By Andrew Phillip Chernoff | CanucksBanter
July 20, 2023
After the Trail Smoke Eaters, senior hockey team won their 2nd World Championship in 1961, you would think —after it was announced that they would represent Canada at the 1963 World Hockey Championship in Stockholm, Sweden on March 5, 1963, as Canadian Allan Cup Champions in 1962— they might receive some financial assistance from the Federal government, British Columbia government for additional costs; and players from other other amateur teams, maybe the NHL (those that could revert back to amateur status at that time), to round out their roster.
So did Smoke Eaters Coach Bobby Kromm.
- NOTE: The interview for the article happened on Friday, December 21, 1962
But when interviewed by reporter Roy Jukich of the Vancouver Sun for the above article, Kromm called it “a black Friday for Trail”, claiming ” We’re not getting the cooperation we deserve. All we have received is promises. What we want is action.”
The action he wanted was:
- Bert Olmsted from the New York Rangers, but Kromm was told, “It was impossible to have the veteran reinstated as an amateur”.
- Kromm also went after Toronto Maple Leafs player John McMillan, and Toronto refused, sending McMillan to Rochester of the American League, swiftly ending that idea.
- “I only want three players to help strengthen the team, and I’m having trouble getting them.” Kromm explained, frustrated.
- Smokies also were attempting to get a National Fitness Council grant to help defray costs for the 1963 World Hockey Championship, but Kromm claimed Member of Parliament for Norfolk Jack Roxburgh “was against making any such grant.”
- Kromm finished his thoughts about Roxburgh, stating: “That’s a fine thing and him being a former president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. He should be the last one to criticize such a grant.”
- Fueling Kromms fire, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker on a visit to Trail B.C. earlier in the year, “promised to help, and so did other members of both the provincial and Canadian governments. ”
Smokies coach Bobby Kromm had the last words in the article:
“We’re still waiting.”
“But we’ll still do our best and watch the fence sitters jump on the bandwagon if we win the title. There won’t be room enough for them all.”
Coming Up In Part 2 of 2
- The Trail Smoke Eaters and their coach had over a year to put their team together for the 1963 World Hockey Championship.
- Trail was the 1962 Allan Cup Champions, the top senior men’s hockey team in Canada, and got the nod from the CAHA to represent Canada at the 1963 World Hockey Championship.
I don’t know if the preparations for the tournament were expected to easily fall into place. But with less than two and a half months left, it wasn’t pretty.
Was Canadian Senior Club representation waning for the World Hockey Championships and on the way out, to be repaced with a national team, and the Trail Smoke Eaters were getting caught up in the last days of what was, the stats quo?
And what was the outcome at the 1963 World Hockey Championship? How would the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association react to the prior criticism by Bobby Kromm for lack of support; not to mention the Smoke Eaters’ result at the 1963 World Championships?
Stay tuned for the conclusion of “The Black Friday For Trail” Part 2 of 2.
Source: ProQuest Historical Newspapers @ https://discover.clarivate.com/ProQuest_BCHistoricalNewspapers