It’s an odd concept “to belong” to something, but I’m convinced it’s an important part of being a human.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail inviting me to be a part of the annual general meeting of the Avalon Liberal Association. Do you know I actually considered it for at least a little bit? The internal decision in my head was swung by the fact it was a “virtual meeting.” 

No hotels, no beer by the barrel, no late nights or free stuff. I mentioned all this to someone I knew that I had considered it and she said, “You just want to BELONG to something.” 

You know, upon further review as they say in sports, she was right. We all want to be part of something. We want to belong.

‘Leafs Nation’

The opening to the TV series Cheers always struck an emotional chord in my heart. Individuals finding relief from some awful emptiness by being in a bar sipping beer. The benefits were spelled out. Cheers was a bar, “Where everybody knows your name.” That defines a kind of salvation from the realization that on some important level; you are alone and the path you walk is often by yourself.

The Toronto Maple Leaf experience is like that. It’s the failure of a team over decades and a failure the edge of which is blunted in some way and a salve applied to a wound by making it a shared experience. The approach is given life by an expression that I love, and it is “Leafs Nation.” That expression could bring tears to my eyes. 

Tsunami of lost hope

So many people brought together in a great tsunami of lost hope and disappointment somehow made at least bearable by a shared experience and a confirmation of the truth that each year when an NHL team wins a championship, 25 teams lose.

In the middle of that emotional angst, you are at least not alone. You belong to something. You are Leafs Nation  There’s a religious aspect to it. A shared set of beliefs and someone to stand with you. 

Consider if you will now a line from Leonard Cohen. It’s to me one of his very best lines. It’s from Dress Rehearsal Rag, and references a 17th century metaphysical mystical group still active in the 21st century called the Rosicrucians. To wit: “Why don’t you join the Rosicrucians they will give you back your hope.” 

It’s in the end all about belonging. The Rosicrucians, the Leafs, Cheers or the Avalon District Liberal association. It’s the great struggle to belong to something and avoid the great consequence of being in the universe on your own.

NTV’s Jim Furlong can be reached by emailing: jfurlong@ntv.ca

A look back at 30 years of professional hockey in St. John’s and celebrating the local stars who gave fans plenty of reason to cheer

It’s been three decades since professional hockey arrived in the province’s capital, a sports journey that has embraced several franchises, two leagues and an alumni of NHL legends.

The Baby Leafs 

That first year was pure magic for the province as the American Hockey League’s St. John’s Maple Leafs, the farm team of the storied Toronto Maple Leafs, captured the hearts of sports fans – narrowly losing the 1991-92 league championship. 

The Baby Leafs – featuring 21-year-old Corner Brook forward Todd Gillingham and led by rookie coach Marc Crawford – gave fans at Memorial Stadium its first taste of the pro game.

But the city’s first dalliance with the pro game actually came way back in 1983 when Ian McKenzie, owner of Regatta Ford, organized a four-team AHL exhibition tournament with an eye to bringing a pro team to St. John’s. AHL president Jack Butterfield balked at the idea of having his teams, which travelled exclusively by bus, fly to the island.

 But by the early 1990s pro hockey talk heated up. In 1990 the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars and general manager Bobby Clarke signed a deal with Mayor Shannie Duff to place Minnesota’s minor league affiliate in St. John’s. 

There was only one problem, the North Stars minor league team at the time was based in Kalamazoo, Michigan of the International Hockey League and the AHL refused to allow Minnesota to simply transfer the club to the league without buying an expansion franchise first and the deal fell through.

Standing room only

Undaunted, the city turned its attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were unhappy with their AHL franchise in Newmarket, Ontario. Shifting the franchise to St. John’s would not pose the same problem the North Stars encountered. And despite Butterfield’s concern about travel, Cliff Fletcher and his Toronto Maple Leafs would be finally bring pro hockey to Newfoundland.

Rabid St. John’s hockey fans quickly snapped up every season ticket available in the 3,500 seat Memorial Stadium and the standing room only crowd were treated to an exciting brand of hockey that culminated in a Calder Cup run.

Gillingham was the first of many Newfoundlanders to play the pro game in St. John’s. Players like Terry Ryan and Harold Druken followed with the Baby Leafs, but the most memorable was South Shore senior hockey league legend Andy Sullivan, one of the province’s all-time great amateur players, who turned pro with the Maple Leafs as a 32-year-old.

