Events from the year 1953 in Canada.
The Barrie Flyers were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1945 to 1960, from Barrie, Ontario. The Flyers played home games at the Barrie Arena from 1945 to 1960.
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).
The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was presented annually from 1932 until 1971, by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. It represented the Eastern Canada junior hockey championship, and a berth in the Memorial Cup final versus the Abbott Cup champion from Western Canada. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy was retired in 1971, when the Memorial Cup became a round-robin series between the winners of the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada; the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The trophy was named for Captain George Taylor Richardson, a hockey player who died while serving in World War I.
The 1959 Memorial Cup final was the 41st junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Peterborough TPT Petes of the Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canada competed against the Abbott Cup champions Winnipeg Braves of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in Western Canada. In a best-of-seven series, held at the Winnipeg Arena in Winnipeg, Manitoba and at Wheat City Arena in Brandon, Manitoba, Winnipeg won their 1st Memorial Cup, defeating Peterborough 4 games to 1.
The 1951 Memorial Cup final was the 33rd junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Barrie Flyers of the Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canada competed against the Abbott Cup champions Winnipeg Monarchs of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in Western Canada. In a best-of-seven series, held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Barrie Arena in Barrie, Ontario and the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City, Barrie won their 1st Memorial Cup, defeating Winnipeg 4 games to 0.
The 1948 Memorial Cup final was the 30th junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Barrie Flyers of the Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canada competed against the Abbott Cup champions Port Arthur West End Bruins of the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League in Western Canada. In a best-of-seven series, held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Port Arthur won their 1st Memorial Cup, defeating Barrie 4 games to 0.
The 1932 Memorial Cup final was the 14th junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Sudbury Cub Wolves of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association in Eastern Canada competed against the Abbott Cup champions Winnipeg Monarchs of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in Western Canada. In a best-of-three series, held at Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sudbury won their 1st Memorial Cup, defeating Winnipeg 2 games to 1.
Frederick Page was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and ice hockey referee. He originated from Port Arthur, Ontario, where he played junior ice hockey, refereed locally and later at the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup competitions. He was a league executive in Fort William, then served as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1962. He was elected second vice president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1962, and rose up the ranks to be its president from 1966 to 1968. Page wanted the CAHA to gain more control over its affairs, and become less dependent on the National Hockey League (NHL). Under his leadership, the NHL ended direct sponsorship of junior hockey teams. He was instrumental in negotiating the revised agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft in 1967, and later served as co-chairman of the resulting joint player development committee.
The St. Boniface Canadiens was a Manitoba Junior Hockey League team that operated from 1952-1964. The St. Boniface Canadiens won 4 Turnbull Cup Championships as Manitoba Junior Champions, 1953, 1954, 1956, & 1958.
In Winnipeg on April 5, 1974, the Selkirk Steelers won the MJHL title claiming the Turnbull Memorial Trophy. There was no stopping the Selkirk Steelers on April 19, 1974, in Prince Albert, as the Steelers defeated the Prince Albert Raiders of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League winning the Anavet Cup. On May 1, 1974, with a 5-2 win over Kelowna Buckaroos of the British Columbia Hockey League in the seventh and deciding game, held in Kelowna, the Steelers captured the Abbott Cup and advanced into the national final for the Centennial Cup. In the seventh and deciding game, on May 14, 1974, in Ottawa, the Selkirk Steelers scored a dramatic 1-0 overtime victory over the Smiths Falls Bears of the Central Junior A Hockey League to capture the Centennial Cup, emblematic of junior A hockey supremacy in Canada.
Jimmy Dunn was hired as commissioner of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) in May 1964. The league had been reduced to four teams based in the Greater Winnipeg area after the withdrawal of the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Fort Frances Royals. The MJHL transitioned from a draft of players in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association, into a system where each team chose players from a set geographic district. The new "zoning" arrangement was planned to be in effect for three seasons to stimulate more localized interest in junior hockey and aimed to keep teammates together from the minor hockey level to the junior hockey level. Dunn supported the change and noted that the concept had produced forward lines on previous Memorial Cup championship teams from Winnipeg. The Charlie Gardiner Memorial Trophy series was revived as a preseason tournament for the league's teams. Dunn reached an agreement to televise MJHL games on CJAY-TV, and the league experimented with playing games on Sunday evenings instead of afternoons to increase its attendance and avoid competing with televised football games. Dunn requested to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) that the MJHL waive its bye into the Abbott Cup finals and its playoffs champion meet the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League champion in the first round. He felt that the loss of gate receipts from a bye was a financial hardship for the MJHL, and shorten the league's playoffs to accommodate the change approved by the CAHA.
On March 23, 1963, the Brandon Wheat Kings clinched their second straight MJHL title before more than 4,000 hometown fans in Brandon. The Wheat Kings retained the Turnbull Memorial Trophy.
1958–59 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season
The 1951–52 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season
Gordon Pennell was a Canadian professional hockey player who played 383 games for the Buffalo Bisons in the American Hockey League.
Lloyd Thompson Pollock was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and businessman. After running the Windsor City Hockey League, he assisted in the foundation of the Windsor Softball League, and later started a junior ice hockey league in Windsor, Ontario. He was a cofounder of the International Hockey League in 1945, and founder of the original Windsor Spitfires junior team in 1946. He served as president of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1961 to 1963, welcomed the Montreal Junior Canadiens into the OHA when it was divided by the Metro Junior A League, and supported measures to preserve the Northern Ontario Hockey Association.
