Pretty much all the core sports in Canada have their own Hall of Fame. There’s the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame, Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Track and field has a Hall of Fame. Volleyball. Rowing. Figure skating. You name it.
But where’s the Hockey Canada Hall of Fame?
One does not exist.
The Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto is the sport’s shrine, a creation of the NHL and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (as it was known at the time) in the
1950s.
This Hall is open to all, regardless of place of birth, regardless of pro or amateur status — from Russian icons Valeri Kharlamov and Vladislav Tretiak, to miserly American-born NHL team owners Bill Wirtz and Jeremy Jacobs, to U.S. coaching legend ‘Badger’ Bob Johnson, to Brit Bunny Ahearne, the reviled ex-International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president.
Which begs the question: why doesn’t our own governing body for hockey — Hockey Canada — have a domestic Hall of Fame?
Gretzky and Orr and Richard and a slew of others would be first-ballot entries, of course. But also receiving consideration would be individuals who otherwise have no hope of induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame that we currently know.
Individuals who have made a significant mark on Canadian hockey, from junior and amateur hockey stars to people who worked tirelessly at the game for many years in a particular province.
People like Newfoundland’s Don Johnson, for example, who spearheaded Canada’s withdrawal from world championship play in the ’70s because this country was denied permission to use pros in the worlds, and later — as president of the CAHA — guided Canada back into the IIHF.
Story is at the 1975 IIHF Congress in Switzerland, where Johnson was Canada's delegate, Germany's Guenther Sabetzki was running against Ahearne for the IIHF's top post.
Johnson cooked a deal with Sabetzki that would see the CAHA support him in exchange for Canada getting its pros.
Sabetzki won, and Canada got its NHLers eligible for the worlds.
Johnson, who chaired the 1978 world junior championship in Montreal, was also a driving force behind Canada going with a national team concept for the world juniors instead of club teams.
It’s the stuff worthy of Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame consideration, if there was one.
A place where the Boyle Trophy and Herder Memorial Trophy could be housed. Where Newfoundland’s George Faulkner, who helped Canada win a bronze medal by leading the team in scoring at the 1966 world championship, and other long-time national team players like Fran Huck or Wally Schreiber, who have no hope of induction into the current Hall of Fame, could be enshrined.
Each has left a huge mark on Canadian hockey, along with many, many others across the country.
They’re people who should be in the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame.
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The baseball crowd got their knickers in a knot, apparently upset that someone (okay, me) pointed out it makes zero sense that a centre with neither a ball field nor league can play for the province’s top prize, the provincial senior ‘A’ championship.
And that the all-Newfoundland senior ‘A’ tournament is a snoozefest, with St. John’s winning the last five straight championships, and 18 in the past 19 years.
And that our results in national play are abysmal while softball, for example, thrives and soccer is competitive nationally.
Truth hurts, I suppose.
So while baseball is busy dredging up excuses to prove me wrong, I offer this free, unsolicited advice:
No. 1: spend some money and bring in a pro or semi-pro coach, preferably from the U.S., to oversee a revamping of a floundering program and coach our coaches and athletes. We’ve seen what coaching has done for rugby (Pat Parfrey and Simon Blanks), and what it did for Memorial University years ago (Alan Ross, Ed Browne and John Drinkwater).
We saw what coaching did for Corner Brook (Steve Angeline and before him the likes of Ed Nietopski and Randy Edwards) and Grand Falls (Bob Brooder and later Mac Orbaugh) when those centres brought in Americans to run the programs years ago.
No. 2: at the senior level, scrap the club championship, the provincial senior B and senior A tournaments, and draw up some sort of provincial league play at the senior ‘A’ level (St. John’s, Corner Brook, Gander, Mount Pearl and, once their programs mature, C.B.S., C.B.N. and Grand Falls-Windsor). Centres without suitable ball fields would not play host to games. Then consult with the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick senior baseball leagues to stage an Atlantic championship in early August in Nova Scotia, featuring the winners of the previous year’s championships in each province.
Newfoundland and Labrador, in the meantime, will still compete at nationals.
In other words, do something. Be creative.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Forgot about Myles Vincent last week when I mentioned baseball guys from Newfoundland and Labrador who have worn national team uniforms. The Corner Brook southpaw helped Canada win a silver medal at the 2012 world 18-and-under baseball championship in South Korea … Oh yes, I wrote about Vincent on June 28, 2013 in a story headlined “The kids are alright; We sure have talent.” Contrary to popular belief, ‘nice’ human interest stories far outweigh critiques on The Telegram’s sports pages. We just take people and sports to task when they deserve it … And when there are causes for concern (I dunno, like maybe when a centre wins 18 of 19 provincial baseball championships, or when a provincial women’s soccer team scores 100 goals and gives up none???), is the media supposed to shut up, grab a pompom and proclaim that everything is lovely? Dream on … This has to be a first: there are 11 players on the provincial boys’ under-17 basketball team, and six are from the Corner Brook area. The remaining five are from the St. John’s metro area where — what? — 75 per cent of basketball in the province is played. Noticed the head coach and an assistant are from Corner Brook. You know, just sayin’ … Why would the Cleveland Indians trade for Yasiel Puig? You get distinct feeling this player could be a clubhouse cancer … Why isn’t ball hockey on the list of sports for the Olympic, Pan American or Commonwealth Games programs, or even Canada Games? Why is it not played in (Canadian university) USports or NCAA, and why is it not recognized by Sport Canada? Why? … Time is ticking for centres in Newfoundland and Labrador (if there are any) who wish to step and cite their intentions of staging the 2025 Canada Summer Games, to which this province is scheduled to play host. They’re exactly six years from now this month. Might Newfoundland and Labrador be in the embarrassing position to again forgo the Games? The province was slated to stage the 2021 Games, but swapped positions with Ontario (which was in line to hold the ’25 Games) … If Mike Trout is to ever be mentioned in the same breath as baseball’s icons, he’ll have to win something. Yes, Ted Williams never won a World Series, but the difference is, he’s Ted Williams … Georges St-Pierre is coming to St. John’s in September for an event. Chap once argued with me on Twitter that St-Pierre was bigger than Wayne Gretzky, when Gretzky was in his prime. I suspect there are other UFC meatheads out there with the same train of thought …
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort
