Fond memories of growing up Chapleau return for wonderful moments at Harry 'Butch' Pellow party

I took a course in twentieth century European history from Dr Jacques Goutor more than a few years ago ago now, and the first thing I learned from him was that hockey kept Canada together. Well, he didn't actually come out and say that exactly, but on the first day of class he told us about his arrival in Canada from France.Dr Goutor told us that upon arriving in Toronto, he went out and bought the newspapers and the headlines were LEAFS WIN STANLEY CUP! It was 1967, our Centennial year as a nation, and the Toronto Maple Leafs had defeated their arch rivals the Montreal Canadiens in six games. It was the last time the Leafs would win Lord Stanley's mug. As an aside Dr Goutor was one of the best professors I ever had and went from Wilfrid Laurier University to the University of Western Ontario. He died recently.

Tee Chambers, Butch, Aldee 1954 & Aldee and Butch 2014

All so typically Canadian for our Centennial year in 1967-- a team from the heart of English Canada wins the Stanley Cup but the focus for the celebrations of the centennial is on Montreal, the major French Canadian city which hosted Expo '67, and the cup is named after an Englishman who was Governor General at one time. Trust me on this one! It is such as this that has contributed  to keeping the country together and safe-- the invisible hand of Canadian compromise!

Dr Goutor, who at the time had little knowledge of hockey and its importance to Canadians, said he decided to stay here because it had to be a safe place if the headlines were about a sporting event. He was raised in France and lived through the horrors of World War II and its aftermath.

To this day, I watch the headlines of Canadian daily newspapers, and headline writers are ecstatic on those days they can proclaim victory for their local hockey team when it wins a title, and are beside themselves with joy when Canada wins internationally. In Chapleau, hockey often has dominated the front page headline from the Chapleau Post to the Chapleau Sentinel to the Chapleau Express.

Fast forward to Toronto, October, 2014. The Leafs have still not won another Stanley Cup, but there we were, more than 60 present and past Chapleau residents, gathered for a party at the home of Brigitte and Harry 'Butch' Pellow. We had travelled from many places for this occasion, and of course, when two or more Canadians meet together, two topics arise -- hometown hockey, and that other great Canadian unifier, the weather.

Chapleau hockey players from Yen Hong who was playing Intermediate hockey in 1949, to his brother Jim, to their respective sons Bill and Geoffrey, who played at home in the late 1970s, to representatives from the 1950s of my vintage in minor hockey and Chapleau High School teams were all there. (They even let me be in the group photo as a hockey player as knowing I was not headed for the NHL, I gracefully retired after one year and became a referee. Thanks guys)

 Baisel C, Mike McM Mrs Broomhead, David Mc, Richard Pilon,Tim Goodwin Charlie White, Ken S, Boo Hong

Jim E, Butch, Ian Macdonald, Dr Frank B

Imagine, 60 years later, the "famous" game for Chapleau Bantam supremacy was still on the agenda. Mike McMullen, who was there with his wife Alison (McMillan), had scored the winning goal in overtime. Frank Broomhead, was there and later I was able to send him a photo of his grandmother, Mrs. Broomhead presenting the Algoma Dairy Trophy to the winning team.

But we also played road hockey and river hockey, and for some reason I was a much better player in those venues.

In a story Butch Pellow wrote a while back, he captured the Hong brothers and others so well and I share part of it again with you.

"

Jim E on left, Mike McM, Yen

Think of that slap shot by Hong, Hong, Hong, or one of the really big guys when it accelerated over the ice ridges and soared away out over the river; or at you directly, then veered away as it embraced the ripples. Can you recall the sound of the skates cutting through the crisp surface as they raced for the puck, can you recall the whack, slap, and clicking of sticks on each other and on the ice? 

"What about the yelling and chanting and the code words that defined the play. “..over here” “…pass it, pass it”; “…go, go go”; “he scores!” etc….; wild enthusiasm and true abandonment because it would be dark very soon and there were very few lights to mark the way home.

