ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Telegram
Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador Hall of Fame Selection Committee released the names of 10 individuals this week who will comprise the next class of provincial hockey hall of fame inductees.
Evans announced players Daniel Cleary, Tony Cuomo, Charlie Greene, Jack Hill, Teddy Purcell and Mac Tucker, player/builders Chris Peach and Mark Robinson, builder Don Kelly and media member Brendan McCarthy will be inducted in early 2021.
Members of the hall’s selection committee are chairman Gerry Evans, Robin Short and Jack Lee of St. John’s, Don Bradshaw of Corner Brook, Arnold Kelly of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Hughie Wadden of Buchans.
BRENDAN McCARTHY (Media)
A British Columbia native, who was raised in New Brunswick, Brendan McCarthy arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1984 after accepting a news reporter’s position with Q Radio.
He remained in St. John’s radio for over five years before joining The Telegram in 1991 as its lead hockey writer, covering the newly arrived St. John’s Maple Leafs and the American Hockey League.
Since the Leafs’ arrival in 1991-92, McCarthy has covered the AHL (including the St. John’s IceCaps), the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s St. John’s Fog Devils and, currently, the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.
In addition to his work with the newspaper, McCarthy provided colour commentary on Maple Leafs’ and Icecaps’ home and away games with fellow Hall of Famers and play-by-play men George McLaren and Brian Rogers on VOCM Radio.
McCarthy was also a regular contributor to AHL coverage on Rogers TV and, prior to that, Cable Atlantic. He was a 1998 winner of the James H. Ellery Award for outstanding coverage of the AHL.
He is also a published author, having penned "Forward Thinking: The Danny Cleary Story" in 2008.
CHARLIE GREENE (Player)
Compared to other Hall of Famers, Charlie Greene may be considered an unheralded hockey player, but his numbers speak for themelves: 10-year Newfoundland Senior Hockey League career, four Herder Memorial Trophy championships, one league scoring title, 34th on the all-time scoring chart and 33rd all-time in playoff scoring.
This talented forward with a nose for the net came up through the Grand Falls minor system. He was part of the 1971-72 Memorial University Beothuks squad which made the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association playoffs, the first MUN team to do so.
Greene broke into the senior ranks with the 1973 St. John’s Capitals, Bob Badcock’s “Kiddie Korps” who won the first of four straight Herders that season.
Greene returned home the next year, and spent the next two seasons with the Cataracts. He finished fifth in regular-season scoring in 1974 (27-30-57), and tied for third in playoff scoring.
He won the league scoring title in 1975, with 10 goals and 36 assists.
Greene was back in St. John’s in 1976, and won his second Herder with the Capitals. He won again with the Labatt BlueCaps in 1978 and the Stephenville Jets in 1983.
Greene totaled 335 career points in only 195 regular season games.
CHRIS PEACH (Player-Builder)
Chris Peach enjoyed a successful junior A career in the Maritime Hockey League, and intercollegiate stint with the University of New Brunswick Reds before going on to play 10 years of pro hockey.
A native of C.B.S., Peach finished as one of the all-time top scorers for the Maritime league’s Summerside Capitals, leading the team in scoring three times, winning team rookie of the year honours and taking home Caps’ MVP honours once.
At UNB, Peach appeared in 71 career games, scoring 40 goals and assisting on 33 others.
He turned pro in 1996, and would spend eight seasons in the Western Pro league, Central Hockey League and Southern Pro league, with eight teams. He was an all-star in both the WPHL and CHL. In 1997-98, he was the WPHL’s Man of the Year for his community involvement with the Waco Wizards.
He also enjoyed pro stints overseas, in Germany (2000-01) and Italy (2004-05).
In 570 professional games, Peach had 238 goals and 503 points.
After retiring from pro, he returned home to play provincial senior hockey with Deer Lake and Grand Falls-Windsor.
After a lengthy playing career, Peach hung up the skates in 2014 and took over behind the bench to coach the Gander Flyers of the West Coast senior circuit.
He also coached in the provincial major midget loop.
DANIEL CLEARY (Player)
Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador Hall of Famer Alex Faulkner, a former Detroit Red Wing, will always be remembered as the first Newfoundlander to play in the National Hockey League.
