McLAUCHLAIN, Jim

BORN ABOUT 1922 IN GLASGOW SCOTLAND, the son of William Reilly and Susan McLauchlain, he arrived in Sydney Australia with his parents when he was 1. His father was also involved in the sport, sometimes as state team trainer. He started with St George in Percy Wendt's and Widdy Johnson’s era, and developed into a powerful right-wing, often on a line with centre Wendt who was the top scorer of the first half century of Australian ice hockey. McLauchlain was fourteen-and-a-half stone with "plenty of well-knit bone and brawn".

A St George stalwart in the local league, he started ice skating when he was 7 and hockey when he was 12, inspired by his cousin Jim Brown, one of Australia's first internationals. He played A-grade from 1934 at the age of 13 with Brown, and represented his state from the age of 16 in 1938. He was present in the Club when Brown turned it into a state powerhouse modelled on the ENL’s Grosvenor House Canadians, the team he played for in the English National League a few years earlier. The Dragons, rebranded in Canadiens colours, dominated the league for four straight premierships from 1937.

He represented NSW in the state team led by Jim Brown from 1937 and became vice-captain, continuing on for many years. In fact, once started, he did not miss an interstate series, appearing in his 39th match in the first game of the 1950 series.

During the war, McLauchlain stood in for Brown as captain of St George when Brown enlisted in the RAAF. He played with the Sydney Glaciarium ice hockey team, which was also captained by Jim Brown, with Coulter, Wendt and Johnson. In the 1938 season, Glaciarium defeated the Ice Palais to become the champion rink team of Sydney. He also played the highly controversial game for St George against Bendrodt’s Canadian Bears in 1938, reportedly one of “four players in Bears class… with Brown, Wendt and Coulter”. By then, McLauchlain was considered one of the glamour boys of Australian ice hockey, with Geoff Thorne, Widdy Johnson and Bede Moller. During the Services v The Rest games he scored 7 goals for The Rest.

He returned after the long war interruption in the 1946 state team that tied Victoria, Brown’s last interstate series. He succeeded Brown as state captain from 1947, and played the 1948 Goodall Cup led by Percy Wendt with Ken Kennedy, Geoff Thorne and Widdy Johnstone. He captained the state team in 1951 when Percy Wendt became coach of players such as Emil Buchatsky and Dick Mann. He won six Goodall Cups as a player (1938, ’39, ’46, ’48, ’50, ’51).

A toolmaker by trade, in 1945 he married Maisie Thelma Gower at Ashfield in Sydney. He met Maisie at Sydney Glaciarium and both she and his son skated. A Captain of St George for well over a decade, Sydney's top team for many seasons, he played for New South Wales against a team from HMCS Ontario on April 11th and 13th 1951, losing 4-2 and 3-1. He became manager and coach of the state team in the early 1960s, winning another Cup in 1963, after 13 years in the wilderness.

He was named in the first All-Australian Ice Hockey Team published in Sports Novels by Ron Casey in 1948. "Jimmy McLauchlain of New South Wales is our choice for right wing. What a player! Powerfully built, fast, hard shot, and a two-way skater. The coach's dream — Wendt, Sengotta and McLauchlain". [2]

McLauchlain was also a member of the Dee Why Life Saving Club with teammate Noel Locke whose father was president. The pair were rival junior speed skaters, McLauchlain winning the 1935 quarter-mile Under-16 title ahead of Locke in 40 seconds, an Australian record. McLauchlain led throughout the race, although Locke was faster in the corners.

Jim McLauchlain, a veteran of 7 Goodall Cup victories, represented his state as a player and coach for over a quarter century during the difficult period of Victoria’s post-war dominance of the sport. He became a referee when he retired as a player. "Perfect co-ordination of movement and mind is the essence of ice hockey," he said in 1950. "A skilled player has to keep mind-ticking at the same tempo as the play — and the split-second action requires split-second judgement and decision".