| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Venue(s) | Colisée de Québec (Quebec City,Quebec) |
| Dates | May 1971 |
| Teams | 4 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)(1st title) |
The1971 Memorial Cup was the 53rd annualMemorial Cup competition, organized by theCanadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) to determine the champion ofmajor junior A ice hockey. It was a best-of-three series between theQuebec Remparts of theQuebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and theEdmonton Oil Kings of theWestern Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Quebec won the series in two games, both held at theColisée de Québec, to win the first Memorial Cup championship in the city's history.
The national playdowns were marred by controversy as the Remparts advanced to the championship series when theOntario Hockey Association's (OHA)St. Catharines Black Hawks forfeited the eastern championship series after five games rather than return to Quebec City for a sixth game in the face of a hostile and violent crowd and threats from theFront de libération du Québec. The Remparts agreed to a challenge from the Oil Kings for an abbreviated national championship and a best-of-three series to be held rather than the typical best-of-seven.
TheCanadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) reorganized junior A hockey prior to this season, splitting this top level into two tiers. The OHA, QMJHL and WCHL formed the "Tier I Major Junior A" rank (simply "Major Junior" starting in 1980). The Memorial Cup became the national championship of the new tier.[1] The remaining teams and leagues remained in the Junior A rank. A new championship, theManitoba Centennial Trophy, was created for teams at this level.[2]
The Memorial Cup tournament remained in an east versus west format for 1971. The champions of the OHA and QMJHL were to play for the Eastern championship and then face the WCHL winner for the national title. This format lasted only one year, as for 1972, the CAHA reorganized the Memorial Cup into a three-team round-robin tournament between the winner of each league.[3]
The Remparts were led byGuy Lafleur, who in1970–71 set league records with 130 goals and 209 points. He added another 22 goals in the playoffs to lead Quebec to the QMJHL'sPresident's Cup championship.[4] In a best-of-seven series for the Eastern championship, they faced OHA champion St. Catharines, led byMarcel Dionne, who was the Ontario league's top scorer with 143 points.[5] The teams split the first two games, held in St. Catharines, before the Remparts took a 2–1 series lead in the third game, held in Quebec.[6] The game was violent at times with over 102penalties in minutes given out by the referee – 77 to the Black Hawks.[7]
Quebec moved to within one win of winning the series with a 6–1 victory in game four, also held in Quebec. As with the third game, the Black Hawks attempted to intimidate their smaller Remparts opponents physically.[6] The crowd grew increasingly hostile towards the visitors, pelting the players with eggs, potatoes and golf balls, while one fan threw a knife.[7] Dionne's parents were assaulted in the stands over the fact that he had left the Quebec league to play in Ontario.[8]Mike Bloom inadvertently struck a police officer with his stick trying to hit a fan who spat on him.[6] The Black Hawk players were escorted out of the building by police following the game as a mob of angry fans threw bottles at them and then milled around the team's motel until the early hours of the following morning.[7] Threats were made against the players by theQuebec Liberation Front, a group that precipitated theOctober Crisis of 1970 that resulted in the Canadian government invoking theWar Measures Act.[7][8]
The fifth game was held in a neutral location. St. Catharines defeated Quebec 6–3 atMaple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, but refused to return to Quebec City for the sixth and seventh games. The Black Hawks offered to play the remainder of the series in Montreal, which the Remparts refused.[9] Fearing for their safety, the players voted to forfeit the sixth game.[8] CAHA presidentEarl Dawson then declared the series a forfeit in favour of Quebec.[9]
In the west, The Edmonton Oil Kings were led by 60-goal scorerDon Kozak and 43-goal scorersDarcy Rota andDan Spring.[10] They won the Western Canada Hockey League championship over theFlin Flon Bombers four games to one, with one tie. They had previously eliminated theNew Westminster Bruins in five games and then theCalgary Centennials in six.[11]
It was the first Western championship for the Oil Kings since they made seven consecutive appearances in the Memorial Cup between 1960 and 1966.[12] Their streak ended when they helped create the WCHL in 1966 over the objection of the CAHA who declared them outlaws and ineligible to compete for the national championship.[13] The WCHL gained CAHA sanction prior to the 1970–71 season, allowing the Oil Kings to return to the Memorial Cup Final.[9]
In August 1970, OHA presidentTubby Schmalz announced that teams from the OHA and the QMJHL would not play against any team from the WCHL for the 1971 Memorial Cup, due to disagreements over travel allowances given to team at the Memorial Cup and the higher number of over-age players allowed on WCHL rosters.[14] Nonetheless, the Oil Kings extended a challenge to the Eastern champion and proposed a best-of-seven series to open in the east, then move to Edmonton for two games and then finish out east.[15] The eastern leagues were also upset that the CAHA offered a $10,000 travel subsidy to the western champion for the Memorial Cup vs. $6,000 to the eastern champion.[9]
Oil Kings' owner, general manager and coach,Bill Hunter, implored the eastern leagues to participate in a championship series calling it the "burning ambition" of all Canadian junior players while invoking the actions of the government during the October Crisis: "If the Prime Minister wants to do something right for the west for a change, he'll use the War Measures Act to enforce a Memorial Cup final."[9] The Oil Kings and the Remparts agreed to a shortened best-of-three series for the Memorial Cup, with all games in Quebec as approved by the CAHA and Earl Dawson.[16]
Edmonton was met by a much different crowd when they arrived in Quebec City than the one St. Catharines faced. A crowd of 2,000 people welcomed the Oil Kings at the airport as they arrived.[10] Quebec won the first game easily, 5–1, on the strength of four points by Lafleur. The Remparts then won the title with a 5–2 victory in the second game before a crowd of 11,401. It was the first Memorial Cup championship for the Remparts, and the first for Quebec City.[16]
Lafleur was hailed by the fans in Quebec as the best junior player in the world,[9] and was selected first overall by theMontreal Canadiens in the1971 NHL Entry Draft three weeks after winning the Memorial Cup.[17] He won fiveStanley Cup championships in Montreal as part of aHall of Fame career.[18] Lafleur's teammates Jacques Richard, Andre Savard, Richard Grenier and Charlie Constantin also went on to play in theNational Hockey League.[16]
Darcy Rota,Tom Bladon andPhil Russel went on to long NHL careers after graduating from the Oil Kings.Dave Kryskow,Ron Jones andJohn Rogers also went on to play in the NHL after leaving Edmonton.[16]Marcel Dionne was selected second overall by theDetroit Red Wings from the St. Catharines Black Hawks in 1971 and played 18 years before joining Lafleur in the Hall of Fame.[19]
| 1970-71 Quebec Remparts[20] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goaltenders
| Defencemen
| Wingers
| Centres
| |||
Number in parentheses indicates number of tie game.
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| OHA | St. Catharines Black Hawks | 2 | |||||||
| QMJHL | Quebec Remparts | 3 | |||||||
| QMJHL | Quebec Remparts | 2 | |||||||
| WCHL | Edmonton Oil Kings | 0 | |||||||
| WCHL | Edmonton Oil Kings | 4 (1) | |||||||
| WCHL | Flin Flon Bombers | 1 (1) | |||||||