Tout le gang

"Do you remember how the Hongs played hockey and skated? Yen sprinted, was light on his feet, very fast and dipsy-doodled like no one else (except maybe Max Bentley). He even bore the nickname “Ziggy”. Jim was a powerful steady and fast upright skater and a great stick handler as I recall; and our friend Boo skated low, took long steady deliberate strides and always made skating fast look easy; he also had his skates rockered so there wasn’t more than a couple of inches touching the surface."   

Harry 'Boo' Hong was not with us as he has passed away, but we remembered him, and it was delightful that his wife Donna was with us from Vancouver. Of course the conversation turned to so many other topics. Some of us had not seen each other in more than 50 years since our days at Chapleau High School.

Bill C, Butch, Joy (Evans), Jim H on right

But it seemed like only yesterday since we were growing up Chapleau, hanging out in the Boston Café, going down the lake, attending dances at the Legion or Town Hall basement, travelling over the gravel road to Racine Lake for awesome parties the home of the Martel family, preparing for the annual Cadet inspection, banquet and dance, cheering at hockey games in the old old rink and Chapleau Memorial Community Arena, in the electrifying atmosphere of home town hockey, driving around the streets of Chapleau aimlessly in the evening but never too far from Main Street just in case something really big happened, going to house parties, attending church services on Christmas Eve, and the list is really endless.

Ken S, MJM , Yen, Dr Bill Pellow

We were growing up Chapleau and at Butch and Brigitte's party, all were discussed as laughter abounded all day. Those were the days my friends and we thought they would never end, and just maybe for another moment they came alive again at this party

On a very personal note, it was the highlight of 2014 to be with so many old friends as the song says "to pass the time of day" knowing that the greatest resource a community has is its people. My friends -- throughout its history, that has been and is the Chapleau brand. I extend my most sincere best wishes for the holiday season and Christmas to all. Every blessing, and my apologies once again for mixing metaphors!  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

HOCKEY PLAYERS 2014 pic  Back Jim Machan, Vince Crichton, Ian Macdonald, Geoffrey Hong, Mike McMullen, Seated MJM, Frank Broomhead, Bill Cachagee, Butch, Jim Hong, Bill Hong,  (kneeling) Yen Hong, Aldee Martel, Ken Schroeder

 Chapleau Huskies Intermediate team of 1949. Back row are from left O. Robinson, D. Swanson, L. Riley, G. Lucas, Tee Chambers, F.Goheen, K. Strapp, T. Collinson, 'Sonny' Bignucolo, D.O. Payette (manager), P. Serre, R. Hamlin, G. Payette. Front from left, Yen Hong, B. Evans, R. Sonego, Ross Thornton (coach), T. Jardine, A. Mione, J. Morin, M. Mione, C. Fiaschetti.

.The CHS team of 1956-57. Back row from left: David McMillan, Doug Slievert, Stan Barty,Thane Crozier, Clarence Fiaschetti (teacher and coach), George Lemon (principal) Second row: Doug Espaniel, Roger Mizuguchi, Bill Cachagee . Front are Jim Hong, Bert Lemon, Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Robbie Pellow (Mascot) Marc Boulard, Harry Hong, Jim Machan, Ron Morris. Note that Clarence was playing on the 1949 Junior team, and was also first CHS student to return as teacher.

Thanks to Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Diane (Dowsley) Richardson, Mike McMullen for photos

Chapleau 2012 begins with hockey from Chapleau to Senneterre to Florida

Names at Bottom

Henry Byce recently sent me a photo from a hockey tournament he attended in 1979, and it struck me as a great way to end 2011, and begin 2012 which for many of us will be defined as "CHAPLEAU 2012" as we head home to celebrate at the 90th anniversary reunion festival of Chapleau High School. The dates are June 29 to July 2, 2012.

Here is Henry's email:

"Hey Chief, continuing with your hockey theme, I thought I would include a "blast from my past". This photo was taken in 1979. It was a hockey tournament in Senneterre Quebec. I don't know how we did in the tourney, but I know we had fun. You coached and taught most of us in this picture. As a kid watching the Huskies was one of the greatest memories I have, and to have 2 great players as our coaches was awesome. With the high school reunion fast appraoching, I hope I get a chance to see and talk to many of my former team mates.

