Legendary OHL rivalries


By
July 13, 2016

I have been commenting on and writing about the Ontario Hockey League since 1974 when I was a journalism student at Sault College — and thus have been around my fair share of personal and team rivalries.

Following are a few of my favourite OHL rivalries from over the years. (These and others will be detailed in a chapter of a book that I am in the process of writing.)

SAULT STE. MARIE V. SUDBURY

The Greyhounds-Wolves rivalry is not nearly as prominent now as it once was, given that the Soo plays in the Western Conference and Sudbury is a member of the Eastern Conference.

But the Soo-Sudbury rivalry was in full force back during the 1975-1976 season when the Greyhounds and Wolves were part of the old six-team Leyden Division.

The Wolves were a star-studded team in ’75-76 featuring eight players who would go on to play in at least 250 games in the National Hockey League.

Sudbury would finish atop the Leyden Division — and first overall — during the ’75-76 regular with 102 points, which was 35 more than the fifth-place Soo.

Led by high-scoring forwards Rod Schutt, Ron Duguay, Alex McKendry, Wes Jarvis and Mike Foligno and high-scoring defensemen Randy Carlyle and Dave Farrish, the Wolves were favoured to easily defeat the Greyhounds in the second round of the playoffs.

And while the Wolves did win the series in a seven-game sizzler, the Greyhounds did not go quietly.

Backstopped by overage goalie David Legree and led by the productive line of Mike Kaszycki, John Tavella and Doug Patey, the Greyhounds gave the Wolves everything they could handle before finally bowing out in Game 7.

Overachievers, to be sure, the only Greyhounds from that team who went on to an NHL career of more than 200 games were Kaszycki and then-rookie defenseman Craig Hartsburg.

What fueled the Soo-Sudbury rivalry of that year was the Greyhounds notorious goon squad led by coach Muzz MacPherson and featuring defensemen Mike Rusin, Tony Horvath and Tim Rose and wingers Tim Coulis and Billy Roach.

Aka the Bay Street Brawlers and Muzz’s Marauders, the Greyhound enforcers took great delight in terrorizing the talent-laden Wolves, their owner Bud Burke, general manager Joe Drago and coach Jerry Toppazzini.

BRIAN KILREA V. PAUL THERIAULT

Two of the most-succesfull and more-gentlemanly coaches in OHL history, Kilrea and Theriault did not like one another for some reason.

Whether it’s because Kilrea is 15-years older and was already established as a top OHL coach when Theriault first coached in the league as a hot-shot with the Soo during the 1977-1978 season could be the reason.

Or it might be that Kilrea was a conservative, old-school coach while Theriault was the polar opposite as a free-spirited, long-haired, new-age coach.

Whatever the case, with Kilrea at the helm of the Ottawa 67’s and Theriault behind the bench of the Greyhounds and the Oshawa Generals, the two foes clashed verbally more than once over the years.

Over the years, I have rarely heard Kilrea utter a negative word about anyone. But when I once mentioned Theriault’s name to Kilrea during a taped, post-game radio interview, the legendary Ottawa coach answered politely and evenly when he told me: “I don’t like Paul Theriault and I don’t like the way he coaches. Let’s just leave it at that.”

To be sure, Theriault, despite his calm, cerebral, reserved nature, could jaw with the best of them while behind the bench. Not only did Theriault frequently exchange verbal venom with Kilrea, he often did the same with another top coach, Dick Todd of the Peterborough Petes.

WAYNE GRETZKY V. BOBBY SMITH

I am not sure who instigated the rivalry between the two OHL superstars during the 1977-1978 season but the 16-year old Gretzky of the Greyhounds and the 19-year old Smith of the 67’s seemed to have a genuine dislike for one another.

More than once, the two gentlemanly stars jawed with one another on the ice and were often seen shaking their heads and smirking at each other, which was a sharp contrast to the way both usually conducted business.

As OHL rivals that one and only season, Smith did get the better of Gretzky.

Not only did Smith put up 192 points to Gretzky’s 182 but Ottawa upended the Soo in the second round of the playoffs in an eight-game — yes, eight-game — thriller that was decided in the final minute of the final match when 67’s forward Jim Fox beat Greyhounds goalie Greg Millen with the series-clincher.

WINDSOR V. LONDON

The Spitfires-Knights rivalry really got going in about 1976 when the truculent Wayne Maxner was coaching Windsor and the priest-like Bill Long was manning the bench for London.

The rivalry reached heights of a different sort after Maxner left Windsor for London — only to wind up in Windsor again.

While players galore have ignited the passion of the Windsor-London rivalry over the years, Maxner certainly played centre stage with a number of antics both staged and unrehearsed.

Just call it the Max factor.

BELLEVILLE V. KINGSTON

Nearby rivals in southeastern Ontario, the Bulls and Frontenacs met 296 times from 1981 to 2015, which is when Belleville lost its OHL franchise when it relocated to Hamilton.

If there is one man who played a lead role in the long-standing Belleville-Kingston rivalry it would have to be colourful coach Larry Mavety.

That’s because Mavety had two separate gigs with both franchises, beginning in 1981 and finishing in 2009.

Mav, as he is affectionately known, coached Belleville for seven years before going to Kingston for two years. He then returned to Belleville for another seven-year stint before finishing up in Kingston over an eight-year span.

There are many on-and-off-ice tales of the legend of Mav, both from when he coached in Belleville and Kingston.

Suffice to say that Mav could write his own book from his long and illustrious OHL coaching career that was either based in Belleville or Kingston.

PHOTO: Brian Kilrea, with something to say behind the bench of the Ottawa 67’s.


What you think about “Legendary OHL rivalries”

  1. Great memories for sure there, Randy! The Soo vs Wolves seemed to ramp up a notch or two after Muzz incited them with “a green fairies” reference as I recall! Then, I believe Ron Duguay’s Dad may have tried to engage a Greyhound in the penalty box! When Soo fans got wind of that, a serenading chorus of “We want Duguay’s Daddy” reigned down from the stands to the point of making his son totally ineffective for the rest of the game! I believe the coach actually benched him to save him from further embarrassment and to quell the Greyhound leather-lungs!

  2. My favorite rivarlies was the soo vs sudbury back in the old noha jr days in the 60s. There was always going too be some fisty cuff at some point of the game. Also the odd one in the stands. There was a few guys on the hounds over the years that stood there ground but the one player was elston evoy who went hard at it.

  3. Now you see Bobby Smith, who is the owner and GM of the Halifax Mooseheads in the middle of the CHLPA scandal. If he truly cared about hockey, he wouldn’t be in it JUST for the money like some of the other CHL team owners.

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