HISTORY OF JUNIOR B LACROSSE IN ONTARIO --------------------------------------- Prior to 1964 there wasn't a Junior B lacrosse league in Ontario. From 1938 till 1963 the teams from the O.L.A. Junior A league that never made the playoffs went on to play for the O.L.A. Junior B championship while the top four placed teams would play each other in hopes of representing Ontario in the Canadian Minto Cup Championship. St. Catharines Saints won the Junior B title in 1939. The Shamrocks were actually the Jr A team that beat the Orillia Baby Terriers for the title but then lost it in a OLA boardroom decision because they supposedly used an ineligible player in the final game (Bobby Melville from the St. Catharines Jr B team). The name of the 1939 Jr B champs was the St. Catharines Saints (just like our current Sr B team). They beat the Sutton Rangers 45 to 16 in a two game, home and away final. They won 29 to 6 in the game in St. Catharines, and that was even played at straight time as the Sutton team was so late in arriving in St. Catharines. That '39 Saints Jr B team had some future Canadian Hall of Famers...Doug Favell in the nets, "Ham" Nelson and Jimmy McMahon. That was a great year for St. Catharines lacrosse...winning Ontario titles in bantam, midget, juvenile, junior B, and senior A...and in the mind of a great many, junior A too. Remarkable that Favell played goal for 4 Ontario champs that year...the St. Catharines bantams, midgets, juveniles and junior B's. Jimmy McMahon was a bit older and was "only" on the midget, juvenile and junior B's. Not every player who played Junior B was below the calibre of the Junior A players. In 1961 Whitby Red Wing Orchards failed to make the Junior A playoffs, finishing 6th out of 7 teams, and ended up winning the Ontario Junior B Championship. During the regular season, Johnny Davis won the scoring title with a record 92 goals plus 43 assists for 135 points playing for the Whitby Red Wing Orchards. Another oddity was Jamie Grimoldby, who in 1990 and 1991 finished second in Junior B scoring playing for Owen Sound, moved up to Sarnia in Junior A 1992 finishing first in Junior A scoring. Jamie moved back to Junior B with Owen Sound for one more year, 1993 and won the scoring crown in Junior B. A lot of players prefer to stay at the lower level of Junior B, possibly because of work committments in their home town, because all their friends are staying with the team or it could be that their Junior B team has a shot at winning a Canadian Championhip. There's a lot of players, of Junior A calibre who play their entire Junior career in the Junior B series for a lot of different reasons. Another player, Kasey Beirnes, played all five of his years of junior lacrosse at the B level with Elora Mohawks yet, Kasey has gone on to become a star with the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. I can think off the top of my head three goaltenders; Patty O'Toole, Steve "Chugger" Dietrich and Bob "Whipper" who played almost their entire junior career at the Junior B level and each had long careers in the professsional National Lacrosse League. One other player who stands out in my mind was Andy Dudun who played Junior B for Mimico, winning three straight scoring titles in 1995, 96 and 97 and in 1998 when he played Major for Brooklin Redmen had to take a Go Train to Redmen practices in Whitby. He couldn't have moved up to Junior A because of having transportation problems. The 1985 Scarborough Saints went on to win the Canadian Founders Cup and long time respected coach, manager, player and Canadian Hall of Fame Builder, Bob Hanna, says they are probably the best team that he had ever coached. That team went through the season with a record of 23 wins and 1 tie scored 533 goals and only gave up 145. The team had 10 players on it's squad with 20 or more goals that season: Paul St.John 59, Mike O'Toole 67, Rob Hanna 53, Ed Robeznicks 53, Mark Harding 51, Jeff Garlin 39, Adam Kluwak 28, Len Meloff 30, Pat Finnerty 20 and Frank Bartello 23. 