Hockey keeps country together along with the weather as great Canadian unifiers

Tee Chambers, Harry Pellow, Aldee Martel, 1954

I started my blog Michael J Morris Reports two years ago now, and seemingly, like most things I have undertaken in my life, I was not really sure the direction it would take. For the moment at least, it seems to have settled on creating "a portrait of Chapleau" as Ian Macdonald, my friend and now retired professor of architecture at the University of Manitoba once described it.

However, perhaps appropriately, given my interest in hockey over the years, in the beginning one of the first pieces I wrote  was how hockey keeps the country together. Given the start of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2010-2011 NHL season, about which I will say no more, I decided to share, in slightly amended form. Hockey Keeps the Country Together to mark the second anniversary of Michael J Morris Reports. Thanks so much for being part of the experience.

HOCKEY KEEPS THE COUNTRY TOGETHER

I took a course in twentieth century European history from Dr Jacques Goutor more than 40 years 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 to be 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.

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 contributes 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. But they know their audience. Hockey keeps it all together in this vast and magnificent land where we will travel great distances for a hockey game, and complain about that other great Canadian unifier, the weather.

Our passion for hockey of course begins at the local level. I was raised in the northern Ontario town of Chapleau, where the Chapleau Huskies, in various incarnations have been the pride and joy for much longer than I have been around. Growing up there in the 1940s and 50s my hockey heroes were local, especially the late Garth ''Tee" Chambers, who to this day I believe was better than any NHL player who ever donned skates.

When I returned to Chapleau to teach at Chapleau High School, shortly thereafter I was "hired' by the 1970-71 Midgets to coach them. Yes, they actually "fired" their coach and I took over, and that is a story in itself. Jamie Doyle, the team captain, and his buddy Keith McAdam, approached me in the hall at CHS and offered me the position.

At that time though, the focus was on the Chapleau Junior "B" Huskies who were playing  in the  Junior B league, and in 1967, their first  won the league title, and Northern Ontario Hockey Association title. The coaches of the day were the late Lorne Riley, who had been an outstanding goalie, and Keith 'Buddy' Swanson. Earle Freeborn was the coach when I returned to Chapleau in 1968, and I had once again become a referee. Saturday nights were hockey night in Chapleau, and the great community unifier, especially when the Wawa Travellers were in town.

A few years later in 1974, again after receiving a visit from hockey players, the Chapleau Intermediate "A" Huskies were born and our arch rivals in the Northland Intermediate Hockey league were the Timmins Northstars. For three years it was a struggle to beat them in the league semi-finals but in our fourth year we did, and it was like we had won the Stanley Cup. We won in Timmins but soon received reports that back in Chapleau, the celebration had begun with horns honking and a party underway.

And so, from local unheated hockey rinks, many of them called barns, where rivalries among communities bring people together to cheer on their own team, to national and international championship series, Dr Goutor was right. It is a safe country in which to live



I welcome your comments. E email me at mj.morris@live.ca

Personal columns in Chapleau Press of 1962 part of community life, now we 'facebook' and 'tweet'

After receiving the Personals column from the Chapleau Press of October 11, 1962 recently, it struck me that the news about the comings and goings of citizens and their visitors was a very important part of community life, and yes, it sold newspapers too.

I learned first hand the importance of social news and personals columns shortly after i became a newspaper reporter in 1964 at the Daily Press in Timmins. Most contributions were handwritten in those days and quite often news reporters were called upon to type them out into a news story. And woe betide if you made a spelling error in someone's name. Actually it was a great experience in "getting the name right" one of the first principles young reporters learn, made more difficult as you had to transcribe all manner and forms of handwriting.

But the Personals column and other social news were a very popular section of the newspaper, maybe even moreso than sports or comics. I realized quickly that "hard news" was not always the main reason people bought a newspaper.

Doug Greig sent me the clipping on the very day that Bill McLeod sent out a news release announcing the launch of his new book 'Chapleau: A Retrospective on LIfe in an Isolated Northern Community.' Doug had coincidentally received the clipping that day and Bill and I are mentioned in the Personal column.

