2006 Fall Meeting Summary

To the Members of SIHR who enjoyed the Whitby/Clarington sessions on Oct. 27-28, 2007 and to those who couldn't attend:

The 15th annual Fall Meeting of SIHR at the Iroquois Park Arena in Whitby had a definite international touch. Half the presentations came from members spread across the U.S.A.: Morey Holzman of California (Why Hockey Stats Prior to 1952 Are All Garbage); Roger Godin of Minnesota, (The 1932-33 Eveleth Rangers) and Jim Mancuso, of New York State (Clinton, N.Y.: The Biggest Little Hockey Town in the U.S.A.).
Jim joined with Whit Bacon to inspire members to accept an invitation to hold the 2007 Fall Meeting in Springfield, Mass., the site of the AHL head office, the Basketball Hall of Fame and the bailiwick of the legendary Eddie Shore. It should stimulate membership in this hockey mad New England area, said James, author of a book about another hockey hotbed--The Clinton Comets, An EHL Dynasty.
Two other Americans graced our meetings: Gene Dupras, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Idaho and newcomer Cathy Kinast, a real hockey aficionado from Pittsburgh, Pa.

SIHR past-president Bill Fitsell (right) accepting the prestigious Brian McFarlane award for 2006 from V.P. Ed Grenda.

To ensure Canadian content, our busy host Wayne Geen of nearby Oshawa, gave a mini-look at the Motor City's one an only professional team--the 1930-31 Patricias (named after the owner's daughter) and the founding president presented a paper on "When Mascots Were Barefaced."
Dedicated webmaster James Milks reported plans are proceeding for the 16th AGM in Ottawa, Ontario in May, 2007.
Discussions followed about the feasibility of extending our meetings so as to accommodate business, presentations and special guests. A Sunday morning session was proposed. Stay tuned!
During the morning business session, President Len Kotylo, cited a number of exceptional acquisitions: Replicas of Hendy Guides created by Joseph Cronin of California; a copy of The Knights of Winter, a remarkable history of British Columbia hockey, 1895-1911, by former SIHR member Craig Bowlsby; and a copy of Arthur Farrell's Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game 1899 booklet, the first published history on the game, donated through Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a SIHR member, and Montreal Gazette columnist Red Fisher.
The president acknowledged the impressive work of volunteers including Wilbrod Despres of Quebec in producing 350,000 lines of statistics for the SIHR web site. Not overlooking, of course, the tremendous ongoing contribution by stats guru, past president Ernie Fitzsimmons. The data base has surpased the 60,000 player mark (less than 6000 have played in the NHL prior to 2006-07) and 10,000 of those player's records were added between May and October of 2006 thanks mostly to R.J. Pratt, Wilbrod Despres, Mike Starchok and Ernie Fitzsimmons. Wayne Geen has also added many lines of players Coaching records.
Len also paid tribute to several members including noted film collector Paul Patskou, who contributed to the CBCs ten-part series Hockey: A People's History. "The CBC relied extensively on SIHR written work in our Journal and on the expertise of our members as consultants and to answer questions concerning the work in progress," said the president.
The series, shown on Sunday nights in September and October, has been lauded as "slick and entertaining," a thorough going job," and been criticized for minor errors and major oversights.
Later in the meeting, Vice President Ed Grenda, who did on-ice consulting for some of the re-enactments, participated in the brief discussions about critical comments over some episodes. "If you are involved in history," he said, "you are involved in controversy--it's a way of life!"
Two panel sessions--three counting the Kevin Shea moderated discussion on preservation at the Friday night reception at the Total Hockey Museum in Bowmanville -were enjoyed: Bobby Attersley, introduced by Brian McFarlane as one of the best amateur hockey players ever, led three of the 1958 world champion Whitby Dunlop teammates--Frank Bonello, Ted O'Connor and Sandy Air--in the morning session. There's nothing quite like playing for your country, said the former Mayor of Whitby, even if you have endure a nine-week tour of Europe and middle of the night phone calls from the Soviets.
After lunch in Whitney Hall, members got a taste of four levels of hockey in the Oshawa-Whitby area, from Ron Archibald, Junior C Uxbridge Bruins; Mike Laing, Senior AAA Whitby Dunlops; Peter Tosh, Junior A Durham Fury and Ken Babcock, of Canada's newest university team, the UOIT Ridgebacks of Oshawa. Moderated by Wayne Geen, the foursome revealed they were non-competitive, except for the odd advertising dollar.
SIHR continues to be solvent and making steady growth. Treasurer Paul Bruno reported a $3,930.54 bank balance as of Oct. 30, and 272 paid up members, extending from North America to Italy, Hong Kong and Australia. Secretary Lloyd Davis, between freelance book editing duties, has compiled a list of all 230 members with e-mail addresses--a big aide in distributing updates.
The well-balanced Saturday schedule was wrapped up by Matthew Sibiga of Waterdown, Ont. and his musical colleague Don Wininger of St. Catharines, Ont., who brought insight into the mystique and memories of hockey-on-the-road. Authors of a forthcoming book on the popular Trailer Park Boys, the Bubbles' sweatered duo selected their All-Time, Dream Team, including Mike Pearson, a "roads' scholar" and the incomparable Shania Twain. Members, with the help of Keith's and Moosehead got into the spirit of the occasion and named their individual favourites from Bobby Hull and Fern Flaman to Moose Goheen and Wally Hergesheimer.
The Saturday night OHA Senior AAA game between Whitby Dunlops and Marmora Lakers was a disappointing rout, 12 to 2 for the hosts. SIHR, however got a nice boost over the PA system, when President Len and friend dropped ceremonial pucks. The organization also received good coverage at the Total Hockey opening, where Mayor reported SIHR--"an international collective of hockey historians from around the world," had endorsed the $2-million museum project established by SIHR's honourary president Brian McFarlane. Just before the Sunday opening ceremonies, Prime Minister Harper, stepped out of the VIP line-up to shake hands with our president and learn that SIHR had received the Farrell booklet.
The Society picked up two new members, Dave Nabi of Whitby, a Senators' fan and photo collector of postwar British hockey players and Leslie Willis of Mississauga, who has attended several meetings with hubby Eugene. Leslie joins regulars Anne Kitchen, Cathy Kinast and Marlene Fitzsimmons, among the distaff members who add class and dignity to our organization. Welcome aboard!
Unrecorded was the big bonus of networking that members revelled in at the Holiday Inn Express and across the road at Kelsey's. Priceless!
Two members modestly overlooked the opportunity to publicize momentous publishing achievements. Past President Paul Kitchen and the forthcoming Win, Tie or Wrangle, The History of the Ottawa Hockey Club and Kevin Shea (with Jason Wilson), Lord Stanley, The Man Behind the Cup, just published by H.B. Fenn.
Finally, a a big thank you to Wayne Geen, who with the help of wife, Nancy and daughter Emma, and support of the execs, looked after the myriad of details required to make the sessions rewarding and pleasantly memorable.
And thanks to the executives who selected the founding president as the 2006 McFarlane Award for outstanding research and writing. The same gent, author of Hockey's Captains, Colonels & Kings, was just as surprised to receive the Sun God Award from the New York-based Society of North American Hockey Historians and Researchers. He is pleased to join four other recipients, all fellow SIHR members, Morey Holzman and Joseph Nieforth, authors of Deceptions and Doublecross, How the NHL Conquered Hockey; Andrew Podnieks, Canada's Olympic Hockey Teams and Dr. Garth Vaughan, The Puck Starts Here.