From Mactier to the NHL by CHARLES J
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12A - LIFESTYLES THIS WEEK LIFESTYLES Parry Sound Beacon Star • Friday, September 19, 2008 From MacTier to the NHL BY CHARLES J. HUMBER minor hockey teams, helping and leading them to various he enterprising railway town of MacTier is probably the successes, including the all-Ontario B Championship with Tleast known of some half dozen or so larger communi- both the Royal Canadian Legion Bantam Team of 1995-96 and ties that make up the Muskoka district. Competing for status the Parry Sound Lorne Tudhope Midgets of 1997-98. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with Bracebridge, His parents soon learned what it meant to be hockey par- Gravenhurst, Bala, Port Carling and Huntsville, this rug- ents. Besides driving their son to and from hockey games and ged community, on the fringe of Highway 400, was originally practices during northern Ontario’s winter months, they also called Muskoka Station. Renamed MacTier in 1908, 100 years learned the rituals of drinking arena coffee, watching a slug- later, it is still very much a railway town, with its 600 perma- gish Zamboni, listening to boisterous parents and deflecting nent residents embedded in a growing school district, dotted ongoing hockey rumours. Lee’s family has strong roots in the with many seasonal cottages nestled along the rocky shore- community. His father, Mike, hails from Milford Bay and has line of Stewart Lake. worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway most of his adult By the end of the upcoming National Hockey League sea- life. His mother, Susan Blanchard, in addition to raising her son, however, one MacTier native may very well put his son, Chris, and daughter, Caitlin, works in MacTier’s Food- hometown on the North American sporting map. Budding land grocery store alongside her sister, Isobel, and brother- hockey star, Chris Lee, signed just this past summer to a one- in-law, Gerry Jones, who together operate this well-known, year contract with the New York CIslanders.hild At. 28 years old, landmark grocery store and have made it a destination stop should he make the cut at training camp before the season in Muskoka over several decades. opener in October, Lee will become the oldest rookie to play Upon accepting an athletic scholarship in 2000 to attend in the NHL during the upcoming season. the State University of New York at Potsdam in upper New Lee’s thrilling hockey career started in the MacTier arena, York State, Lee felt somewhat apprehensive about leaving his located diagonally across from the MacTier Public School, hometown and close family ties to play hockey in a foreign the brick schoolhouse Lee attended as a child. It is the same country where he would “no longer hear the loud whistle arena complex where a young Bobby Orr played some of his of the Canadian Pacific Railway chugging by my home each early hockey back in the mid-1950s.H Leeou admitsr a that w playingeek . night.” minor hockey in the same hockey circuits where Bobby Orr He needn’t have worried. During his sophomore year with first laced up his skates was “inspirational,” a feeling partially the Potsdam Bears, Lee scored six points in a game against reinforced because his mother was related through marriage the Cortland Red Dragons and was chosen Conference 2nd to the former Boston Bruin great. Team All-Star, an honour he duplicated in his junior year. While attending high school in Parry Sound, a 35-minute During his senior year, he made the Conference 1st All-Star bus ride each day from MacTier, Lee played centre for local team and was named Player of the Year in the State Univer- sity of New York Athletic Conference. He Big Brothers also led all scorers in the National Col- legiate Athletic Association, Division III, submitted photo tallying a total of 48 points. Chris Lee plays defence for the Iowa Stars of the American Upon graduating from Potsdam at age Hockey League during the 2007-08 hockey season. & Sisters 23, Lee was determined to continue play- ing hockey and began his professional hockey career in 2004 by signing with the looked back. As a rookie with the Everblades, the six-foot, Child. Florida Everblades, an East Coast Hockey 186-pound defenceman scored five goals and had 27 points. League (ECHL) team. His extended fam- During his second season as a pro, he was selected to play in ily in MacTier quickly became snow- the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game and by year’s end, had tallied birds. Recognizing Lee’s speed as well as 37 points. his ability to see the ice, his coach, Gerry After three successful years with the Everblades, Lee Fleming, decided to convert his budding moved one step closer to the NHL when he signed to play HIno Schouol Mren toaring Pwrogrameek. hockey star from playing forward to with the Iowa Stars of the American Hockey League for the managing the blue line. This move was 2007-08 season. In 68 games, Lee scored seven goals and had similar to one Bucko McDonald pulled off 21 assists. When the Dallas Stars failed to option their bud- some 50 years earlier when, as a retired ding defenceman, Lee signed a one-year contract with the 746-7070 NHLer and minor hockey coach in Parry New York Islanders. Looking back now, Lee fondly recalls Sound, he converted a young Bobby Orr crossing the road in MacTier in the 1980s from his public Big Brothers to defence from centre. school on the main street to the hockey arena, dreaming of Since turning pro, Lee has never the NHL . a dream that has finally come true. & Sisters CLIP AND SAVE This is the story of an amazing young man who has the grit, endurance, and the perseverance to become a profes- sional hockey player in the NHL at the age of 28, seven years 1/2 PRICE older than most rookies. Upon completing the upcoming season, no matter where GOLF his abilities take him, Lee and his fiancée, Eileen LaBonte, plan on marriage next July in MacTier — adding one more In School Mentoring Program successful chapter to the life of Chris Lee, a hockey player WITH THIS COUPON from MacTier, the last frontier. 746-7070 2nd Player Pays 1/2 price Charles J. Humber resides in MacTier during the sum- mer months. He is a retired high school teacher and former Show Your Support Join our picket in front of the publisher of Heirloom Publishing Inc. His book Loyal She 746-4653 Remains was the official bicentennial gift to Her Majesty, the Town Office Expires October 31, 2008 Queen, and Pope John Paul II when both dignitaries visited Saturday, September 20th at 11 a.m. 404014 Ontario in 1984. 407723 Duck Lake General Store Option G Thank you for another Great Summer! Size: � 8' x 12' Colours:� Reflex Blue & P138 on White Reflective ARTWORK APPROVAL Option G Size: � 8' x 12' Artwork Size CCoollouursr s:� ARpperofvledx: Blue & P13Da8te :on White Reflective Hours: ARTWORK APPROVAL Mon - Sat: 10-6 Sun: 11-6 Artwork Size Colours Approved: Date: We look forward to seeing you this fall. Visit our new website: www.ducklakestore.com (705) 732-4455 407770 407101.