Description
After roaring through the Central Valley Hockey League season with 11 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie, the Middleton Maple Leafs won three straight two-game total goal series to advance to the Provincial Championship. Disposing of the Bridgetown Hawks 12-4 and then the Bridgewater Hawks 18-6, Middleton then faced off with the Windsor Maple Leafs in the Semi-final.
In the “railway series”, some 400 fans rode the special train up to Windsor to witness a 1-1 tie as Rocky Montgomery scored and Gordon Marshall was outstanding between the pipes for Middleton. Two nights later, some 500 fans rode the special train down to Middleton with many unable to get in to the largest attended game in the Middleton rink to that date. With the Middleton Concert Band urging them on, Montgomery notched a hat trick, Steve Estabrooks banged a pair home and single goals were scored by player-coach Paddy Cormier and Gordon Shaffner in the 7-2 victory.
Two nights later, they faced off in Antigonish against the home team Bulldogs. As Halifax Herald Sports Editor Alex Nickerson described them, “Cool resourceful workmen, with a stout- choking defense backed by an eagle-eyed goalie”, Middleton prevailed 3-2 on two goals by Cormier and one by Montgomery.
On March 6, in Kentville, their fourth game in six nights, Middleton was forty minutes away from victory when they met their Waterloo. As Nickerson put it, “At no time did the Maple Leafs flash the machine-like methodical play that had turned back the Bulldogs in the first tilt”, and despite a lone goal by Reg Barteaux, the Middleton boys lost 6-1.
Still the exploits of the 1935-36 squad has been an inspiration for Middleton hockey players and teams down through the years.