Hockey intermission entertainment in the 1960's

We're always looking for tidbits of info on the history of game entertainment, especially in hockey.

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the first Ottawa 67's hockey game at the Ottawa Civic Centre. There was a great article earlier this week in the Ottawa Citizen that recapped the festivities and mayhem surrounding opening night.

Some highlights:

On the lighter side, a quintet of jazz musicians greeted fans in the concourse, Bobby Gimby and The Young Canadians strolled around the ice encouraging all 9,000 to join in on a rousing rendition of CA-NA-DA between periods, and people complained the scoreboard over centre ice obstructed their view because rink attendants experimented with keeping it low enough that southside spectators would see it from underneath the low roof.

It was an experiment doomed to failure and soon rectified.

...

By July 1, the team had its name through a contest by fans after the Gorman family refused to allow the use of the name "Senators." "Grenadiers" was a finalist among 2,000 entries, but it was thought players would not enjoy being called "diers" for short.

The 67's opened their first training camp Sept. 14 in Hull, clad in old Ottawa Montagnard jerseys. Some 80 hopefuls took the ice with Doyle among 10 goalies, Shawville's Bill and Terry Murray on defence, and Michel St. Jacques, Montrealer Pierre Jarry and Bill Clement, of Thurso, among the best of the forwards at "four-a-day" workouts.

Eight days in, they played their first exhibition in Hull versus Peterborough. Most notable was not the fact that only 1,666 showed up. More newsworthy was that the 67's "new" barber-pole sweaters didn't arrive until the end of the first period.

Tavares & Couture in head-to-head intermission contest

The Ottawa 67's (OHL) are hosting a unique intermission in November. It's a tip of the hat to a common intermission promotion in years gone by - having actual players compete in a skills competition. Here's an excerpt from the team's web site:

Two of the best prospects in the Ontario Hockey League will compete against each other in a one-on-one charity shootout during the first intermission when the Oshawa Generals visit the Ottawa 67’s on November 9th. John Tavares, the Generals’ leading scorer from Oakville, will face the 67’s Logan Couture in the special event that will mark the first of six meetings between the division rivals this year.

Tavares will be competing on behalf of the Special Olympics Foundation while Couture will play for the Canadian Cancer Society. They will be attempting to put the puck past each other’s starting goaltenders.

The two young stars have been rivals ever since the Generals, who committed to selecting Couture first overall in the 2005 OHL Priority Selection, opted instead to go with Tavares two days prior to the draft after the OHL made its early-entry ruling for the then 15-year-old. November 9th’s shootout gives Couture the opportunity for revenge.

The 67’s won last year’s season series between the two teams winning four of six games. Three of those games were decided by only one goal.