Another Red Wing, Daniel Cleary, will be remembered as the first Newfoundlander to win the Stanley Cup. That happened in 2008, when the Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a six-game final.
It was the highlight of a brilliant 17-year NHL career for the Riverhead, Harbour Grace native, one that saw him appear in 1,059 NHL games, most of any Newfoundlander, and register 439 career NHL points, again the standard of any hockey player from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Two hundred and seventy-five of those points were tallied whilst wearing the winged wheel, putting him 34th on Detroit's all-time scoring list.
During a period in the late-2000s, when he put together three straight years of 40, 42 and 40 points, Cleary was regarded as one of the most complete players in the game. It's why he was invited to Canada's 2010 Olympic team summer evaluation camp.
Drafted 13th overall in 1997 by the Chicago Blackhawks, Cleary also played for the Edmonton Oilers and Phoenix Coyotes.
Cleary is currently Detroit’s assistant director of player development to Shawn Horcoff, his former Edmonton teammate.
DON KELLY (Builder)
Don Kelly of Mount Pearl first registered as an on-ice official in 1974, joining the Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association’s officiating program in 1976 (refereeing in the new Mount Pearl Minor Hockey Association) and continued officiating until 2017.
A Level 5 official, Kelly refereed at all levels of hockey (minor, junior and senior), including the Herder Memorial Trophy finals, and the Air Canada Cup national midget championship staged in St. John’s in 1989.
He became involved in the Hockey NL officiating program at the provincial level when he was appointed an instructor/supervisor for the Avalon region in 1985, until 2017.
Kelly was appointed chairman of the provincial rules committee in 1995 and held the job for 10 years. In 2000, he was appointed supervisor of officials for the branch.
In 2005, Kelly was elected referee-in-chief for Hockey NL, a position he held until 2017.
Nationally, Kelly served on the board of directors of Hockey Canada’s national officiating policy committee.
JACK HILL (Player)
Jack Hill is one of a handful of hockey players who can boast they won the prestigious Boyle Trophy and Herder Memorial Trophy championships.
Hill came up through the Prince of Wales Collegiate ranks, beginning his intercollegiate hockey career at age 15 before making the jump to the Guards, with whom he played St. John's junior and senior hockey in 1963-64 and 1964-65..
A Wesleyville native, Hill won scoring titles and MVP awards in both leagues, and also helped the senior Blue and White to the Boyle Trophy championship.
After winning the junior league scoring title and Guards’ junior MVP award in 1967-68, he broke in with the St. John’s Capitals the following season and registered a 28-point campaign.
In 1969-70, he was scoring leader and MVP of the St. John’s senior league, helped Guards win the Boyle Trophy and the Caps win the Herder. Hill would go on to win another two Herders with the Caps.
He registered 144 points in 163 games with the St. John’s Capitals.
MAC TUCKER (Player)
From the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League, to the Avalon East Hockey League to the Avalon West Hockey League, Mac Tucker has enjoyed a lengthy and productive career in Newfoundland.
A Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s native, Tucker was a St. John’s high school and junior hockey star. The Labatt BlueCaps of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League liked Tucker’s game, and in 1979-80, the youngster made an immediate impact in the senior ranks , finishing 10th in league scoring (27-28-55 in 33 games) and winning NSHL rookie of the year honours.
It was the start of a nine-year provincial senior hockey career that included three Herder Memorial Trophy championships (1985 and ’86 Corner Brook Royals, and 1987 St. John’s Capitals) and an Allan Cup crown.
During their Allan Cup season of 1985-86, Tucker was one of the Royals’ top two-way forwards, playing a rugged/defensive game while chipping in with 11 goals and 34 points in 26 appearances.
MARK ROBINSON (Player-Builder)
Mark Robinson was only 16-years-old and still in high school when he enjoyed his first taste of senior hockey in Newfoundland and Labrador, with the LaScie Jets of the Central Beothuk Senior Hockey League.
Following high school, Robinson headed to Nova Scotia and the Windsor Royals of the Nova Scotia junior B league. He was the 1992-93 league rookie of the year after finishing second in league scoring (29-20-49 in 26 games).
The next season, he moved west again, to St. Catharines, Ont. and the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League. He led the Falcons in scoring, and was third overall in the league.
He returned home the following year, and won the provincial junior championship with the Deer Lake squad.
