The Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame will welcome in their 40th Class of Inductees at the 2023 Induction Dinner and Ceremonies set to take place on Saturday, September 30th at Thunder Bay’s Valhalla Inn.
Two athletes, including Red Rock golfer Bill Seagris and Sioux Lookout hockey product Ryan Parent will join three Thunder Bay builders including long-time multi-sport volunteer Peter Gallagher, hockey coach Jamie Kompon and media personality Peter Young who got his start in sports broadcasting at the Lakehead. Rounding out the slate are the members of the 2010 Thunder Bay Queens Midget AA Hockey team who claimed the Esso Cup as Canadian champions.
Tickets for the 40th Induction Dinner and Ceremonies are $100 each and can be ordered by calling the Hall of Fame at 807- 622-2852 or via email at nwosport@tbaytel.net or dropping by the Hall at 219 May Street South.
2023 Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Profiles
Athletes:
Red Rock’s Bill Seagris will be honoured for his exceptional amateur golf career which has included 5 Thunder Bay District Amateur Open titles, over 40 invitational golf tournament honours in northwestern Ontario and multiple titles in southern Ontario, 3 consecutive Ontario University individual golf titles, a top-15 finish at the 1995 World University Golf championships at St. Andrews, low amateur honours at the 2001 Canadian Tour Heritage Classic and a third place finish at the Canadian Men’s Amateur Golf Championships, marking him as one of the best ever amateur golfers produced in the region.
Ryan Parent developed his hockey skills growing up in Sioux Lookout, going on to play with the Thunder Bay Kings. Selected as a first round draft pick of the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, he made it to the Memorial Cup finals in his first season. Serving as captain of multiple Canadian national teams he earned a silver medal at the 2005 World U-18 Championships and back-to-back gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 World Juniors U-20 (IIHF). Selected by the Nashville Predators as their first round pick, he went 18th overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft spending the majority of his five-season, 106 game NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers advancing to the playoffs in 2008, ’09 and ’10. Retiring from his professional playing career in the AHL in 2016 he went on to serve as an assistant coach in the AHL with the Binghamton Devils and Utica Comets.
Builders:
Long-time builder of sport Peter Gallagher has been contributing to sport in Thunder Bay starting in the 1970s and has never looked back. His commitment to youth athletics saw him spend multiple years in various roles with Port Arthur Continental Little League, Grandview Recreation Hockey and Volunteer Pool Soccer, coaching the junior development program for the Thunder Bay Squash Association and as a Board member of ProKids. The running community has benefited through his involvement with the Heart of Thunder Bay Races and the Fire Fighters 10-Mile Road Race and his dedication to cross-country skiing and the Sleeping Giant Loppet goes back to the 1980s. Events such as the 1981 Canada Summer Games and 2011 Ontario Special Olympic Games are just two of the many which have benefited from his dedication, along with the multitude of students he introduced to sport and activity through his lengthy teaching career at Confederation College.
Following his amateur and university hockey playing career Thunder Bay’s Jamie Kompon turned his attention to coaching, starting with a return to his alma mater McGill University from 1991-96. Joining the professional coaching ranks in 1996 he became the Assistant Coach of the Baltimore Bandits in the AHL. Moving to the NHL he joined the St. Louis Blues as a video coach spending 9 seasons there advancing through the ranks to assistant coach. His six seasons as assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings culminated with a Stanley Cup victory in 2012 which he repeated the following year with the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks. Following six seasons behind the bench as assistant coach with the Winnipeg Jets from 2016-22 he most recently held a similar position with the Florida Panthers, taking them all the way to the 2023 Stanley Cup finals.
Peter Young rounds out the builder category and has earned his spot due to his decades long career in sports broadcasting, which began in his hometown of Thunder Bay at stations such as CJLX radio and CKPR radio and television and as the voice of the Thunder Bay Twins and a Riverview Raceway track announcer. The Sports Director for CKY-TV in Winnipeg as part of the CTV network he broadcast games for the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA, did play-by-play in the NHL, announced CFL Blue Bombers games and hosted Grey Cup broadcasts and Goldeneyes baseball games. As a primary CTV host for Wide World of Sports, he covered sporting events around the world including three Olympic Games during the 1980s and over 100 broadcasts, often co-hosting with high profile athletes like Mario Andretti, Howard Cosell and Billie Jean King which would be simulcast on major networks like NBC and ESPN. Following his broadcasting career, he began his own video production and sports consulting company working with such teams as the Toronto Blue Jays.
Team:
The Team category will welcome the members of the 2010 Thunder Bay Queens Midget AA Hockey Team who claimed the Esso Cup as Canadian champions. Toping the standings at the 6-team national event held in Regina that year with 4 wins and 1 loss, they advanced to the playoffs where they defeated the Edmonton Thunder 2-1 in the semi-finals. Facing the Notre Dame Hounds from the host province in the final gold medal game, they came back from a 3-1 deficit to earn a 4-3 victory to claim the first and only national hockey title ever won by a women’s hockey team from Northwestern Ontario. The members of the team included: Amber Butler (F), Michela Cava (F), Kylie Cornell (D), Michaela Coulter (D), Riley Cronk (F), Haleigh Croves (D), Savanna Gamache (D), Jana Henry (F/captain), Ellia Heroux (F), Brianna Iazzolino (D), Megan Leikkari (G), Amanda Makela (G), Taylor Savard (D), Courtney Tougas (F), Kaitlyn Tougas (F), Kaitlyn Quarrell (F), Brittany Zuback (F). Denis Lavoie (coach), Dan Lavoie (assistant coach), Randy LaPointe (assistant coach), Crystal Tustian (trainer/manager).