Bill advises that he will hold a book launch in Chapleau on Thursday, September 30 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Chapleau Public Library.

It read: "Michal (sp) Morris and Billie (sp) McLeod students at Waterloo College were home for the Thanksgiving weekend." Of course it should have been Michael and Billy, but those were the only misspelled names in the column that I could detect. And yes, Bill and I attended Chapleau Public and Chapleau High School in the same grade and also attended the same university, now Wilfrid Laurier in the same years, different progams.

Here is a sampler of moments in the lives of some Chapleau citizens as reported in the Chapleau Press in the fall of 1962.

Mary and Grant Campbell were busy.

"Mrs. Mary Campbell, Worthy Matron of Melba Chapter 313 was the delegate from Chapleau to the 7th Annual Session of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of Ontario held in the Royal York Hotel. Mrs. L.T. Green also attended."

"Mr. Grant Campbell left for Halifax where he will be the delegate from the Royal Canadian Air Force Association Wing 423 to the R.C.A.F. convention. Mrs. Campbell accompanied him."

Frank Coulter, who served many years on the public school board was off to a convention. "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Coulter spent the week in Sarnia where Mr. Coulter attended the public school convention as the representative from the Chapleau Public School Board."

On a business trip: "Mr. Ovide Cote and Mr. George Collins were business visitors to Montreal where they had the opportunity of attending the Shoe and Leather Fair held in the Mount Royal Hotel which proved very interesting. Mrs. Cote and Mrs. Collins accompanied their husbands and had an enjoyable time sightseeing and shopping."

Meanwhile, "Mr. and Mrs. Mel Richardson and son Paul have returned after a pleasant motor trip to Toronto and Montreal", and "Mrs. Agness Freeborn has just returned from vacation in eastern parts of Ontario and Quebec."

Visiting Chapleau, "Mr. Alvin O'Hearn of Burlington was a visitor with his parents Mr. and Mrs. George O'Hearn", and "Mr. and Mrs. Joe Shannon of Falconbridge were visitors to Chapleau." Mr. and Mrs. Shannon had been long-time employees of Smith and Chapple Ltd.

You don't see Personal columns as much now in the newspapers -- now we can "facebook," "tweet" and send email to each other!

DAVID McMILLAN AT THE BEACH

"Just finished reading your article on the beach area and, in doing so, learned for the first time of the major role Dr. Young played in its development. If I remember correctly, a lot of us learned to swim by initially dog paddling with those rectangular boards held out in front like surf boards as we kicked furiously in order to keep our faces from going under. As we grew older ( unfortunately not wiser ) I recall taking part in a bicycling exercise that was the brainchild of one of my peers that entailed riding your bike off the high diving board. Granted, there wasn't much time or room to get up a good head of steam before you rode your bike down into the water but it was an exuberating couple of seconds and well worth the effort required to haul the bike on your shoulder up the steps to the upper level. We did, however, use our grey matter by remembering to tie ropes to our bikes for retrieval purposes. These events always took place after lifeguards Babe Chambers and Jackie Poynter had left the beach area at the end of their day and if further elaboration is required I'm sure Howard Goheen or Timmy Goodwin could help out in that regard."

HENRY 'SONNY' THERRIEN DIES

I recently received word that one of Chapleau's great hockey players, Henry F. Therrien, "Sonny", 76, Kaukauna, died at Theda Clark Medical Center on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, with family by his side. Henry was born on July 17, 1934, in Chapleau, Ontario, Canada, son of the late Frederick and Adrian Anne (Levesque) Therrien. He played hockey growing up in Chapleau then attended St Michaels College in Toronto, where he played junior hockey prior to being drafted into the USHL, where he was a two-time league goal scorer for the Indianapolis Chiefs.Prior to representing the U.S. in the 1966 World Hockey Tournament in Yugoslavia, he joined the Green Bay Bobcats. He was also an honorary member of the Flying Fathers Hockey Club in Canada. My sympathy to his family.

Finally, the Chapleau Press was the immediate successor to Mid North News, and was followed by The Chapleau Sentinel. My email is mj.morris@live.ca