First pro goal

Venerable Baby Leafs radio broadcaster George MacLaren said when Sullivan scored his first pro goal it was like the roof just about blew off the old Stadium — cheering never heard since the night George Spracklin scored for the St. John’s Caps senior hockey team versus the visiting Soviet national team, featuring the likes of Vladislav Tretiak.

 By 2005, the pro hockey landscape had changed and many teams wanted to have their AHL affiliate close to the parent club for salary cap reasons and the Maple Leafs were one of those clubs — moving the Baby Leafs to the Ricoh Colleseum in Toronto.

 While the St. John’s Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior league filled the hockey void for a couple of years, it would be several years until the American Hockey League would return to St. John’s.

Miracle on ice

In nothing short of a miracle, former Premier Danny Williams convinced the newly-formed Winnipeg Jets to place their AHL franchise in St. John’s. The IceCaps were a smash hit at Mile One Stadium — setting an AHL record for most consecutive sell-outs and advancing to the league semifinals in year one, led by Corner Brook native Jason King.

The IceCaps would advance to the AHL finals in 2014 and play one more year as the Jets’ top farm club before, like Toronto, the club was moved to the same city as the parent club. 

As a stop gap, the Montreal Canadiens, building a new AHL arena in nearby Laval, needed a place to temporarily house its minor league team and the IceCaps lived on for two more years.

Go Growlers, Go!

There was another absence of pro hockey in the capital city until 2018 when the Toronto Maple Leafs came into the picture once again, this time with an ECHL affiliation for St. John’s.

The ECHL is considered a tier below the AHL, but the team would be considered the class of the league, bringing St. John’s its first professional sports title. And like the city’s previous hockey clubs the Newfoundland Growlers were led by a handful of Newfoundlanders — NHL veteran Adam Pardy, snipers Zach O’Brien and Marcus Power and tough defenceman James Melindy. The club was also coached initially by long-time NHLer Ryane Clowe, of Fermeuse, who had to leave the bench due to lingering concussion issues.

Glenn Stanford

The Growlers did not get to defend their title in 2020 as the playoffs were cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Growlers then voluntarily suspended operations for the 2020-21 season as the pandemic still had ongoing travel restrictions.

Of course, no story about professional hockey would be complete without mentioning Glenn Stanford, the executive who has overseen every interaction of professional hockey in the city and has a sterling reputation in pro hockey circles. 

Buddy the Puffin

Another fixture on all pro hockey teams in St. John’s was Buddy the Puffin. He was previously the mascot of the St. John’s Maple Leafs and later the St. John’s IceCaps and Growlers. Buddy’s number is 92, which represents 1992, the year that he was introduced as the mascot of the St. John’s Maple Leafs. For most of Buddy’s tenure, the man in the suit was Chris Abbott, who tragically passed away in early February.

Pro hockey dream

Among coaches who steered St. John’s pro hockey teams two men — Marc Crawford and Joel Quenneville of the St. John’s Maple Leafs – went on to coach NHL teams to Stanley Cup championships. Arguably the greatest player to ever play the pro game in St. John’s is former IceCaps goalie Connor Hellebuyck who won the 2020 Vezina Trophy, the only St. John’s pro hockey alumni to win a major NHL individual player award.

The pro hockey dream continues in the province’s capital with the Newfoundland Growlers still chasing another ECHL title. This team –and the many teams over the past three decades – continue to give fans a reason to cheer.

Former NHL centre Andrew McKim knows hockey, having played in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings. 

Hailing from Saint John, New Brunswick, McKim’s time spent with the AHL franchise here in this province led to him getting married and settling down in Newfoundland where he now co-owns Xtreme Hockey with Randy Pearcey. The two have seen many talented players come through their doors since 2002, including McKim’s son, Matt. 

McKim has coached many of the Growlers  from the time they were young kids on skates, including team Captain James Melindy and forwards Nathan Noel, Marcus Power, Tyler Boland and Jordan Escott.

It’s little wonder that McKim has the magic touch when it comes to coaching the next generation of great players considering his own background in the sport. 

McKim racked up 252 points in only 200 regular season games with the Montreal Canadians (Verdun). In 1989-90, McKim was traded to Hull (now Gatineau) and posted 130 points in 70 games as a nineteen-year-old.

The good old days

What followed was an 11-year professional hockey career that saw the right winger suit up in the NHL, IHL, AHL, DEL (Germany), and Swiss-A Leagues. At the NHL level, McKim played in 38 games for both the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings and in 1993-94 while playing for the Adirondack Red Wings (AHL), he scored 94 points in just 77 games.  

