Cliff Pennington.
The Hull-Ottawa Canadiens visited the Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers on this date in 1961. The Canadiens were atop the EPHL table with 78 points, the Beavers third with 59.
The Beavers were the former Trois-Rivières Lions who had played in the Quebec Hockey League from 1955 till 1959 and in the EPHL in its inaugural season. In 1960 the Lions relocated to Kitchener in search of higher attendance figures. The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium had become available when the Kitchener Dutchmen ended their run there. The Dutchmen had been members of the OHA’s Senior A league, but played a shortened season in 1959-60 in order to represent Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where they won silver. Cliff Pennington was on that Olympic team.
Pennington was a hot property in 1961. He had scored 62 goals as a junior with the Flin Flon Bombers in 1958-59. He led the EPHL in scoring in 1960-61, despite being called up to the Montreal Canadiens. But he would go on to play only one complete and two partial seasons in the NHL, mostly with Boston.
The Beavers were affiliates of the New York Rangers. Clubs in that part of Ontario had been feeding the Rangers system for years. The Kitchener Rangers of the OHL reflect that history in their name and uniform.
There’s a Trois-Rivières Lions in the ECHL today.
First period: goal by Gray (Hull).
Second period: goal by Ronson (Kitchener).
Third period: goals by Ellett (Hull) and Stratton (Kitchener).
Final score: 2 all.
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