Good old days of Jr. B hockey

There were rabid rivalries with games that were high scoring and penalty filled as part of a rough and tumble junior B league with teams in towns that highlighted local and area hockey players.

Games were played in cold rinks where fans braved the chills of winter to hoot and root for the home team and boo and hiss the visitors.

Before there was the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, there was the International Jr. B Hockey League with teams such as the Blind River Beavers, Chapleau Huskies, Elliot Lake Vikings, Marquette Americans, Soo Indians, Soo Thunderbirds, Thessalon Flyers and Wawa Travellers.

My goodness, it was a run, gun and fun league and not for the faint of heart, with brawls galore — as in on the ice between the players, in the stands among fans, and in the honky tonk bars of Blind River, Elliot Lake, the Michigan Soo, Thessalon and Wawa, before, during and after the games.

I know. I was there for some of the, um, goon shows.

I watched games at rinks in every one of the above mentioned towns except Chapleau — and the only ones that were actually comfortable were Lakeview Arena in Marquette and Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo.

But it was a blast of fun — especially in Blind River and Thessalon — and I can’t say I ever had a time that was not enjoyable.

To be sure, it was a different time. And while times and the game have certainly changed, there were skills and thrills — besides the spills — from those days that remain in the happy memory bank of yours truly.

Here and there, I covered the venerable Jr. B loop from the mid 1970s— around my first year in the media — until it folded, in the early 1980s.

I reported on the IJHL as a sportscaster for CKCY and CJIC in Sault Ste. Marie and as a play-by-play announcer for radio station CJWA in Wawa, not to mention numerous colour commentary and intermission appearances on CJNR in Blind River and WSMM in the Michigan Soo.

And I can say, as I love covering the NOJHL now, I loved covering the erstwhile IJHL back then.

Many of the towns no longer have junior teams. A few of the radio stations have signed off the air. But the flashbacks still hold dear to the tests and times of the old junior B loop.

There was rarely a dull moment in being at an IJHL game and covering a league that was maintained on volunteer help and fan loyalty — and where finances were often an issue for the teams.

I remember many of the players from many of the teams who were memorable for either scoring goals, stopping pucks or being rugged hombres with menacing ways.

The Thunderbirds were not only a team made up exclusively of local kids but there were enough Soo boys to either cross the river to play for the Indians or head up the highway to Thessalon to suit up for the Flyers.

The IJHL had committed commissioners who operated with little or no budget, guys like Ken Elliott and Ron Valentine.

And there were coaches and managers who were the best of volunteers, men such as Abbie Carricato and Hec Pozzo of the Thunderbirds, Paul Theriault, Don Lillie and John Becanic Sr. of the Indians, and Paul Tait and Mike Mania from up in Wawa.

Forwards and defensemen who stood out to me from the five or six years that I covered the league included Dave Antonello, Chris Braido, Tom Buchan, Carlo DiCandia, Brent Jarrett, Toots Kovacs, Paul Luciani, Mike O’Connor, Danny Russell, Randy Sandvik and Darren Zack of the Thunderbirds, Dave Cappellani, Johnny Cucullo, Fred Devuono, John Ferroni, Charlie Gimpel, Jerry Harwood, Tim Lee, Dave Lillie, Pat Lillie, Daryel McCarrel, Lee Rodgers, Larry Suurna and Jim Watchorn of the Indians, Chris Beacock, Pat Evoy, Frank Gaccione, George Kennedy, Kevin King, Pat King, Tom Mitchell, Karli Paat, Lorne Robinson and Mike Vine of Thessalon, and Earl Dereski, Nelson Duchesne, Chuck Farand, John Hutchings and Barry Keating from Wawa.

Goalies who I can still picture in the net are Larry Briffett, Ron Elliott and Steve Nolan of the Thunderbirds, Joe Shawhan and Tim Watchorn of the Indians, Al Holden and Randy Sherman of Thessalon and Pierre Dumont from Wawa.

They were the good, old days of junior B hockey.