THROUGHOUT the decades, there have been plenty of hotly contested match-ups played out at the confines of the Fort William Gardens.
During the 1950s; ‘60s and ‘70s, many memorable meetings were held, with the Lakehead’s best going up against foes at both the international and North American levels.
Here is a look at some of those contests played in front of the local Gardens faithful:
DEC. 16, 1958: Backed by the brilliant 42-save shutout performance of goalkeeper Bert Brooks, the Fort William Beavers senior team stopped the United States National Team 2-0.
Norm Franchi and Fred Baccari, into an empty net, were the Beavers’ marksmen, in handing the U.S. squad their first loss of the season.
JAN. 29, 1960: The Japanese Olympic Team gave the Lakehead Jr. All-Stars all they could handled in an eventual 7-5 loss at the hands of the local contingent.
Wilmott Stirrett had two of the tallies with Barry Hogan, Lorne Hogan, John McCormick, Norm Bevilaqua and Bob Adamo also scoring for the winners.
FEB. 2, 1960: The reigning Allan Cup champion Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen dumped the Thunder Bay Senior League Selects 6-1 in their opening game of a western tour, prior to representing Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif.
Ken Harris notched the lone tally for the hosts, early in the final frame, while Bert Brooks saw time in net in the defeat.
Kitchener-Waterloo went on to mine silver in Squaw Valley, falling to the eventual gold medalists, from the United States, 2-1, in what was their only loss at the event.
JAN. 3, 1964: Sweden, the eventual silver medal-winners at the 1964 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, trimmed the Lakehead Senior All-Stars 5-1 in a tune-up at the Gardens.
Bart Bradley had the lone goal for the locals in defeat with Bob Kilgour and Ken Bruley both seeing action between the pipes in the setback in front of 3,000 spectators.
DEC. 15, 1964: With members of the Thunder Bay Senior Hockey League, augmented with four junior standouts, they surprised the touring Russian National Team with a 3-3 result, much to the delight of the large crowd stuffed into the Gardens.
Shocking their Russian opponents, who had trimmed the powerful Montreal Jr. Canadiens 3-2 and blanked the Canadian National side 4-0 earlier in the month, the Lakehead club struck quickly on a Roger Sawicki effort just 17 seconds in, on the night’s first shot.
The Soviets pressed the pace from there, going up 3-1.
However the stalwart goaltending of Joe Bamford kept the selects in it, late into regulation.
There the side, who were coached by local hockey great Bart Bradley, roared back in the waning moments to pull out a thrilling tie.
Down by a pair, juniors Bob Munro and Murray Smith of the Fort William Canadiens connected in the final two minutes to secure the draw.
Bamford’s brilliance saw him make 29 saves on the night, compared to only eight made by Russian goaltender Viktor Konovalenko.
The roster for the Lakehead team featured:
Goal: Joe Bamford; Bob Kilgour
Defence: Henry Akervall; Dave Wolfe; Bob McKee; Don Fedun; Dave Vibert
Forwards: Ray Adduono; Murray Smith; Bob Munro; Murray Marcino; Mike (Tinker) Mithrush; Ken Harris; Brian Latta; Barry Hogan; Roger Sawicki; Mike Callon; Wally Peever; Bill Adduono
Referees: John Kubinec; Al Paradice
DEC. 29, 1965: A solid Lakehead senior all-star squad edged the Finnish National Team 4-3 in front of 3,500 fans.
Scoring for the home side were Dave Wolfe, Barry Hogan, Roger Sawicki and Henry Akervall, who provided the eventual game-winner in the third.
The victory was backed by some solid play from netminder Bob Kilgour on a night where the Finns held a 42-32 edge in shots on goal.
JAN. 15, 1969: A group of Lakehead juniors were put to the test versus the Japanese National Team on this night and went on to show their mettle as they skated away with a 5-3 victory.
After handling an early two-man disadvantage, the city side stormed out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed on their way to the win.
John Sgambelluri notched a pair of markers, with Vic Venasky, Lei Hartviksen and Brian Vescio supplying singles.
Some tremendous netminding from the duo of Moe Trewin and Ed Balina combined to help secure the positive result.
DEC. 30, 1970: The highly-touted Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League, boasting a trio of solid clubs, had the opportunity to show how good they might be with just one team as a group of TBJHL All-Stars, hosted the defending Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League title holders, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, on a late-December night.
The Soo, who had topped the Port Arthur Marr’s 7-4 at home, two nights earlier, proved be no match for a select side consisting of players from the Marr’s, Fort William Canadiens and the Westfort Hurricanes.
In what proved to be a one-side result, Tom Milani notched a hat trick, and Bill McDonald tallied twice, as part of a 9-4 victory for Thunder Bay.
Neil MacDonald, Nelson Pyatt, Dario Rigo and Rick Adduono also found the back of the net in the win.
The trio of Thunder Bay teams also boasted some popular names behind the bench in Albert (Ab) Cava; Benny Woit and Max Mekilok, who coached the Marr’s; Hurricanes and Canadiens respectively.
DEC. 19, 1973: The Thunder Bay Twins let an early lead get away and had to settle for a 6-6 draw against the Moscow Selects in front of 4,389 patrons at the Gardens.
Chuck Kelner notched a pair for the Twins while Murray McLeod, Brian DePiero, Tinker Mithrush and Dave Vaillant also connected.
Joe Bamford made 29 saves for Thunder Bay in the tie.
JAN. 22, 1974: Gary Linquist and Chuck Kelner both scored twice to help propel the Thunder Bay Twins to a 5-3 decision versus the United States Hockey League All-Stars.
The Twins who went on capture the USHL championship in 1974, also saw Mike (Tinker) Mitchrush connect, while Jack Byerley and Brian DePiero dished out two assists apiece.
Shots on goal favoured the Twins by a 36-32 count with 18-year-old goaltender Rod Manty collecting outstanding player honours for Thunder Bay, as he shared the victory with Bamford.
Of note, Thunder Bay’s Lei Hartviksen was a member of the USHL side as he played for the Sioux City Musketeers that season.
DEC. 9, 1979: Current Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill had a pair of goals as the 1980 Canadian Olympic Team shutout the Twins 4-0 in an exhibition affair.
Tim Watters and Kevin Maxwell had the other goals on a night where the Canadians outshot the Twins 41-25 and saw Ron Paterson register the shutout.
Canada went 3-3 to finish a disappointing sixth at the Winter Olympic Games held in Lake Placid, N.Y., which was highlighted by the Miracle on Ice where the U.S. won gold.