After nearly making the Playoffs with a record-setting run as an expansion team, GM-coach Larry Mavety was crystal clear in what he planned to do for an encore in the 1982-83 season.
He expected the second-year Bulls to continue to buck tradition and immediately compete for a playoff spot.
Mavety knew that he had a more experienced club after making several trades during the inaugural season and that sophomores like Dunc MacIntyre -who he named captain -and former first overall pick Dan Quinn would be much better prepared to lead his club into the post-season.
“Unbelievable Natural Skills…”
For his part, Quinn felt that he left a little on the table as a rookie. He put on 15 pounds of muscle during the summer expected a much better season as a sophomore.
“Dan had unbelievable natural skills,” said captain Dunc MacIntyre.
“That was very evident. That first year he had a lot of pressure, and put a lot of pressure on himself to perform. The second year, I think he settled into the type of hockey player that Dan Quinn knew he could be and that everyone else knew he could be.”
Dan Quinn (right) was one of the Belleville Bulls early stars
Quinn was strong in the first half of the season -he scored three goals in the Bulls’ 7-1 win against the Sudbury Wolves for their third straight win in November and then lifted the team with a spectacular goal on an end-to-end rush that lifted the Bulls to a 6-5 come-from-behind overtime win in Kingston in early December.
But it was the second half of the season that was clearly the difference in Quinn and the Bulls from the year before.
Quinn scored another hat trick and added five assists to set a new team record for points in a game, leading the club to a 10-2 win against the expansion Guelph Platers in early January.
He also scored five times in a pair of late January wins against the Kingston Canadians that all but locked the Bulls into a playoff spot.
Quinn was the first star in three straight wins that brought the Bulls to within three points of the Cornwall Royals for fifth place in the division.
He scored four goals, including the winner in overtime to give the Bulls a 7-6 win over the Peterborough Petes on the Global OHL Game of the Week in March.
Wayne Gretzky, who purchased 45% of the Bulls from Bob Dolan and became Dr. Vaughan’s new partner, was in attendance when the Bulls defeated the Brantford Alexanders 4-3 on March 3 to clinch their first OHL playoff berth.
Quinn, a finalist for the most underrated player in the season end-ing OHL coach’s poll, had a goal and four assists in Belleville’s season-ending 7-3 win over the Kitchener Rangers.
Forward Mike Clayton was one of two players brought over from the Kitchener Rangers in a trade for star forward Dave Nicholls in the 1981-82 season.
Clayton emerged as a solid OHLers during his time in Belleville.
“Mav gave me the chance to play here and by showing confidence in me I gained some confidence in myself,” Clayton told The Intelligencer.
Clayton combined with linemates Quinn and Mark Hegarty to score 10 goals and 22 points in a three-win stretch in November.
Heart and Soul
If a casual observer didn’t know why Dunc MacIntyre was the heart and soul of the Belleville Bulls, they would understand completely if they watched the feisty centre when the Bulls traveled to Brantford late in the regular season.
Needing just one win to clinch their first ever playoff spot, the Bulls were anxious to score early. MacIntyre was crushed into the end boards in the first period and needed 13 stitches to close a gash over his eye.
He returned later in the game and tipped in the tying goal in the third period to help the Bulls rebound from a 3-1 deficit.
Dunc MacIntyre (left) was an early leader for the Belleville Bulls
The Bulls secured the playoff berth and MacIntyre put his name amongst the team’s first heroes.
“It was truly an honour for me,” MacIntyre reflected. “I probably put a lot of pressure on myself at the start of that second year just because it was a big responsibility.”
The Bulls drew a tough card in the opening round of the playoffs -they faced the Oshawa Generals, who rolled through a 24-game undefeated streak earlier in the season.
The Bulls had won just one of six games against the Generals in the regular season and managed just one tie in the six-point playoff loss.
The Bulls returned to the ice for a curtain call from the capacity crowd of 3,300 fans.
“They were guys that just wanted to play the game,” Mavety said. “They loved hockey and if you were going to beat them, you were going to pay the price. There was very few games that those guys didn’t show up to play.
“Quinn might have got the points, but everybody contributed.”
Intelligencer photo courtesy Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County
Excerpt from 25 Years with the Belleville Bulls (Bell, Aaron 2005)
Intelligencer photo courtesy Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County
They got it quickly, winning their second game when captain Dunc McIntyre tipped in the winner to give the home team a 4-3 overtime win over Brian Kilrea’s Ottawa 67’s.
After that pair of home wins, the Bulls traveled to Kitchener to face the defending OHL champions.
16 fights and 314 penalty minutes later, the Bulls were handed their first defeat -an 8-2 loss to the Rangers.
The game started with a fight between Craig Kitchener and Mike Moher in the warm-up and escalated to the point where fans were throwing pop cans at the bench, At one point, coach Larry Mavety tore off his jacket and was ready to go into the stands after the culprits.
Cooler heads prevailed; the cops charged the can thrower and the Bulls left with their first loss.
Intelligencer photo courtesy Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County
Future Bulls’ coach and Belleville native Lou Crawford scored Kitcheners sixth goal and then ended the game with a fight with Crocock.
The club skated to an impressive 9-3 record at home to start the seaon, but Mavety was concerned with their play away from the Quinte Sports Centre – the Bulls were winless in 10 road games.
Mavety challenged his squad to start looking for better results on the road.
Nicholls responded with a pair of goals against his former team to lead the Bulls to a 6-3 win in Windsor in late November.
