Bulletinvolume 30, Issue 1 • January 2020
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Society for International Hockey Research BULLETINVolume 30, Issue 1 • January 2020 BonjourBY JAMES Québec! MILKS SIHR members at Hôtel Le Concorde in Quebec City, with guest speaker Serge Bernier at right. Many more pictures at http://www.histoirenordiques.ca/sihr.html. Beautiful Quebec City was host to SIHR’s 2019 Fall Meeting, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) more seriously, as on Oct. 18 and 19. The weekend’s planned activities got started many former players continue to suffer. on Friday afternoon at the Centre Vidéotron, the NHL-class are- A SIHR record-setting number of women presenters were na which is home to the Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior on hand to discuss a variety of topics, ranging from Quebec City Hockey League (QMJHL). The group got its exercise as it trav- teams to personal experiences as both players and fans. Benoit elled from the press box high above the seating to out-of-the-way Claîroux, with his usual wit and sprinkling of humour, kicked off rooms deep in the bowels of the building. the presentations with a retrospective on the Quebec Remparts, in The Friday night Meet and Greet took place in the arena’s which he chronicled the two iterations of the team and many of Bunker Suite, where members were treated to an all-you-can-eat the notable players who suited up for the club. dinner ahead of the game between the Remparts and L’Océanic de The charismatic and entertaining Stéphane Lévesque delivered Rimouski. The 44-person strong SIHR group was seated behind his presentation titled Le Hockey au Centre du Québec in French, the Remparts bench, but despite their pulling for the home team, while his daughter Marie-Laurence did a wonderful job of trans- head coach Patrick Roy and his team came out on the losing end lating to English on the fly. He discussed the adventure that led to of a 2-1 score. the publication of the book of the same name and how he inter- A crisp and sunny fall morning greeted members as they made viewed men and women from all walks of life about their relation- their way to the meeting at Hôtel Le Concorde, next to the his- ship with hockey through art, culture, community, sport and even toric Plains of Abraham, which were dressed up in fall colours and suffering. He recalled many of the unique characters he met along a Halloween experience put on by the National Battlefields Com- the way and shared mementos given to him by some of the people mission. A brief business agenda started Saturday’s meeting in and players featured in the book. which meeting host Jean-Patrice Martel welcomed the group and Ottawa resident Pam Coburn presented The Boston Bruins discussed a few logistics before president Fred Addis asked for a Training Camps in Quebec City, having gathered much of the infor- moment of silence in honour of recently deceased member George mation during her research for her first book Hitch: Hockey’s Un- Rekela of Minnesota. James Milks delivered a brief statement sung Hero, which is the story of her grandfather and Boston Bruins about the proposed website update and treasurer Bryan Lawrence legend Lionel Hitchman. discussed the group’s finances. The 2020 Fall Meeting location was The day’s first special guest, Hingham, Mass., resident Frank revealed, and all members are invited to Hershey, Pa. Brown – recipient of the 2019 Professional Hockey Writers’ As- During the roll call, member Nick Murray of New Brunswick, sociation’s Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award – spoke about El- who had an impressive junior and senior hockey career between mer Ferguson and the path he cleared for all hockey writers and the mid-1950s and the late 1960s, made a passionate and emo- recounted a few highlights from his own 35-year career covering tional plea for hockey leagues and officials to take brain injuries some of hockey’s most iconic moments. (Continued on page 3) Society for International Hockey Research • January 2020 Page 2 SOCIETY INFO MEMBERSHIP STATUS Society for International Hockey Research As Taylor Hall was traded to Arizona, SIHR membership stood at 492. Please 66 Gerrard St. E., Suite 300 join us in welcoming our newest members. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 1G3 Stan Karbowiak of Port Coquitlam, B.C., has been a pro hockey scout, statisti- cian and player agent. He now runs IceHockeyJobs.com, hockey’s only job posting On the Internet website. Jim Ronson of Port Hope, Ont., is the author of the novel Blood, Fire and www.sihrhockey.org Ice and was a speaker at the Fall Meeting in Quebec City. www.facebook.com/sihrhockey Matthew Walthert of Orleans, Ont., has written an article for The Athletic about twitter.com/sihrhockey the ongoing confusion surrounding the circumstances of Allan “Scotty” Davidson’s death early in World War I, shortly after he led the Blueshirts to Toronto’s first Email address Stanley Cup championship. He’s continuing to research Davidson and would love [email protected] to hear from anyone with information on him, the teams he played for, or his Kings- ton contemporaries, George Richardson and James Sutherland. