St. James Canadians went from last to winners

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/01/2018 (3045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prior to the 1967-68 season, the St. James Braves changed their name to become the St. James Canadians of the four-team, all Winnipeg Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Every team made the playoffs in such a small league, and the Canadians finished last in the MJHL regular-season standings with 30 points, 13 points behind the first-place Winnipeg Monarchs.

After this disappointing season, the Canadians excelled in the playoffs. Head coach Jimmy Walker was ahead of the times. He employed assistants, and kept advanced statistics. He even used a psychologist. His decision to use Ken Kirton in goal paid great dividends.

In the league semi-finals, St. James met  St. Boniface in a best-of-seven series. Due to the Canadian Ladies Curling Championship (my next story), the Canadians played the entire series on the road.

The series began and ended with dramatic come-from-behind overtime victories at Bertrand Arena, with Pierre Chartier (in Game 1) and Bill Moir (Game 5) scoring the overtime winners. The Canadians won the series, four games to win.

St. James played the entire MJHL final series at home due to poor ice at the new West Kildonan Arena.

The Canadians opened with a 6-5 victory, and Game 2, played on March 10, 1968, is remembered as one of the greatest games ever played at the St. James Civic Centre. After two periods, West Kildonan led 3-0  and it look like they’d take the game. However, St. James rallied to tie the game 3-3 in the third, outshooting West K 16-0. Then Andy Van Hellemond (who went on to become a famous NHL referee) scored at 1:16 of the second overtime period from just in front of the net. Emboldened by the victory, St. James won the last two games of the best-of-seven series by identical 5-2 scores. Jim Ballance’s goal at the 11 second mark of  the third period in Game 4 was the series clinching goal. 

St. James advanced to play the Selkirk Steelers of the Central Manitoba Hockey League for the Turnbull Cup. After splitting the first four games, St. James took the series by easily winning games 5 and 6. In Game 5,  1,935 fans packed the Civic Centre. Warren Harrison and Brock McConachy scored 2 goals each in a 9-2 victory.

St. James next played the Westfort Hurricanes from Fort William, Ont., losing the first two games in Fort William. St. James was unable to overcome boards that produced funny bounces, the juggling of school exams, and the chippy play of Westfort. The Canadians did come back to win two close games at the Winnipeg Arena but Jim Johnston’s overtime winner in Game 4 was the team’s last hurrah. Westfort won the series in six games.

For the Westfort series, St. James picked up West Kildonan forward Wayne Chernecki, who eventually coached the Canadians to Turnbull Cup championships in 1996 and 1997.

Fred Morris is a community correspondent for St. James. Reach him at fredmorris@hotmail.com