Thanks Chief".

Yes, Henry, I did coach and teach most of you on that team when you were playing Midget hockey in 1982-83 and kindly called the your team "The Chiefs" after my nickname, which was actually given to me by the 1970-71, Midget hockey team.

Let me explain for those who don't know how I came to be called Chief.

One day at practice, Keith McAdam called me "MJ", and having become "Mr. Morris" by virtue of now being a s teacher at Chapleau High School, I appropriately lost my temper, letting the team know I was Mr. Morris to them, and I stormed from the dressing room downstairs in the old Chapleau Memorial Community Arena. 

Through the door I could hear the players discussing the situation when suddenly Lionel Corston spoke up. 

"I have it,"Lionel said, "we will call him the Chief. We are the Indians and he is the Chief." (I use the word Indians in the context of this anecdote.)

The players agreed, and led by team captain Jamie Doyle. they came through the dressing room door and each one in turn with a smile on his face, said "Hi Chief". What could I do? The kids had won a big one and they knew it.   CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE ...

Names at bottom

The coaches of Henry's team were Pat Swanson and Paul McDonald, both of whom as he says were "great players" on the Chapleau Intermediate A Huskies of the Northland Intermediate Hockey League from 1975 to 1979. a team I also coached and managed, sharing those duties over the years with Doug Prusky.

Regarding Henry's hope that he gets a chance to visit with many of his former teammates at the CHS reunion, Charlie Purich is hoping that a hockey reunion can be included in the festivities. Let me know if you are interested.

After receiving Henry's email the other day, I hauled out two photos to include with this post, one of The Chiefs and the other of me with some members of the Intermediate A Huskies in Florida about 1978.

Shortly after I posted I received an email from Mark Dillon, who played on the team in Senneterre and then THE CHIEFS,


Here is Mark's message:


Glad to see the pictures of hockey past from Henry and the Chiefs. The Senneterre tournament we were in the "B" Division, which was above us,( I think we were "C" back home) and we lost in the final to Val D'or before a packed house. We were a contact team and unaware that Quebec wasn't. After a few (french term) " Placage" penalties we took the contact out of our game lol. Great showing by all made it very memorable for me. 


The Chiefs team made up of:  standing  yourself, Gary Murphy, Doug Hong, David Freeborn, Jamie Doyle, Mike Payette, I think Jean Marie Besnier, Rory Foran, David McAdam playing out, Donald Omer Landry, Mr. Bellevance. Kneeling Shawn Russell, Mark Dillon, Shane Gilham, Barry Hong missing is Billy Scheer.


 I was lucky to play with you guys since there was no midget team in minor hockey to play for that year. I always  laugh at the picture. Jamie is holding my hair back after my mom complaining about the bangs in my eyes. I believe we won the regular season but lost to Swanson and the guys in the playoffs. 

Thanks so much to Mark and Henry for their memories. 
 

HENRY'S TEAM: Back row (l-r) P.Swanson(coach), D. Desbois, D. Morrison, D. Dionne, D. Lafreniere, C. Vezina, T. Broomhead, J. Rioux, A. Barsalou Middle row M. Dillon, K. Dillon, M. Houle, P. McDonald(coach)

 Front row A. Madore, R. Martel, M. Lingenfelter, T. Sawyer, H.Byce, J. Castonguay, D. Vandal


HUSKIES IN FLORIDA: Back from left Jim Gill, Dave McMillan, MJM, Danny Vaughan, Brad Prophet, Chris McMillan, and kneeling Bill Scheer, Pat Swanson

Chapleau Senior Bantams became part of NOPHA, 'biggest hockey league in the world' winning Division A championship in 1967-68 season

Whenever I returned home to Chapleau  while at university and later as a daily newspaper reporter in the  1960s, one of my regular stops for a visit to catch up on local  hockey news was the home of L.D. 'Don' and Olive M. Card, both of whom were involved with the Chapleau Minor Hockey Association for many years.

