Dixie entered the first round playoffs against the second place Woodbridge Dodgers. The Dodgers managed only two wins in the best of five series, allowing the Beehives to advance to the semi finals against Weston. The Dukes disposed of Brampton quickly and were the odds on favourites to move quickly past Dixie as well and into the league finals. However, the Beehives took three consecutive wins, outscoring their rivals by scores of 5-3 in the opening game, 3-2 in the second, and in the third, giving goalie Denis DeJordy his first shut-out of the playoffs, with a 3-0 win.
The league championship series became what Hollywood writers dream of. A seven-game series with the winners deciding at the last minute not to continue on for the OHA Junior ‘B’ clash for the Eastern Provincial playoffs.
The St. Mikes squad defeated Dixie four games to three but, following the seventh-game in a 5-2 win over Dixie at Ted Reeve Arena, Father Flanagan of the St. Michael’s Buzzers dropped a bombshell. He had been instructed by the school administration not to continue on.
‘Bud’ McAlister, OHA convener, asked the Dixie management to consider going on in place of St. Mikes. The Dixie club officials and players voted unanimously to enter the finals despite the possibility of it becoming a financial hardship. There was also a vote on a suggestion that St. Michaels be suspended for one year because of their refusal to enter the Ontario finals. That vote was soundly turned down.
A school spokesman said the reason the Buzzers ended their season the way they did was based on the fact that playing hockey interfered with the boys’ scholastic work. “Coach Father Flanagan was instructed that if the team won this series, they were not to enter the finals,” he said.
By now the experts were scratching their heads and wondering how Dixie had held on for so long and how they managed to improve with each game.
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