Herb Anderson, Ivan Percival, Harold Hill and Ross Johnstone pose in front of two new banners that will commemorate the Sundridge Beavers. The Beavers, which Anderson, Percival, Hill and Johnstone played for, brought home six provincial championship medals between 1948 and 1964.
SUNDRIDGE – The Sundridge Strong Joly (SSJ) Arena received a gift on Dec. 24 – banners recognizing the first and possibly most important team to bring hockey honour to the area.
SSJ arena board members were on hand with four alumni of the Sundridge Beavers to officially mark the occasion.
The Sundridge Beavers were formed by the legendary Bucko McDonald, who played with the team and later coached them.
McDonald returned to Sundridge after a professional hockey career – that saw him win the Stanley Cup three times with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings – and founded the Beavers.
They were named the Beavers, explained alumni Ivan Percival, after park ranger Bill Christie’s dog, Beaver.
Percival himself used to snowshoe to games from his job at Algonquin Park, a 20-kilometre round trip.
“Bucko came back from the NHL and was a hockey person,” explained ex-Beaver Herb Anderson.
“Eight or 10 of us came back out of war and we all know how to skate a little so Bucko started the team,” Percival said.
In their heyday, the Beavers won six provincial championships – in 1908, 1949, 1956, 1960, 1962/63 and 1963/64. They were always either the winner or a finalist when they competed in the provincial play downs.
The Beavers competed against teams from Bracebridge, Orillia, Exeter, Bradford, Ingersoll, Cannington, Belleville, Ottawa, North Bay and Temiskaming.
Fans used to travel to see the team play at their away games, some of them taking the train, Anderson said.
The Beavers often found themselves playing against bigger towns with bigger pools potential hockey players.
That made no matter.
Anderson recalls the championship of 1956 as a good example of this.
The intermediate A championship was one of the toughest played.
Much of it had to do with McDonald’s coaching, Anderson said. “Part of our winning was conditioning…he was ahead of his time in conditioning.”
There was also a unity among players.
“There were no superstars,” Anderson said. “But we all played together.”
“We respected one another,” alumni Ross Johnston said. “We always played like we were one.”
“And we always won it,” Anderson said.
“It was quite an experience anyway,” ex-Beaver Harold Hill said.
Many of the Beavers went on to player at higher levels, including the NHL, American Hockey League and major Junior A.
Some of the players returned after their hockey careers to play with the Beavers.
The SSJ Arena already houses a display case showing off team pictures and the championship medals the Beavers brought home.
Now two new banners will also grace the arena. The banners were donated by 12-year NHL veteran Greg de Vries.
“I think it’s important (to recognize the Beavers’ role in local history) from my perspective…It’s a tradition…They produced hockey players in Sundridge,” Bill de Vries, Greg’s father and SSJ Arena board member, said.
It’s a tradition, Bill pointed out, that continues today with current NHLers and up-and-coming players still calling Sundridge their hometown.
Editorial
