1961 Smoke Eaters

ON SUNDAY EVENING, March 12th, 1961, a mild, sunny day in Geneva, Switzerland, at about 8:30 pm, the final buzzer sounded in the beautiful arena.

The scoreboard read: Canada 5 - Russia 1.

The Trail Smoke Eaters had won the World Amateur Hockey Championship!- the second such achievement for the city (the Smokies had won it in 1939).

The 12,000 fans jammed into the seats in Geneva went wild. One thousand were Canadian army and air force people who had travelled to the game from thier European bases.
Defenceman Don Fletcher skated to the bench and handed his stick over the boards to club president Jim Cameron.
"Don't for gosh sakes let that stick out of your hands! Make sure you keep it." said Fletch, as he skated over, stickless, to line up with the team.

The Smokies lined up at center ice, opposite the Russian and Czech teams, and "O Canada" began to role out over the speakers. The flag was slowly raised. The team began to sing, and with them, the 1,000 Canucks in the arena.

   It was a musical roar.
   Canada heard it on the radio.
   It was a moment to remember.
   That was Canada's last World Amateur Hockey Championship.

In June of 1960 the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association invited the Trail Smoke Eaters to tour Europe in early 1961, and to represent Canada in the World Hockey Championship tournament in Switzerland, in March of that year.

They played 26 games, won 22, lost two and tied two.

source: www.TrailSmokeaters.com