London Lions

The hockey league that never was (part 1)

The team

The players

The games

The hockey league that never was (part 2)

The next generation

London Lions played 73 games during the 1973-74 season. They won 53, lost 13, tied 7 and scored 456 goals against 237.

During the Red Wings training camp in Port Huron in September 1973, the London Lions and the Virginia Wings played two or three intrasquad games against each other. According to Ulf Sterner, the Lions - or rather the team that soon became the Lions - won all of them. On September 19, the Virginia Wings with at least nine future Lions in the line-up - Holmqvist, Lundström, Simpson, Wing, Pyatt, Richardson, McCutcheon, Clancy and Mellor - beat the Hershey Bears
8-3. In that game the Bears were playing in the jerseys of their NHL-affiliate Pittsburgh Penguins.

Thursday 11 October 1973
Toledo Hornets - London Lions 0 - 1
~ Played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, USA. It was the Lions' only none-European game. At the time, the Toledo Hornets played in the IHL. Holmqvist and McKenzie shared the goal keeping duties in this game.
att: 4000

Friday 19 October 1973
London Lions - Austrian Internationals 5 - 4
~ McKenzie was in the Lions' goal this game. Simpson got a match penalty and a two game suspension. The Austrian Internationals (or the Australian Internationals as they were called in the Daily Telegraph on the 13 October, likely just a scribal and/or printing error) were in fact a combination of two Austrian clubs, Wiener EV and Klagenfurter AC, playing in the black jerseys of the Austrian national team. This select included two Russians and two Canadians who were playing in the Austrian league at the time. Joe Besch lived in Vienna and may have initiated these games. The Lions played against both clubs (and three other Austrian clubs) during their visit to Austria in January-February.
att: c 6500

McKenzie and Sterner vs Vladimir Vasiliev in the Austrian Internationals

Sunday 21 October 1973
London Lions - Austrian Internationals 8 - 2
~ The plan was to put Holmqvist in goal for this game but he got injured in practice - a puck in the head from Sterner! - so McKenzie had to play. In fact this was his last game with the Lions. It was a castling where goalie Terry Richardson was sent from Virginia to Detroit, McKenzie from London to Virginia and Tim McQuiston from Port Huron to London.
att: c 5000

Friday 26 October 1973
Utrecht Hunters - London Lions 3 - 9
~ Played at Utrecht, Netherlands. Earlier in the 70s, Lions' trainer Al Coates had launched a hockey program in Utrecht, teaching hockey to kids from 7 to 47, coaching teams and running in-house leagues, and it's likely that his contacts were used in arranging the games the Lions played in the Low Countries.

Saturday 27 October 1973
CPL Liége - London Lions 2 - 10
~ Played at Luxembourg. Liége were Belgian champions at the time.

Sunday 28 October 1973
Raak IJshockey - London Lions 1 - 5
~ Played at the Hague, Netherlands. Raak was a team based in The Hague which existed 1972-75 and was named after their sponsor, a producer of soft drinks. The last season they changed sponsor and name to Duyvenstein Wintersport. Their roster was full of Canadians and players with dual Dutch/Canadian citizenships, and their best player was Canadian goalie Dave Andrews.

Monday 29 October 1973
Utrecht Hunters - London Lions 1 - 8
~ Played at Utrecht, Netherlands. This is something of a forgotten game, excluded from many fixture lists but reported in the papers at the time. The Lions' match programme #3 called it a "Phantom Match" which wasn't added to the official list of fixtures since it was specifically a practice match with Bibeau, Clancy, Pyatt and Polonich playing for Utrecht
att: 1600

Thursday 1 November 1973
London Lions - Finnish Olympics 7 - 2
~ The Finnish Olympics was actually the National Under-23 squad from Finland. Since the next Winter Olympics (to be held in Innsbruck in Austria in February 1976) lay in the distant future, nobody could know for sure if any of these guys would become Olympians. Holmqvist, now fully recovered from minor head injuries, was in goal for the first time at Wembley. Rick Newell got suspended four matches and fined £40 by the British Ice Hockey Association for molesting a referee during one of the games against the Finns.

