Kings County’s toughest hockey battle

During the off-season, the 1936-37 Nova Scotia Senior Hockey champions, the Berwick Bruins, were busy preparing for the defence of their title. Half of the team’s players chose not to return to the apple capital for another season.

The Bruins suffered another setback when the Central Valley Senior League decided to drop down to the intermediate level. A Bruins spokesman said the team would compete in the senior playdowns as an independent if necessary. A new league formed, called the Eastern Nova Scotia Senior Hockey League, with teams from Berwick, Kentville, Halifax and Dartmouth.

Berwick had difficulty rebuilding the team and, when some of the new players found playing in the new league at the senior level too challenging, the coach did not put them in the line-up. This meant the defending provincial champs would dress only nine players against the opposing team’s 11 men.

During the regular schedule, Berwick was no match for Kentville or Halifax and, when the city team just barely finished in the top spot, the Wildcats would play the lowly Bruins for the right to play the Wolverines for the league championship.

The stage was set for one of the best series ever played in the Annapolis Valley. It was decided to play all games in the best-of-three series in the larger Kentville arena, beginning Monday, February 14, 1938. In a hard fought match, the Bruins and the Wildcats battled to a 2-2 draw in the first game. A 70-minute tie breaking game had to be played. McClintock beat Kyle at 2:12 of the first period. Late in the period, Rogers and Kyle scored to give the Wildcats the lead. Lawlor scored the first goal of the game’s second period.

Following the tied match, the Bruins defeated the Wildcats Wednesday 5-1. No score was made in the first period. Kentville scored the first goal in the second, which was followed by Berwick goals. Berwick ran up three more in the third frame. McClintock, Copus, Lawlor and Fagan (two) were the Berwick marksmen.

For the second time in a week, the Bruins and the Wildcats battled to a 70-minute overtime Friday, the score ending 4-4. Kentville had a one-goal lead in the first period, but Berwick scored three goals to Kentville’s one in the second frame. In the third period, Kentville again took the lead by two. The Bruins came back to tie the score, three-and-a-half minutes from the end.

The team played again Saturday for the fourth time in one week. The Friday night game had been very rough, with both teams desperately trying to win. Bob Corbin, playing well in the Berwick nets, was injured and out of action for the remainder of the series.

With Martin in goal for Berwick, Kentville took the lead by a 2-0 score with less than five minutes remaining in the third period. At that point, Kentville was awarded a minor penalty and, in the next minute and 20 seconds, Foster and White scored three goals, with White getting two. The surprising Berwick Bruins would go on to play the Halifax Wolverines in the Eastern Nova Scotia Senior Hockey League finals.