St. Catharines Teepees

The St. Catharines Teepees were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1947 to 1962. The team was based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

St. Catharines Teepees
City	St. Catharines, Ontario
League	Ontario Hockey Association
Operated	1947 (1947)-62
Home arena	Garden City Arena
Franchise history
1943-47	St. Catharines Falcons
1947-62	St. Catharines Teepees
1962-76	St. Catharines Black Hawks
1976-82	Niagara Falls Flyers
1982-02	North Bay Centennials
2002-present	Saginaw Spirit
Championships
Playoff championships	1954 & 1960 Memorial Cup Champions

History

The St. Catharines Teepees were born in 1947 when local businessman George Stauffer, president and GM of Thompson Products Ltd., purchased the St. Catharines Falcons team for $2500 from Rudy Pilous and named the team after the company's initials.

During the fifteen years the Teepees played, they developed into a powerhouse in the OHA. St. Catharines finished in first place five years in a six-year span, and won the league championship twice. The team also produced five league leading scorers and three MVPs in the same period. The Teepees won the Memorial Cup in both 1954 and 1960.

In 1961-62 the Teepees, no longer owned by Thompson Products, were in financial trouble and the Chicago Black Hawks came to their rescue. In 1962–63, the Teepees became the St. Catharines Black Hawks and would remain so until the team moved to Niagara Falls for the 1976–77 season.

1954 Memorial Cup

St. Catharines, still coached by Rudy Pilous, won the right to play for the Cup by defeating the Toronto Marlboros in seven games for the OHA championship, and the Quebec Frontenacs to win the Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian representatives. The Teepees won the Memorial Cup in 1954 played at Maple Leaf Gardens. They defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 0 with one tie game, in a best-of-seven series.

Game 1	St. Catharines	8	vs.	Edmonton	2
Game 2	St. Catharines	5	vs.	Edmonton	3
Game 3	St. Catharines	4	vs.	Edmonton	1
Game 4	St. Catharines	3	vs.	Edmonton	3
Game 5	St. Catharines	6	vs.	Edmonton	2

1960 Memorial Cup

St. Catharines was now coached by Max Kaminsky and Rudy Pilous was the team manager for the 1960 Memorial Cup rematch versus the Edmonton Oil Kings. On the road to the Cup, the Teepees defeated the Toronto St. Michael's Majors for the OHA championship, and the Brockville Canadiens to win the Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian representatives. The series against Brockville was decided in the 8th game after each team had won three games each with a tie game.

The 1960 Memorial Cup opened up at the Garden City Arena with remaining games played at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Teepees defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings for the second time in the Memorial Cup, 4 games to 2 in a best-of-seven series.

Game 1	St. Catharines	3	vs.	Edmonton	5
Game 2	St. Catharines	6	vs.	Edmonton	2
Game 3	St. Catharines	9	vs.	Edmonton	1
Game 4	St. Catharines	3	vs.	Edmonton	9
Game 5	St. Catharines	9	vs.	Edmonton	6
Game 6	St. Catharines	7	vs.	Edmonton	3

Championships

The St. Catharines Teepees are one of a few clubs to win multiple Memorial Cup championships. In total the Teepees won the Memorial Cup, the George Richardson Memorial Trophy, the J. Ross Robertson Cup and the Hamilton Spectator Trophy twice each.

Memorial Cup

• 1954 Champions vs. Edmonton Oil Kings
• 1960 Champions vs. Edmonton Oil Kings

George Richardson Memorial Trophy

• 1954 Champions vs. Quebec Frontenacs
• 1960 Champions vs. Brockville Canadiens

J. Ross Robertson Cup^[1]

• 1952 Lost to Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters
• 1954 OHA Champions vs. Toronto Marlboros
• 1955 Lost to Toronto Marlboros
• 1957 Lost to Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters
• 1960 OHA Champions vs. St. Michael's Majors

Hamilton Spectator Trophy

• 1957-1958 70 points (32 wins, 6 ties)
• 1958-1959 83 points (40 wins, 3 ties)

Players

There have been 54 Teepees alumni play in the NHL. Four of those would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. St. Catharines also had three MVPs and five scoring champions with a six-year span.

Award winners

Red Tilson Trophy
(Most Outstanding Player)

• 1953-54 - Brian Cullen
• 1954-55 - Hank Ciesla
• 1958-59 - Stan Mikita

Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy
(Scoring Champion)

• 1953-54 - Brian Cullen
• 1954-55 - Hank Ciesla
• 1957-58 - John McKenzie
• 1958-59 - Stan Mikita
• 1959-60 - Chico Maki

Hall of Famers

• Phil Esposito (1961-1962)
• Bobby Hull (1955-1957)
• Stan Mikita (1956-1959)
• Pierre Pilote (1950-1952)

Rudy Pilous

NHL alumni

• Buddy Boone
• John Brenneman
• Wayne Brown
• Gord Byers
• Hank Ciesla
• Norm Corcoran
• Roger Crozier
• Barry Cullen
• Brian Cullen
• Ray Cullen
• Ian Cushenan
• Norm Defelice
• Denis DeJordy
• Marv Edwards
• Roy Edwards
• Phil Esposito
• Gerry Foley
• Vic Hadfield
• Murray Hall
• Duke Harris
• Wayne Hillman
• Ken Hodge
• Cecil Hoekstra
• Ed Hoekstra
• Brent Hughes
• Bobby Hull
• Dennis Hull
• Doug Jarrett
• Chico Maki
• Frank Martin
• Ab McDonald
• Jack McIntyre
• John McKenzie
• Stan Mikita
• Ellard O'Brien
• Pierre Pilote
• Dan Poliziani
• Poul Popiel
• Matt Ravlich
• Doug Robinson
• Len Ronson
• Ken Schinkel
• Don Simmons
• Bill Speer
• George Standing
• Fred Stanfield
• Jack Stanfield
• Pat Stapleton
• Art Stratton
• Red Sullivan
• Skip Teal
• Jerry Toppazzini
• Zellio Toppazzini
• Moose Vasko

Yearly results

Regular Season

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	Pct %	Goals For	Goals Against	Standing
1947-48	36	19	17	0	38	0.528	137	155	6th OHA
1948-49	48	25	20	3	53	0.552	191	198	4th OHA
1949-50	48	27	17	4	58	0.604	269	211	3rd OHA
1950-51	54	23	24	7	53	0.491	200	192	6th OHA
1951-52	54	30	23	1	61	0.565	249	229	5th OHA
1952-53	56	31	20	5	67	0.598	219	234	4th OHA
1953-54	59	42	15	2	86	0.729	308	211	1st OHA
1954-55	49	32	15	2	66	0.673	260	176	1st OHA
1955-56	48	28	17	3	59	0.615	219	197	1st OHA
1956-57	52	25	25	2	52	0.500	184	193	3rd OHA
1957-58	52	32	14	6	70	0.673	246	174	1st OHA
1958-59	54	40	11	3	84	0.769	257	175	1st OHA
1959-60	48	25	19	4	54	0.562	209	191	2nd OHA
1960-61	48	18	24	6	42	0.438	167	204	5th OHA
1961-62	50	19	23	8	46	0.460	194	206	3rd OHA

Playoffs

Complete results prior to 1960 are currently unavailable.

• 1960-61 Lost to St. Michael's Majors 8 points to 4 in quarter-finals.
• 1961-62 Lost to Hamilton Red Wings 9 points to 3 in OHA semi-finals.

Arena

The St. Catharines Teepees played in the Garden City Arena in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario from 1947 to 1962, as did their predecessors the Falcons.^[2]