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Nearly every day at Memorial Gardens, Tom McCarthy and Mike McParland bump into each other and share a few words. As head coaches of the junior 'A' North Bay Trappers and OUA Nipissing Lakers, respectively, their offices are just a few metres apart. While sharing insight about today's young players, they also share life-changing experiences from their own time as junior players at Memorial Gardens.

 

McParland starred for his hometown Trappers in 1975-76, when they pulled off comeback after comeback to beat McCarthy's North York Rangers for the provincial junior 'A' (POHA) championship in a memorable eight-game final series.

It is a shared experience that, ultimately, made it a no-brainer for each of them to return to North Bay in coaching roles when opportunities came their way. Sharing stories from that memorable eight-game 1976 POHA championship series brought McCarthy and McParland together Thursday.

 

The pair were guest speakers at the monthly Ex-Greats of the Athletic World luncheon at the 406 Wing on First Avenue, where, on the final Thursday of each month, many of the city's sporting greats from years past gather to share stories, recall a few lies and enjoy each other's company.

 

About 40 or so regulars were on hand Thursday and they welcomed an additional guest — Butch Turcotte, coach of that '76 Trappers championship team, showed up just in time with a prized piece of memorabilia, a photo of the '76 Trappers autographed by the entire team.

 

The 1976 POHA final provided local fans with some of the most exciting and memorable hockey ever played in North Bay. McParland can still recall in great detail some of the events that unfolded that spring, when the Trappers earned the 'Comeback Kids' moniker. “It was just a magical year where, just when you think there couldn't be another twist or turn, there was,” he said. The Trappers were third after the regular season, needing seven games to eliminate the Wexford Raiders in the first round.

In the semifinal series against the Markham Waxers, the Trappers trailed 3-2 in the series before McParland returned from an uncharacteristic three-game suspension for spearing — “the ref was early in making the call,” he said — to lead the Trappers to an 11-8 win in a Game 7 barnburner.

 

In the POHA final against McCarthy's Rangers, North York took a 3-0 series lead.

 

But with the pressure off, North Bay earned a 5-1 win at home in Game 4, then beat the Rangers 10-1 in North York. In Game 6, in front of 4,310 fans at Memorial Gardens, the Trappers pulled out a 9-5 win.

 

Twelve buses of fans from North Bay travelled to North York for Game 7, which most thought would decide the series. But the game ended in a 5-5 tie after a 10-minute (not sudden death) overtime, during which Joey Omiccioli scored in overtime for the Trappers, but the Rangers tied it with three seconds left. That sent the 12 busloads of fans back to North Bay, where many arrived home at 4 a.m. and immediately started lining up at Memorial Gardens for the box office to open at 8:30 a.m. for tickets to Game 8.

Officially, there were 4,461 fans in Memorial Gardens for Game 8, though many estimate the crowd was closer to 5,000. McParland scored twice in the 5-3 win as the Trappers claimed their only POHA championship. The series had a long-lasting effect on McCarthy, who, at the time, was a budding 15-year-old star, soon to be drafted ahead of Wayne Gretzky in the OHA draft and embark on a nine-year NHL career.

 

“We knew when we came to North Bay, it was always trouble — bigger trouble than all the teams we played around Toronto, because of the atmosphere,” McCarthy said during his address at Thursday's luncheon. “That's the biggest thing I remember about the series, all the buses that came from North Bay and rolled in to North York to watch the games.

 

“That atmosphere (at Memorial Gardens) has never left me. I remember people standing on other people's shoulders along the metal beams, looking over the people three or four deep along the glass. All the seats were full and all the stairs were full. It obviously created an atmosphere that I never will forget.”

 

While McCarthy was the 15-year-old young gun for North York, the Trappers had their own 15-year-old future NHLer in Jim Fox. He led the Trappers in scoring with 75 points (Claude D'Amour had 62, McParland 56, Ron Fortier 50 and Lou Boudreau 49 from the blueline) before going on to more junior stardom with the Ottawa 67's and nine NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.

 

“Jimmy and I talked about it throughout our career,” McCarthy said. “Every time I went to Los Angeles or he came to Minnesota, we spent time together and it was all due to being here in North Bay and playing in that series. Because it was a series I don't think you'll ever see matched, ever.”

 

The only things in hockey that compared to that atmosphere from the spring of 1976, McCarthy said, were his NHL playoff runs to the Stanley Cup final in 1981 with the Minnesota North Stars (Dino Ciccarelli-mania) and again in 1988 with the Boston Bruins (Have another doughnut, Koharski).

 

Those cherished days from the Rangers-Trappers series provided memories McCarthy likes to share with his current crop of junior 'A' Trappers and an atmosphere he'd like to emulate. Junior hockey has evolved, obviously, but engaging the people in the community is something he encourages with his players.

 

“I like to think every kid who comes here takes a little piece of this city away and makes it part of their memoirs for the rest of their lives,” he said, noting he is appreciative of how he has been welcomed by people in North Bay. “I know it was for me and I'm just blessed enough to come back and do it again. I took the opportunity in coming to North Bay and it's been everything I expected it to be.”

 

McParland said it is nice to rekindle old memories with McCarthy while still working in hockey on a day-to-day basis.

 

When he returned to North Bay in 2008 to take charge of the new Lakers program, McParland also began rekindling memories with former Trappers teammates such as Tom Diggles, Ron Fortier, Omiccioli and Rod Stamler as part of a group that still skates together every Monday night.

 

McParland and Diggles were the only two local boys on the '76 Trappers, but the fact so many players stayed and made North Bay their home attests to the influence North Bay and its people had on the players.

 

“It was quite an experience and as Tom said, it's not an experience that will probably be ever duplicated in our lifetime,” McParland told the gathering, which included former '76 Trappers manager Danny Wilkes.

 

“I'm able to stand here and replay it like it only happened a few years ago. Unfortunately, it's a bit sad, too, because so many days have passed. It was an experience you'd like to relive and enjoy for as long as you can.

 

“You realize everybody moves on and evolves and Tommy and Jimmy were lucky enough to play in the NHL, a dream I wish, as a hockey player, you would have been able to play a game or two in the NHL. My career took me through university and to Europe, playing and coaching in Switzerland for more than 25 years, which is a positive alternative. It turned out to be a pretty good life as well.

 

“After being gone from North Bay for more than 30 years, and then having the opportunity to come back, I didn't have to think long and there was no hesitation, because this is my home and it is a great city.”