But one point in his hockey career stands out, and that’s the time he spent playing for the St. John’s Maple Leafs back in the early 90s with Felix Potvin, Guy Larose and more. What did he think about playing in Newfoundland? McKim has nothing but praise for those good old days. 

“When I signed with Toronto, we knew I would come to Newfoundland and there was a kind of excitement and we were like rock stars when we were here,” he began with a chuckle. The people, he added, were “just so excited that it became surreal,” he continued. 

“The people were excited. The town was excited. It was a fun time. I remember we used to go on the road and sometimes snow would come and our driveways would be done for us. Every bar and restaurant we went through, everyone treated us like superstars. And I was only young too so it was kind of a nice feeling. You were treated like gold being an  NHL player playing in St. John’s.”  

Little shock considering how well the team performed. “We were the top. We were the top team in the American Hockey League and we ended up playing in the playoffs, though we lost our first two games at home in the series and then we went on the road in Adirondack and we won the next two, home for game five and lost. We were on the road and we won game six and then we came back and  lost game seven.” 

The memories are flooding back now, he said with a laugh. We ask what made him settle down in Newfoundland after an a career spent travelling the world. He paused only briefly. “Well, I played a lot of different places and it’s just that the people here are great. Now, I still haven’t seen one spring yet, but I’m still here (laughter). But it’s the culture, the city and the province is a beautiful place to live and be and it’s a great place to raise a family and it’s a great place to do business,” he said.

He’s “been through many different places,” he added. “People don’t realize Newfoundland for what it is. Some don’t realize how lucky they are to have such a great place to live and how blessed they are to have a family grow up here. Outside the weather, everything else about it makes this probably the best place to live.” 

‘Working for yourself’

McKim opened Xtreme Hockey in 2002, so it’s been 20 years of coaching the next greats in the sport. “I got injured in October 2000 (concussion syndrome) and I’ve worked with Dawson Mercer (New Jersey Devils) since he was five years-old and Alex (Newhook – Colorado Avalanche) since he was five.”

Abby Newhook. Shailynn Snow. Many hockey greats that hail from this province have skated beside McKim, he says proudly, including, of course, many Growlers players. 

“I’ve had a lot of those kids. I’ve had Tyler Boland, Marcus Power, James Melindy. James had to keep working on his power skating. James was a big, strong kid. And James said one day, ‘Well, I’m older than everybody else,’ and I said, ‘James, you’re not working for anybody else, you’re just working for yourself to get better,’ and he puts time and the effort in and makes a great team Captain. He’s such a great guy and he’s such a hard worker.” 

We ask McKim his thoughts on the loss of Chris Abbott (Buddy the Puffin).  “I think the passion for the game was put inside that man before he was even born. He’s an iconic figure in Newfoundland hockey history,” he said. He had both “the character and the charisma,” and his passion for the game “was electrifying.” 

“The kids, the parents, they all loved him. He was an entertainer. He made the games fun and there will never be another ‘Buddy’ in my opinion,” he said. As for Glenn Stanford, the Governor and Chief Operating Officer of the Newfoundland Growlers, there’s more praise. 

“Glenn has been here since day one and as far as I’m concerned, he’s the reason for everything. He’s been there for every single franchise and he’s the only constant. I hope the hockey world recognizes him and I think he deserves to be a NHL Hall of Famer. I’ve gone a lot of different places and people talk about dealing with (Glenn) Stanford and they talk about how he’s such a gentleman and how much he’s respected in the game of hockey. Everyone wants to be famous in this game, be it a player or a coach or someone in management, but when all people can talk about is what a great guy you are? And everyone says the same thing? Then that speaks volumes I think and he’s kept it up for thirty years.”

His final thoughts are for the dedicated fans, he added. “I just think so much credit goes to the fans, to the people that came to the games. There’s a great hockey fan-base here and it’s something that Newfoundlanders should be proud of.” 

For more information, visit xhockey.ca

Kyle Wellwood and his brother Eric Wellwood have an interesting connection to both hockey and Newfoundland. 

While Eric is the current coach of the Newfoundland Growlers, back in the “Baby Leafs” days when the Maple Leafs AHL franchise played from the old Memorial Stadium before heading off to Mile One Centre – now the Mary Brown’s Centre – Eric’s brother Kyle was one of the first players to lace up skates at Mile One. 

