National Brewers

It would be next to impossible for the National Brewers to improve on the 74-75 season and this team could not do that. It could, however, actually score more goals and equal the total overall win total of prior year. It began with financial problems looming. A pre season request was made to the National Brewing Company to provide additional support as the costs were beginning to rise. The team budget was now set at $3235 for the season. The requested $1000 was rejected by the brewery who continued to provide a $500 donation to defray team costs. This would mean that the cost per player would need to increase to a minimum of $140 each. Brewers manager, Steve Bachman, approached the F & M Schaefer Brewing Company about possible sponsorship of the Brewers, as it was becoming more difficult for the National Brewing Company to provide promotional dollars. Sam Mattingly returned to full time status as the Brewers bench coach. The Chesapeake Hockey League changed the time that minor penalties were served from 2 minutes to 1.5 minutes and major penalties to 4 minutes. This was based on the three 15 minute stop time periods in a CHL game. A new CHL cloth patch was created with the outline of the city of Baltimore. Navy and Delaware dropped out of being a part of the regular season CHL schedule. The league was bolstered with the summer admission of the Baltimore Blazers and Benfield Blues to bring the CHL back to 6 teams. Orchard Ice Rink had been the National Brewers main rink for the past few seasons. That was now changing as the Brewers played a total of 18 games at Northwest Ice Rink, including 10 CHL home games. CHL admission now cost 50 cents with the teams that were playing splitting the revenue with the rink. 8 PM Sunday night home games at Northwest began regularly drawing 150 to 200 hockey fans.

On the ice, there were only a few changes form the previous dominating season. One of them was with defenseman Steve Wirth who began the season with the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League. He returned to the Brewers later in the season. The team again began on the road in a non-league game against University of Virginia, winning by a 5-2 score. In a November Sunday night classic game at Northwest before a large crowd, Roger Forrest scored on a breakaway with one second remaining to top the Blazers by 5-4. In early January, the Brewers traveled to the Washington Coliseum to face the Washington Chiefs, in a non-league game. The Chiefs were an independent semi-pro team who were a step up for the Brewers level of play. The beer men dropped an 11-6 game to the host team, but were paid an allowance to come to Washington and play before a paid crowd. Top scoring center Dave Mattingly, working with several classic set-ups from Jim Bartlett, netted 5 of the Brewers 6 goals. Seven weeks later, the Chiefs needed an opponent to replace another team on their schedule. Prior to agreeing to this game, however, the team took a player vote because a CHL league game was already set for later the same day. With the Brewers in need of money, it was voted to play a rare two city 'doubleheader' on February 22, 1976. In the afternoon, the club lost 6-1 in Washington to the Chiefs, followed by an 8-2 victory over new CHL entry the Baltimore Blazers in an 8 PM game at Northwest. Right wing Roger Forrest suffered a dislocated shoulder in the game with the Chiefs, hampering him for the remainder of the season. During the year, the emergence of Dave Mattingly as a dominant offense weapon was the key story. He easily led the CHL in scoring with an incredible 41 goals and 27 assists. Newcomer Biff Evans provided toughness to the left side of the line with Roger Forrest and Dave Mattingly. Other top scorers with more than 20 points were: Steve Bachman, Jim Bartlett, Tom McLaughlin, George Bachrach, Steve Brown, Mickey McBee and Randy Mattingly. The Brewers boasted the top 8 scorers in the league. Randy Mattingly was voted the top defenseman in the CHL, with George Bachrach finishing second. Goalie Gerry Horak played 11 games in the net and 8 games as a right wing. Key new Brewers included Mike Maggio and Ray Windsor.

The Brewers finished with an 18-1-1 regular season CHL record to again top the Baltimore circuit. The only league blemishes were a 3-3 December tie and a 4-1 January loss to the Jr. Clippers. Near the end of the regular season, the team routed their rivals 11-0 and 6-0 to avenge the early tie and loss. During the season, the Brewers won 25 games for the second straight season and in addition to road games in Charlottesville and Washington, played in Wissahickon and Allentown again. The team scored 169 goals and allowed just 51 as Gerry Horak and Ron Olenick split goaltending work. Each goalie recorded two shutouts and Ron Olenick's goals against average led the CHL at 1.62 goals per game. The final regular season standings for the 6 team loop were: National Brewers, Orchard Mercurys, Baltimore Jr.Clippers, Columbia Flyers, Baltimore Blazers and Benfield Blues.

The playoff semi final featured a victory over the Columbia Flyers by 7-3. Dave Mattingly scored 2 goals and had 2 assists, while Biff Evans and George Bachrach each had a goal and 3 assists to lead the team over Columbia. A final game win over the Orchard Mercurys by 5-2 gave the National Brewers a third consecutive Guertler Cup. Steve Bachman and Jim Bartlett each scored 2 goals in the 5-2 win. Goalie Ron Olenick had 31 saves for the winners. It was to be the middle of five consecutive championships for the beer men. The overall record was 25-4-1, the second consecutive 25 win season. Total goals scored were 234 and goals allowed rose to 97.