Following his junior days, Robinson joined the senior ranks with Bay Roberts of the Avalon West circuit in 1996-97, led the Tigers in scoring and was named the league’s rookie of the year.
He would enjoy a decorated senior career, winning the Herder in 2000-01 and 2004-05 with the Deer Lake Red Wings. He was the rookie of the year in provincial senior hockey in 1998, led all senior hockey players in scoring from 2003-06, and 2009 (when he had 35 goals and 65 points in only 24 games), and was the most gentlemanly and sportsmanlike player in 2007. Robinson was named senior hockey’s MVP in 2003 and 2009.
Since retiring as a player, Robinson has been busy coaching, specifically elite minor hockey teams. He’s guided Western bantam AAA and major midget teams to provincial titles, winning coach of the year awards in both leagues.
TEDDY PURCELL (Player)
Throughout a brilliant career that included 10 years in the pros – and nine in the National Hockey League – Teddy Purcell is one player who produced at every level at which he played.
A minor hockey and high school (Gonzaga Vikings) star coming up through the ranks in his native St. John’s, Purcell first grabbed the national spotlight as a member of the St. John’s Maple Leafs AAA midget team, winning MVP honours at the Air Canada Cup midget nationals in 2003.
The following season, 2003-04, he was off to Athol Murray College in Wilcox, Sask. – home of the Notre Dame Hounds – and played in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
In December, he committed to the University of Maine starting in 2006-07.
Scoring 21 goals and registering 46 points in 51 games, Purcell was third on Hounds’ scoring, and tied for fourth in SJHL rookie scoring.
He headed south to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the USHL for the next two years, biding his time until he attended Maine, averaging well over a point per game for two seasons.
Purcell would spend only one year at Maine, winning Hockey East conference rookie of the year honours.
An undrafted free agent, the Los Angeles Kings jumped at the chance to make Purcell a contract offer and the forward, coming off a 16-goal, 43-point season in his first year of NCAA hockey, signed on the dotted line.
He turned pro with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, piled up 83 points in 2007-08 and was the AHL’s rookie of the year.
He split the next season between Manchester and L.A., but his break came in 2010 when the Tampa Bay Lightning dealt Jeff Halpern to the Kings in exchange for Purcell.
He found a full-time home in Tampa, playing regularly under coach Guy Boucher. During Tampa’s deep playoff run in 2011 – the Lightning lost the Eastern Conference final to eventual Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins – Purcell had 17 points in 18 post-season games, third on the team behind Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.
Purcell spent five years with the Lightning, two in Edmonton with the Oilers, and brief spells with the Florida Panthers and back in L.A.
He appeared in 599 career NHL games over nine seasons, scoring 110 goals and 327 career NHL points.
TONY CUOMO (Player)
Tony Cuomo was an import hockey player brought to Newfoundland from Levack, Ont., by the Grand Falls Cataracts, and it didn’t take long for the move to pay dividends.
Cuomo finished amongst the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League’s Top 10 scoring leaders in 1981-82, helping the Cataracts to the Herder Memorial Trophy, the first of three Herders Cuomo won during a seven-year career in Newfoundland.
Cuomo played three seasons with Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, with future NHLers Craig Hartsburg, Mike Kaszycki and Ted Nolan.
Following his junior career, Cuomo headed east to St. Francis Xavier University, where he established himself as one of the best to play for the X-Men. A 1980-81 Atlantic Universities Athletic Association MVP, Cuomo is tied for 27th on the all-time AUAA/AUS scoring list.
Cuomo played two seasons in Grand Falls following his collegiate career, three with the Corner Brook Royals and wound up his senior career in Mount Pearl with two years on the Blades’ roster.
His final scoring stats read 134 goals, 196 assists and 330 points in 200 games played. That’s good enough for 35th on the all-time senior hockey scoring register.
It was in Corner Brook where Cuomo found his greatest success, reaching the Herder final in 1983-84 before the Royals won the next two Newfoundland senior league championships. Cuomo finished in the top 10 in senior league scoring on three occasions, and during the Herder-winning years in 1985 and ’86, was third and second in Royals scoring.
Perhaps his greatest success was being a key part in the Royals’ Allan Cup win in 1986.
Following his retirement as a player, Cuomo settled in St. John’s where he was very active as a minor hockey coach.
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