The Way We Were Then
The Alliston Hornets hockey team began in 1971. Allan Edgar and Paul McKelvey had been coaching an excellent Bantam team and somehow they began to consider the possibility of putting a Junior C team together. Being enthusiastic coaches and men of action, it wasn’t very long until their dream team began to take shape, with Allan Edgar as coach, Paul McKelvey as manager and Doug Horsburg as trainer.
Various names were considered such as the Alliston Clippers but then someone saw the name, Pittsburgh Hornets, and that name became the Alliston Hornets.
In the years ahead, this team would bring great hockey to the enthusiastic crowd at the Alliston Memorial Arena.
Of course, hockey goes back a long way in this town. In pioneer times, the local boys had spring skates which fastened to the soles of their boots. They could sometimes cause an upset, however, if a skate blade came off just when the player was ready to shoot in the winning goal.
They played on the pond north of town where Alliston’s brick clay had been dug out. When the Fletcher mill pond froze over, that was closer. A ball of frozen horse manure was often the puck, but they probably enjoyed the game.
When the Saturday chores were done, it was time to shovel the snow off the surface. Sometimes it was like glass and sometimes it was rough. The game went on regardless.
If the young fellows were caught slipping out of the house on Sunday morning with skates and a hockey stick, Dad soon put a stop to that. Sunday morning was the Lord’s time and they would be in church not only for Sunday school, but also the church service. In those days, the fathers realized that it was the responsibility of dad to bring up the kids as good Christians. They believed that if they failed to do so, they would have to answer for it someday. Over the years, we seem to have lost this attitude.
Little by little, we moved towards the modern era. In the year 1900, the town purchased a lot on the corner of Paris and Nelson Street for $200 and built the first indoor rink. Lots of great hockey was played there.
The game was fast and rough and many a young fellow left his front teeth on the ice. In time, that building collapsed under the snow load. Alfred Baycroft built and operated the “Ice Palace” on the same spot but now nothing remains of it but a poster.
In 1950, our town opened the Alliston Memorial Arena. It would one day be the home of the Hornets and in that year, the ice rented for $5 per hour. Over the years, several names appeared on various old teams. Some of these were Gibson, Williams, Story, Ellis, Bergin, Doyle, MacKenzie, Purchase, Graham, Hancey, Moore, Craig, Collins, Dr. Young, Hunter and Baker plus various others.
In 1971, the Hornets were pretty good and the local people turned out in great numbers to watch the games. That year, they were down two games against Schomberg. Coach Edgar must have had the right pep talk because they bounced back and won three straight games. They sold more than 1,700 tickets to one game. The standing room was packed as thick as hair on a dog. Some young people climbed up and perched uncomfortably on the steel supporting arches.
In one game in 1976, 1,750 tickets were sold. I remember that in order to resurface the ice between periods, I had to go out the front door and walk around to the back door because it was too difficult to walk through the jam-packed crowd to get to the resurfacing machine.
For a few years, the team was inactive but it came back. The first team captain was Pat O’Leary. The 2008 captain is his nephew, Robbie Rutledge. The name O’Leary has appeared many times on Hornet teams. Ours is one of the oldest Jr. C teams in the province. Sometimes there have been too many people in the old arena but no harm came of it. Sometimes there were some terrible brawls among the spectators.
There was a lot of rivalry with some towns. Alcohol was not allowed in the stands, but I remember carrying out many barrels of beer and liquor bottles the morning after the games. Possibly that is the reason why our fans tried to upset the other teams’ bus. When they were not strong enough, they were content to break its windows.
Tom Coffin was a very popular player on the Alliston team. He became a police officer and was murdered a few years later.
The team, together with the Ontario Provincial Police, decided to put on a benefit game in his memory and it drew a great crowd.
The famous Don Cherry was there to drop the puck and his co-star, Ron MacLean, was refereeing. The Tom Coffin Memorial Cup was donated by Sports Excellence of Alliston.
This was our only team to play in Maple Leaf Gardens. The Toronto triple A midget team thought they could show our country bumpkins how easily they could defeat Alliston but they were tied 6-6 and our team went to play them in Toronto. They played well but lost there. The players were dressed in heavy winter underwear and forgot that the arena was warm. They were sweating even before the game started.
Well, the old teams had some good years and some were not as good. Sometimes the crowds were down but some people stayed with them through the good times and bad.
One such couple was Pat (Warren) and Shirley Gibson. They were there for many years. Another was our friend Betty Laughlin. Her powerful voice could always be heard above the noise cheering her team on. She always stood at the top of the steps which was at the east exit to the lobby.
Between periods, the ladies in the snack bar served tons of french fries and gravy and buckets of popcorn. They never seemed to lose their patience or their sense of humour. Those were good times in the old Alliston Memorial Arena. Many hope it will continue on for a long time.
Today, the Hornets’ Nest is in a new state of the art facility. Their games are sold out early.
The team may be the best ever according to some knowledgeable fans. Coach Darrin Shannon, an ex-Hornet himself, went on to a career in professional hockey and his experience is a great advantage.
Go Hornets go.
For more about the yesteryears of old Alliston, see next Wednesday's edition of the Alliston Herald.
