The tournament is expanded from 8 teams. Previously, it was restricted to six Winnipeg schools representing each city zone, along with the Brandon champion and the B division titlist. The six city conferences played off in a pre-tournament sudden death tourney, with the top two teams from each conference qualifying.
In the opening round (city of Winnipeg) playoffs: …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers defeated the 9th-seeded Winnipeg Churchill Bulldogs 75-63 as 6-5 200-pound post Jan Bujan scored 21, guard Lance Rosolowich 19 and Wade Gibson 10. Bill Durnin led the Bulldogs with 26. Randy Dilk added 18. The Bulldogs (coached by Wally Chubaty) also included Scott Martin Randy Melnie, Harry Walker. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers dumped the 12th-seeded Winnipeg River East Kodiaks 70-56 as Mark Snidal scored 18, Dirk Graba 16 and Mark Bilash 14. Art Koop led the Kodiaks with 25. Kevin Mackay added 11. The Kodiaks (coached by Gord Puttaert) also included Robert Gront, Arnie Willms, John Wilson. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers whipped the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Windsor Park Royals 64-39 as 6-8 Wayne Harder scored 15, Rick Lemoine 13 and Blair Edwards 9. Mike Ferley led the Royals with 9. The Royals (coached by Bryan Thompson) also included Steve Milan, Rob Dunsford, Brad Cowan, John Grafton, Andy Glassco, Pat Hanan, Clay O’Bray. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions stomped the 13th-seeded Winnipeg Nelson McIntyre Normacs 101-37 as Grant Koropatnick scored 15, Barry Hart 15, Lome Verstrate 14, Gord Stock 14 Greg Hoare 12 and Gary Knight 12. The Normacs included Mario LeBar, Randy Fediuk, John Howden, Dave Sharman, Doug McNeil, Andy Griffiths, Dennis Marinelli, David Pauwelyn, Denis Desaulniers. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons defeated the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Hawks 76-45 as Ken Kyliuk scored 23, Leroy Steele 22 and Ed Bak 14. Neil Klassen paced the Hawks with 13. Warren Froese added 10. The Hawks (coached by Willy Reimer) also included Dave Peters, Frank Loewen, Warren Janzen, Rob Visch, Brian Vanderhooft. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Winnipeg Westwood Warriors edged the 8th-seeded Winnipeg John Taylor Pipers 56-52 as Warren Ritchie scored 16, Norm Robson 12, Mike Ethier 11 and Scott Kwasnitza 11. Steve Biggar paced the Pipers with 12 points. Randy Perron and Kurt Kelly each added 11. The Pipers (coached by Bill Wedlake) also included Duane Brothers, Steve Biggar, Wayne Brothers, Dan Scanlon, Doug Scraton, John Hanford, Kevin Grass.
In the provincial quarterfinals, the 6th-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers dumped the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers 63-43. The Tigers entered the tourney feeling down after losing the city’s North Division title to the Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons three weeks earlier. “Everyone was feeling poor, including me,” said coach Bill Wedlake, celebrating his 10th anniversary at the Tigers helm. “I told the guys to go home and relax but they called a workout on their own for the next day. They felt they were better than they showed and wanted to prove it in the provincials. The Lancers (coached by Dale Bradshaw) included Larry Hayes, Rolf Sickert, Wayne Harder, Carey Penner, Rob Crozier, Blair Edwards, Rick Lemoine, Stu Pringle, Malcolm Ross.
The top-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions dusted the 8th-seeded Selkirk Lord Selkirk Royals 93-68. The Royals (coached by Peter Gerbrandt and Murray Hamm) included Chris Sigurdson, Ron Myall, Don Byers, Blaine Kowerko, Lawrence Sahulka, Russ Pruden, Dave Schaefer, Murray Skrepich, Al Devaney, Bob Guertz, Rick Myall and Trevor Reid.
The 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers edged the 7th-seeded Winnipeg Westwood Warriors 58-54. The Clippers led 18-8 after one quarter. The Warriors led 28-25 at the half. But Westwood got into foul trouble in the third quarter and the Clippers rallied to take the lead and held on down the stretch. Don Parsonage paced the Clippers with 19. Dan Snidal added 15. Norm Robson led the Warriors with 16. Mike Ethier added 13. The Warriors (coached by Ron Paseshnik) also included Murray Macza, Scott Kwasnitza, Warren Ritchie, Jay Howarth, Kurt Brenner, Mike Alward, Stu Robson.
The 4th-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen dumped the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons 63-54 as Grant Coulter scored 21. Ron Weber added 14, Randy Smyth 10 and Kevin Neufeld 10. The Maroons led 30-27 at the half. Ken Kyliuk paced the Maroons with 25. Ed Bak and Leroy Steele each added 10. “No, it wasn’t an upset,” Vikings coach Dwight Kearns told the Winnipeg Free Press. “We have played enough good city teams. We beat Kelvin in the Wesmen Classic and we stayed with Fort Richmond in the final until the very end. We lost by only 10 points. … We had to press their guards. I felt the weakest part of the Daniel offence was their guards, and our strongest point was the full-court press. We wanted to stop them from getting the ball inside to their big man Ken Kyliuk.” Although Viking post Tom Price fouled out with eight minutes to play, Coulter and Randy Smythe kept pressing the Maroon guards into miscues. The Maroons (coached by Ken Kelsch) also included Randy Allen, Greg Bouchard.
