Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “, brought to you by Hal Wright Chevrolet-Cadillac-GMC-Buick on the Sunset Strip in Owen Sound.
It’s a great time of the year with the Junior Hockey playoffs in full swing at every level excepting the Ontario Hockey League.
I got looking at the calendar the other day, noticing not so much the date & month, but rather the year and it struck me that this is the 30th anniversary of the first Championship team I ever covered.
In 1984, while broadcasting for the now-long departed 1230 CKMP in Midland, I followed the Penetanguishene Kings to the Schmalz Cup Championship.
Truthfully, I followed the Midland Centennials for the first two rounds but when they were swept by the Kings, their management extended a warm welcome to hop their bus and continue on the post season trail. And it was great.
They eliminated the Parry Sound Shamrocks 4-1 to win the Georgian Bay title, won their quarterfinal over the Alliston Hornets, also in 5 games, needed 7 emotional games to finish the Bomanville Eagles and then secured the championship with a 4 game sweep of the Woodstock Navy Vets.
Pick any of those series and I can tell you a great story, either on the ice or off pertaining to the Kings and that playoff run.
And with the Championship Kings now 50 years of age or close, I wonder how many of them could do likewise.
I bet the number is pretty high, which makes this time of the year so special in the ranks of hometown Junior Hockey.
I’m Fred Wallace
