My Family and I arrived in Huntsville in 1974, and our son Greg at an early age showed an interest in hockey and I was determined to provide support in his development. Desiring an interest in coaching, I was introduced to hockey legend Mye Sedor and I started coaching a Novice town league team. While attending an OMHA coaches clinic I met Derm Connlley, the guest speaker from Newfoundland. I acquired coaching advice from the Master, not knowing that one day I would follow his coaching guidance. I signed Greg up in the novice program and little did I know that I would have the opportunity to coach and travel with the players of this era. From the first novice team tryout one player stood out from the rest and he would be my captain, my captain for the next eight years. I knew he was a special player and a natural born leader.
We traveled to Houston Texas, Newfoundland and Sweden, won two All Ontario’s Championships and several tournaments along the way. All of our trips were very successful and a wonderful experience for the many players who had never flown before. With the help of the team and their parents we were able to fundraise the money to pay for the players travel expenses. With help of Wayne Rutledge we organized a small tournament in Houston Texas. Our players were amazed at the wealth of their billets, some had private jets to take their teams from tournament to tournament. Our players were treated like stars!
Two years later I had the opportunity to renew a friendship with Derm Connolly. Our trip to Newfoundland held a great surprise, as our team shook hands with the last Father of Confederation, Joey Smallwood. The speaker of the house, Harry Hotter, introduced the team to the Newfoundland legislature noting they were the first mainlander minor hockey team to visit Newfoundland. Many of the games were sold out and Huntsville was so popular that the Newfoundlanders returned the visit to Huntsville the following year. The players also toured a Coast Guard Ice Breaker. At the New Year’s Eve party on the Rock I kissed the cod,was screeched in and was presented with a Newfoundland tie, I was now an honorary Newfoundlander!
Two years later we heard the OMHA was looking for a midget team to visit Sweden. This trip would involve two tournaments and some extra games near the arctic circle in Umea and Lulea Sweden. Due to a late arrival to Sweden each player received $200 American dollars. The Swedish under 18 National team based in Timra, had recently toured Toronto playing our best AAA Midget teams. The coach of the National team ran a practice with our team and I ran a practice with their team. Although we lost in the championship game 7 – 4 the National coach said we gave them the best game of the tournament. It was then I realized that we were good, very good. That same year we won the OMHA Championship!
*Five players from that Swedish National team would go on to play in the NHL.