Interviews with the players and with family members as well as reflections gleaned from Hubert Brooks’s writings provided much of the information for my account of the match against Poland. Jack Sullivan’s article on February 2, 1948, for the Canadian Press (“RCAF Team Plasters Poles with 15–0 Count”) was referenced for additional details. Ottawa Citizen correspondent Basil Dean’s article on February 9, 1948 (“Flyers Don’t Like Piling Up Scores on Weak Teams”), was also consulted.
Frank Boucher’s daughter, Diane Boyce, helped provide me with much insight into her father’s mindset during the Olympics. My interviews with Roy Forbes and Murray Dowey also provided me with perspective on Frank’s inner struggle regarding who to play and who to keep on the bench. I also looked to Pat MacAdam’s interview material with Frank that appears in Gold Medal “Misfits.”
Details about the Flyers’ match against Italy were gleaned from multiple sources. I looked to Jack Sullivan’s Canadian Press articles (“RCAF Winners Routing Italy 21–1” and “RCAF Tied with Czechs for First Place”), which appeared in both the Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Gazette on February 4, 1948. First-hand accounts from Roy Forbes, Murray Dowey, and André Laperrière were my principal sources. Patsy Guzzo’s diary and Hubert Brooks’s account also provided details and reflections. I referenced personal photographs of the boys before and during the match to help with my descriptions.
My account of the much-anticipated and heated match against the AHA American squad is derived largely from interviews with players Murray Dowey, Roy Forbes, and André Laperrière. Hubert Brooks’s writings on the game also contained a great deal of information regarding the temperature, ice conditions, and atmosphere. I looked to archival footage of the American team in action as well as official IOC photos for my descriptions of the pre-game chant. Many of the Flyers also commented on this in my interviews with them. Further details and specifics of the game and action were pulled from the excellent Canadian Press articles “Canada–US Hockey Match Postponed” (February 4, 1948) and “Whip U.S. Pile Up 12–3 Victory” (February 5, 1948).
Chapter 14: The Mighty Czechs
I have drawn mostly from my interviews with Murray Dowey, André Laperrière, and Roy Forbes as well the diaries of Hubert Brooks and Patsy Guzzo to recount the Flyers’ match against the Czechs. I also pulled from interviews with other players’ family members and an interview Marion Gruner conducted with Czech player Oldrich Zabrodsky, Vladimir’s brother. Further game details were gleaned from the February 6, 1948, Canadian Press news article “Flyers and Czechs Battle to Scoreless Tie: RCAF Team Has Good Chance for St. Moritz Title” and Jack Sullivan’s article on the game in the Ottawa Citizen, “Canadians and Czechs in 0–0 Tie: Another Terrific Match for Murray Dowey.”
Barbara Ann Scott’s remarkable gold medal performance was well covered in the press. All the boys were there to witness her performance and remembered it well. Many of the Flyers, including Reg Schroeter, Patsy Guzzo, and Hubert Brooks, snapped photographs of the action and the aftermath, which I looked to for reference. There are also videos of her performance available for screening on YouTube and pictures on the IOC website, olympic.org.
Montreal Gazette articles posted by Jack Sullivan on February 7, 1948, such as “Dazzling Display Gives Barbara Ann Long Cherished Dream of Olympic Title,” provided me with additional details of her performance and the judges’ reactions. I also referenced the United Press reporter’s article “Home, Hubby and Baby Ambition of Barbara Ann, Spurning Movies,” which appeared in the Montreal Gazette.
My sources for the Flyers’ game against the Austrians included interviews with the players and their family members as well as Hubert Brooks’s recollections found on hubertbrooks.com. Game action was also well chronicled in articles found in the morning and evening editions of the Ottawa Citizen on February 7, 1948: “Canada Defeats Austria 12–0 at Olympics—Flyers Now Tied with Czechs; Play Swiss Sunday” and “Canadians Swamp Austria as Czechs Win: Deciding Games Sunday.”
Chapter 15: The Quest for Gold
My account of the final game against Switzerland is based to a large extent on the interviews I conducted with Murray Dowey, Roy Forbes, and André Laperrière. Patsy Guzzo’s excellent diary, My Trip . . . Journey of an Olympic Gold Win, and Hubert Brooks’s recollections found on hubertbrooks.com were also consulted for details.
I looked to archival photos and newsreel footage of the match that can be found through the IOC/Olympic Museum Collections and on the website olympic.org to help with my descriptions of some of the plays.
