REGULAR SEASON

Saint Mary’s 13-0 20-2 Ed Hall        
  Acadia  7-3 25-11 Dick Hunt        
  Dalhousie  8-5 10-6 Jim De La Mothe        
  St FX  6-6  8-12 Steve Konchalski        
  PEI  7-6  8-10 Gary Heald        
  New Brunswick  1-12  2-14 Don Nelson        
  Memorial  0-8   Frank Butler        
  Mount Allison  5-7   Laird McLellan        
                 

        The season opened in controversy again as a result of a CIAU ruling that Canadian universities could only use three Americans in a game. Saint Mary’s declared that Nova Scotia didn’t produce enough university level players for the team to be competitive nationally and decided to test the ruling in court. UNB coach Don Nelson, who was to play Saint Mary’s in the AUAA opener declared that UNB agreed with the ruling and would protest the game if more than three Americans were used. Saint Mary’s had four Americans on their roster and UNB two. Saint Mary’s president D. Owen Carrigan stated that the university would continue to dress four Americans and take their case to the Human Rights Commission. But then Saint Mary’s decided to monitor what other schools were doing before challenging the rule. They claimed it was counterproductive because teams in the west and in some of the Atlantic schools who did not use American players were rushing out to get them and thus denying Canadian players those spots on the team. They asserted that in Nova Scotia, you couldn’t compete nationally if your province had a population the size of the city of Calgary. Players on the Saint Mary’s team were prevented from taking the CIAU to court because human rights legislation that would have enabled it to do so had been passed but not proclaimed. Saint Mary’s athletic director stated that both Saint Mary’s and Acadia would carry four Americans but until the Nova Scotia legislature met and the law was proclaimed they would go along with the rule. Subsequently, the three American students at Acadia hired a lawyer and sought an injunction to prevent the CIAU from limiting the number of Americans. But the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in favour of the CIAU and said it was not discriminatory to limit the number of imports.

        In the regular season, the teams played an imbalanced schedule.

        Playoff non-qualifiers:

        Memorial Beothuks: Ed Campbell, Norm Campbell, Willie Hogarth, John MacDonald, Pat MacDonald, Sean O’Leary, Tony Wakeham, Leo Buckle, Carl George, Rod Campbell, Billy Fanning, Jim MacDonald, Ron Noseworthy, Gary O’Reilly, Paul White, coach Frank Butler

        Mount Allison Mounties: Pierre Ackard, Bill Briggs, Ed Broadley, Jim Fleming, Neil Keenan, John McGrattan, Rick Millard, Phil Quackenbush, Ross Quackenbush, Michael Stewart, coach Laird McLellan

        New Brunswick Varsity Reds: Kip Brown, Brian Davis, Tim Ingram, Gary Keeling, Chris Leigh-Smith, Blaine MacDonald, Joe Paytas, Dave Seman, Keith Steeves, Gary Young, Randy Nixon, Bruce McCormack, coach Don Nelson

        St. Francis Xavier X-Men: Brian McCarthy, Dave Reid, Paul McKenna, Chris Price, Ron Steuwe, Tim Aubrey, Ed Redmond, Gil Green, Dennis Williams, Rob MacMillan, Myles Fougere, Brian Stevie, Brian McCarthy, coach Steve Konchalski, manager Ed McHugh, trainer Peter Muir

        In the semis, Acadia defeated Dalhousie 80-58. The Tigers (coached by Jim De La Mothe) included Kevin Arnstein, Bill Burns, Mike Donaldson, Bob Fagan, Kevin Kelley, Don Robertson, Tennessee-product and Arizona State-transfer Terry Johnson, Jeff Gray, Everitt Hanson, Steven Locke and Joe Murphy.

        In the other semi, the Saint Mary’s Huskies thumped the Prince Edward Island Panthers 99-62. The Panthers (coached by Gary Heald) included Jamie Ballem, Kevin Feighrey, Tom Hibbert, Tom Kappos, Art Laffin, Anson MacLauchlin, Colin McAdam, Butch Postma, Lloyd Pullen, Mark Vickers, Mark Willins and Gary Young.

        In the final, Lee Thomas scored 23 as Saint Mary’s defeated Acadia 76-70.

        In May, 1976, Memorial withdrew from the A.I.A.A. because of budgetary woes.

        The runner-up Acadia Axemen: Alvin Jessamy; Eugene Saunders; Robert Upshaw; Peter Leighton; Paul Babcock; Glenn Normore; Shawne Ricks; Ray Mapp; Steve Johnson; Allan Oliver; Ed Shannon; Bruce Toigo; Brian Williams; coach Dick Hunt; assistant George Beattie; assistant Tom Farrington

        The champion Saint Mary’s Huskies: Lee Thomas; Errol Bing; Ken Seaward; Fred Perry; Jim Collins; Alastair MacDonald; Ivan Ross; Willie Follette; Bob Taboski; Ivor Lewis; Calvin Smith; Bob Yuhasz; coach Ed Hall; assistant Mickey Fox; manager Pete Potrykus; assistant manager John Landry; trainer Gerry Walsh