Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
1995-96 Individual Stats |  Game-by-Game results

PART 6: A bittersweet ending

The Warriors only had to author one more chapter to complete their storybook season. After trouncing Calgary - the nation's top-ranked team – in the national semi-final, they prepared to play another loaded squad from the east coast in the Acadia Axemen.

At this point, the Warriors had won 11 straight games and 20 of their last 21 contests. In addition to the grove they found on the ice, they'd also been beneficiaries of two very important factors: health and luck. Unfortunately, those things were about to change – and it all started with the flip of a coin.

Joe Harris, Goaltender

After Christmas, whenever we wore black, we never lost. We never lost a single game. So we wore white (in the finals against Acadia). I don't know – I still don't know to this day how they selected the uniforms. Obviously, we lost a coin flip, or something.

John Wynne, Defenceman

We didn't lose once in our blacks, all year long. Not once! And we go to the final game, and I remember Donny said, "I'm going to the coin flip with the other coach." I remember I was in my hotel room, and the phone goes off. And it's Donny. He says, "Wynner! I won the toss!" And I said, "Alright! We're wearing black!" and he said "No, we're home team, we're white, so we get last change." And I was speechless. I'm very superstitious, and, when you're going into the final game, last change doesn't really matter. They're probably going to allow (late changes) anyway.

Chris Kraemer, Forward

I know what he was thinking, and I think it was the wrong decision. I think he was thinking that we'd wear whites and be the home team and get last change. But in a national championship game, is there really an advantage to having last change? I think he was thinking strategically like that.

We thought about it right away. Especially Wynne. He's a horribly superstitious kind of guy, very habitual. You ask him about the black jerseys. He'll have your ear chewed off.

Mark Cardiff, Defenceman

I thought it was a bigger deal than it was, but I know we all joked about it and laughed about it before the game. I didn't know there was a coin toss. That's it! Now I've got my reason to blame Donny (laughs).

Don McKee, Head Coach

I don't recall a coin flip, but that could very well be true. The guys were very superstitious; they all had little things that they would do. I can see the sweaters being an important thing for them. But I know I would have taken the last change if I could. If they want to lay the blame on coach for picking the wrong sweaters, I'll gladly take that blame! (laughs).

Sheldon Gilchrist, Forward

We wanted to wear black that game, for sure. Obviously it didn't make a difference, but I'm sure it kind of creeps into your mind. I think you have to put that behind you. It would have been nice to wear the blacks. We were unbeatable; couldn't be stopped in the blacks. Looking back though, I don't put much stock in that.

Steve Smith, Forward

It's one of those silly superstitions you get in hockey, you know, if you win in one uniform, you think you can't win in the other one.  But I don't think we were too concerned about that, we had another team in red we had to contend with. They were a good club.

Brian Henry, Defenceman

I do remember the whole black jersey thing, but I couldn't have even told you if we wore white or black in the final, to be honest.

Henry was right; the Warriors had bigger fish to fry than which uniforms they'd be wearing. And for Henry, specifically, his attention was on something else – his separated shoulder that threatened to keep him out of the biggest game of his career. The Waterloo training table picked the wrong time to become busy.

John Wynne, Defenceman

That was a big loss for us in the national finals when Brian went out. As soon as he couldn't lift his arm, he couldn't play anymore. We needed everybody. And Brearley had pneumonia. It just didn't come together like we wanted it to.

Chris Kraemer, Forward

Brian Henry was one of our physical leaders, and he had separated his shoulder ahead of time. And God bless him, he'd had cortisone shot against Calgary, and made it through that game; played a hell of a game.

Don McKee, Head Coach

He separated his shoulder before, and he had it frozen for the first game against Calgary. They froze it again, and in the middle of the first period, the (trainer) came to me and said you can't push this guy any harder, he can't play, or he's going to have a lifetime injury. And Peter Brearley had caught pneumonia. That was likely our Achilles heel.

