This is interesting.
Read this.
A letter I wrote to my brother and sister recently.
Evaluating interesting yet mostly unknown sports history
In 1990.
Interesting Trojan statistic .
In senior high school hockey?
Probably
The best team in the whole country was the Laurier rams high school senior hockey team.
Including the regular season and tournaments they went undefeated .
Except for one game.
Clarke road barely managed to beat them .
But the Trojans somehow squeaked out a win against the rams.
Winning 4-3.
The rams peppered the Trojan goalie Tim grant with 60 shots that game.
They were a big team.
The whole Laurier team were big kids.
I was actually surprised.
They looked like a football team in size.
That year.
Too.
Ranked
Number one in
The whole province.
The whole year.
In the other regular season game they engaged in with dirt road they crushed the Trojans 6-1.
Now, Jeff and Winnie?
Just so you know?
Thats saying a lot.
Because Clarke road was a super team that year.
Going into the play offs?
Their final record that year was
13 wins
2 loses
And
3 ties.
Only Laurier outclassed them .
At 17-1.
And including tournaments played during the year?
I believe Laurier was an almost unbelievable
41-1 at the end of the regular season.
Thats really an amazing record.
.put it this way.
The west champs ?
Oakridge ?
They finished the season 10 wins.
6 losses.
0 ties.
So almost needless to say ?
The east division final was basically considered the city championship.
Even before the final championship for the high school hockey city title was held.
No disrespect to Oakridge.
But even the third best team the Oaks that year didnt stand a chance against the huge Laurier team.
It’s that simple.
So,that said?
Let’s get to telling the the facts of the east division hockey final.
Shall we?
So?
In the first game of the east final?
Laurier dominated the Trojans.
Winning 6 to 1.
Clarke road wS completely outclassed the first game.
And so?
At that point?
Everybody counted Clarke road out.
No one gave the Trojans a chance to win after that.
Now?
What I’m
About to tell you?
It’s interesting.
To say the least.
Going into the third period of game two?
Of the east final?
Played at Thompson arena in London?
Laurier had out shot Clarke road 45 to19.
And they led the game 4 - 2.
On shots if I recall correctly.
But it was around those numbers.
And for the first half of the third period?
Only Tim grant the number one Clarke road goalie that year kept Clarke road in the game.
Thus,
By the mid way point of the third period of game two?
In total shots ?
Laurier had out shot Clarke road 67 to 27.
If I recall correctly.
Then?
At the 11 minute mark of the third period of game 2?
Clarke road scored to make the score 4-3.
And
From that point on?
The Trojans played equally with the rams.
Despite the size difference.
In the players.
Then
With two minutes remaining?
Clarke road pulled their goalie.
And then the Clarke road fans were nervously cheering.
Clarke road then peppered the Laurier goalie with around at least 10 shots on net in the last two minutes.
Then ?
With a scramble around the Laurier net?
With 0.3 seconds left on the clock?
And I mean “‘ with less then half a second on the clock?
Clarke road scored
To tie the game 4-4.🥳
When that goal happened?
The Clarke road fans?
They tore nichols arena apart.
At that point.
And I mean they tore the arena apart.
And poured onto the ice screaming.
And it wasn’t even the winning goal!
It was something to see.
Almost unbelievable…
Then, after a long two hours of cleaning up the mess ?
In the second over time period?
Clarke road scored .
To win the game
5-4.
The Clarke fans went berserk.
And nichols arena authoritys?
They tolerated the second wild
celebration the Trojans had that game.
True.
But just for the record?
Nichols arena staff forbade the deciding game from being played at nichols arena.
So the final game had to be moved to Thompson arena.
At uwo to decide the winner of the best of three east final series.
Because nichols arena authorities were angry with the Clarke road fans.
lol!
Jeff and Winnie?
With less than a second left?
In the second game?
They tied it.
I never saw a group of kids go that wild.
Seriously.
It was something to see.
And
It wasn’t even the winning goal.
Yet the Clarke road fans tore the arena apart.
It was weird.
Cool to see.
But weird.
Then, in the final game?
At Thompson arena?
Both teams played well.
And played fairly equally.