Watts, Simpson, Shaw, Korney and McCann vs the Finnish Olympics

Saturday 3 November 1973
London Lions - Finnish Olympics 3 - 1

Sunday 4 November 1973
London Lions - Finnish Olympics 6 - 6

Thursday 8 November 1973
London Lions - Dutch Internationals 16 - 3
~ The Dutch Internationals, represented by Raak IJshockey from the Hague, were the visitors for this week's matches. It was reported at the time that Holmqvist and three other Lions played with the Dutch Internationals in at least one of these games. The Lions met Raak twice during two visits to the Hague, the first in October and the second in January.

Saturday 10 November 1973
London Lions - Dutch Internationals 7 - 0

Sunday 11 November 1973
London Lions - Dutch Internationals 5 - 2

McCutcheon, McCann and Watts vs the Dutch Internationals

Thursday 15 November 1973
London Lions - Prague All Stars 4 - 4
~ London Lions played several games versus slightly different line-ups of the Czechoslovakian National Under-23 team during the season. This first incarnation was dubbed Prague All Stars and played in the white CSSR jerseys of the national team. The first game reportedly stood out in the Autumn series at Wembley, ending in a draw after Prague had taken a 3-0 lead. The fans at Wembley gave the sides a standing ovation as they left the ice and the BBC Television report of the game was described as the ice hockey highlight of the year.

Saturday 17 November 1973
London Lions - Prague All Stars 3 - 1
~ This game ended in a 3-1 win for Lions after Prague had scored first. It was probably during this game that Duffy McCarthy was surprised by two old friends from his Canadian hometown of Mississauga, brothers Rick and Ron Drennan who were playing for the Altrincham Aces (which the Lions played in March 1974, see below). Duffy recalled the episode in January 2005; "... you can imagine my surprise when one night at Wembley they shouted to me from the crowd. I didn't know they were over there, let alone playing hockey. Then we played them. We still laugh about it. They weren't very good!"

Thursday 22 November 1973
London Lions - Helsinki IFK 4 - 3
~ The Finnish top club Helsinki IFK came to London for the 5th and 8th series (on November 22, 24, 25 and March 23 and 24 respectively). The Lions met them three times in Helsinki as well (on December 16, 20 and January 2), adding up to a total of eight games versus the IFK club. Göran Stubb, chairman of Helsinki IFK, was very interested in the European league, which explains why the Lions played them so often.

Saturday 24 November 1973
London Lions - Helsinki IFK 2 - 6
~ A historical game as Helsinki became the first-ever team to beat the Lions. Once again, Newell was involved in fighting, chasing Helsinki-player Henry Saleva around the ice and after this series he was sent to Virginia Wings where he played the rest of the season.

Sunday 25 November 1973
London Lions - Helsinki IFK 7 - 2

Saturday 1 December 1973
Scottish Select - London Lions 1 - 10
~ Played at Kirkcaldy, UK. London Lions had a Scottish representative in their staff, Johnny Carlyle, who had been a player and then a coach in the heydays of British ice hockey in the 40s, 50s and 60s. At the time he was coaching the Great Britain National Team and he probably organised this tour of Scotland and North East England in early December.
Kevin, a Kirkcaldy-based hockey fan was 10 years old at the time and amazed by the skill of the Lions;
"Scotland lost 10-1, the Lions played tremendous ice hockey and are responsible for me catching the hockey bug".
Lawrence Lovell got the only Scottish goal. One of the Scottish players was John Taylor, who remembered the shear size and speed of the Lions. Kenny Horne, a mountain of a man in his younger days, talked about the strength of the Lions on the boards, and added that trying to push them out the crease around the nets was "like trying to shift a truck".

