By Joe Corrigan
The current incarnation of
the Whitby Dunlops began a playoff series with the Stoney Creek Generals this
St. Patrick's Day evening having beaten the Hamilton Steelhawks in their first
contest on the road to the 2018 Allen Cup tournament. If they make it to the
Allen Cup final, it will be the sixth time in their collective history with the
original Dunlop team from 1955 to 1960. Back then, team Manager Wren Blair had
to use all his persuasive powers to gain the right to complete for Canada's
senior hockey championship.
After the 1955 - 56
season, Blair again appealed to the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) to be
designated a senior "A" franchise so the Dunlops could compete for
the Allen Cup. Once again, the other senior "A" teams in the province
objected to the request because of the fact that the Dunlops played in a 900
seat arena and therefore the limited gate receipts would be an economic drain
on the other clubs. A headline in the Oshawa Times on Wednesday May 9, 1956
read "Senior A Delegates Doubt Whitby Would Draw Enough". Unperturbed
by this rejection, Blair decided to try a different tack. If the OHA wouldn't
grant the Whitby Dunlops the opportunity to join their league, Blair would
create a senior "A" league of his own. It didn't take long either. On
Monday, June 4th, 1956
the Times headline read "Eastern League Goes Senior A, Whitby Dunlops Have
Eye on Canadian Hockey Title".
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| Charlie Burns with the Boston Bruins |
There was a lot of
excitement for the 1956 - 1957 season as the Whitby Dunlops adopted the black,
gold and red colours of their sponsor Dunlop Tire Corporation and recruited
some additional hockey talent. The team already included centre Bobby
Attersley, former Oshawa General and perennial league scoring champ who would go
on to found the Attersley Tire Company and become the longest serving Mayor of
the Town of Whitby. Other notables were defenseman and captain Harry Sinden who
became a coach and general manager for the Boston Bruins and the coach of Team
Canada 1972 and Charlie Burns who would play for Boston, Detroit and Minnesota
in the NHL . The Dunnies were the
class of the league that year routinely drawing twice the Whitby Arena's
capacity with the authorities turning a blind eye. A couple of local business
men had recently returned from attending a college football game in the USA.
They had heard a cheer there and introduced a version of it to the Whitby fans.
That is where the "Go Dunnies Go!” cheer began. One of the team players
admitted that once they heard that cheer the team couldn't help but
"go"! This style of cheer would later spread to the Canadian NHL teams of the day. More on that later.
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| 1956-57 Whitby Dunlops Team Picture |
The Whitby Dunlops
dominated the Eastern Ontario Senior "A" League regular season and
then took the Kingston CKLC's 4 games to 1 in the league semi-final. They moved
on to play the Belleville McFarlands in the finals and swept the series 4 games
to none. Having won the Eastern Ontario championship they then moved on to face
the Kitchener Waterloo Dutchmen in the Southern Ontario finals. The Dutchmen
took the first game at home and the Dunlops won the second in Whitby. The third
was played at the 14,000 seat Maple Leaf Gardens due to the fact that Whitby's
arena was so small. Whitby took both of those two contests for a 2 - 1 lead in
the series. The finals seesawed back and forth with the series going to seven
games. The Dunlops won 3 -2 in the final game to move on to the All Ontario
title against the North Bay Trappers. The victory over the Dutchmen was sweet
revenge taken on the hockey establishment that had barred Wren Blair and his
team from an opportunity to play for the Allen Cup twice before. The Dunlops
went on to beat the North Bay Trappers to take the Ontario and Eastern Canadian
Championship. In the Allen Cup they faced the Spokane Flyers. All the games
were played at Maple Leaf Gardens and the Whitby Dunlops became the first team
to sweep the Championship series 4 games to none. Having so many of their games
played on the big stage of Maple Leaf Gardens, the Dunlops became known to the
Toronto sports fans. Their "Go Dunnies Go" cheer rang through the
Gardens and, some say, inspired the "Go Leafs Go" and "Go Habs
Go" cheers popular to this day for the fans of both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. These were heady times for the Town of Whitby and,
shortly after their Allen Cup victory parade in brand new 1957 convertibles
through Oshawa and Whitby via the newly opened 401 highway, Wren Blair
pronounced he would "Take the 'Dunnies' to the World Championship in
Norway".