Actions and events of that big day were also chronicled in the many newspaper articles written by CP reporter Jack Sullivan. Major sources include “Unbeaten Flyers Annex Olympic Puck Title: Partisan Officials, Crowd Mar 3–0 Victory Over Swiss,” “Canada’s RCAF Team Wins Olympic Hockey Crown,” and “I Knew You’d Do It: Boucher Tells Champions” (Ottawa Citizen, February 9, 1948).
I pulled additional information from “Flyers Overcome Swiss 3–0 to Capture Olympic Title: Surmount Handicaps of Slushy Ice and Partisan Refereeing to Triumph” (Montreal Gazette, February 9, 1948). Also Pat MacAdam’s fine book Gold Medal “Misfits” was consulted.
Statistics and data relating to Murray Dowey’s, George Mara’s, and Wally Halder’s impressive records can be found in the Olympic Hockey Record Book section on the website NHL.com. Andrew Podnieks’s book Canada’s Olympic Hockey Teams: The Complete History, 1920-1998 (Toronto: Doubleday, 1997) provides further context. I consulted sports-reference.com as another source for statistics data. Additional details relating to the games can be found in the official Rapport Général sur les Ves Jeux Olympiques D’Hiver, St. Moritz 1948.
Chapter 16: The Long Road Home
Again, interviews with the surviving players in concert with the writings of Hubert Brooks and Patsy Guzzo were my principal sources of information regarding the parties and events following the winning game. I also leaned on personal and promotional photographs for some of my descriptions. Tom Schroeter and Ralf Brooks provided me access to copies of a number of the telegrams and correspondence the team received.
Canadian Press newspaper articles extensively covered the events in St. Moritz in the days after the big game. I looked to “Flyers Stage Great Victory Celebration,” “Hundreds of Cables Sent to Winners of Olympic Crown,” and “Victorious Canucks Deluged with Cables,” which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on February 9, 1948, among others, for information.
Interviews with Ralf Brooks along with the writings of Hubert Brooks were the principal sources of information relating to the wedding of Hubert and Bea. CP reporter Jack Sullivan’s article, “Wartime Romance Has Happy Ending,” on February 9, 1948, along with Brooks’s personal photos of the wedding were also sources I leaned on to help with my description of the event.
Details and specifics relating to the Flyers’ post-Olympic exhibition tour, which spanned February 10 to March 30, 1948, were derived from Reg Schroeter’s and Ralf Brooks’s thorough compilation of newspaper articles. I also leaned on the diaries of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks as well as interviews with other family members. Personal photographs that were made available to me by the families helped colour my description of the post-Olympic tour. All the guys had clear memories of the punishing tour. Additional details concerning the injuries sustained during the tour were pulled from the CP article “Bruised Flyers, Hockey Champs, Sail for Home,” March 31, 1948.
Chapter 17: Olympic Champions
There were many articles in the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Journal, and the Montreal Gazette on April 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1948, that chronicled the team’s triumphant homecoming and celebrations. I referenced “Reception Set for Olympians,” “Thousands Greet RCAF Olympic Champs at Ottawa,” “Olympic Hockey Champions on Way Home,” “City Welcomes Olympic Champions Home: Aircraft Streak Across Skies as Triumphant Players Paraded Through Downtown Streets,” and “Olympic Cup Where It Belongs, Governor General Tells Flyers.”
I also looked to official letters that family members received from the RCAF with details and directions about the homecoming parade and celebrations. I leaned on newsreel footage of the parade ceremony and reception in conjunction with photographs to help describe the crowds, banners, and fanfare that was on display. Interviews with the players as well as family members like Renée Thomson, Dennis Dunster, and Tom Schroeter, in addition to recollections that Hubert Brooks penned on his website were also used as my primary sources of information.
I turned to Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits” for information concerning Barbara Ann Scott’s storied career and meteoric rise after the Olympics. Additional information about her doll was found through the Canadian Museum of History.
Details regarding the boys’ subsequent lives were largely derived from interviews with many family members and from a series of obituaries. Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits” was also referenced for additional biographical information concerning a number of the men who are now gone.
The Hubert Brooks epigraph is from his previously cited recollections, which are found at the phenomenal website hubertbrooks.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
P. J. NAWORYNSKI is a Gemini Award–winning director, writer, and series producer specializing in high-end episodic projects. With twenty years of experience, he has more than a hundred hours of documentary/docudrama programming under his belt. He lives outside of Victoria, British Columbia.
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CREDITS
COVER PHOTO: TODD KOROL / AURORA PHOTOS
COPYRIGHT
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Copyright © 2017 by P. J. Naworynski
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Against All Odds Page 24
