In the early years of the franchise in the 1970’s, the Kingston Canadians had some epic playoff battles with the Ottawa 67’s. But you have to go back 45 years to find the last time these two rivals met in the post season.

The 1980-81 Kingston Canadians had one of the most feared power plays of that era in the OHL. Led by Bernie Nicholls (63-goals,152 points) and Scott Howson (57 goals,140 points), Rik Wilson set a franchise scoring record for defensemen with 100-points, and Mike Moffat was great in goal. Neil Belland and Justin Hanley were the other members of that potent power play unit for Kingston.

The Canadians would meet Ottawa in the second round of the OHL playoffs, the 67’s had 93-points in the regular season and were seeded second in the Leyden Division, finishing a dozen points ahead of third place Kingston.

The 67’s were led by Randy Cunneyworth and Doug Smith, both had over 100 points. Kingston native John Linseman had 33 goals and 86-points, despite missing 15 regular season games.

I was just a few short weeks into my new sports broadcasting career at CKWS, working the games on radio with Jim Gilchrist on 960 AM. I had just replaced Chris Cuthbert, who is now the lead voice of NHL hockey on Rogers SportsNet after working with Hockey Night In Canada and calling 25 Grey Cup games for CBC and TSN.

Meanwhile, it was a very hectic time for Gilchrist, he and his wife, Jan, had a new daughter, Tanya, born midway through the playoff series with Ottawa. Today, 3,000 games in, Gilchrist is still in the booth calling Kingston Frontenacs games.

Kingston was the underdog, they had only won three games in Ottawa in the previous three years, and they got off to a rocky start in Game One, trailing 3-0 to the 67’s in the first period.

Kingston battled back with Bernie Nicholls scoring two dazzling goals and it was tied 4-4 with under two minutes left. Jim Aldred, the 17-year-old Kingston winger, scored the winner on a gift from 67’s goalie Jim Ralph “I still don’t believe it happened,” a surprised Aldred told the Kingston Whig Standard, “Ralph went to swing at the puck and misjudged it. I couldn’t believe when I saw the puck just lying there with an open net.”

Ottawa pulled Ralph in the final minute for an extra attacker and Kingston had two players in the penalty box, making it a six on three. Doug Smith thought he had scored in the final seconds for the 67’s, but it was called back by referee Murray Darrough who blew the whistle before the puck crossed the goal line and Kingston won 5-4.

Two nights later, 3,765 Kingston fans filled the Memorial Centre and the game followed the same script. Nicholls scored two more goals and with 4:33 left in the third, Nicholls setup Aldred for his second straight game winner and another 5-4 Kingston win. Nicholls had four goals and six points in the first two games.

Leading the eight-point series 4-0, it was back to Ottawa for game three. Ottawa’s Doug Smith scored on a penalty shot with just 33 seconds left and it ends in a 6-6 tie. Referee called Bob Morley made the call after Kingston defenseman Mike Stothers, who was jostling with Ottawa’s Moe Lemay in the Kingston crease, knocked the net off its moorings.

An angry Kingston coach Jim Morrison was not pleased, “Overall, I think Morley was just brutal,” he told the Whig Standard after the game. Morrison received two bench minors on the night,  “Morley has been on me since day one because I gave it to him right at the start, he gets aggravated very easily and thinks he has to come up with a call.”

Howson had two goals and two assists for Kingston, Nicholls had four assists to give him 10 points in the series.

Mike Moffat had been outstanding in the series for the Canadians, but the 67’s broke through big time in Game Four. In front of over 3,900 Kingston fans, Randy Cunneyworth had a 5-point night as the 67’s waxed Kingston 9-1 at the Memorial Centre. “We were playing for our season, we knew this was it,” said 67’s defenseman Randy Boyd. Added Ottawa coach Brian Kilrea, “you might say Moffat had an off night for him. I would just say it shows he’s human, he’s been superhuman up until now.”

Kingston scored a league leading 123 power play goals during the regular season, but Rik Wilson and Neil Belland were both injured in the lopsided Kingston loss, Wilson took 25 stitches after suffering a nasty skate cut to his face. The two key cogs on Kingston’s powerplay unit also had to miss the fifth game in Ottawa, won 5-2 by the 67’s. It forced Kingston to press rookie defensemen Bill Robinson and Neil Trineer into action, after barely playing in the past month.

The Kingston powerplay had gone dry, going through an 0 for 14 stretch, “that’s where they get a lot of their goals and win a lot of their games,” said Ottawa penalty killer Kevin Konings. “There’s no one in the league that controls the puck like Belland and Wilson,” added Kilrea. “I’ve had some good ones, but I’ve never had two good ones at the same time.”

After back-to-back losses for Kingston it was a whole new series tied at five points apiece and the Canadians returned to home ice desperately needing a win.

Rugged forward Shawn Babcock, acquired in a January trade with Windsor, had only 2 goals in 26 regular regular season games for Kingston, but he had his best game in a Canadians uniform scoring a big goal and adding two assists to lead Kingston to a crucial 6-2 win.  “We had the home ice advantage, so we had to take advantage of it,” said Babcock. “If we don’t come out smoking at the start, we might as well pack our bags and go home.” Babcock’s goal, a high slap shot from just inside the blueline was one of four Kingston goals inside of eight minutes that chased Ottawa goalie Jim Ralph.

With Kingston leading the series 7 points to 5, it was back to the Ottawa Civic Centre – the hometown 67’s needing to win to extend the series. Over ten thousand fans packed the Civic Centre, and Kingston goalie Mike Moffat was the difference.

The 67’s could have buried Kingston in the opening period, Moffat was incredible as the 67’s outshot the Canadians 19-6, and it was tied 1-1 after one. Sean Simpson gave the 67’s a 2-1 lead early in the third period and then Jim Aldred, who had scored two game winning goals earlier in the series but missed three straight games with a leg inury, scored to tie it. With 1:34 left the 67’s thought they had won the game, but veteran referee Jim Lever disallowed a goal by Mario Cerri.

Lever whistled the play dead just before Cerri poked the puck out from under Moffat’s glove. Afterwards, Cerri told the Ottawa Citizen’s Bob Elliott Jr., “Moffat never had control and Lever had a bad angle, he was too far in the corner.”

The Ottawa crowd erupted and there was a lengthy delay as fans littered the ice with everything from hot dog wrappers to full cups of Coke.

Ottawa pulled goaltender Jim Ralph for the extra attacker, but Nicholls scored into the empty net giving Kingston a 3-2 win to ice the series. Post game, Kilrea didn’t dwell on the late goal that was called back, “I have too much respect for Jim Lever, to ever second guess him.”

“We had some pretty good chances, and I thought we outplayed them,” added Kilrea. “But we didn’t outscore them, and that’s what counts.”

Ottawa’s Randy Cunneyworth was the leading scorer in the series with 14 points. Nicholls had 13 points for Kingston and his linemate Scott Howson had eleven points. Kingston advanced to the Leyden Division final against the league leading Sault Greyhounds.

Mark Potter covered the 1981 Kingston-Ottawa OHL playoff series on CKWS Radio & TV.