In the semis, the 6th-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers knocked off the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers 78-61. “It’s great to be underdogs,” Tigers coach Bill Wedlake told the Winnipeg Free Press. “There is no pressure on you to come through. These kids are really fired up. This is the first time we have ever come this far. We have made the semis, but never the final.” Lance Rosolowich led the Tigers with 26 points. 6-5 c Jan Bujan added 18 and Paul Melnyk 14. Mark Snidal led the Clippers with 21. Mark Bilash and Dirk Graba each added 12, while John Christie had 10. Wedlake said Bujan played a strong second half while toiling with four fouls, while 5-10 Wade Gibson was outstanding defensively as he stole the ball 11 times. “Eleven times he saved us. Eleven steals is a school record, by the way.” Bujan contained Snidal. “He was tough,” Bujan said. “Most time I try to from my opponent. But he tries to come around all the time. I think he might be a bit quicker but physically we are about equal.”
In the other semi, the top-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions defeated the 4th-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen 58-57. The Plainsmen led 17-14 at the quarter and 33-29 at the half but the Centurions rallied to tie it at 47 at the three-quarter mark. Gary Knight led the Centurions with 15 points, and contained Crocus Plains star Grant Coulter to 6. Gord Stork hit 19 for Fort Richmond, while Grant Koropatnik hit 12. Tom Price led Crocus Plains with 21 points. Ron Weber added 15. “We felt he (Coulter) was the guy to stop,” Knight told the Winnipeg Free Press. “He is always tough. Three times we have played them, and three times I have had to guard him. “Usually he gets a lot of shots away, but he didn’t get the ball as much tonight.” Fort Richmond coach Terry Ball said a 10-point outburst from Koropatnick and Stork in the last few minutes proved the difference.
In the final, the 6th-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers upset the top-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions 72-65. Provincial finalists in 1959 under coach Murray McPhearson and in 1966 under coach Russ Pastuck, the Tigers captured their first provincial crown. They caught the defending champs flatfooted with their speed and ripped off an 8-0 run to open the contest. They boxed out Gord Stork and took the baseline away from Gary Knight. Jan Bujan owned the boards, corralling 14 of St. John’s 30. The tournament MVP hit 9-15 from the floor, while scoring 22 points. Lance Rosolowich scored 21 and Dave Gerbinski handed out 10 assists as the Tiger’s won their first provincial title. Stork was limited to 14 points while the press forced him to commit 5 turnovers and several bad passes. Pesky 5-10 Wade Gibson prevented the Centurions from getting out of their own end. Stealing the ball, diving for loose battles, Gibson dominated the floor, while scoring 16, dishing 6 assists and stealing the ball 7 times. “He’s the kind of guy you have to watch out for. His kind never quits and never lets the team quit. He’s always thinking,” said Winnipeg Fort Richmond coach Terry Ball. Tigers coach Bill Wedlake told the Winnipeg Free Press that his running Tigers benefitted from cross-country training. “I told the guys we were in against a much better team but I said that if we stuck to our game plan and worked harder, we could beat them. We knew we had to handle the press and we did that. Dave Gerbinski turned the ball over only one time in the game and had 10 assists. This meant that if Fort Richmond’s Gord Stork was covering Lance (Rosolowich) on the man-to-man, he would have to pick him up as soon as we broke their press. If Lance wasn’t around, Stork would have to go looking for him. We had to take advantage of that brief time. It worked, and we were able to get the ball inside and close to the hoop.” In switching from a man-to-man to a zone press, St. John’s took advantage of Gord Stork’s inability to switch quickly on Rosolowich. Gary Knight led Winnipeg Fort Richmond with 20 points. Grant Koropatnik scored 12 and Myron Dwyer 11. Wedlake is Bujan “is a very durable player. He has played for me for two years now, and has never quit. He performs consistently well.” Rosolowich said “we knew we could beat them. They (Fort Richmond) had only played Dakota all year and hadn’t played as many tough teams as we had. We just knew if we played our best, we could win.”
The all-tournament team featured: MVP Jan Bujan (St. John’s); Lance Rosolowich (St. John’s); Wade Gibson (St. John’s); Gord Stork (Fort Richmond); Gary Knight (Fort Richmond); and Rob Weber (Brandon Crocus Plains)
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers: Mark Snidal; Dirk Graba; Mark Bilash; Don Parsonage; John Christie; Jerry Pacholuk; coach Hymie Fox
The co-bronze medalist Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen: Grant Coulter; Ron Weber; Randy Smythe; Kevin Neufeld; Tom Price; Al Dunham; Glen Malazdrewicz; Brent Ferguson; Wes Thiessen; coach Dwight Kearns
The silver medalist Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions: Gord Stork; Gary Knight; Grant Koropatnik; Dave Berbinski; Myron Dwyer; Lorne Verstraete; Greg Hoare; Rodney Jacob; coach Terry Ball
The gold medalist Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers: Wade Gibson, Dave Gerbinski, Paul Melnyk, Jan Bujan, Tim Fergus, Lance Rosolowich, Gerry Haines, Mike Iwaskiw, Brad Takevichi, Andy Baron, Andy Baryluk, Paul Barc, Ray Lacroix, Darrell Flett; coach Bill Wedlake