Columbus Canadiens class of Jr. in 1950s

FOR a seven-year run in the 1950s, there was no better club in the local junior ranks than the Fort William Columbus Canadiens.

From 1952 through to the end of the 1959 campaign, the Canadiens hoisted the Bill Fero Trophy as Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League champions six out of seven times and claimed the Jack Adams Trophy as the title holder of district winners within the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association.

On such prolific side was the 1953-54 version of the Columbus Canadiens, coached by the legendary Micky Hennessy.

Ruling the roost in the four-team loop that season, they finished in top spot in league play with a solid 28-6-1 mark, easily distancing themselves over the second place Port Arthur West End Bruins as well as the Port Arthur North Stars and Fort William Hurricanes, who ended up in third and fourth place respectively.

Advancing directly to the TBJHL final, they proceeded to sweep the Bruins in four straight, topping their opponents who had outlasted the North Stars in a best-of-five semifinal that had gone the distance.

The results in each of those match-ups were 3-2, 5-1, 6-0 and 11-1, all in their favour.

Leading the club offensively were the forward foursome of Stan Baluik, Pete (Peppy) Gvora, Walt Bradley and Max Mekilok.

Pacing that group was Baluik’s league-leading 50 assists and 85 points while Gvora was tops in tallies with 45.

Each of the four were equally as proficient in the finals, producing at over a point-per-game clip in handling the Bruins.

On the back-end, the local Habs were bolstered by a pair of rock-solid, rugged defenders in captain Pete Goegan and Lou Marcon, who would both eventually go on to play defence in the National Hockey League.

They also had another robust blueliner in the line-up, in Montreal native Marcel Goyette, who racked up a TBJHL-high 170 penalty minutes in just 31 games. He did also contribute five goals and seven helpers along the way.

Meanwhile, their go-to guy between the pipes was netminder Lynn Davis.

He boasted a stellar 1.78 goals-against average during the year and also posted five shutouts.

Davis was just as strong in the league championship series, allowing only four pucks to get past him while registering a crisp GAA of 1.00.

With city and districts crowns in hand, the squad would go on to meet their namesake, the St. Boniface Canadiens, in a hotly-contested western Canadian semifinal.

Winning two of three in Winnipeg to start the series by 6-4 and 7-4 counts while falling 8-3 in the middle game, the rest of the event headed to Fort William to conclude matters.

Assuredly a very fierce battle throughout, the home side took Game 4 with a 6-4 result to take a commanding lead.

Following a 2-2 tie in Game 5, St. Boniface, with their backs to the wall, pulled out 7-6 and 7-5 road triumphs to level the proceedings and force a winner take all finale.

In the end though, Fort William prevailed with a 7-5 victory and advanced to the western final vs. the Edmonton Oil Kings.

There however their solid season would come to an end as they fell in five games to Edmonton, who boasted the likes of future NHLers and Hockey Hall of Fame Honoured Members Norm Ullman and Johnny Bucyk on their team.

Baluik once again led the club offensively in those two series with 14 points in 13 games with Bradley close behind with a dozen, featuring a team-best eight markers.

Don Chiupka, a pick-up from the West End Bruins, contributed 11 points while Gvora was third on the squad in goals, with six.

The Oil Kings did in turn lose out in as many outings in the Memorial Cup final against the eventual champion, the St. Catharines Tee Pees.

Despite falling short in their quest for a western and national championship in 1954, the Columbus Canadiens still established themselves a mainstay in local hockey lore.