Remembering the Paris Mounties 1st Home Opener

In October 1961, the Paris Mounties became the town’s first Ontario Hockey Association entry in five years (since the Intermediate "B" Paris '29ers) having been placed in a six-team Junior C group. The other teams were Preston, Elmira, Dundas, Simcoe, and Hespeler An outdoor physical training program had been started and the response from boys wishing a tryout with the team was encouraging for the club’s officials. They had outdoor training sessions at Lions Park in Paris On October 26th , 1961, thirty-four candidates turned out when the Paris Mounties held their first ice workout at the Preston Arena. From then on, they practiced in the Paris Arena starting October 27th at 7:30. The Mounties played their first home game Tuesday, November 13th , 1961, against Elmira. The fledgling Junior C hockey club's coach, George Fair, stated that although the team is down to 23 members, there will be more paring in the future. He cited his first line as one that should be strong in the coming season. This includes Cam Munn (Paris), Ron Ross (Woodstock), and Owen McDonald (Princeton).

Most of the team has had previous experience in junior classes of minor hockey in Paris. Coach Fair mentioned three others on the team for whom he has high hopes. They are Reg Gould (Mt. Pleasant), Allan Labron and Bill Taylor, goaltender. The latter two are local Paris boys. The Junior C Paris Mounties went down to defeat at Elmira’s hands 7-2 Tuesday evening, but the crowd was not disappointed with the hard-hitting, scrappy play Playing their second game of the season and their first on home ice, the locals wore down at the end because they lacked conditioning from no practice ice But the 800 plus fans cheered them on as they threatened Elmira and fought back from the deficit side of the scoring. To mark the first home game of the Mounties, the Paris Citizens Band turned out and the official ribbon was cut with Mayor A. F. Scott and fellow dignitaries on hand.