A photo of the autographed team photo of the 1975-76 Trappers, coached by Butch Turcotte. The longtime hockey Dad of former NHLer Darren Turcotte and Labreche Forum Superindendent will be once again sharing his hockey stories with us on BayToday.ca.
It was about 5 years ago that I posted my last "Views from Section 8". For personal reasons these vies came to an end.
I'm back. Back with a new title and more views, this time from Section 9 at the renovated Memorial Gardens, where I have set up my office. As you probably know, section 9 covers the 2 Zambonis and a storage area. It is located in the south end of the building and the fan area is protected by netting from the over-the-glass shots. One gets used to the netting but at times you may a little bit of the action. So it is only proper that my views from that section will also miss some info.
The atmosphere at the sold-out seventh game of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals game between the Niagara Ice Dogs and our Battalion team brought back some memories. It was a game 38 years ago featuring the North Bay Jr. Trappers and the North York Rangers. It was the 8th game of the best of 7 finals. Why game 8? Game 7 was played in North York the prior evening and ended up in a tie after a 10 minute OT period. There was no sudden death rule at the time. In game 7 the score was tied 4-4 after regulation. The Trappers scored first and it looked like the Trappers were coming home as champs. Not so. With10 seconds left in OT there was a missed assignment with a face-off in the Trapper zone resulting in a Ranger goal and the game is tied at 5. As a result. game 8 was scheduled for the Gardens the following night
So it was back on the bus and the return trip home. The bus arrival at the Gardens was about 3 AM. Would you believe that there was line-up for tickets outside the doors at this time? Game time was 7:30 and was the Gardens humming similar to the 7th game of the Battalion-Ice Dogs 7th game. The Gardens was crammed with standing room about 4 deep along the boards (over 4,000 in attendance). Oh, those memories that returned to me a few nights ago. A game 8 win and Trappers became POHA Champs.
My eyes were a little damp during the Battalion-Ice Dogs 7th game. Thinking of the North York - Trapper game like it was only yesterday.