Doug Barkley later said: "The Scottish team wasn't very good and we knew we were going to beat the hell out of them, so we made a trade before the game. We gave them six of our players and we took six of theirs. The game gets underway and before you know it - a big fight starts. I look up and I see it's just our guys fighting with each other."

Sunday 2 December 1973
International Select - London Lions 1 - 12
~ Played at Dundee, UK

Against an International Select in Dundee

Monday 3 December 1973
Northeast Select - London Lions 6 - 15
~ Played at Billingham, UK

Wednesday 5 December 1973
Northeast Select - London Lions 3 - 12
~ Played at Whitley Bay, UK. The day after the game, Barkley ordered pre-breakfast training for the Lions before they travelled to Sweden.

Monday 10 December 1973
Västra Frölunda - London Lions 2 - 7
~ Played at Göteborg, SWE. Ulf Sterner played in Västra Frölunda between 1961-64 and again in 1968-69 while Tom Mellor joined the team for the 1975-76 season, making 16 points in 34 games.

Holmqvist with Frölunda-player Kjell Andersson

Tuesday 11 December 1973
Färjestads BK - London Lions 1 - 3
~ Played at Karlstad, SWE. Ulf Sterner played in Färjestad between 1967-68 and again in 1969-73

Thursday 13 December 1973
TPS - London Lions 8 - 2
~ Played at Turku (Åbo), FIN. The winning streak came to an abrupt halt in Turku, where they lost 8-2 after a lot of penalties. Barkley: "We must have had 30 penalties called against us in that game. He called everything against us and nothing against the Finns." Holmqvist replaced McQuiston after the 6th goal.

Friday 14 December 1973
Saiman Pallo (SaiPa) - London Lions 4 - 7
~ Played at Lappeenranta (Villmanstrand), FIN. This was Tord Lundströms first game with the Lions.
att: c 4000

Sunday 16 December 1973
Helsinki IFK - London Lions 2 - 3
~ Played at Helsinki (Helsingfors), FIN. During the Lions' visit, the Izvestia national team tournament was underway in Moscow, so many of the best Finnish players were not available for the clubs. In this game, Juha Silvennoinen, Oiva Oijennus and Keijo Männistö from Tappara played for IFK.

Tuesday 18 December 1973
Tappara - London Lions 4 - 7
~ Played at Tampere (Tammerfors), FIN. This was originally planned as a game against a combined Tampere team with players from Tappara, Ilves and KooVee, but in the end the clubs could not agree. Tappara borrowed goalkeeper Stig Wetzell and striker Väinö Kolkka from Helsinki IFK to replace goalkeeper Antti Leppänen and striker Jukka Alkula who played with the national team in the Izvestia Tournament in Moscow.
att: 2957

McCutcheon and Johnson against Tappara, the Battle axes of Tampere

Thursday 20 December 1973
Helsinki IFK - London Lions 4 - 6
~ Played at Helsinki (Helsingfors), FIN.

Wednesday 26 December 1973
AIK - London Lions 1 - 3
~ AHEARNE CUP, played at Stockholm, SWE. Apart from the season with the London Lions, Leif Holmqvist played in AIK from 1965 to 1975.
att: 8579, referee Åke Hahnqvist

Thursday 27 December 1973
HV 71 - London Lions 5 - 5
~ Played at Jönköping. Despite the fact that the Ahearne Cup just had started, the Lions left Stockholm and travelled to Jönköping to play this exhibition game. Leif Holmqvist played in HV 71 1976-78. American Tom Mellor (who spent the main part of the 1973-74 season with Detroit Red Wings in the NHL and Virginia Wings in the AHL) arrived in Stockholm on thursday night (together with Detroit scout Jack Patterson) to reinforce the Lions during the Ahearne Cup.
att 4723, referee Lars Tegnér

Sunday 30 December 1973
Leksands IF - London Lions 6 - 1
~ AHEARNE CUP, played at Leksand, SWE. McQuiston was in goal in this game.
att: 6110, referees Ove Dahlberg and Arne Bagge

