I stood groggily in front of the mirror this morning and for some reason noticed that line that runs perfectly horizontally across my nose about half way up. Imperceptible except up close, it's a memory carved into my beaker with an errant stick back on the driveway on Wolsely Street in Peterborough. I remember getting …
Category: Early Days
Lindsay on a Saturday Night
In my last year of high school play, the high school in Lindsay had entered the Peterborough area league. Instead of playing them after school during the week as we did other local schools, we would sometimes play on Saturday nights in Lindsay. We'd take a school bus to the game as a team but …
A Hockey Friend Gone
I received word today that a childhood friend and teammate passed away this past Thursday. His name was John Cowling. The news has saddened me terribly. Although I had not seen him in 20+ years, nor kept in touch with him, I know that he was a very good man. It is funny how there is …
The Black Scots
One year in high school, our coach arranged a couple of exhibition games in Toronto. One of them was against the Sir John A. MacDonald Collegiate Black Scots. It was during their spirit week and they invited us into their school for a winter barbecue I think although I cannot remember if it was before …
Peterborough’s Snofest Tournament
Peterborough's annual Snofest High School Hockey Tournament, which I think lives on, was traditionally held around the first week in January. It was part of a winter-carnaval thing the city did and I remember they also had snowmobile races around the track in the fairgrounds outside the Memorial Centre, the High Cathedral of Hockey in …
Ed and Brian’s Team
I've posted other bits about coaches Ed and Brian. Here's a picture I found recently of a Peterborough house league team from some time in the mid 70's. This was take at Northcrest Arena in Peterborough and it looks like there was still wire screen at the ends of the rink where today all …
When Exams Were Over
There was a December when I was in high school, probably 1978 or 1979 when I was in grade 9 or 10, that I remember well. I'm not sure if it was abnormally cold and snowy early that year, or whether I'm just so old that I was around back when winter actually came …
Heavy Hits
I saw an old classmate and teammate from my high school years yesterday - Ross Cowie at Bud McDougall's funeral. A great stay-at-home defenceman, we played on the St. Pete's high school team together many moon ago. Ross took one of the hardest hits I ever saw, during an OFSSA semi-final game in North Bay …
The Father David Bauer Tournament
The St. Pete's High School team that I played on competed in the Father David Bauer tournament for a couple of years in the late 70's and early 80's. In fact, the 1979 tournament was the inaugural event. I was in grade 10 for that first tournament and played exactly two shifts in a total …
From A Tournament A Long Time Ago
I dredged up this old button from a bag in the basement of old hockey stuff I've kept forever. I remember playing in a couple of tournaments in the Keene Arena as a house-leaguer. Great times. Otonabee Township is just south of the Peterborough City limits and where my ancestors settled way, way back in …
Rink Tales 