By JEREMY TOWNES
Courier Sports
The New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame has put out the call for nominations of individual athletes, teams, and builders who have left their mark on sport in the province and I think St. Stephen should answer the call. Sure, there are plenty of worthy applicants in the area.
If you mention the idea to anyone almost instantly certain names come to mind. Don Walker, the Pat Riley of Spartan basketball with his slick hair, tailored suits at high school games, and more provincial banners hanging at the SSHS gym than any other coach.
The St. Stephen Wheels, a dominant junior hockey team in the ‘80s that Jamie Waycott and his rebellious mutton chops used to lace up for. And let’s not forget the 2008 Mighty Blues of the Rusty Blades League with their flawless 6-0 record. Chuck Brown comes into the newsroom daily asking when the elite Blues he tends the goal for will grace the sports pages, so here you go Chuck.
There have been plenty of incredible athletes, coaches, and teams to come out of St. Stephen and many of them are worthy for the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, but in all reality the likelihood of induction is rather slim. So I propose St. Stephen and any other community in the region put some serious thought into its own Sports Wall of Fame – a wall for athletes, teams, and builders from the community, to be recognized by the community.
When towns like St. Stephen, St. Andrews, and St. George take into account making their own Wall of Fame, the possibilities become endless for worthy inductees.
Several towns around the province have begun these Walls of Fame. They can usually be found in a prominent building in town. St. Stephen has three great choices that also see a lot of foot traffic making any one of them excellent locations for a Wall of Fame. The tourist information centre is a fine spot to show off the local sporting achievements, as is anywhere in the Ganong Building, and lastly the Town Hall with its future always hanging in the balance, may serve as the best spot to recognize sport in our community and be a reason to salvage the aging building. A county-wide Wall of Fame should most definitely be part of the plans for the proposed Charlotte County Civic Centre.
If anyone wanted to seriously consider this idea it could be brought up at the next Town Council meeting with the details of location, criteria for recognition, and any other point of interest to help get the ball rolling, and I would certainly do my part, because teams like the Mighty Blues only come around once every couple years, and we can’t let their achievements disappear with time. I would never hear the end of it from the goaltender in the next cubicle.
JEREMY TOWNES is the Courier’s sports reporter. E-mail him at sports@stcroixcourier.ca
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8 comments:
The Blues are only 6-0 if you include pre-season games which they obviously are. No worries, their hot start to the season will soon cool, as it has the past three years.
The Blues are off to a 6-0 start because some veteran players have learned that if they aren't willing to buy into the team's system, they will sit on the bench or in the press box. The country club days are over and the results can be seen on the ice.
Sounds like Cliff Fletcher has his hands in the pot.
Blues? run Larry run
How about them swines for the wall of fame
BREAKING NEWS: The no longer mighty Blues lost Sunday night 4-3 to a determined bunch of Waweig Warriors.
"Too many passengers," said playing GM Chuck Brown.
"The winning streak was nice but it lead to sense of entitlement for some of these guys. They didn't feel like they had to earn their ice time. At least that's how they played."
Brown added, "Plus I shouldn't have gone back for that second piece of cheesecake at the pre-game meal."
Which generation of Swines would you nominate, the ones that won 2 provincial/1 maritime championships; or the ones who won 3 games from in the span of 1998-2006?
As for the Blues, nice to see them back on earth. The imminent changes in the Terrors lineup should be a whole other discussion. From the toast of the league last year to a 4 game skid to start the season. Chuck's prowess as a GM may be in high demand.
BLUES BACK IN WIN COLUMN
ST. STEPHEN – The St. Stephen Mehan's Blues kept their losing streak to one game and started a brand new winning streak with a convincing 7-1 win over the Canadian Tire Lagers Monday night.
The Blues are off to a franchise best 7-1-0-0 start, virtually assuring themselves a playoff spot just a month into the season. Their only loss this season came at the hands of a hungry Waweig Warriors team that eked out a 4-3 win over the Blues on Sunday.
"I like the way the boys bounced back," said Blues assistant captain Peter McCormick.
"None of us liked to lose but I knew the adversity would be the kind of test we need early in the season. The loss didn't bother me, it was the response to it I wanted to see and I was real proud of the effort I saw tonight."
The Blues next game is Sunday night at 8:25 at the Border Arena. It's fan appreciation night and the first 500 fans will receive a Larry Seabrook bobble head doll.
By the way, the Seabrook bobble heads are life size.
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