Thommy Abrahamsson scoring against McQuiston

Tuesday 1 January 1974
Regina Pats - London Lions 5 - 5
~ AHEARNE CUP, played at Stockholm, SWE. Regina Pats were a Canadian team playing in the WCHL. Polonich and Korney knew several of the players in Regina and were regular visitors to the Pats dressing room.
Polonich: "The two years I played in Flin Flon we had a great rivalry going with Regina. I had two years of that - and they were wars. Finally, I'm in Europe and who comes over to play in the tournament? The Regina Pats."

Wednesday 2 January 1974
Helsinki IFK - London Lions 5 - 9
~ Played at Helsinki (Helsingfors), FIN. When the Lions had two days off from the Ahearne Cup they didn't rest but travelled to Finland to meet IFK for the 6th time during the season.

Friday 4 January 1974
Dynamo Moscow - London Lions 1 - 2
~ AHEARNE CUP, played at Stockholm, SWE. About this game, Tom Mellor has commented: "My fondest memory was when we beat the Russians 2 - 1 in Stockholm. I think either Cutch (McCutcheon) or Stubby (McCann) got the winner." Well, it was Cutch.
Dynamo was reinforced during this tournament by Valentin Gureyev, Gennadi Krylov and Yevgeni Paladyev from Spartak Moscow.

McCann, Mellor and McCutcheon in a happy mood against the Muscovites

Sunday 6 January 1974
Södertälje SK - London Lions 4 - 6
~ AHEARNE CUP, played at Södertälje, SWE. This was the Lions' last game in the Ahearne Cup.

Monday 7 January 1974
Roma - London Lions 2 - 6 (0-3, 1-0, 1-3)
~ Played at the outdoor rink Klostervallen on the Baltic island of Gotland. Holmqvist, Sterner and Lundström wrote autographs in Samuelsson bicycle & sport shop in Visby before the game. Holmqvist played the first 30 minutes of the game until McQuiston took over. Att: c 1200. referee: James Cressman

Tuesday 8 January 1974
Handens SK - London Lions 4 - 8
~ Another outdoor game played at the Torvalla rink in the Stockholm suburb of Handen. The home team was reinforced by several players from Djurgården.

Wednesday 9 January 1974
Malmö - London Lions 2 - 7
~ Played at Malmö, SWE. This was the Lions' last game in Sweden before travelling to the Netherlands. Mellor rejoined the parent Detroit club while Korney was assigned to the Red Wings' IHL farm club in Port Huron.
att: 2108

Friday 11 January 1974
HYS Veronica 538 - London Lions 4 - 11
~ Played at the Hague, Netherlands. HYS (or HIJS) stands for Haagse IJshockey Sportverening and Veronica was their sponsor at the time, a radio station transmitting on the frequency 538 metres. Clancy and another unnamed Lion reinforced HYS in this game.

Wing and Holmqvist against HYS

Saturday 12 January 1974
CPL Liége - London Lions 2 - 12
~ Played at Liége, Belgium.

Sunday 13 January 1974
Royal Brussels Icehockey and Skating Club - London Lions 4 - 16
~ Played at Brussels, Belgium. In both games in Belgium, Holmqvist began in the London goal and was later relieved by McQuiston

Friday 18 January 1974
Raak IJshockey - London Lions 5 - 8 (2-4,1-2,2-2)
~ Played at the Hague, Netherlands. This was the fifth meeting between the clubs - two in the Netherlands and three at Wembley (where Raak appeared as the Dutch Internationals) - and London won every time. The result of this game where Lundström scored four goals has erroneously been reported as both 3-8 and 4-8.
att: 1500, Referees Jim Cressman (CAN), Tamboer (NL)

Friday 25 January 1974
Tilburg Trappers - London Lions 3 - 8
~ Played at Tilburg, Netherlands. It wasn't that obvious in this game but the 1973-74 season was the finest ever for the Trappers since they reached the semi-finals of the European Cup (where they lost to Czech side Tesla Pardubice). After this game goalie Tim McQuiston left the Lions and was replaced by Terry Richardson for the upcoming games in Austria.

