| I had the privilege of attending the Fall meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota,
thanks to our Secretary, Len Kotylo, who guided Ed Grenda and I on a 2,500k
odyssey through Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and back through
northern Michigan. Eight days of wonderful experiences!
Len capably assumed the chair in Ernie Fitz's absence and Ed, our original
secretary took over the recording of the minutes. VPs Ed Sweeney and host Roger
Goddin gave executive support.
For those unable to attend this historic meeting in the mid-West, here are a few of the highlights:
1. The Friday night reception and the Saturday session in the Minnesota Wild
board room were attended by more Americans than Canadians (14 to 6), which
reflects hockey's expansion in North America.
2. Two important decisions were reached during thje 60-minute business
meeting:
a. The Origins' Committee will be reactivated and expanded to devlve further
into the game's beginning (Montreal and Halifax-Dartmouth) in view of the IIHF's
decision to erect a plaque marking Montreal as the birthplace of organized
hockey).
b. The decision to confirm the next Fall meeting in New Brunswick, was
deferred until the May, 2003 AGM in Richmond Hill, Ont.
(The attendance figures, with only three executive members present,
strengthened the contention that we should be careful in moving our meetings
outside the Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto quadrangle if key members are
not able to attend at distant points.)
However, we must break new ground (there were several new members and
first-time attendees present in St. Paul) and try to cater occassionally to the
faithful members who travel long distances to central Canada twice a year (i.e.
those keen members in New Brunswick).
3. Minnesota Wild's Roger Godin, (our VP U.S. West) the only
Curator/Historian in the NHL, was a fine host and besides recruiting speakers
Doug Risebrough and Murray Oliver, treated us to a pre-game meal in the press
room and all the goodies and great view available in an end- zone suite for the
State of Hockey (Wild) vs. Hockeytown, U.S.A. (Wings) game before a record
19,344 fans. Meeting ex-North Star Tom Reid at the reception and later at his
bar (where hndreds of fans--many in Wild sweaters--were elbow to elbow) was also
a treat.
Each delegate came home with a Wild calendar, game booklet and the Wild's
Hockey Operations Handbook which expands on the four principals of
Team-Passion-Honesty-Preparation in striving to build a winning tradition. (The
youthful Wild are 7-1-1).
4. Ex-Golden Seal and Canadian National forward Morris Mott--one of three
Winnipegers to make the eight-hour drive south--gave us an insightful paper on
playing against the Soviet Russians. Former Canadian, now a U of Minn. professor
Donald MacEachern delivered a thoroughly researched paper on Saskatchewan Senior
Hockey 1928-1944, a league that graduated 74 NHL players, including the famous
Bentley brothers of Delisle.
Californian and ex-Detroiter Morey Holzman read a chapter from his
provocative book, Deceptions and Doublecross, that is due out in a few weeks
from Dundurn Press. It will change some people's opinions on the first NHL
President Frank Calder and enlighten us about Pete Muldoon and Eddie
Livingstone.
5. Delegates got a kick out of the paper presented by Jim Coughlin (author
of the self-published book Squaw Valley Gold--American Hockey's Olympic
Odyssey). It was entitled "The Short Life of the Unappreciated Kick Shot" (which
died out in the 1940s.)
6. There was another presenter, (who has never missed a SIHR meeting) who
told about the six-year old correspondence between Winnipeg's Ed Evans and SIHR
charter member, the late Pat Conway of Syracuse, N.Y. The extensive papers,
including vital stastaistics on 4,000 players, are ensconsed in the
International Hockey Museum, Kingston, Ont. and will soon be preserved and
available at Queen's University Archives.
7. The meetings were not without humour, especially when the venerable Harry
Brown divulged that his brother Charlie Brown gave his name to the late Charles
Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip. Schulz, who hailed from the Twin
Cities, was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in
1993, according to Ross Bernstein's excellent 135-page booklet The Hall,
distributed by Roger at the conference. Glenn Gostick, a former trainer for the
WHL Fighting Saints, also added to the levity.
8. Tom Sersha, executive director of the U.S. Hall gave an informal but
comprehensive report on the triumphs and troubles of the Eveleth, Minn. shrine
(which the Ontario contingent visited and made many fine research discoveries).
Closed for two years, the revitalized and reopened Hall is going to remain in
Eveleth, we were assured by Jim Findley, president of the U.S. Hall. "He's
heading for Eveleth," means something in the U.S.
9. Bill Sproule was unable to attend and give a paper on the original IHL,
1904-07, but the possibility of celebrating the centennial of this first pro
hockey league, was explored by the Kotylo-Grenda-Fitsell troika on its tour of
the Copper Country while motoring back to Ontario. Recreation officials in the
Michigan Soo, which played the Ontario Soo in that initial game Dec. 9, 1904,
has photograhs of the original teams and is keen on being part of the
celebration. Stay tuned!
10. My personal highlights were touring the U.S. College Football Hall of
Fame (near Notre Dame U) in South Bend, Indiana, which is mind-boggling in its
creativity and visiting nearly every notable university and palatial arena in
Duluth, Houghton, Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. What a thrill it was to
discover Michigan Tech's Dee Stadium, built on the site of James R. Dee's 1902
Amphidrome where some of the first professional games in the Copper Country
were played a century ago, not to forget the National Guard Armoury in Calumet,
Mich., built in 1913, which could be North America's oldest rink. Anyone know of
an older one?
P.S. Acting President Len announced that the fifth edition of The Hockey
Research Journal is being prepared by Eric Zweig of Dan Diamond Associates and
will be in the mail shortly.
The only discordant report at the meeting was the fact that 97 of 220
members are in arrears of dues. Please send in those $20 (U.S.) and $25 (Cdn.)
cheques!
--Respectfully submitted by your founding Prez.
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