1949 – ‘It was just a real special time’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2010 (5868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Of the four previous Brandon Wheat Kings teams to play in the Memorial Cup, it could be argued that none has come closer to claiming the title than the first one.

True, the powerful 1978-79 squad forced overtime in the final before losing to the Peterborough Petes, but the 1948-49 Wheat Kings forced an entire extra game against the Montreal Royals before falling short of the crown.

Playing in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League at that time, the Wheat Kings were clearly the class of the four-team loop, posting a remarkable 27-3 record to finish 29 points clear of the second-place Winnipeg Canadiens.

Jack McKenzie, Glen Sonmor and Alf Francis finished 2-3-4 in regular-season scoring behind Bill McCracken of the Winnipeg Monarchs, while netminder Ray Frederick’s 2.59 goals against average was more than a goal and a half better than anyone else in the league.

Right from the beginning, the team seemed destined for big things.

"I remember the first game (of the season), we played the Monarchs in Winnipeg and Glen Sonmor scored four goals," said former Wheat Kings forward Malcolm (Mac) Beaton, a homegrown player on that 1949 team who still calls the Wheat City home. "I don’t know. It was one of those teams that just hit it off."

The Wheat Kings had a strong crop of local talent, including members of Brandon’s strong intermediate team, from the powerhouse West End Orioles club in Winnipeg and some other key players recruited from further afield.

"It certainly wasn’t, to use a term, a farm team because we had Frank King and Glen Sonmor, they were city boys from down east and then the boys from Winnipeg," said defenceman Bob Chrystal, a Winnipegger who was named to the first all-star team that season along with Francis, McKenzie, Frederick, blue-liner Joe Crozier and head coach Bill MacKenzie. "And the Brandon boys were all excellent hockey players in Jack MacKenzie and Alfie Francis and Mac Beaton and Walt Pawlyshyn. It certainly wasn’t just a country team, so to speak."

After such a strong season, the Wheat Kings were shocked at the start of the league final, falling 5-1 on home ice to the Canadiens before recovering to win the series in six games. They then went on to down the Port Arthur Bruins from Northern Ontario in five games in the regional final before dispatching the Calgary Buffaloes in five games in the western final to advance to the Memorial Cup against the Royals.

"(The Memorial Cup) was a big deal then, it was the East against the West," Beaton said. "We didn’t really know much about Montreal any more than they knew much about us."

It was a big deal all right. Split between the Wheat City Arena and Shea’s Amphitheatre in Winnipeg, two of the games in the series were carried live on CBC Radio, with legendary play-by-play man Foster Hewitt handling the call.

While the Wheat Kings may have not known much about the Royals at the time, they certainly recognized many of the names later. The Royals had future Hockey Hall of Fame member Dickie Moore as well as other players who went on to the National Hockey League, including Fred Burchell, Tom Manastersky, Rollie Rousseau, Bert Hirschfield and Bobby Frampton.

The series started out as tight as could be. The Royals took the opener 3-2 in Winnipeg, which served as their home base for the series. The series shifted to Brandon for the next two games, with the Wheat Kings taking Game 2 by a 3-2 score, while Game 3 was a 3-3 tie as Frederick and Montreal counterpart Bob Bleau both finished with 37 saves.

"It was very tight," Chrystal recalls. "We both had very good teams and good players. We were bouncing back and forth."

From there, the Royals took control by winning the next two games by margins of 1-0 and 7-4, putting them on the verge of claiming the cup.

The Wheat Kings weren’t finished yet, however.

Angus Juckes and Frank King scored to give Brandon a 2-1 win in Game 6 at the Wheat City Arena. Then, the host Wheat Kings claimed Game 7 with a 5-1 victory as Francis, Crozier, King — the team captain — Reg Abbott and Beaton handled the scoring.

Beaton said even on the verge of elimination, the Wheat Kings stayed confident.

"I don’t think that we did (get discouraged)," he said. "It was a good feeling on that team and then we had a lot of support. It was a big week here."

In the decisive game, the Wheat Kings had a 4-2 lead with just 12 minutes left to play on goals by Crozier, Chrystal, Abbott and McKenzie before the wheels fell off and Hirschfeld rallied the Royals. He scored three times in the game, including the tying and winning goals.

"He’s the one who broke our backs," Beaton said. "We got back-to-back penalties and we couldn’t kill them off. That was the beginning of the end."

It was a truly disappointing finish to a spectacular season.

"(The team was) pretty down," Beaton continued. "It was such a series. It wasn’t like getting blown out in four games after all that rigmarole and not only that but being ahead in the third period of that final game (added to the disappointment)."

Many years have passed since that classic series and while the details are hazy for some of the players, the team’s legacy isn’t.

Chrystal, Sonmor, Frederick, Crozier and Abbott all went on to play in the NHL and the team was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

"It’s kinda hard to remember back that far, but I know the stands were full and people were screaming," Chrystal said. "It was just a real special time."