Pyatt, Lundström and Polonich against Tilburg

Monday 28 January 1974
Wiener EV - London Lions 2 - 10
~ Played at Vienna, Austria, which was where Norris' European manager Joe Besch was based. Nelson Pyatt played in Wiener EV in 1982-83.

Wednesday 30 January 1974
Klagenfurter AC - London Lions 0 - 8
~ Played at Klagenfurt, Austria. The Austrian Internationals which played against London earlier in the season were a combination of players from Klagenfurter AC and Wiener EV.

Friday 1 February 1974
Kapfenberger SV - London Lions 2 - 11
~ Played at Kapfenberg, Austria. In some reports this town has been referred to as Katzenburg. Forward Mike Jakubo had just joined the Lions and scored in this game (which may have been his first with the club).

Saturday 2 February 1974
HC Salzburg - London Lions 1 - 9 (0-3, 1-2, 0-4)
~ Played at Volksgarten in Salzburg, Austria. Holmqvist played the first part of the game, Richardson the second. Salzburg were reinforced by six players: Dmitri Kitayev (RUS), Miroslav Berek (CZE) and Herbert Haiszan (AUT) from Kapfenberger SV, Günther Burkhart (AUT) from Innsbrucker EV plus Mike Jakubo and Duffy McCarthy from London. Siegbert Stronegger wrote about the game in Salzburger Tagblatt on Monday 4 February, stating that the "eindrucksvolle Leistung" (impressive capacity) of McCarthy earned him the title "besten Salzburger".

Salzburger goalie Gerd Nowak and center Jean-Pierre Mallette trying to prevent Earl Anderson from scoring

"Must be true", McCarthy commented in an email in March 2005. "It's funny because after our season with London I played pro lacrosse that summer with Toronto Tomahawks. Once it was known there was not going to be a league in Europe Detroit sent me to Kalamazoo Michigan of the International league. Once I got there I decided to hang them up and get a job. Detroit paid me out and I came home. Then I got a call from an agent who offered me a job in Salzburg. I almost went but was offered a job with the Fire Dept which I took, and had 25 great years there. Salzburg must have seen something they liked after that game."

Sepp Kriechbaum scored the only goal for Salzburg in this game. "To beat a goalie like the famous Honken Holmqvist and to play against opponent center Ulf Sterner was one of my career highlights", Kriechbaum commented in an email in March 2005.
att 800, referees Hofer & Cressmann

Tuesday 5 February 1974
Innsbrucker EV - London Lions 6 - 15
~ Played at Innsbruck, Austria. Clancy left the Lions after the games in Austria.

Thursday 7 February 1974
Czechoslovakian National Team - London Lions 6 - 3
~ Played at Prague, CZE. A border stop heading into the game in Prague was abated when Dennis Polonich climbed off the bus to show the Czechoslovakian soldiers how to use a piece of exercise equipment called a Bull Worker. The soldiers were fascinated by the apparatus, the Lions allowed behind the Iron Curtain for the price of one.
Att: 14000

Bohuslav Stastny scoring against Holmqvist

Saturday 9 February 1974
Czechoslovakia under 23 Select - London Lions 1 - 4
~ Played at Plzen, CZE
att: 10000

Sunday 10 February 1974
Czechoslovakia under 23 Select - London Lions 5 - 3
~ Played at Ceské Budejovice, CZE

Tuesday 12 February 1974
Czechoslovakia under 23 Select - London Lions 8 - 2
~ Played at Milevsko, CZE

Wednesday 13 February 1974
Czechoslovakia under 23 Select - London Lions 4 - 1
~ Played at Tábor, CZE

Friday 15 February 1974
Liberec/Dukla Jihlava select - London Lions 4 - 2
~ Played at Liberec, CZE.
att: 7000

Saturday 16 February 1974
ZKL Brno - London Lions 0 - 3
~ Played at Brno, CZE. With five minutes left of the third period, the referee stopped the game after a bench-clearing brawl. Charlie Shaw later said: "It wasn't even fighting so much, mostly just wrestling matches, and what I remember is their sweaters ripping because they were so old and so rotten."

