Hockey Roundup by Buddy Swanson became must read for complete coverage of Chapleau local teams and league in the 1960s even in Saskatchewan

Buddy Swanson

When I was working  at the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix in the 1960s, my mother, Muriel E. (Hunt) Morris, would send me The Chapleau Sentinel each week, and my favourite read during the winter months was Hockey Roundup by Buddy Swanson.

To say the least, I was delighted last week to receive Buddy's column for February 5, 1966 from John Theriault with a note suggesting that maybe I could use it. Forty six years ago this month, P.V. Wade, the legendary managing editor of the Star-Phoenix, had called me into his "room", never called it his office, and advised that I was moving to North Battleford to open a news  bureau for the newspaper there. Away I went not having a clue where North Battleford was, but I sure was not one to argue with Mr. Wade. I just got on the bus and went, and life there is a story, maybe more than one, for another day. I did return to Saskatoon later as night city editor and Mom kept sending me the Sentinel without fail.

However, reading Buddy's column brought back so many memories of hockey in Chapleau as I was growing up there. I was never a very good hockey player, so retired at the Bantam level and became a referee. It kept me involved in the game, and upon reflection, I likely officiated more than 500 games from minor  to town league to Intermediate in the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena between 1954 and 1964, when I became a newspaper reporter. When I was at university, I would come home as the "neutral" referee and work the winter carnival games. And to this day, I am so thankful to Garth 'Tee' Chambers, L.D. 'Don' Card and Olive Card for keeping me in the game. 

Buddy's Hockey Roundup provided complete coverage of hockey in Chapleau which made it a must read each week. As an aside, Buddy was probably the only person who could broadcast like Foster Hewitt, and play road hockey at the same time which he did for games played on Aberdeen Street and environs for years.

In the Hockey Roundup I received, Buddy tells us that two Chapleau hockey teams had come up with impressive wins in recent out of town games. The Senior Bantams, coached by David Mizuguchi had downed South Porcupine Bantams 6-3 and the next day the Chapleau Huskies walloped Barries Car sales of Timmins 14-2.

Buddy noted that "Coach Dave Mizuguchi's boys were well deserving of their win and I might add that the conduct of the team off the ice also drew appreciative comment from those who came in contact with them."

See names below. Click to enlarge

Referring to the game: "... goaltenders Dave McAdam and Bert Warren along with star forward Marc Boisvert played key roles in the victory. Both goalies came up with a number of fine saves as they shared the netminding duties and Bosivert's four goals made him the individual scoring ace of the game." Johnny Theriault and Richard Lacroix scored Chapleau's other two goals.

Buddy wrote that the Huskies "finally found their scoring eye" in their 14-2 romp over the Timmins team. Goal scorers were Jim Keenan with a hat trick, with Raymond Larcher, Art Madore and Richard Morin each scoring twice and George Swanson, Ron Morris, Johnny Laframboise, Andre Rioux and Corky Bucci chipping in with singles.

Of particular note was that Raymond Larcher and Corky Bucci of the Chapleau Midget team were playing.  Hockey Roundup was written the year before the Chapleau Junior "B" Huskies entered the International Junior "B" League and won it all. In 1965-66 Buddy and his friend Lorne Riley were managing and coaching the Midgets respectively.

They assumed the same role with the Junior Huskies in 1966-67 but during the season Buddy took over as coach when Lorne became ill. 

In the very competitive town league the Legion Flyers were in first place with 18 points, followed by Model Drug Aces with 15 and Chapleau High School TEEM with 13.

Joey Bignucolo of the Aces was way ahead of the competition in the town league scoring race with 29 goals and 19 assists. He was followed by Tom Lessard (Aces), George Swanson (CHS), Ray Larcher (Flyers), Art Madore (Flyers), Jean Claude Cyr (Aces) and Richard Morin (CHS). Town league goaltenders were Albert Bignucolo, Ed Bignucolo and Jamie Broomhead.

In other news, the Legion Ladies were running a bake sale to raise funds for the Bantams to attend the Northern Ontario Playground Hockey Association tournament in Noranda, Bruce Carmichael's comeback from retirement was halted as he was transferred by the CPR and thanks was extended to Gilles Boisvert, Matt Castonguay and Pat Fournier for sponsoring the Bantam trip to Timmins and for the new uniforms they purchased for the team.

A Senior Bantam All Star team travelled to a tournament in Lasarre where it won the Division 'B' Championship.

On the same page as Buddy's Hockey Roundup was an advertisement for an upcoming Intermediate game between the Huskies and South Porcupine. Admission was Adults 75 cents, Students 50 cents and Children 25 cents. 

Keith J. 'Buddy' Swanson died on May 6, 2011. Thanks to John Theriault for providing Hockey Roundup with memories of those days when Buddy contributed so much to Chapleau hockey. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Chapleau Bantams 1965-66: Chapleau Bantams win 1965-66 Division 'B' title at Lasarre Tournament. Front from left: R. Lacroix, M. Collin, D. Prusky, D. McAdam, T. Laframboise, P. Swanson, G. Prusky. Back from left, P Grey (trainer), R. Evans, W. Sonego, J. Morin, E. Chambers, A. Pellow, Dave Mizuguchi (coach), M. Blais.(David Mizuguchi collection)