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ST. MICHAEL'S MARKS CENTURY OF HOCKEY/ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Statistics do not tell the whole story of Toronto St. Michael's College School and its hockey history but they are still impressive. One hundred and fifty-seven of its graduates have played in the NHL and WHA. Eleven of its players and coaches are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Eleven more have coached in the NHL. St. Michael's has won four Memorial Cups, with the last one in 1961, after which the school soon withdrew from Junior A competition to maintain its academic integrity. It has claimed six provincial Ontario Junior A championships and six Ontario Junior B championships, with the latest in 1989. In both 1934 and 1961, the school claimed both the Junior A and Junior B Crowns. In 1997, after a 36-year absence the school returned to the Ontario Hockey League and is currently enjoying its most successful season since its return, while still maintaining its academic traditions.

Established in 1852 by the Basilian Order, the school has for the last 150 years combined academics, athletics and community involvement with a Roman Catholic context. In 1906, the school entered competitive junior hockey for the first time. The school was combined with Trinity College, Upper Canada College and the Argonaut Rowing Club in the Ontario Hockey Association Group Number 3 and won the Toronto Prep league title. It took one year for Father Henry Carr to lead the school to capture its first OHA hockey crown in 1907. In 1910, the school claimed the Allan Cup emblematic of the Canadian Senior Amateur Championship.

St. Michael's first graduate to play in the NHL was Reg Noble (pictured), who played for the school during the 1916 playoffs, scoring nine goals in six games. His NHL career would lead to the Hockey Hall of Fame and would include a remarkable triple-header of playing with a combination of franchises within three cities. Noble would play for the Toronto Blueshirts, and two later city franchises, the Arenas, and then Toronto St. Pats. He would start for both Montreal entries, the Maroons and Canadiens, and then capped off his feat by doing double duty with the Detroit Falcons and Red Wings. He would finally retire in 1934 after finishing his career with the long forgotten Cleveland Falcons of the International Hockey League. Other Hall of Fame members of his era include Frank Rankin and Joe Primeau (pictured in team photo, front row, fourth from the left). Rankin played for the Major team that went to the OHA Finals from 1913 to 1915. He later became a coach and led the Toronto Granites to a Gold Medal at the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix, France. Joe Primeau would have an outstanding playing career as a Maple Leaf during the 1920's and 1930's. But his impressive coaching resume would include two Memorial Cup championships with the Majors and one Stanley Cup, highlighted by Bill Barilko's famous Cup winning goal of 1951.

Another significant milestone in the NHL-St. Michael's relationship was in 1926 when Conn Smythe bought the Toronto St. Pats NHL franchise. He re-christened them the Maple Leafs and began paying the tuition of talented prospects at the school, establishing a close, although not exclusive, relationship between the Leafs and the school that would continue up to the 1961 - 1962 season. That was when the Leafs created the Metro Toronto Junior Hockey League for the express purpose of keeping St. Michael's in junior hockey. But the school would remain in the league for only one year in the short-lived circuit. The league folded in 1963 after the Maple Leafs had tried to maintain a school connection with the Neil McNeil Maroons.

Also making it to the Hall of Fame was Father David Bauer (pictured in team photo, front row, fourth from the right) who would coach the Majors last Memorial Cup championship. He would lead the Canadian national teams of 1964 and 1968 that saw the later win the 1968 Olympic Bronze medal. Those two entries who gamely battled the powerhouse Soviet teams of that era were manned by several St. Michael's graduates, including Terry Clancy (pictured in team photo, middle row, third from the left), Gary Dineen, Barry McKenzie (pictured in team photo, middle row, second from the left),, Billy MacMillan (pictured in team photo, middle row, second from the right), Terry O'Malley (pictured in team photo, front row, centre) and Rod Seiling.

Father Bauer's brother, Bobby Bauer, starred for the Boston Bruins Kraut line that would result in his entry to the Hall. The post-Second World War era would produce another six more destined for the Hall of Fame, including Ted Lindsay and Red Kelly, who first started out with the Red Wings after leaving St. Mike's, and then Tim Horton, Dave Keon, Frank Mahovlich and Gerry Cheevers (pictured in team photo, front row, second from the left), who all began their careers with the Leafs.

For all of the Hall of Fame members, there have been players that have come and gone from the NHL after that proverbial cup of coffee, but who are just as beloved by St. Michael's followers. They include notable junior stars such as Bruce Draper (pictured in team photo, back row, far right), Andre Champagne (pictured in team photo, middle row, centre) and Darryl Sly, who Don Cherry said was the best minor league defencemen he ever saw. Draper, a star of the 1961 Memorial Cup team would tragically die of cancer in 1968, after a minor league career that would see him play one game with the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the school came together that year for a memorial benefit game in appreciation for his career and relationship to the school.

In recent years, the school has continued to churn out some notable NHL players, including Sean Burke, Kevin Dineen, Eric Lindros (pictured), Rich Tocchet, Kevin Weekes, and Jason Woolley.

The list of NHL coaches among St. Michael's alumni include Cheevers, Kelly, Lindsay, Primeau and Lou Angotti, Charlie Burns, Bill Dineen, Dick Duff, Billy MacMillan, John McLellan, and Gene Ubriaco who coined the memorable phrase, "You can't teach a shark table manners."

But during the last century of junior hockey, St. Michael's has tried to instill something more than manners in its student athletes - its motto of teaching goodness, discipline and knowledge - within a context of academic excellence. Each year, 98 per cent of its school graduates are accepted at their university of choice. Perhaps this is where, arguable, St. Michael's greatest success has arisen.