Mitch Calvert
When the Muskie boys’ hockey team finally arrived in North Bay early last week, there was a Northwestern Ontario face on hand to greet them at the Memorial Gardens for their opening practice.
John Wilson, convener and host of this year’s all-Ontarios, moved to North Bay at age 15 after growing up in Red Lake, which included one season with the Rams’ hockey team.
He said he knows all too well what the Muskie hockey program brings to the table year-in and year-out at OFSAA.
“Fort Frances is a regular program that we see at these,” Wilson noted. “I was in Dryden when they hosted [in 1999], but we actually missed going to Fort Frances the year they hosted [2006] when we lost in double-overtime to La Salle in our regionals.
“Northwestern Ontario teams are perceived as talented, hard-working teams that usually bring an aura of toughness, but not in terms of being undisciplined.
“When you play a team from Northwestern Ontario, to me, the first thing you are going to have to do is outwork them and that doesn’t happen very often,” he stressed.
Wilson, who has been coaching the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears hockey team since 1993, also was honoured with the 2009 OFSAA Leadership in Sport Award for hockey at the banquet last Wednesday.
The Leadership in School Sport Award is presented annually at each OFSAA championship to a teacher-coach who’s made a significant contribution to the educational athletic program.
“That was a complete surprise to me and it was a huge honour,” Wilson admitted. “There are guys in that room that I’ve coached against at other OFSAAs who have received that award, and I think of a guy like [former Muskie head coach] Terry Ogden.
“I met him at previous OFSAAs and he was a previous recipient [in 1993], honoured for what his coaching career had done for the Muskies, and it’s very humbling to be thought of in that same regard.”
Wilson was quick to credit the efforts of long-time Bears’ coaches Dennis Truchon and Terry Jackson for mentoring him in his current role.
“Terry was actually my old math teacher and hockey coach when I played at Scollard, so his and Dennis’ collective experience is invaluable,” Wilson stressed. “But their friendship and leadership in helping me with the day-to-day operations of the team goes a long way to building what we consider a solid program.”
The Bears were making their third-straight OFSAA appearance last week, this time as the hosts, but struggled on the ice to an 0-4 record. Wilson admitted they weren’t as strong this season, though his success behind the bench isn’t measured solely on the scoreboard.
“You tend to be a bit of a teacher, a bit of a father figure, a bit of a big brother, and there’s a lot of hats you wear for the role,” he said of being a high school coach.
“The lessons in life that you teach on and off the ice is what you want the kids to take from it, and helping the kids grow into young adults is really the biggest piece.”
Wilson added this was one of the stronger fields he’s seen at OFSAA.
“Usually a No. 3 seed against a No. 10 seed is going to be a two- or three-goal spread at least, and the fact Upper Canada had to do it with 26 seconds left [against the Muskies] is unbelievable,” he remarked.
And as it turned out, the 11th-ranked St. Aloysius Gonzaga Bulldogs claimed the gold medal with a 3-0 shutout of fifth-ranked St. Marcellinus.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday’s banquet featured pyrotechnics and a riveting speech from former NHL enforcer (and North Bay Centennial alumnus) Troy Crowder.
Crowder knew his role and that was as an enforcer, and his first NHL game actually came in the Eastern Conference final in 1988 versus the Boston Bruins.
He recalled getting into two fights that game and fondly remembered blowing kisses at Bruins’ coach Terry O’Reilly after being booted from the game in the final minute.
He was also front-and-centre for the infamous “Have another doughnut, you fat pig” incident involving then-New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld and referee Don Koharski, which was captured on video and has been shown on sports highlight shows ever since.
“We’ve been to OFSAAs before where the banquet hasn’t been what I’d consider up-to-snuff,” Wilson said. “You want to make sure that those 500-600 teenagers who are there don’t leave hungry.”
All in all, the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears coach said he’s proud of the job he and his committee did this year, and there’s little doubt they set the bar very high for next year’s hosts.
“We wanted to be able to host a championship that the kids would remember for the rest of their lives,” Wilson said. “I think that we have done that.
“We have been able to give them an experience and memories that will last a lifetime.”