It was their first win on the road and Nicholls took a great amount of pride in helping the Bulls achievement while giving the Spitfires cause to consider why they left him unprotected in the off-season.
First round pick Dan Quinn had trouble finding the net early in his rookie season, but caught fire in November and had 30 points by early December including a hat trick and an assist in a 6-5 win over Kingston on December 12.
One week later, the Bulls picked up a 4-2 win against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
It was the Bulls 15th win and set a new record for an OHL expansion team.
“I think it was a very exciting time for the Bulls, not only for the players themselves, but also for the city,” MacIntyre said.
“By the second half of the season, we were legitimately contending for the playoffs and teams knew that when they came in to Belleville to play or when we traveled to their hometowns that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for them. It was going to be a tough game.”
“At a major level of hockey, Belleville is probably the most successful expansion team in the history of expansion,” Branch was quoted in The Hockey News. “That is because a lot of preparation went into having them join our league.”
After some roster shuffling before the January trade deadline that brought in overager Tony Butorac and defencemen Scott Defoe and Ian Macinnes, the Bulls hit a rough stretch in January.
They started the month tied with the Cornwall Royals for a playoff spot, but lost MacIntyre -the club’s top scorer -with a concussion and Defoe briefly left the club to ponder his future in the game.
Nicholls was sent to Kitchener for Mike Clayton, who brought playoff experience to the Bulls’ blueline.
The highlight of the month was back-to-back wins over the Rangers – who went on to win the Memorial Cup including a 6-5 overtime win in Kitchener. They lost two straight games in February when the winning goal bounced in off of a Bulls’ defenceman.
They also dropped a 5-4 overtime win to Kingston despite outshooting them 42-24.
Mavety told the local media that for his team to win games, they would have to be a lot tougher than they had been of late.
He assembled his squad for a meeting in late February to tell them as much. He wasn’t looking for bench clearing brawls as much as aggressive work in the corners and making their opponents pay a physical price.
Two days later, Mavety and four players were suspended after a brawl with the Toronto Marlies at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Goalie Ken Porteous was one of the players suspended he would miss the remainder of the season for his part in the incident.
The loss of players gave the Bulls the opportunity to call up “Cowboy” Joe McCallion from the Brampton Warriors. McCallion was instrumental in the Bulls Tier II win and scored a pair of goals in his first two OHL games.
A 2-1 loss to Sudbury on February 28 officially eliminated the Bulls from the playoffs. The team closed out the home schedule of their first OHL season with a 4-3 win over Kingston.
The 2,200 fans in attendance at the Quinte Sports Centre gave the club a standing ovation at the end of the game and called the players out to skate a final lap around the ice. The Bulls’ 50 points doubled the previous record for an expansion team.
“We were small and we were young and we had some battles,” said rookie Marty McSorley, who earned his spot in the roster after an invitation to training camp.
“We had teams that would try to take advantage of us and I think they found out that they had opened up a hornet’s nest. They had their hands full.”
“I think that team set the tone for Belleville teams in the future,” Mavety said.
Excerpt from 25 Years with the Belleville Bulls (Bell, Aaron 2005)
Intelligencer photo courtesy Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County
With Dan Quinn, there was never any question that he would be a dominant player in the OHL. But as the Bulls’ first ever draft pick first overall in the 1981 midget draft would Quinn become dominant in time to help the expansion Bulls?
As a rookie, Quinn put up solid if unspectacular scoring numbers. He managed just one goal and six points in his first 14 games but then emerged as a bona-fide scorer with 13 goals and 22 points in the next 17 games.
He finished his rookie year with 19 goals and 51 points in 67 games.
“He was going to be a hockey player…”
“He was going to be a hockey player, that was in his mind,” Bulls GM/coach Larry Mavety said. “I think in his first year, he got by on talent alone. He was a very talented hockey player. When he first came in, he was living on being the first overall pick more than anything else.”
Not satisfied with the results of his rookie year, Quinn went to work in the off-season to add 15 pounds of muscle that would help him compete in every game during the long season.
“I was brutal at the start of the season and the end of the season,” Quinn admitted to The Intelligencer. “I played pretty well in November and December but that was about it. I saw other players that were drafted early doing better than me and I think that made me put some pressure on myself.”
“Came out flying…”
Quinn came out flying as a sophomore; he led the team with 59 goals and 147 points and was among the finalists for the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s top player.
His breakout season was noticed by the NHL scouts and Calgary Flames took Quinn with their first round pick in the 1983 draft.
He enjoyed an extended stay in Calgary’s training camp the next fall and was leading the OHL in scoring with 59 points games when he was summoned to return to Calgary to replace injured veteran Jim Peplinski.
NHL Debut…
Quinn picked up an assist in his NHL debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs and scored his first NHL goal two weeks later in a 5-5 tie against the Edmonton Oilers.
In that same game, Bulls’ co-owner Wayne Gretzky scored to extend his point scoring streak to 36 games. Gretzky went on to set a 51-game streak that still stands as an NHL record.
For Quinn, it was the start of an NHL career that lasted more than 800 games.
“He’s smart and clever with the puck,” Flames’ coach Bob Johnson said about Quinn, who was runner-up to Steve Yzerman as the NHL’s rookie of the month that December.
“He’s playing well for an 18-year-old. Actually, he’s playing well period.
Quinn’s situation helped shape the new agreement with the OHL and NHL clubs ability to call up junior-aged players during the season.
Excerpt from 25 Years with the Belleville Bulls (Bell, Aaron 2005)
Intelligencer photo courtesy Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County
