The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 16

16 Jan. 18, 1975 The Ottawa Journal JVo player additions allowed South Ottawa Canadians to sent ODHA vv;" i New rules hurt Ottawa chances repre St' themselves in difficulty. Goalie Gaetan Desfosses comes up with the puck to stop this scoring drive as forward Gordie McLeod moves into help along with defenceman Pete Aidrich. ''One of Kingston's oldest and most venerable institutions is the Kingston Curling Club which was officially organized in 1820, making it the oldest curling club in Ontario and the second oldest in Canada. (Royal Montreal dates back to 1807.) Lacking any records of this period, it Is easy to assume the game was introduced to Kingston by the Scots regiments stationed there from time to time and.

the ice on the harbor was the' rink. As no stones were available, irons were 'used as this was the equipment in Montreal and all points east. The first authentic record indicates that in 18S0 curling was carried on in a storehouse at the foot of Earl Street, owned by Donald Mcintosh, a enthusiastic Marcel Schhobb 9 curler. In 1860, a 'two-sheet shed was built at the head of Gore Street and it was in this FRANK THOMPSON titl: South Ottawa Canadians' coach Bert O'Brien keeps "pace" on 'move Us team make during the: Hull Midget Tournament the Wrigley Midget tournament as the ODHA representatives, the bench with the action on the icewhlle observing every Canadians have been struggling since winning the berth in -lnjiirie and sickness to several players have hit Canadians. Photos by Bill Brennan of CP 1 V- i v.

Close calls around the net seems to be coming oftener since South Ottawa Canadians have run into injury problems. Here during action in the Hull Midget Tournament Canadians find Curling Lanes Sometimes lung power can be as helpful as skatlng'power at the minor hockey level and a holler of encouragement often get youiig hqckey players going. Here Bert O'Brien tries to urge his club to greater effort in the Hull Tournament. rink the famous "Steamboat Rink" was formed and flourished. In 1870, the location of the ring was changed to the old Collegiate Institute grounds' on Barrie Street and the game was carried on there for a period of 20 years.

About 1890 a two-sheet rink was built on Queen's University grounds, near the- old arena. It was during the next decade a considerable expansion of the game in Kingston took place for we find in 1899 three sheets are added to the rink. Also the iron game was discarded in favour of the stone game and two years later, the club became associated with the granite playing clubs of the' Ontario Curling Destroyed by fire On March, 1922, the rink was totally destroyed by fire which threatened the University building. This catastrophe proved a blessing in disguise for at a special meeting held immediately after, it was decided -to, reorganize and build a new rink. A campaign to raise funds for' this project met with ready response with the result the present Clergy Street property was purchased and a modern six-sheet curling rink was erected.

On Jan. 11, 1923 this building was completed and a gala opening was celebrated, attracting some 500 guests. (Was Jake Edwards one of the skips that night?) For those who wish to pursue this debate further we list clubs in Ontario who have been in existence more than a century, in alphabetical order, the first date in brackets is the founding and the second is the joining of the OCA: Almonte (1855-1957); Am-prior (1868-1945); Ayr-Union, (1850-1897); Belleville Quinte, (1867-1878); Chatham, (1862-18 63); Cobourg Waverley, rt r- By KEN FIDLIN Journal Sports Start A few new wrinkles in the rules of the Wrjgley Na- -tlonal Midget Championship will certainly hamper South Ottawa Canadians next week at the second annual classic in Oshawa, but there's nothing approaching bitterness from coach Bert O'Brien. All O'Brien is promising from his ailing Ottawa Dis trict Hockey Association representatives is to represent the area as. best they can when they begin play Monday at 1.30 p.m.

against Dalhousie, the New Brunswick champion. -r Canadians have run into all problems -since they were declared ODHA champions early in December, not the least of which is opposition from a couple of other area teams, who figured they should have had a ditt at the' Oshawa trip. Canadians have had injuries and sickness during the -r last month, but O'Briefl isn't making any excuses. He'd like to be able to take along a couple of players offered by Ottawa 67s from.meir Junior team, but Wrigley's instituted a rule forbidding it. Hull Klwanis, which represented the ODHA last year; took along Richard David and Pierre Louisseize, both members of Hull Festivals of.

the: Quebec Major' Junior Hockey League and some of the other teams complained so Wrigley's banned-the ttra players teams take to this year's tournament must come from trie bantam The-team South Ottawa is taking consists of seven last year seven first year'midgets and three ban- tarns. The club's strong point is goaltendlng where both Gaetan Desfosses tod Jetf Mulcock have shone all Season. Both goalies have goals-against averages hovering around the 2.00 level. 7: Danny Makuch" leads the Canadians' scorers with 11 goals and a dozen assists in IS league gamesDoug Lowe has 10 goals and nine assists for 19 noints. but crenerailv the scoring thurst is spread around.