Wednesday 20 February 1974
HC Villars - London Lions 2 - 10 (1-3,1-2,0-5)
~ Played at Villars-sur-Ollon, SUI. HC Villars were reinforced by Bob Lindberg (CAN) from Lausanne HC and René Berra (SUI) from La Chaux-de-Fonds
att: 800

Friday 1 March 1974
West Germany - London Lions 6 - 1
~ Played at Oberstdorf, GER. West Germany was mentioned all along as one of the countries interested in the European league but the missionary work of the London Lions in the Federal Republic was beset with problems. A three game series at Wembley in November 1973 against Düsseldorf was cancelled and this game versus the West German national team was abandoned two minutes before the second interval due to rough play.
In the first period German Lorenz Funk received an injury above his eye from a stick and Rick McCann was sent to the penalty box for five minutes. The rough play reached a climax in the second period as the West Germans went ahead 2-1. A fight developed and McCann was given a match penalty. The Lions were left with only four players, including their goalminder, on the ice for most of the period. After another fight, one of the West German referees signalled the end of the game.

Thursday 7 March 1974
London Lions - Dynamo Moscow 3 - 6
~ The Lions were finally back at Wembley. They had been eager from day one to play a Soviet team and the first game against Dynamo was in the Ahearne Cup in Stockholm in January. They also played another Moscow team, Spartak, in Geneva later in March. In this game, goalie Honken Holmqvist earned the "Three Stars", i.e. The Man of the Match. After having played most of the season in Detroit, Thommie Bergman was sent to Virginia in the beginning of February. According to Swedish papers he requested to be sent to London but had to stay in Norfolk.

McCutcheon in front of the Muscovites' goal

Saturday 9 March 1974
London Lions - Dynamo Moscow 2 - 4
~ Terry Richardson was in goal for the last two games in the Moscow-series and he received two Three Star nominations by the press for his achievements.

Sunday 10 March 1974
London Lions - Dynamo Moscow 2 - 2.
~ The total attendance at the three games vs Moscow were 15000

Thursday 14 March 1974
London Lions - Prague Lions 4 - 1
~ The Prague Lions was another Czechoslovakian select, playing in the uniforms of the National team (orange shorts and blue jerseys with the Bohemian lion on the chest, hence the name of the team). Twelve of the players had been in the Autumn's Prague All Stars (15-17 November) while the Czechoslovakian National Under 23 team (9-13 February) contained players from both Prague-selects. This kind of select with young and prospering talents would have been well suited for the European League. A couple of years later the Czechs sent similar teams to play against teams in the the WHA. Earl Anderson scored four times during those three games against the Czechs, Dennis Johnson got two goals and Ulf Sterner racked up a couple of assists to keep this trio at the top of the scoring chart. Referees in this series were I. Jursa (CZE), John Stace (UK) and Ray Shilling (UK).

Saturday 16 March 1974
London Lions - Prague Lions 7 - 5

Sunday 17 March 1974
London Lions - Prague Lions 5 - 2

Lundström and Pyatt against the Czechs

Tuesday 19 March 1974
Spartak Moscow - London Lions 4 - 4 (3-2,1-1,0-1)
~ TOURNOI DU SALON DE L'AUTO, played at Geneva, SUI. This tournament was a part of the Geneva International Motor Show, played for the first time since 1968. Richardson was in goal in this game.

