Hall of Fame
The 1971-72 Varsity Blues men’s hockey team posted a 20-1-3 record in regular season including the provincial and national titles.
The Blues defeated York 6-2 in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,000 at Varsity Arena to earn the Queen’s Cup as the OUAA champions. John Wright earned his second consecutive OUA most valuable player honour and joined team captain Davie McDowall and teammates Dave Tataryn and Bill Buba on the OUA all-star team.
U of T went onto claim the national title, handily defeating Sir George Williams 5-1 and then Saint Mary’s 5-0 in Sherbrooke, Que. Wright capped off his career as a CIAU all-Canadian, while he, McDowall and Bob Munro were named CIAU tournament all-stars.
Despite their provincial and national success, perhaps the highlight of the season came when the Varsity Blues defeated the USSR national student team 5-1 before a boisterous overflow crowd in Varsity Arena.. Head coach Tom Watt accurately predicted that a game between the defending Canadian university champions and the Russian student national team could once again bring Canada the respect it deserved in international hockey.
Wright scored a hat trick and Pat Healy scored U of T’s other two goals, while Bruce Durno had a great game between the pipes for the Blues.
Six members of the team went on to play in the 1972 World University Games in Lake Placid: Gord Davies, John Wright, Bob Munro, Bill Buba, Dave McDowall and Kas Lysionek. Tom Watt coached at the 1980 and 1988 Olympics, while Warren Anderson played on the 1980 and 1984 Olympic men’s hockey teams.
Roster:
Warren D Anderson, Robert T. Bauer, John H. Bostock, William Buba, Leonard Burman, Gordon Davies, Bruce S. Durno, Patrick J Healy, Rickey T Leroy, Kasimir Lysionek, David R McDowall (captain), Ivan C McFarlane, Alan Milnes, Robert Munro, Donald J Pagnutti, Kent S Ruhnke, Scott Seagrist, Brent W. Swanick, Dave Tataryn, John G B Wright
Coach: Tom Watt
Assistant Coach: Dave Stephen
Trainer: Howie Ringham
Assistant Trainer: Ed Armstrong
Manager: Mickey Weiner