1964 was the first year for an Actual Ontario Junior B League in Ontario and they came out with the Castrol Cup, a trophy to be contested for by all of Canada. The present Canadian Founders Cup came out in 1972 and it has been won by an Ontario team every year except for three years, 1980 won by the Enoch Tomahawks, 1999 Edmonton Miners and the 2009 Calgary Mountaineers. The Canadian Championship Cup has been won 7 times by Six Nations Rebels, 4 times by Clarington Green Gaels, Point Edward Pacers and Elora Mohawks with several teams have won it twice. ONTARIO JUNIOR B CHAMPIONSHIP ----------------------------- 1938 - ORANGEVILLE DUFFERINS 1939 - ST.CATHARINES SAINTS 1940-45 - NO COMPETITITION 1946 - CALEDON MOUNTAINEERS 1947 - TORONTO ST. VINCENTS 1948 - WESTON AC 1950 - PETERBOROUGH FILTER QUEENS 1955 - ORANGEVILLE ARENAS 1956 - PETERBOROUGH YOUNG PETES 1958-59 - NO COMPETITIION 1960 - FERGUS THISTLES 1961 - WHITBY RED WINGS 1962 - LONG BRANCH CATROLITES 1963 - LONG BRANCH CATROLITES 1964 - GUELPH MOHAWKS 1965 - HUNTSVILLE TEEN TOWNERS 1966 - DIXIE-TORONTO TWP. COMBINES 1967 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1968 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1969 - MISSISSAUGA TOMAHAWKS 1970 - CORNWALL CELTICS 1971 - REXDALE WARRIORS 1972 - WHITBY B AND R TRANSPORTERS 1973 - NIAGARA WARRIORS 1974 - WHITBY B AND R TRANSPORTERS 1975 - WINDSOR WARLOCKS 1976 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1977 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1978 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1979 - TORONTO BEACHES 1980 - OWEN SOUND SIGNMEN 1981 - NIAGARA WARRIORS 1982 - OWEN SOUND SIGNMEN 1983 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1984 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1985 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1986 - MISSISSAUGA TOMAHAWKS 1987 - MISSISSAUGA TOMAHAWKS 1988 - KITCHENER WATERLOO BRAVES 1989 - ORANGEVILLE JR. NORTHMEN 1990 - ORANGEVILLE JR. NORTHMEN 1991 - HUNTSVILLE HAWKS 1992 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1993 - OWEN SOUND FLYING DUTCHMEN 1994 - ORILLIA KINGS 1995 - ORILLIA KINGS 1996 - SPARTAN WARRIORS 1997 - ORILLIA RODGERS KINGS 1998 - SIX NATIONS RED REBELS 1999 - ELORA MOHAWKS 2000 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2001 - WALLACEBURG RED DEVILS 2002 - SPARTAN WARRIORS 2003 - BARRIE TORNADOES 2004 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2005 - ELORA MOHAWKS 2006 - OAKVILLE BUZZ 2007 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2008 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2009 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2010 - HALTON HILLS BULLDOGS 2011 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2012 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2013 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2014 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2015 - AKWESASNE INDIANS CASTROL CUP JUNIOR B ----------- -------- 1964 - GUELPH MOHAWKS 1965 - HUNTSVILLE TEEN TOWNERS 1966 - NEW WESTMINSTER ATHLETICS 1967 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1968 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1969 - VANCOUVER GRANDVIEW 1970 - WHITBY B AND R TRANSPORTERS 1971 - VICTORIA McDONALDS FOUNDERS CUP JUNIOR B ------------ -------- 1972 - LONG BRANCH P.C.O'S 1973 - NIAGARA WARRIORS 1974 - WHITBY B AND R TRANSPORTERS 1975 - WINDSOR WARLOCKS 1976 - ELORA MOHAWKS 1977 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1978 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1979 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1980 - ENOCH TOMAHAWKS 1981 - NIAGARA ON THE LAKE WARRIORS 1982 - OWEN SOUND SIGNMEN 1983 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1984 - POINT EDWARD PACERS 1985 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1986 - MISSISSAUGA TOMAHAWKS 1987 - KITCHENER-WATERLOO BRAVES 1988 - KITCHENER-WATERLOO BRAVES 1989 - ORANGEVILLE NORTHMEN 1990 - ORANGEVILLE NORTHMEN 1991 - HUNTSVILLE HAWKS 1992 - SCARBOROUGH SAINTS 1993 - OWEN SOUND FLYING DUTCHMEN 1994 - ORILLIA ROGERS KINGS 1995 - ORILLIA ROGERS KINGS 1996 - SPARTAN AC WARRIORS 1997 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 1998 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 1999 - EDMONTON MINERS 2000 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2001 - WALLACEBURG RED DEVILS 2002 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2003 - BARRIE TORNADOES 2004 - CLARINGTON GREEN GAELS 2005 - ELORA MOHAWKS 2006 - OAKVILLE BUZZ 2007 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2008 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2009 - CALGARY MOUNTAINEERS 2010 - HALTON HILLS BULLDOGS 2011 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2012 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2013 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2014 - SIX NATIONS REBELS 2015 - AKWESASNE INDIANS