As Canadian a moment as you’ll find. Habs and Leafs, on a snowy Saturday evening in February, on Hockey Night in Canada. Go Habs!!

I haven’t been able to do a lot of hockey-related topics in these last few days because I’ve been preoccupied with family matters, and between this and the fact that I can’t find any NHL games anywhere in the TV guide, I’ve decided to go with the following at this time.  I know you probably [...]

My dad was a self-taught sign painter, a profession he found himself in after working for Gordon Lightfoot’s father at Wagg’s Laundry, a place which cleaned, yes, you guessed it, laundry. Along with the normal sign painting duties, he also drew cartoons which were published several times in magazines, he painted art on motorcycle gas [...]

The big game, the 100th Grey Cup, is now in the books as the Toronto Argonauts outshone the Calgary Stampeders 35-22, and it wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreboard showed. Calgary’s offence, with Kevin Glenn at the helm, couldn’t put together any kind of attack, passes fell short, there was no pressure and too [...]

I’m proud to say that the new Habs pro scout for the NHL Western Division has a huge Orillia connection. Ethan Moreau played for the Junior B Orillia Terriers during the 1990-91 season, has lived in Orillia off and on for quite some time, and his parents Ab and Ester still live there. Moreau attended [...]

From my 1959 Orillia and area phone book (which includes Bobby Orr’s family in Parry Sound), you can see the Lightfoot family on Harvey. Above that, as an added bonus, is Norman Ley, father of Rick Ley, former defenseman with the Leafs and the WHA New England Whalers, and coach in Hartford, Toronto and Vancouver. [...]

In looking at the CBC poll that shows Montreal leading as best sports city in Canada, followed by Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto etc, I’m wondering why Orillia isn’t mentioned as a serious player in this regard. Rick Ley comes from Orillia. So does John French and the legendary Jake Gaudaur, and broadcaster and ex-Leaf executive Bill Watters. The Orillia Terriors [...]

In September of 1957, Orillia hockey star Rick Ley, who would go on to NHL and WHA stardom, was 9 years old. Orillia folksinger Gordon Lightfoot was 19. Bobby Orr, 60 miles up the road, was 9. I was a month shy of being 7. And in September of 1957, Hollywood funnyman Bob Hope, fresh from hanging [...]

  I came across this while rummaging through boxes in preparation for another contest I’m going to throw at you. Years ago my dad had this old 1959 Orillia and area telephone book hanging around his house which he was planning on tossing out until I asked him if I could have it because I knew [...]

Talk about doing it the hard way. Sleepwalk through most of the game, fall behind 4-1, then storm back in the third period and shock everyone in the building by coming alive and winning the darn thing 5-4 by scoring four goals in seven plus minutes at the end of the game.   I was hoping for [...]