Page 92 - Glace Bay Cinderella Miners

ISSUE : Issue 51

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/2/1

it wasn't his fault. We're all equally at fault." But to me, that was the high? light of all the games that were played. You'd go on to Halifax. Well, Quebec, because of the fact (of) the prestige that the Quebec team had in coming in here. I guess it was a thrill to just play them. Whether you won or lost was not really important at that stage. But that game in Sydney had to be the highlight of the whole season, no doubt in the world. So it was just--the whole atmos? phere was hockey, hockey, hock? ey. And you couldn't hear--no matter where you went in Glace Bay--you couldn't hear anything else, only the hockey. And I suppose Sydney was the same way, because their team was the one we were against. I remember at the time--Leo Ad? dicott was the manager of the Forum, and he was involved in the thing. But I remember Leo saying, "Look, you know, we should really savour this, be? cause," he said, "this type of thing only happens about every 10 or 20 years." I suppose, when you say about the time they hid the goaltender (Bill Sidney tells the story about "Legs" Fraser above)--well that would be a time that everybody would remember because of that particular-- between Sydney and Glace Bay--and that would be one year. And then this situation with this team would be another. Now, when you look back, that the Forum opened in 1939--this is what? 50 years ago. And in 50 years, when you find that there's real? ly only two occasions that people recall vividly, then that's how often something like that happens. Gordie Grant raises his hat to goalie Murray Matheson, held aloft after the defeat of Sydney in the Cape Breton Hockey League Championship. Cape Breton Tours operated by Briands Cabs Ltd. 'Discover the Beauty of Cape Breton ) Cabot Trail Miners'Museum Cape Breton Fortress Highlands 564-6200 louisbourg Airport Service Parcel Pickups '??'T/Jm''r'''' 24 KINGS ROAD Taxi Fleet SYDNEY THE* The Championship finals against Sydney went like this: March 2nd, 1956:" Miners Edge Millionaires 4-3 in Series Opener"--before the season's largest crowd, 1,875 paid fans. They took the second game as well. Then the Sydney Millionaires beat the Miners 6-1--and the crowd was 2,349. On March 7th, the Miners came back to win 7-6. In the "do or die" 5th game, the Millionaires beat the Miners 6-3 in front of 2,437 fans. And in the 6th game, March 11th: "A spectacular end- to-end goal by team Captain Fred Courtney at 15:15 of the third peri? od culminated a late Glace Bay rally and gave the Miners a come? back 7-6" win-4,000 people in attendance. Sydney came back with a 1-0 victory. Then Sydney squared the se? ries with a 4-2 victory over the Miners. And March 16th, 1956: "Glace Bay Miners captured the Cape Breton Junior Hockey Championship in dramatic style last night at Sydney Forum when they defeated Sydney Millionaires 4-2 in overtime, in the 9th and deciding game of their final set. Close to 5000 fans, the largest crowd ever in Sydney Forum, and the largest to witness a sporting event in recent years, jammed into the rink to see the 'Cinderella Kids' score twice in the extra session after the Millionaires tied the count in the final minutes of regulation time.... (4,398 paid, and 500 who were refused admis? sion stormed the doors and forced their way into the rink.) 'The game brought to a close the greatest Junior play-off series in the history of Cape Breton hockey." Our thanks to Louise Libbus (Mrs. Murray) Matheson of Sydney, for carefully saving the photographs used in this article. And to Manning Mclntyre for his newspaper clippings collection. All old photos are by Abbass, vith the exception of the team photo by Shedden. WELCOME TO THE FULLY LICENSED Harbour Restaurant A Good Selection of Seafood OPEN ALL YEAR 'ROUND Dining Room Overlooking Cheticamp Harbour Cheticamp, Cape Breton * 224-2042

Cape Breton's Magazine