Many years ago, there was a group that got together on Wednesday mornings for breakfast at the Burger World on Hammond Street in North Bay. Three of my former workmates were in this clique and invited me to attend. It used to be a ritual for me and I would never miss a week. However has time went on, I would skip a week here and there and finally I just stopped attending all together. I believe the organizer of this affair was Jim Sasyniuk. When I started to become a regular I was issued with an official plastic card which showed that I was a member of the “Hot Stuff League”. Jim gave every person in this fraternity one. I was saddened to learn that Jim had passed away on May 27th. One story I remember is when I wrote a poem about the history of hockey in North Bay. Jim got very sentimental when he read this and insisted that I send it to the nugget. There were many times when I would see him at the Battalion games and he would urge me to send it. Needless to say I didn’t and it never made it in the paper. So as a tribute to Jim I decided today not to write a new poem but instead to honour him and send it out on this weeks blog. Rest in peace Jim.
Hockey History
Above the mantle in my recroom hangs a picture on the wall
Of four hockey teams my father once played for, the first of them “Scollard Hall”
There he poses with his mates when they won the NOSSA crown
“Garland Beverages” and “The Boosters” are the final two teams he would play for in this town
“The Trappers” were the second team. That year they were northern champions of the Junior “A”
Then off to compete for the Memorial Cup was the next series they would play
Their dreams of being national champs would end up in defeat
But little did my father know that he would see this pattern repeat
History would repeat itself, it would become a recurring theme
Three of his sons would play high school hockey and then play for our junior team
Our family was not alone for that pattern would occur in other households in the Bay
Generation after generation playing for the “Trappers” continues to this day
The other day on a historical site that I chose to delve
Was a picture of a Trapper team circa nineteen twelve
Hockey is synonymous with our city, they go hand in hand
Living here all my life, I can certainly understand
King Street arena was the ice pad where my father used to play
Its location is where the Central plaza stands today
Memorial Gardens since nineteen fifty five has been our hockey shrine
So many events I’ve attended there, it’s like a second home of mine
I wasn’t tall enough to see over the boards when my older brothers used to play
My history with the Gardens goes back a long long way
I still recall the years they won and how the crowd did roar
My highlight of the sixties was when my brother played against Bobby Orr
I was attending high school with members of the team when they won the POHA
My contact with some of them continues on today
Eight years later came the Air Canada Cup and North Bay was chosen host
Our local Pinehill Coffee Shop won it all, Midget AAA champions from coast to coast
Many hockey fans dreams must have finally come true
When the Niagara Falls Flyers relocated here back in eighty two
Major Junior Hockey had finally arrived, never to be the same
To honour the hundred years of rail, Centennials became their name
After twenty years of hockey, they would stay here no more
The highlight would be league champions in nineteen ninety four
With so many players from this franchise that went from here to pro
The departure of the Centennials was a tragic blow
Gone was Major junior hockey, so back to the NOJHL was the way we would go
Our Team “The Skyhawks” would start it off by being champions three years in a row
They truly were a dominant team and proved it year after year
They were the class of the league, the ones everyone would fear
Twenty thirteen in Brampton, the Battalion, like the Flyers would share the same fate
Their negotiations with the city went sour and they chose North Bay to relocate
Memorial Gardens would get a facelift and the seating would have to increase
The team owners and our city fathers agreed to a fifteen year lease
Their first year of existence our Battalion got to the finals before bowing out
This year’s edition seems to have more grit and clout
The “Centennials” patch on the shoulders in the first year was a nice touch
The game they wore Centennial jerseys the fans appreciated so much
Still something is missing as I walk around the old rink
Every game I attend it causes me to think
The tribute to Bert Templeton behind the home bench is gone. Is anyone aware?
Has anybody else noticed? Does anybody care?
The banners of past championships are no longer there to see
How has it come to this? How can it be?
During construction, these artifacts must have been put away
Is that their final fate? In mothballs there to stay?
With over a century of this sport being played here, it just makes me ill
That this could happen to a city that once earned the name “Hockeyville”
I just want all these memories and accolades to last
We can still embrace the future, while we continue to honour the past.
Chris Reynolds
December 4, 2014
The Black Sheep Poet 