Brian Henry, Defenceman

I actually hurt it against UQTR. I had it frozen twice for Calgary, and twice for Acadia. Probably about halfway through the game, I couldn't move my arm anymore. So I unfortunately could only play half the game, and had to watch. It was extremely disappointing, obviously for me personally, because you want to help out.

I've thought a lot about it, to be honest with you. It was just unfortunate. It's nothing I could have done any differently. So, disappointing for me, but, more importantly, disappointing that we couldn't win, because we were close.

Mark Cardiff, Defenceman

He was my roommate in the finals. And that man couldn't lie down. He couldn't roll over, because of his shoulder. I think it was a third degree separation of his shoulder.

I remember hearing him. We had our pregame meeting before the finals, and Donny's trying to talk about Acadia, and I'm not sure anyone heard anything he said, because we could hear Hendu screaming in pain two or three dressing rooms over, getting cortisone injections in his shoulder to be able to go out on the ice. He's paying for it still now, with surgeries and everything.  And that's just the kind of guy he was.

Brian Henry, Defenceman

That's who you play for, your teammates. So if your teammates think that of you, that's obviously fantastic. That's why you play. You play for your teammates. I got to play with Mark Cardiff for the better part of three years. It's extremely humbling to know the guys think that of me.

With Henry shelved early and Brearley suffering to breathe, Acadia jumped on the undermanned Warriors early. Playing under the bright TV lights at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Warriors suffered some of the worst fortune they'd seen all year, and they found themselves trailing 2-0 before the game was 20 minutes old. It was not the Warriors' day; the final scene of the script just wouldn't be authored.    

Ryan Pyette, Sports Reporter, Imprint

They played their worst 10 minutes, the first 10 minutes of that championship game. They didn't look at all like themselves, they looked nervous. They couldn't pass the puck. I was shocked; it was the only time all year that they didn't look composed. And then it bit them because Acadia jumped on them. I thought Waterloo had the better team than Acadia. And Once they woke up, they poured it on late, but they just couldn't get the equalizer.

Joe Harris, Goaltender

They scored two goals early, and we were deflated. We had never really been taken advantage of like that. The way the goals were scored was bad. Like, we couldn't get the puck out of our end, which was very uncharacteristic of us. We rang it around the boards maybe 4 or 5 times, and finally, a guy takes a shot from the point and it went off our defenseman's chest in front of the net, and went in.

John Wynne, Defenceman

Ronny ripped it around, and their defenceman stopped it, shot it, and it went off Ronny's chest and into the net.

Sheldon Gilchrist, Forward

I'll never forget the one shot that was probably going 15 or 20 feet wide. Hit someone in the chest and went in the net.

Ron Paleczny, Defenceman

It was just an unfortunate bounce. The shot came in from the point, hit me in the chest, and dropped in the net.

John Wynne, Defenceman

It was just the worst. You felt bad for him. Just one of those shifts.

Joe Harris, Goaltender

Then they scored another one, so we're down 2-0 in the first period. I tore my MCL in the first period. Wasn't a tear I guess, but was like a pull or a strain. A guy landed on me. And so for the last few minutes, I was in complete pain. I couldn't go down. I don't recall anything between the first and second, because I was being attended to, basically getting, like, a cast put on my leg so I could still play.

We went out for the second period, and we took it to them. It was as if we'd kind of forgotten about the first period but their goalie played well. We couldn't buy a goal. Then they scored another goal in the second period to make it 3-0. So we go down 3-0 going into the third period.

John Wynne, Defenceman

We were in the national finals in Maple Leaf Gardens, you look up and Western has their band at the rink, cheering against us, cheering for Acadia. Guys are just shaking their heads. We can't stand that school. I still have my "friends don't let friends go to Western" t-shirt in my dresser.

Jeff Goldie, Forward

I think there were a lot of nerves, a lot of jitters in that game. It took us a little while to find our stride. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. With a team like Acadia, you can't sit back. They had some pretty talented players. I don't know how many years later, but I'm playing pro in Bakersfield, California. And my linemate and the guy sitting beside me in the room was Christian Skoryna, the guy who scored the eventual game-winning goal for Acadia. I heard about it every morning when I came into the arena. Skora was a great guy, but I definitely took some jabs over the years from him.

Joe Harris, Goaltender

Then we get two quick ones, in the third period, and all of a sudden its 3-2, and there's a few minutes left in the game, and the energy in the arena just changed. I remember thinking, we got this now.

Steve Smith, Forward

Matt St Germain scored a really nice goal and kind of kick started us. And we came painfully close to tying it up.

Peter Brearley, Forward

We had our chances. I remember we had a couple opportunities to tie the game up at the end. I remember Smitty won a draw back to me with about a minute left, off the right faceoff dot, and I took a shot, and the goalie made a glove save. In the end, it might have gone wide; it might have hit the post. I'm not sure. But we had some opportunities to win.

Ryan Pyette, Sports Reporter, Imprint

There was some national media there, and the only guy they let in was me because I knew the guys; I was friends with these guys. So they let me in, and I've been in some locker rooms that have lost before, but I just remember, these guys were crushed.

Chris Kraemer, Forward

I was playing with Marc Vaughan and Matt St Germain. We were getting lots of opportunities because I think they were keying other two lines. That was to the credit of the depth and the secondary scoring. I think we hit several posts, and had some good opportunities and it just wasn't going in. I kind of think still, that if we had another five minutes, we would have broken through.

Mike Chambers, Forward

They got a couple goals, and we were just coming from behind. I don't think that was our best game. We kind of fell flat. It just wasn't our game. If we played them 10 times, we'd lose more than we'd win, probably. But we missed a few opportunities.

Joe Harris, Goaltender

For about a week and a half after that, I couldn't focus on school. I had to wrtite an exam that week, that I'd missed because we were in the finals, and I totally butchered the exam. I just couldn't focus. I was a zombie. Didn't sleep well; just, a loss like that takes its toll.

Wynner didn't move. He sat in the dressing room with his head down, towel over his head, crying. The rest of us were completely out of the dressing room, and he was still sitting there in his full gear.

Mark Cardiff, Defenceman

Joey Harris played amazing, He made some unreal saves, and he gave us a chance to come back. It came right down to it. It was 3-2, we had our chances; we were putting it off posts.

I don't really think we believed we were going to lose, so when we did, it was more of a shock that we actually lost. I remember not knowing how to feel about it. It was just so weird to not have won a game. But we celebrated how awesome the year was. I remember sitting in the dressing room after, and I'd never been more proud to be part of a team than I was with that group sitting there. I played on a lot of good teams, a lot of nationally ranked teams, I won a German championship. And I still look back at that year as the best, funnest, group of guys – family – that I could ever remember playing with.

John Wynne, Defenceman

I just felt that I didn't have a good game. It was just not the feeling you wanted to have going into the biggest game of the year, on that stage.

We had a team where everything went perfect for so long. And it went down to the last game, and all of a sudden, Brearley had pneumonia, Hendu can't lift his arm, the white jerseys. At the time, it's just, well, we're white, whatever. When you look back, you wonder what would have happened if Brearley's healthy, Henry's healthy, we're in our black jerseys, and everything goes our way. I would have been very confident that the result would have been different. We gave everything we had, and I always said I'd love to have another shot playing that game again if we could do it.

Losing in the final was a tough pill to swallow. I always look back on the loss, right? And every time anyone says, "How about '96?" The first thing that comes back is we lost 3-2 in the finals. But just talking right now, you remember – hey, wait a minute, we were Ontario champions. I just remember that loss. But then you realize, no, we won the Ontario Championship that year. We were the best team in Ontario, and that's something to be really proud of. It was quite a year and quite a group of guys.