As the Growlers celebrated 30 years of professional hockey in St. John’s with a special ceremony held on April 10th, at centre ice at the Mary Brown’s Centre, former Baby Leaf Andrew McKim and former Growlers defenceman Adam Pardy joined Kyle as part of the ceremony in honour of current Growlers Governor and Chief Operating Officer Glenn Stanford, the common thread that has tied each of the AHL/ECHL franchises – from the Baby Leafs to the IceCaps to the Growlers – together.  Hockey via Stanford, has given many fans of the sport unique opportunities.

Like Wellwood, Pardy and McKim, Felix Potvin, Josh Morrissey, Don Beaupre, Mark Scheifele, Shawn Thornton, Morgan Rielly and D.J. Smith have all played for St. John’s at some point of their pro career. Having AHL/ECHL franchises here also allows talented homegrown players, like Growlers team captain James Melindy, to earn a living at pro hockey while playing in their own backyard.

Eric, the third head coach of the Newfoundland Growlers, has seen nothing but success since entering the team’s locker room in 2021 and as they make a run at this year’s Kelly Cup championship, Kyle is cheering them on. 

Ring of Honour

Kyle, who was originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs 134th overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, played his first three seasons in the NHL with Toronto before joining the Vancouver Canucks in 2008. 

He also played with the San Jose Sharks and the Winnipeg Jets, but when we spoke his thoughts were on his time spent in this province as a St. John’s Maple Leaf, and on his brother’s success with the Growlers in the ECHL. 

“I thought (the 30 years of hockey ceremony) was great. That Ring of Honour they introduced for the stadium in Glenn’s (Stanford) honour is such a great idea,” he opened. 

We ask the Ontario-born star about his enduring connection to this place and where it comes from.  It comes from the time he spent here, he begins, but it was always reinforced anytime he ran into players that had come from here. 

“Anytime I ran into hockey players that I played with in Newfoundland, or who were from Newfoundland, we always got along. I was fortunate that I played with Ryane Clowe (former head coach of the Growlers) so it was always nice to run into him. Because I lived here and felt this was such a special place, we had something to talk about.” 

When brother Eric was first offered the Growlers coaching position, one of the first calls made was to Kyle.  “I think it’s always difficult to try to take a job in a new city and people want to know, ‘what’s it like there?’ I just said ‘it’s one of the most fabulous places in the world and everybody’s so nice and down earth,’ and I know my brother’s really happy to have made the choice to come here.” 

Playoff time looms

Now, as playoff time looms large, we ask if it’s non-stop hockey talk between the brothers.  

“We do talk about hockey quite a bit, but Eric’s just been the really lucky guy in the family as he seems to win all the time and that’s not what happened in my career so you can just assume it’s going to happen again and he’ll win,” he laughed, referring to this year’s Kelly Cup. 

Reflecting on his own time here, Kyle shared it was “exciting.” 

“Mile One had just been built and it was a very nice atmosphere. The fans were so excited to have Baby Maple Leafs here and it was just first class all the way. We had a pretty good team and it was a really nice environment.” 

Kyle, like many others, shared that Stanford deserves so much credit for the success of hockey in this province.  

“You need to have someone to steer the ship and that’s been Glenn. Anyone you run into will have wonderful things to say about him. It’s really fortunate for St. John’s that he took an interest in pro hockey here.”

We ask if there’s any sporting highlight that stands out for him personally. He doesn’t hesitate. “The time I scored five goals one night in St. John’s. That was a fun night. My first goal with the Maple Leafs. Getting to play in the playoffs. Those are my fondest hockey memories.”

 When it comes to his brother’s career, Kyle says there’s still great things to come. “Eric has got a great personality and he has a great relationship with the guys and everybody is ready for the playoffs and they’re going to try to win. And I think that the city should be in for a great playoff run.”  

A pair of hot hockey prospects from Newfoundland and Labrador are cracking the opening night rosters for their respective National Hockey League clubs for the 2021-22 season.

Dawson Mercer and Alex Newhook, both teammates of Team Canada’s World Junior squad in recent years, have made the cut and then some for their respective clubs for the 2021-22 season, which kicks off tonight with a pair of games.

Mercer, a product of Bay Roberts, was drafted 18th overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 2020 Entry Draft and signed an entry level contract with the club in December.

The 19 year-old will make his NHL regular season debut this Friday when the Devils host the Chicago Blackhawks.

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The inclusion of St. John’s forward Newhook in the thriving Colorado Avalanche opening-night roster is hardly a surprise. Newhook is considered one of the prominent prospects in the Avs system, having appeared in all eight of Colorado’s Stanley Cup playoff games last season.

The Avalanche and Newhook hit the ice on Wednesday against the Blackhawks.