With lots of police and security everywhere at Thompson arena because the police and authorities at western were afraid of the Clarke road fans.
Both teams played great.
For game three.
And it was pretty equal play in game three.
But Clarke road was on an emotional high.
From game two.
And this time it seemed they played better then Laurier a bit..
Though the score was tied 3-3 at the end of the third period.
Then Clarke road won 4-3 in double over time again.
Then Clarke road played the oaks in the final.
And won two games to none to win the city championship.
It was game two .
Though.
Of the east conference final that was incredible.
You kind of had to be there to understand what I’m saying.
Mostly because , Laurier outshot clarkeroad 70 to 30.
And dominated the game.
Yet miraculously somehow, Clarke road still won that game?
Yeah.
That game was unique.
Very unique.
That was a
“‘One in a million “‘ game to see.
Too bad it’s not on film.
It was unbelievable to see.
Laurier was ranked number one all year.
And nobody beat them.
Except Clarke road.
Just one loss the whole year.
By only one goal.
Yet Laurier missed wossa?
Wow.
Anyways,
Clarke road was ranked number three at the ontariocanada finals.
And Clarke road made it to the gold medal game.
Where, at the end of regulation play?
They were tied with the 2nd ranked team the Toronto upper Canada blues 3-3.
In
The third overtime?
Toronto upper Canada blues scored to deprive the Trojans of the gold medal.
Clarke road lost the gold medal game in triple over time!
In 1990!
It took triple over time!
For them to lose.
Holy Jesus.
But anyways Clarke road did incredible that year.
And I believe that much perseverence deserves commemoration and a consolation gold medal.
At least.
🥇 🏅 🥇
By the way.
During the regular season?
In tournaments played?
The
Laurier
team
Beat the gold medal team that year, and wossa champs , the Toronto upper Canada blues high school 1990 gold medal hockey team three times.
The first game they beat the blues 5-1.
The second time they played the blues they beat them soundly 4-to 0,
And the third game the rams played the blues they beat em 5-2.
Whereas Clarke road lost in tournament play all season long to only one team .
The Toronto upper Canada blues .
So?
Laurier beats the gold medal team and Clarke doesn’t?
All year long.
Yet Clarke road beat the power house Laurier team that year?
So Laurier gets nothing in terms of a championship or medal at all that year!
To me that sounds absurd.
Because I’m positive Laurier was high school hockeys best team by far that year.
So?
Strange?
Eh?
Yep.
The gold medal
Toronto upper Canada blues hockey squad that year was a super team.
They were excellent .
Probably playing at the level of minor pro.
Actually.
At the very least.
And the
Clarke road team, the same.
Yet despite that?
Despite the fact Clarke road and Toronto Upper Canada blues were super high school hockey teams?
That year.
Laurier should have won it all.
That year.
Regardless.
I have to admit that.
I’m positive of that.
They were simply the best high school hockey team I’d ever seen.
Better than both Clarke road and the upper Canada squad.
Yet
something weird happened to the Trojan team in game two in the third period and continued on through the play offs.
Something 🪯supernatural🕎happened.
Something ☮️miraculous.✡️
And
I just can’t put it into words except to say this.
I’m pretty sure the Trojan team didnt exactly completely best the Laurierhockey team that year.
Not by themselves anyways.
Clarke roads strong fan presence stopped the Laurier hockey super power that year.
I’m positive of it.
I saw it with my own eyes.
I actually believe after seeing that fan base?
If the Clarke road Trojans hockey team
had even been up against an nhl team that year?
With a deranged fanbase like that?
I’m thinking they’d have won.
Regardless.
Of even a pro level.
Because there was something in the Clarke road crowd that wouldn’t let them lose .
with play being played in London Ontario Canada.
At least.
I kid you not.
I’m positive of that.
Their was something in a weird supernatural force way in the Clarke road crowd that year that wasn’t letting Clarke road lose in hockey if a game was played in London.
Which only goes to show you how strong a fan base can make a team.
At home.
At least.
At any given time.
And the 1990 Trojan fan base was nearly unstoppable.
Go Trojans.
On that note.
Pure and simple