Wednesday 20 March 1974
Czechoslovakia under 23 Select - London Lions 3 - 0
~ TOURNOI DU SALON DE L'AUTO, played at Geneva, SUI. The tournament was won by the Czechoslovakians who beat Spartak Moscow 4-3 (2-1,2-1,0-1) in the third game. Dennis Polonich was voted Most Valuable Player

Saturday 23 March 1974
London Lions - Helsinki IFK 6 - 2
~ Only two games this weekend since Wembley was closed for the Badminton Championships during the week. Mike Jakubo received two consecutive Three Star nominations by the press. Referees in the two games were Harri Järvi from Finland and John Stace from the UK.

Sunday 24 March 1974
London Lions - Helsinki IFK 6 - 6
~ In this game Charlie Shaw suffered a badly bruised shoulder after hitting the boards.

Simpson and Holmqvist against Helsinki

Tuesday 26 March 1974
Altrincham Aces Select - London Lions 3 - 11
~ Played at Deeside Leisure Centre, Queensferry, northern Wales. The venue was brand new and this was reportedly the first icehockey game ever in Wales. The Lions' Supporter club arranged a trip to the game. At the time, the Altrincham Aces was challenging for the British Southern League championship but when the Londoners saw the "undermanned, rag-tag" blue and white Aces before the game, they decided to lend them Sterner and Richardson (hence the "Altrincham Aces Select"-billing). Chris Dean, one of the Altrincham players, had recently been training with the London Lions and played for them against the Aces in this game. Rick Drennan, another of the Altrincham players and a friend of Duffy McCarthy's, told me this in an email in January 2005:
"Before the game, facing sure defeat, my brother Ron pulled a bottle of Four Aces bourbon out of his hockey bag (both teams dressed in the same dressing room) and started passing it around to our players, sort of giving us courage before going into final battle. As you can guess, Doug Barkley was not impressed, sort of laughed, threw up his hands, and said, "I'm outta here." I think he watched the game from the stands, or took it in while in the pub upstairs."

Thursday 28 March 1974
London Lions - Djurgårdens IF 6 - 5
For these games, Djurgården had bolstered their roster with Åke Danielsson and Peter Gudmundsson from Leksand (Swedish champions at the time) and Leif Svensson and Sverker Torstensson from Södertälje. Nelson Pyatt didn't play this series since he had been transferred to Detroit earlier in the week. This three games had an average attendance of 6000. Referees were Stig Karlsson from Sweden and John Stace from the UK.

Saturday 30 March 1974
London Lions - Djurgårdens IF 10 - 4

Sunday 31 March 1974
London Lions - Djurgårdens IF 4 - 3

Additional games:

Match Programme #1 (vs Austrian Internationals) listed a three game series against West German top team Düsseldorfer EG for Tuesday 27 November, Thursday 29 November and Friday 30 November. According to the Swedish Hockey magazine, it was Bunny Ahearne who had invited Düsseldorf to the series. The next set of programmes (vs Finnish Olympics) omitted the Düsseldorf games, so they must have been cancelled early on. Tickets re-used later in the season were dated 30 November and 1 December, i.e. Friday and Saturday, which are a more likely combination.

When the roadtrip started, Yugoslavia was mentioned as one of the destinations but no reports of the Lions playing there have been found. It's not entirely impossible though since unsually few games are listed in the second half of February when they played in the neighbourhood - in Czechoslovakia on 16 February, in Switzerland on 20 February and Oberstdorf in the German alps on 1 March. Ljubljana (where group B of the World Championships was to be held on 21-30 March) was a likely venue.

McCarthy has said that the Lions played in Grenoble, France ("we used the arena from the '64 Olympics"), but if it was the '64 Olympics, he must have meant Innsbruck - the Winter Olympics in Grenoble were held in 1968. However, Holmqvist has also talked about playing "somewhere in France", and he remembers it being shortly before the Ermenonville air disaster on 3 March 1974. So, if the Lions ever played in Grenoble or elsewhere in France, it must have been during the last week of February 1974.