The Metro Junior A League was a junior

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

league created in 1961 by

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

owner

Stafford Smythe Conn Stafford Smythe (March 15, 1921 – October 13, 1971) was the son of Conn Smythe and president of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team from 1961–1969 and from 1970 until his death. Early years Born in Toronto, S ...

in an attempt to rival the OHA, and act as a farm system for his NHL team. The league operated for two seasons from 1961 to 1963. For those two seasons the Metro Junior A League champion won the Father John Conway Memorial Trophy and went on to play the OHA champion for the

J. Ross Robertson Cup The J. Ross Robertson Cup is a Canadian ice hockey trophy. It is awarded annually in junior ice hockey to the champion of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. It was donated by John Ross Robertson to the Ontario Hockey Association in 1910, and ...

, and the right to continue on the road to the Memorial Cup. After two seasons, the calibre of play in the league was subpar, and many of the franchises were still having serious financial problems, while the two old Toronto teams dominated the promoted junior B teams. The Metro experiment was cancelled in 1963 and many of the teams folded. The Toronto Marlboros and Oshawa Generals were readmitted to the OHA for the 1963–64 season.

1961–62 season

On June 6, 1961,

St. Michael's College School St. Michael's College School, (also known as St. Michael's, St. Mike's, and SMCS), is an independent, Catholic school for young men in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Administered by the Basilian Fathers, it is the largest school of its kind in Cana ...

which operated the

Toronto St. Michael's Majors The Toronto St. Michael's Majors were a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The most recent franchise was revived on August 15, 1996. In 2007, the team relocated to Mississauga, Ontario an ...

, chose to leave the OHA Junior A league seeking a shorter schedule with less travel that would impact academic performance of its student athletes. The

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and later the Ontario Hockey League. The Marlboros ...

, who were also owned by Stafford Smythe, also withdrew from the OHA. On June 12, Punch Imlach of the Toronto Maple Leafs announced the formation of a new Metropolitan Jr.A league. Smythe set about finding more teams to fill his league. The league started its first season with five teams, two of which were former OHA Junior A teams, and three promoted Junior B teams. The Marlboros and Majors would be joined by promoted Junior B teams, the

Whitby Mohawks The Whitby Dunlops are a Canadian senior ice hockey team in the team in the Allan Cup Hockey league. The team began play in 2004, and is on a leave of absence as of the 2020-21 season. Two previous teams have also played as the Whitby Dunlops ...

, the

Brampton 7Ups The Brampton Warriors are a pair of defunct junior ice hockey teams from Brampton, Ontario, Brampton, Ontario, Canada. They were a part of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League, Central Junior B Hockey League, Metro Junior A Hockey League, ...

, and the

Unionville Seaforths The Unionville Seaforths were a junior ice hockey team that played in the now defunct Metro Junior A League for one season, in 1961-62. Unionville were previously a Junior B team, going by the name of the Unionville Jets, prior to being promoted t ...

. The Marlboros and Majors both supplied players to the new teams in an effort to bring up their standard of competition, but the Majors easily won the league title that year, with the Marlies coming second. The Majors also prevailed in the playoffs against Brampton and the Marlboros. In the 1961–62 J. Ross Robertson Cup series, the

Hamilton Red Wings The Hamilton Red Wings were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1960 to 1974. The team was based in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Barton Street Arena, also known as the Hamilton Forum. History The Hamilton Tiger Cubs we ...

defeated the Majors 4 games to 1. 1961–62 standings Playoff results * Series A: St. Michael's defeated Whitby 8 points to 2. * Series B: Toronto Marlboros defeated Brampton 8 points to 2. * Finals: St. Michael's defeated Toronto 8 points to 6.

1962–63 season

By 1962 financial constraints had forced a re-organizing of the league. The Marlboros and 7Ups remained, but the Whitby Mohawks were renamed the Whitby Dunlops, the Unionville Seaforths became Toronto

Knob Hill Farms Knob Hill Farms was a supermarket chain in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada that operated from 1953 to 2001 and was owned by businessman Steve Stavro. It began as a single produce store in the east end of Toronto in 1953 before growing ...

, and the Majors became the Toronto Neil McNeil Maroons. The new sixth team in the league was the reborn

Oshawa Generals The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor (commercial), sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. ...

team, featuring future

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

inductee, 14-year-old

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

, and playing in

Bowmanville Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along ...

as there was no suitable arena in Oshawa. As opposed to the first season of the league, there was little effort to spread teams around the Toronto area, as Knob Hill, Neil McNeil and the Marlboros all called

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...

home, usually playing doubleheader games on Tuesdays and Sundays. St. Michael's College School decided to end the Majors program in 1962. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect players were transferred to

Neil McNeil High School Neil McNeil Catholic High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is named after Neil McNeil, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver from 1910 to 1912 and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto from ...

with Jim Gregory remaining as coach and director of the Maple Leafs' farm system.''Oliver, Greg (2017)'', p. 71 The Maroons won the league title, then defeated the Dunlops and Marlboros in the playoffs. In the 1962–63 J. Ross Robertson Cup series, the

Niagara Falls Flyers The Niagara Falls Flyers were two junior ice hockey franchises that played in the top tier in the Ontario Hockey Association. The first, a Junior "A" team existed from 1960 until 1972, and the second in Tier I Junior "A" from 1976 until 1982. ...

defeated the Maroons 4 games to 2. 1962–63 standings Playoff results * Series A: Neil McNeil defeated Knob Hill Farms 8 points to 0. * Series B: Toronto Marlboros defeated Whitby 8 points to 2. * Finals: Neil McNeil defeated Toronto Marlboros 8 points to 4. 1962/63 Metro Junior A League All-Star Teams First Team GP-G-A-P (age) Gary Dineen C Neil McNeil Maroons 38-32-63-95 (19) Mike Corbett W Neil McNeil Maroons 37-44-50-94 (20) Duncan MacDonald W Toronto Marlboros 26-20-15-35 (20) Jim McKendry D Neil McNeil Maroons 34-2-17-19 (16) Frank Ridley D Toronto Marlboros 39-11-39-50 (20) Dave Kelly G Knob Hill Farmers 3.85 GAA (19) Second Team Ron Ellis W Toronto Marlboros 36-21-22-43 (17) Terry Vail C Oshawa Generals 35-28-24-52 (20) Grant Moore W Toronto Marlboros 36-26-30-56 (19) Rod Seiling D Neil McNeil Maroons 38-29-48-77 (18) Bobby Orr D Oshawa Generals 34-6-15-21 (14) Gary Smith G Neil McNeil Maroons 2.35 GAA (19)

1961–62 season

1962–63 season

References

Bibliography

See also