BILL McLEOD on the new old rink, the old old rink and pot bellied stoves

A note from Michael: Bill McLeod, one of my oldest friends from Chapleau shares some amusing insights into happenings at Chapleau rinks down through the years. Bill is a retired professor from Cambrian College, Sudbury, ON, and is the author of numerous books including 'The Chapleau Game Preserve: History, Murder, and Other Tales' and 'Murder in the Schoolhouse, Subury, Ontario's Last Hanging'. Thanks Bill.


Bill McLeod writes: Enjoyed your hockey comments... Was it the Lorne Riley the goalie who lived two doors north of us on Aberdeen Street? My memories of the old rinks are pretty hazy. My dad used to take me to the hockey games on Saturday nights in the old, old rink. It had to have been a terrible fire trap.

In the new old rink, built in our time, I used to play hockey on Saturday mornings and sometimes it was VERY cold. But back to the old, old rink. When my dad had the motel he and his dear friend Tony cachagee used to spend a lot of time in the office. Those two guys must have had fun childhoods. They would tell and re-tell the same old stories and laugh like hell every time.

Sometimes they only needed one word or phrase to bring up some long-forgotten caper. One tale that I remember quite clearly was what they used to do for excitement at the old. old rink. Both men's and women's dressing rooms were heated with pot-bellied stoves. For their idea of fun the boys used to sneak into the girls' change room, pee on the hot stove and run like hell so they wouldn't get caught Of course it was always somebody else.

Not Borden or Tony! I was going to post this on your blog but thought you should decide whether it was OK. Bill