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| Montreal Forum clock post 1966 |
Dandurand pocketed a $12,500 bribe to manipulate the clock to dictate the time goals were recorded in front of all to see.
Dandurand brazenly and routinely allowed the clock to keep ticking after goals in front of 15,500 fans.
He did this because many fans bought underground lottery tickets that would reward them if a goal was scored, for example, within the first five minutes on an odd second or an even second.
All Dandurand had to do was get the instructions and stop the clock to ensure a goal was notched at an odd or even second, according to the day's tickets.
The scam, when done right, ensured that all the tickets would be losers.
It lasted apparently from September 1968 to 23 March 1969.
Thousands of fans were somehow oblivious to the fact that the clock wasn't always stopping right away after a goal.
Nobody said anything until cop Steve Olynyk came along.
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Timekeeping was a serious business when the Montreal Canadiens started at the Mount Royal Arena at the southeast corner of Mount Royal and St. Urbain.
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| Mount Royal Arena had no visible clock |
Coaches would frequently send emissaries over to ask how much time remained in a penalty or period, while they would often have their own men keeping their own time, to ensure against manipulation.
League president Frank Calder was vigilant in keeping eye on the timekeeping and would frequently check up on the timing.
(Strange fact: Penalized players allowed kids to sit on their laps in the penalty box at the Mount Royal Arena.)
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The Habs moved to the Forum where a SporTimer clock, shipped from Thunder Bay in Oct. 1931, was affixed to the wall.
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| pre-1966 Forum clock |
The first clock at the Forum had a minute hand that only had 20, 15, 10 and 5, with only the last five minutes getting by-the-minute treatment.
The second clock, which lasted until January 1966, had a second hand that was so heavy that the first 30 seconds of each minute would pass faster than it should and the second half of a minute would go slower, as the upward motion required extra mechanical strength, former timekeeper Mayer claimed in a 1966 article. Nonetheless each minute was 60 seconds exactly.
There was no public penalty clock and fans were sometimes infuriated that the light permitting players to leave the box often didn't go on at the same time in the case of offsetting penalties.
Montreal-born Phil Watson, who coached the New York Rangers from 1955-1960, wasn't a fan of Forum timekeepers, as the former star noted that the clock once didn't budge on a false draw even though the timekeeper made a point of pretending to press the start button.The Canadiens eventually replaced the timekeeper with someone from building maintenance staff, who was presumably totally neutral.
End-of-period buzzer beater disputes were common and eventually the red goal light and green end-time light were rigged so the two couldn't light simultaneously.
The familiar four-sided digital clock was installed in 1966.
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Scandal struck when Montreal police Morality Squad chief Steve Olynyk attended three games at the Forum in January 1969.
According to one version it was his only son who noticed that the clock kept running after goals, while according to another he was accompanied by fellow officers when they made the observation.
After one goal the clock ran a full five seconds, according to Olynyk.
Staffers were questioned and four, including timekeeper Andre Dandurand, 34, of 7075 Mousseau in Anjou, were charged with playing along with the illegal lottery scam.
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| Olynyk |
Time had run out on Dandurand's career as a timekeeper and never was his index finger to touch a Forum clock controls again.
Dandurand, in his erratic testimony, variously accused colleagues Henry Labelle, 35, of 1253 Osborne in Verdun, Gilles Bacon and Jean Guy Doiron.
Police found notes in the pockets of some of the suspects demonstrating that they were involved but the court would not allow them as evidence.
Cops seized lottery printing apparatus from 8415 Levrard in St. Leonard.
Pierre-Paul Archambault and Jean-Claude Lamarche asked for police protection as they provided testimony about the scam, which saw them send blank cheques that were eventually cashed by Bacon.
The other three were acquitted five years later after charges were dropped and then revived.
Interesting story. I seem to remember the TV play-by-play announcers of the day mentioning to viewers incidents of erratic behaviour of the time clocks. Indeed, viewers paying close enough attention could see it for themselves.
ReplyDeleteFor your next scandal story, how about digging into the tawdry history of certain bridge toll collectors who pocketed coins and tokens before eventually being found out and prosecuted--which was one of the main reasons why the majority of our bridge tolls were later discontinued altogether and why such toll collection later became completely automated.