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Bob White of North York, Ont., is a retired high school math teacher who watched the Toronto Maple Leafs win four Stanley Cup championships in the President 1960s and learned about SIHR from a friend after watching the documentary Fred Addis Hockey’s Lost Boy: The Rise and Fall of George Patterson. [email protected] Welcome also to Gord Chaney, Port Elgin, Ont.; John Eadie, Calgary; Brian Vice-president Goddard, Ottawa, Ont.; Marc Guilbault, Montreal; Mark Harris, Etobicoke, Bill Sproule Ont.; Richard McCallum, Mississauga, Ont.; Leigh Mendelson, Wenatchee, [email protected] Wash.; Herb Morell, Mississauga, Ont.; Marc Noel, Dunvegan, Ont.; Dave Otto, Ballwin, Mo.; James Owens, West Richland, Wash.; Michel Thiffault, Trois-Ri- Secretary vieres, Que.; Eric Westhover, Flin Flon, Man.; and Mark Willand, Douglas, Mass. Aubrey Ferguson Finally, welcome back to a bumper crop of returning SIHR members: Randall [email protected] Balmer, Santa Fe, N.M.; E.J. Bauer, Bayfield, Ont.; James Benesh, Regina; Phil Birnbaum, Ottawa; Andrew Caddell, Ottawa; Stuart Cameron, Ottawa; David Treasurer Carter, Brookfield, N.S.; Mick Colageo, Buzzards Bay, Mass.; Joe Cronin, North Bryan Lawrence Canton, Ohio; John Dunn, Hamilton, Ont.; Fred Finkelberg, Toronto; Marko [email protected] Kuparinen, Espoo, Finland; Brian McA’Nulty, Dartmouth, N.S.; D’Arcy Mur- phy, Saint John, N.B.; Susan Seaby, Toronto; Emile Skopyk, Meadow Lake, Sask.; BULLETIN STAFF Kenny Slobodzian, Thunder Bay, Ont.; John Wong, Pullman, Wash. Editor-in-chief Benoît Clairoux Timothy Gassen (1961-2019) [email protected] We are saddened to report the passing of former Copy editor SIHR member Timothy Gassen, perhaps the big- Lloyd Davis gest World Hockey Association (WHA) fan ever. [email protected] Growing up in Indianapolis, he followed his beloved Racers closely, attending as many games as possible Regular contributor at Market Square Arena. Much later, as a writer and Glen Goodhand a producer, he published a series of WHA-related [email protected] books and DVDs, creating the WHA Hall of Fame Hockey Research Journal editor-in-chief along the way. Timothy will be greatly missed by all Lloyd Davis the “Rebel League” enthusiasts. [email protected] CTV donates sports books to SIHR Webmaster James Milks SIHR would like to thank Ann Carman of CTV Montreal for donating nu- [email protected] merous sports books (including many hockey books) to SIHR. Their CTV offices Copyright 2020 needed to free up space due to construction work in their building on Papineau Ave. Several books were sold at the 2019 Fall Meeting in Quebec City and $239 ISSN 2290-4824 (Print) was raised to help finance SIHR’s various activities and projects. Many more books, ISSN 2369-8845 (Online) hockey and otherwise, will be available at SIHR’s next AGM in St. Catharines. For those interested, other subjects include baseball, Canadian football and boxing, as Deadline for next Bulletin: well as multi-sport books. Thank you also to SIHR member Don Weekes and CTV Feb. 29, 2020 Montreal anchor Caroline Van Vlaardingen for helping make this happen. Society for International Hockey Research • January 2020 Page 3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Bonjour Québec! It’s been a remarkable few months in hockey, with (Continued from page 1) the game in the news for reasons that would have seemed unfathomable a few years ago. Players who have suffered Following the on-site catered lunch, meeting physical and psychological abuse are telling their stories co-organizer Marc Durand moderated a conver- in increasing numbers. sation with guest speaker Serge Bernier, in which Beyond the many reported incidents and recent out- he recounted growing up in Matane, Que., and comes for some players, coaches and others connected his 12-year pro hockey career. He mused about to the game, it’s hard to find a perspective that acknowl- how he made $20,000 the year he played on the edges the harsh reality of what is now coming to light Flyers forward line with Bobby Clarke, but how and yet envisions the game we love going forward. things had improved considerably by the time One thing that has been constant since our great- he joined the WHA, for which he received a great-grandfathers first strapped on the pads, is that the game continues to $100,000 signing bonus, and a $100,000 per-year evolve and reflect changes within the broader society. salary for three years. He graciously answered The attempts by players and their families to control the environment and questions about all aspects of his life and career, conditions under which the game is played and organized is not an anomaly.