Things you find when you aren't looking.....

The 1948 Australian National Ice Hockey Team

The Eligibility of Johnny McCormack

Johnny "The Goose" McCormack

    The Pittsburgh Hornets took the final playoff spot in the 1950-51 AHL season by a single point, (69 to 68), over the St. Louis Flyers. By all accounts the Hornets were getting ready for their opening round tilt with the Springfield Indians when shocking news came down. Johnny Mitchell, the former business manager of the Hornets, coach of the St. Louis Flyers was challenging the standings. In his protest to the AHL Mitchell claimed that Pittsburgh used an ineligible player, and that every game the Hornets played using that player should have resulted in forfeit thus eliminating the Hornets from the playoffs giving the last spot to his Flyers.

The player in question was Johnny "The Goose" McCormack. The Edmonton, Alberta native and Toronto Maple Leafs product spent most of the season in the NHL but in his 17 games with the Hornets he scored 4 goals, assisted on 12 others and didn't spend a single minute in the penalty box.

The issue at hand was the February 14th player movement deadline between the NHL and AHL. It seems "The Goose" headed to Toronto for medical treatment relating to a separated shoulder, but some media reports indicated McCormack had been recalled to the big club instead. On February 15th the AHL sent out a list indicating the players that were eligible for the remainder of the year and McCormack's name was no where to be found on the list.

Pittsburgh insisted McCormack had never left their roster and that his omission for the eligible list was simply a mistake. A week after the list was released the Hornets plead their case to the AHL and the league released the following statement: " The name of Johnny McCormack was omitted in error from the roster of the Pittsburgh Hornets  from February 15. McCormack is eligible to play for Pittsburgh for the balance of the regular season and the playoffs, and has been added to their roster. At the present time McCormack is out of the lineup with injuries."

The statement from the league it seems should have covered all the bases. Confirming McCormack's injuries and his accidental omission from the roster,( McCormack eventually returned from injury on March the 3rd helping the Hornets secure the final league playoff spot), but the Flyers were unsatisfied and filed the protest any way.
 

Maurice Podoloff

The matter would be decided by AHL president Maurice Podoloff who promised a swift decision on the matter but after a two hour phone call with both the Hornets G.M. Jim Balmer and team Owner/President John H. Harris nothing had been decided. Meanwhile the club described ticket sales to their possibly nonexistent playoff series with Springfield as "Brisk".

On March 21st Podoloff announced his decision, the Hornets were out. The team was to be lose all points gained in every game McCormack played for the Hornets after the February 15 deadline and the team was disqualified from playoff action. The scheduled game that day between Pittsburgh and Springfield would be cancelled and the St. Louis/ Springfield series would begin as soon as a schedule could be finalized. John H. Harris immediately appealed Podoloff's ruling to the Board of Governors who would hold a hearing on the matter immediately. 

On March 23rd the AHL's Board Governors met and deliberated during a marathon nine and a half hour session.  The Hornets did everything they could to convince the Board that Podoloff decision needed to be overturned including bringing along the league statement that called McCormack's absence on the Hornets roster error. But the linchpin to the Hornets case was their surprise witness NHL President Clarence Campbell who testified that Maple Leafs Coach Joe Primeau had personally called him hours before the deadline to inform the league that McCormack would be finishing the season in the AHL. That was that, the issue was settled Johnny McCormack was eligible to play with the Pittsburgh Hornets. Podolff's verdict was overturned to the stunned dismay of the St. Louis Flyers.

The Hornets would open their first round playoff series with Springfield the next night and sweep the Indians in a dominating display. The best of five series would see the Hornets win by scores of 6-0, 9-0, and 7-2. Pittsburgh would also sweep their second round opponent the Hershey Bears but in much closer fashion 3-2, 2-1, and 5-1. It seemed as if the Hornets could ride their last second playoff entry all the way to a Calder Cup title, and they almost did. Up three games to two over the mighty Cleveland Barons in the Calder Cup Finals the Hornets were unable to seal the deal losing game six and seven by identical scores of 3-1.
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Sources: New London Connecticut Evening Day, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Regina Leader-Post, Hockeydb.com, and mapleleafslegends.blogspot.com.

Throwback Photos and a Sneak Peak of Other Things

Hockey is a great game and has a history that is just as great, but lost deep inside that history are moments, places, and people seemingly lost, forgotten or simply overlooked. I hope that in time this becomes a place for some of those buried deep inside facets of the game I've loved for almost as long as I can remember.

Which brings us here. "Throwback Photos" not a great name for a segment and when I come up with a better one I will definitely change it but I suppose it will do the job for now. Our first "Throwback Photo" is an absolute gem and it touches on a bit of research I've been doing recently into the the sport of Roller/Inline Hockey.

First though some background.

Like more than a few people I've known I had to stop playing ice hockey when I was a child because of the cost, but I never lost my love for the game and after a few years pinning for a sheet of ice (often while sitting on the bench of my little league games...get it pinning...) I convinced my parents to let me give inline hockey a shot, but at the time my idea of the sport's history involved RHI (Roller Hockey International) the league that began play in the early 90's and included teams like the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Atlanta Fire Antz, Los Angeles Blades, and Vancouver Voodoo. When in fact the game of roller hockey, in one form or another, goes back into the late 1920's (before that it was common to see it refereed to as "ROLLER POLO" ) and has over time include teams like the Albany Lawmakers, Newburgh Arrows, Hartford Indians, and Pittsfield Hillies.

The caption of today's photo reads:

"Jack Knappenberger, 16-year-old Sinking Springs High School Student, is goalie for the Sinking Springs Skatarena Destroyers who meet the Florham Park, N.J., Stars in an Atlantic Roller Hockey League match at the Skatarena tonight.  Knappenberger has been skating for three years."
-Reading Eagle Jan 27, 1951

How sweet is that. Sinking Springs (PA) entered the ARHL that season and competed against Bayonne (N.J.), Florham Park (N.J)., Twin City (Elizabeth N.J), Paterson (N.J.), and Mt. Vernon (N.Y).

The Destroyers inaugural campaign In the Atlantic Roller Hockey League was extremely successful, and climaxed with the club winning the Edwards Challenge Trophy, defeating the defending league champion Bayonne Barons in a three game series. Sadly for the young man in the above photo Sinking Springs used goaltender Frank Spare for most of the playoffs and all of the final three game series.

Hello

Welcome to the AUD, a collection of all things lost, forgotten, overlooked, or past by within the game of hockey.

At the moment the place is a mess so please bare with us as we figure out exactly what we are doing.

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