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| Playing Coach Sid Smith |
Once they were chosen as Canada's representative for
the 1958 IIHF World Championships Blair and the Canadian Amateur Hockey
Association set about to recruit a few reinforcements from the ranks of senior
hockey in Ontario & Quebec. The most notable addition came when Toronto
Maple Leaf executive Conn Smythe offered the services of former Leaf captain
Sid Smith. Smith became the Dunlop's playing coach and joined the team in time
for the Dunlop's exhibition game against the touring Soviet team in a match at
Maple Leaf Gardens on November
22nd, 1957 . This was the first team from the USSR to tour North
America and game tickets quickly sold out. The game took place just over a
month after the Soviets launched Sputnik 1 and this just added to the hype
surrounding the "east meets west" contest. The game was televised
with the legendary Toronto Maple Leafs broadcaster Foster Hewitt doing the play
by play. The Whitby players must have been awed by the big stage because
shortly after the puck dropped to start the game the Soviets had jumped into a
2-0 lead. Wren Blair challenged his team to get their heads in the game saying
that if all they wanted to do was watch the Soviets play hockey they should at
least have the decency to pay for a ticket like the other 14,000 spectators in
the stands. That seemed to wake the Whitby team up as they proceeded to score
the next 7 goals in a row beating the USSR 7 - 2. Here's a link to a You Tube
video featuring the last two Dunlop goals of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpT8AzSmcGQ
The Dunlops left for Europe in late
January 1958 from New York City on board the RMS Queen Elizabeth. They took the
boat because team manager Wren Blair was afraid of flying. Prior to the World
Championships they played 14 games in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Norway to
tune up and get familiar with the larger international ice surface. They won
all 14 games outscoring their opposition 162 to 19. The World Championships
opened at the remarkable Jordal Amfi open air stadium in Oslo, Norway on
February 28, 1958. The Dunlops beat Poland 14-1 on March 1st, Norway 12-0 on
the 2nd, Finland 24-0 on the 3rd, Sweden 10-2 on March 6th, the Czechs 6-0 on
the 7th and the USA 12-1 on the 8th setting the stage for a final showdown with
the Soviets on March 9th. The USSR had won all their games except the one with
the Czechs which ended in a tie. The Canadians could win the World
Championships with a win over the Soviets or a tie. The final game was a tight, low scoring affair for the first fifty minutes of play. The Soviets scored
first in the opening period-and it was not until late in the second period that
Whitby centre Bobby Attersley evened the score with a power play tally. There
was no more scoring until after the teams changed ends for the final ten
minutes of the third period. This was done in international hockey due to the
fact that many of their games were played in outdoor arenas where playing
against the wind was a consideration. Montreal Canadiens player Connie Broden
put the Dunlops ahead 2-1 shortly after the change of ends but the Soviets
quickly tied the score. The tension for Canadian hockey fans listening to the
play by play across the nation on the CBC radio, again with Foster Hewitt at
the microphone, finally broke when "Atta Boy Attersley" put the
Canadian team ahead to stay near the end of the period. Attersley's winger Bus
Gagnon scored shortly afterward to put the Dunlops up 4-2. Team captain Harry
Sinden embraced the World Championship trophy to bring the Whitby Dunlop's
incredible journey to a successful conclusion. As a three year old I witnessed
the Dunlops victory parade. Not that I remember but there is an 8mm home movie
somewhere in the family to prove it. The Dunlops would go on to win a second
Allen Cup in 1959. Attersley, Sinden and several other Dunlop players would
join the Kitchener Dutchmen to play in the 1960 Olympics where they won a
Silver medal, losing the gold to the USA. Wren Blair and other key members of
the team went on to other opportunities and the Dunlops bowed out in the
semi-final round of the 1959-60 senior "A" play-offs. The Whitby
Dunlops were victims of a downturn in senior
hockey’s popularity and they were
unable to field a team for the 1960-61 season.
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| 1958 World Championship Team Picture |
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| Wren Blair and IIHF President Bunny Ahearn |
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| World Champion Parade on Highway 401 |
On a personal note, my dad was a big
Dunlops fan back in the day. He used to say the
Dunlops were "the best
team never to play in the NHL ".
When the Whitby Dunlop franchise was rejuvenated in 2004 we were able to take
in a number of games together and relive the glory days with the crowd reviving
the old "Go Dunnies Go! cheer.
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| Joe Corrigan Sr. |
Joe Corrigan has been Museum Manager at Lang Pioneer Village since February of 2003. He has been a lifelong student of history. His specific areas of interest are Canadian and world political, military and sports history with a particular focus on biographical works. 