Remembering the 1976 WHS State Champion Hockey Team

It was 50 years ago this week that the Winthrop High hockey team completed an undefeated season of 26-0-1 (a 4-4 tie with Saugus was their lone blemish) with a 4-1 victory over Western Mass. champion Springfield Catholic to capture the Massachusetts Division 1 state championship.

That was an era when the Boston Bruins had reigned supreme on the Boston sports scene thanks to Bobby Orr in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, when the Viking varsity players were playing with Winthrop Youth Hockey.

The Winthrop varsity hockey program itself was only 10 years old and Larsen Rink had just opened a few years earlier.

The Vikings’ path to the championship was both dramatic and highly-memorable.

The Vikings opened the Eastern Mass. tournament with a 4-2 victory over Malden Catholic, the defending state champion.

The next Winthrop victory would prove to be one of the most incredible wins in the annals of Winthrop High sports. The Vikings took on Norwood and finally emerged with a 4-3 victory in triple overtime in a contest that had started early Thursday evening and finally ended at 12:45 AM on Friday. WHS goalie Ramon Diaz was sensational in net with more than 50 saves. The late Jackie Burke, who passed away all-too-young in 2014, notched the game-winner three hours after the contest had begun.

Needless to say, there were no shootouts in those days!

That brought the Vikings into an EMass semifinal match-up the following day on Saturday vs. perennial powerhouse Arlington, whose coach was the legendary Eddie Burns. However, the Vikings stunned the schoolboy hockey world with a 4-1 win.

Winthrop then took on Braintree in the title game before 13,648 fans in the old Boston Garden in which Winthrop prevailed, 4-2. WHS netminder Ramon Diaz was superb in goal, turning aside 35 enemy shots. Jackie Burke scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, and linemate Bobby McDonald added a goal.

The Vikings scored 183 goals during the season. The first line of captain Bobby MacDonald (57 goals), Jackie Burke, and Joe MacDonald (Bobby’s younger brother) totaled 212 points. Co-captain Steve Goddard was named the top defenseman in Division One. Danny Brugman was named tourney and Hockey Night in Boston Most Valuable Player.

Coach Bill Falasca was named Boston Globe Coach of the Year.

Danny Brugman played at Yale, Bob MacDonald and Jackie Burke played at Harvard, and defenseman Kevin McGee played at Northeastern.