rights to any station, and the CAHA decided that only out-of-town radio stations would pay a broadcast fee for final games in the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are th ...

and Memorial Cup. The Western Canada playoffs during 1948 did not include any teams from the

British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association The British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association, more commonly known as BC Hockey, is a non-profit organization and member branch of Hockey Canada in charge of governing amateur hockey at all levels in British Columbia and Yukon Territory. It comp ...

. CAHA vice-president

Doug Grimston Douglas George Grimston (May 18, 1900September 14, 1955) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1950 to 1952. He oversaw the establishment of the Major Series for t ...

attributed the lack of interest to the difficulty of teams from British Columbia to be competitive. Pickard scheduled the seventh game of the Western Canada junior final at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, where the finals were also scheduled. CAHA by-laws at the time stated that a seventh game be played at a neutral site and the

Winnipeg Amphitheatre Shea's Amphitheatre, also known as the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, was an indoor arena located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It seated 6,000 spectators. Constructed between 1908-1909 for horse shows, the Amphitheatre was also used as an indoor ice ...

was unavailable. The decision was criticized in Western Canada, and the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'' charged that the CAHA was "doing anything for a profit". Pickard responded that any money collected by the CAHA was contributed to the "good of hockey in Canada", and that approximately $78,000 of its annual $100,000 intake was reinvested into future development and covered travel expenses for teams during Allan Cup and Memorial Cup play. After game three of the final, Flyers' coach

Hap Emms Leighton Alfred Emms (January 12, 1905 – October 23, 1988) was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, team owner, and general manager, during nearly 60 years in hockey. Emms played 17 seasons of professional hockey as a left winger and a defenc ...

threatened that his team would not play the fourth game without a change of referees. Pickard declined to change the referees and the Bruins won the series in the fourth game. Pickard suspended Flyers' player Alf Guarda two years for striking referee

Vic Lindquist Victor Carl Lindquist (March 22, 1908 – November 30, 1983) was a Canadian ice hockey player who competed in the 1932 Winter Olympics. Lindquist was born in Gold Rock, Ontario. Lindquist led the Winnipeg Hockey Club, the Canadian team which ...

during game four, and condemned the behaviour of Emms and the team's failure to respect on-ice officials.

Scores

*Game 1: Port Arthur 10-8 Barrie *Game 2: Port Arthur 8-1 Barrie *Game 3: Port Arthur 5-4 Barrie *Game 4: Port Arthur 9-8 Barrie

Winning roster

Fred Baccari, Barton Bradley, Lorne Chabot Jr., Alfie Childs, Dave Creighton, Pete Durham, Bobby Fero, Bert Fonso, Allan Forslund, Art Harris, Bill Johnson,

Danny Lewicki Daniel Vladimir Lewicki (March 12, 1931 – September 25, 2018) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1950s and ear ...

Rudy Migay Rudolph Joseph Migay (November 18, 1928 – January 16, 2016) was a Canadian ice hockey forward. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League between 1949 and 1959. Playing career Migay turned professional in 1948. He spe ...

, Norval Olsen,

Benny Woit Benedict Francis Woit (January 7, 1928 – December 7, 2016) was a Canadian ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks between 1951 and 1956. With Detroit he won the Stanley Cu ...

, Robbie Wrightsell, Jerry Zager. Coach: Ed Lauzon

References

External links

Memorial Cup

Canadian Hockey League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memorial Cup 1948 1947–48 in Canadian ice hockey Memorial Cup tournaments Ice hockey competitions in Toronto 1940s in Toronto