"I'd like tp see the area representatives decked just before" the trip. The way we did it, you lose the moment turn. After we won the chance to go, we had to continue, on in ouy league. There's too much of a break, said O'Brien -earlier this week, after his team had been elim-aated from the Hull Kiwanis tournament by Nepean. Canadians won the right to represent the National -Capital Minor Hockey Association inr the ODHA play-downs, by being in first place in their league at the time of the area tournament.

Sinoe that time they've slipped to third behind leading Nepean Raiders and Hull Kiwanis. "We're just going downthere and the best we can," said O'Brien. "I have a real good good bunch of kids and I have no fears about them misbehaving. In our IS games this year we've had one major penalty, and one This year, there 'are 13 teams, in the champoohship. Each team plays five games and the four teams with the best records at the end of the round robin section will enter semi-finals next Sunday, morning.

The championship game will be played at 1.30 p.m. Sunday. Verdun Maple Leafs are the pre-tournament favorites to defend the championship they won a year ago by defeating Kingston of the OHA in the finals. Verdun won a trip to the Soviet Union for their efforts and the champion declared next week will get the same reward in this year's Canadians' line-up 1. Gaetan Desfosses 30.

Jeff Mulcock 2. Ed Small 3. Peter Aidrich 4. Gerry Jessome 5. Doug DombrosW 6.

Gavin Stewart 7. Marc Martin 8. Danny. Makuch 10. Mike Brennan 11.

Bill Sunstrum 12. Gord McLeod 14. John Nightingale 16. Don Adams OCA looking up history to celebrate milestones Several years ago the Canadian Branch of the RCCC initiated the practice of presenting silver rose bowls to clubs under its jurisdiction upon reaching their 100th anniversaries. It seems to us this presentation often goes unnoticed as if it was an everyday occurrence.

Some clubs in the Branch do make a big fuss to commemorate the event And why not, how many organizations in this country can boast of having been around one hundred years. This year, Perth and Three Rivers are celebrating their 100th birthdays. We haven't heard from Three Rivers but we do know that Frank Thompson and Company in Perth are making sure everybody in the Branch and the Ontario Curling Association are aware of it. This year also, the Ontario Curling Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary and we have fried to make the curlers aware of this re-mnrkable milestone. The OCA is also planning to recognize clubs in Ontario with well documented certifi- cates to mark their centennial year.

Wording tricky The OCA intends to approach the Ontario government with the intention of presenting a historical plaque to the Kingston Curling Club, oldest in the province, 1820. However, how to word the inscription on the plaque seems to be the problem at the present. You see, the Kingston CC belonged to the Canadian Branch until 1901 when it joined the OCA. There's no question about the origin of curling in Kingston but there are at least a dozen clubs in Ontario who can say they have been members of the OCA for more than a century. So tact must be used not to offend the earlier supporting clubs of the OCA in placing tine Kingston club in a distinctive historical position.

Heads 'Famous Clubs' John A. Stevenson in his well authenticated "Curling in Ontario, 1846-1946" places Kingston at the a of his chapter on "Famous Clubs" and we quote from It in part: 1 (1864-1864); Dundas Valley, (1859-1960); Elmvale, (1870-1923) Elora, Fergus, (1834-1867); Gait, (1838-1866); Guelph, (1838-1869); Hamilton Thistle; (1853-1868); Hamilton Victoria, (1867-1867); Keene, (1861-1967); Kincardine (1875-1877); Kingston, (1820-1901); Listowel, (1875-1885); London, (1847-1872); Orillia, (1873-1974; Owen Sound, (1875-1903); Paris, Perth, (1875-1948); Port Hope, (1857-1857); Renfrew, (1874-1947); St. Mary's G.C (1866-1963); Sarnla (1874-1874): Toronto CS, (1836-1875); Toronto Granite, The OCA annual of 1975 lists 29 clubs in the century category but only 14 as members of the OCA. Interesting to note it lists the Toronto Civil Service club as being founded in 1836 and joining the OCA in 1845,. years Jbefore it, was formed.

Even then, Toronto was trying to be first but at last word, it was still working at it. For those who like to com-: pare, following are the Centu? ry Club members in the Branch: Royal Montreal, 1807; Quebec, 1821; Riverfield, 1828 Montreal Thistle, 1843; Moni treal Caledonia, 1850; Ottawa, CC, 1851; Almonte, 1855; Am prior, 1868; Pembroke, Renfrew, 1874; Perth, 1875: Three Rivers, 1875. Since we weren't there for most of those openings, you will have to take our word for It. Like the Ottawa CC, the Rideau Curling Club has a going concern for senior curlers in the afternoon. In charge at the Rideau is our old friendly rival Charles Narraway.

Charlie would like? to see some sort of an inter-club friendly matches launched on a weekly basis. Perhaps' Col. Robert Lawrence Franklin, the Cutl-O-Drome manager might be interested i challenging 'Charlie's super curlers, of the past with his own stable of curlers. Better still, how-about a seniors' league..