When I was a kid in the 1950s, Don and Garth "Tee" Chambers were the main minor hockey coaches while also playing in the town league and for the Intermediate Huskies. 

Olive (Schroeder) Card served as secretary-treasurer of the minor hockey association for more than 20 years, and was known as 'Mrs. Minor Hockey', a title she richly deserved for her years of dedication to minor hockey. She also became a member of Chapleau Township council, the second woman after Mrs. F.M. Hands, to be elected. Olive was deputy reeve for several years.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Olive and Don would share news on up and coming hockey players and how teams were doing. 

I learned about the players who would eventually become the 1966-67 Chapleau Junior 'B' Huskies, who under the guidance of Lorne Riley and Keith 'Buddy' Swanson, would win the International Junior 'B' Hockey League and Northern Ontario Hockey Association championships in  1966-67, their first year in the league. Except for John Loyst, the goaltender who came from Timmins, all the players were graduates of Chapleau minor hockey.

But Olive and Don would tell me over coffee in their kitchen about another group of players who were destined to make a very significant mark in the annals of Chapleau hockey history -- the players on the Senior Bantams between 1965 and 1968, first coached by David Mizuguchi who became the manager, and was succeeded by David Futhey.

Little did I know when I first heard about the Bantams across a kitchen table talking Chapleau hockey while visiting my mother Muriel E. (Hunt) Morris, family and friends, how huge a role many of these players would play in my life in years to come. When I first heard great things about them I was living in Saskatchewan working as a reporter, later editor at the Star-Phoenix in Saskatoon.

In fact, their success between 1965 and 1968 before many of them went on to play for the Junior 'B' Huskies has only struck me in the past year or so after being back in touch with David Mizuguchi on Facebook. 

It all started in the 1965-66 season, just as the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was getting artificial ice, and the team went to a hockey tournament in Lasarre, Quebec. They emerged as the Division B champions with David Mizuguchi as coach. They repeated this success in 1966-67 with David again as coach --- a year of champions for Chapleau hockey with the Junior 'B' Huskies winning too. 

However, it was in the 1967-1968 hockey season, the last for most of them as Bantams, that they really excelled. They were moved into Division A at the Lasarre tournament but won the title and they also won the Northern Ontario Playground Hockey Association (NOPHA)  'A' championship in the Bantam category with David Mizuguchi as manager, David Futhey as coach and Doug Prusky who was now overage as trainer.

Chapleau minor hockey had a long history with the NOPHA founded in 1951 by Sam Jacks shortly after he became the first recreation director in North Bay. After the NOPHA was founded, the Manitoba Ensign reported in a story from North Bay that it was the "biggest hockey league in the world" and was supported by communities throughout Northern Ontario.

 In the early 1950s I was on a Chapleau Bantam team in the NOPHA  that played in Sudbury, making the trip on one occasion in our own railway car on the CPR singing 'Heart of My Heart' over and over and over again.

As I really had no future as a hockey player despite my love of the game, Tee, Don and Olive were instrumental in having me attend an NOPHA referees school in North Bay, and as a result, I refereed my first out of town games in North Bay and Sudbury. Mr. Jacks conducted the referees school.

In 2012 Lasarre will celebrate the 49th anniversary of its Bantam hockey tournament.

In  1969 when I started teaching at Chapleau High School, the Bantams were now the Juniors, attending the school, and over the next few years many of them would be in my classes. I came to know them well, and we also met at the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena on weekends where I would be refereeing games.

As I have been looking backward a bit while thinking about, and doing this piece, it struck me that many of these players defined Chapleau hockey for about 20 years, and deserve a vote of thanks for their contribution to many great hockey nights in Chapleau --- and on the road too. And yes, after playing their minor hockey and junior hockey for their home town, along with some from the championship Junior 'B' Huskies, and the others who joined us, they became part of the Intermediate 'A' Huskies for five years --- and that is a story for another day. Thanks guys!  

Thanks to David Mizuguchi too.My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Chapleau experienced some tough times in 1970s but education was booming and memorial arena packed for Junior "B" Huskies games

Greaser Day at CHS 1975. Can you name the Greasers?

