In the spring of 1957
the Chatham Midget team was eliminated in the Ontario
Minor Hockey Association semi-finals by the eventual
provincial champions, St. Catharines. Two years later,
with the same personnel, the team had a truly remarkable
year. The 1958-59 Rotary Juveniles lost only 1 game
throughout the entire season. In addition, they played
three teams from the Border Cities Jr. “B” League,
winning 2 games and tying 1. In the first round of the
Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) play downs,
Chatham defeated Sarnia 11-1 in a 2 game total goals
series. In the same format in the quarter-finals, Chatham
beat Stratford by a total of 9-4. Against Welland in a 2
out of 3 semi-finals, Chatham lost the first game 5-4, but
goalie John Campbell recorded shut-outs in games 2 and 3
to provide the margin of victory. In the finals against
Barrie, Chatham won the best-of-three series in 2 straight
games to become the first team from the Chatham Minor
Hockey Association to win an OMHA Championship. In the
following season, 1959-60, ten members of the juvenile
team moved up to play for the initial Chatham Junior
Maroons team. Three of those ten later went on to earn
hockey scholarships at Division 1 Universities in the
United States. The Rotary Juvenile team, arguably one of
the best produced by CMHA, was coached by Harold
MacFarlane and Nick Federonik.
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