Although a visiting magazine writer portrayed Chapleau as going through tough times in 1971, two very community minded citizens made sure Tom Slater of Canadian Panorama magazine knew it was a "terrific" place to live.

Slater was in town to write about the closing down of the CPR diesel engine repair shops and the possibility that an iron ore mine would open about 22 miles from Chapleau, but its employees would live in town. Kipco Metals and Chemicals Ltd. had announced that it would open a mine, but of course it never happened.

I just have to share how Slater describes his arrival in Chapleau, obviously intended for his readers, most of whom had never been north of Barrie, from Toronto.

Slater writes: "The big train lumbers into the station and pulls up with a deep sigh. Attendants bundled up in heavy parkas and thick gloves breathe clouds of white frost as they struggle to unload baggage for the few passengers.

"The stop is Chapleau ... a spot on the Canadian Pacific Railway's main line... It is 4:30 a.m and the thermometer reads 25 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) Snow is piled higher than man can reach".

After he gets settled, Slater writes that the "sun has replaced the stars, and the hard-packed snow glares under its brilliance and crunches under heavy boots as the natives of Chapleau walk along Birch Street .. for an early morning coffee at the Sportsman Hotel or the Au Cog D'Or Restaurant."

Slater meets Con Schmidt and "it comes as a surprise" to him that Con had lived in Toronto and had settled in Chapleau.

Con, always a great Chapleau booster told him: "There was a time when I thought living in a small place like Chapleau would be terrible. And, my wife (Wilma), she just couldn't stand the thought of coming up here. But now (in 1971), we can't think of a better place to live".

And, Tom Welch, the publisher of the Chapleau Sentinel, adnitting that times were tough for a lot of people, said, "But I'm sure they're going to get better. There's so much for people to do here and the community atmosphere is terrific".

I had returned home in 1969 and started teaching at Chapleau High School, and shortly after arriving was contacted by Jim Hong and Raoul Lemieux to return to refereeing games in the International Junior "B" Hockey League, of which the Chapleau Huskies were a member since 1966-67 when it won the championship in its first year. Tom Welch, along with Keith "Buddy" Swanson and Lorne Riley, were instrumental in founding the team and the Huskies were a major reason for a great community atmosphere.

The Chapleau Memorial Community Arena would be packed for home games, and fans in great numbers would be packed into vehicles to travel to away games. Great fun, and too bad writers from afar who visit for a day or so would not stick around for a real taste of the north. They could describe a trip to Wawa on a cold winter night, or maybe to Sault Ste. Marie along Highway 17 during a blinding snowstorm.

Anyway, in the 1970-71 season, Earle Freeborn was coaching the Huskies and a great season it was with the team winning the honour of participating in southern Ontario.

Although, the Chapleau economy was hurting in some respects, education was booming. For example, the new Chapleau High School had opened on the hill in 1966, and by 1971 an addition was completed. By 1972 it had about 450 students, compared to about 100 when I was a CHS student in the 1950s and 200 plus in the Sixties.

In the 1950s there were six or seven teachers and by 1970 over 20 on the high school staff. Expansion had also taken place at the Chapleau Public School and the Chapleau Roman Catholic Separate Schools.

In fact, there was a shortage of teachers in Northern Ontario at the time and the Ontario Department of Education introduced a summer school program for teachers  at Lakehead University. I attended it with Alex Babin, Wayne Pascoe, Al White and Ron Jackson from CHS.

In 2012, CHS will celebrate its 90th anniversary, and former students and teachers, will come home to Chapleau to join those who still live there, and many stories will be told, out of the mothballs of memory, about the terrific place where we grew up and went to school. Many, for sure, will be very rough drafts of history. Pardon me for mixing metaphors of mothballs of memory and rough draft of history!

To help you get started, the photo this week is from Greaser Day at Chapleau High in 1975 when these senior students posed for this awesome photo. They will remain anonymous for the moment, but if you know who they are, jot down their names. Watch for more news on the upcoming Chapleau High School Terrific Photo Contest.

Thanks to David McMillan and Larry Martel for their assistance. My email is mj.morris@live.ca