By George Findlay – Calgary, Alta.
Saturday morning was practice time for the the Lemberg, Sask., Junior Hockey Team in 1938. Occasionally we’d go to the next town in a grain box on runners pulled by horse team. If it was too cold, we’d ride in a caboose. I don’t recall whether we won any games, but we sure had a lot of fun!
Most of my time skating was spent on my ankles, and I could only turn in one direction. I probably should have stuck to bob skates. One of the kids wore a pair of old skates with holes in them. They were tied on with binder twine.
Many on the team had their older brother’s or sister’s skates. They’d stuff extra socks in them to make them fit. We used newspapers, magazines, or catalogues for shin pads, held on by sealer rings.
The kids who had relatives in Toronto are easily spotted as they have Maple Leaf sweaters and were fully outfitted.
NHL coach fancied pigeons
Bob Leonard’s dad was a pigeon fancier and so was coach Dick Irvine of the Chicago Black Hawks. Coach Irvine used to come to town now and again to visit with Mr. Leonard and he would bring Bob a hockey stick. Those beautiful homing pigeons were so beautiful to watch.
About 20 years or so after this photo was taken, I got a phone call from a man who asked me: “Did you buy that candy store yet?”
“What candy store?!” I replied.
He laughed and said, “You told me you were going to buy a candy store when you got rich!”
It turned out I was speaking with Murray Johnsen from the team. We chummed around decades ago and have visited several times since.
About a year ago, I received a visit from Howard Kennett. Now a retired school principal, I hadn’t seen him for 60 years. He still had a copy of the hockey team photo all these years later. My dad, our coach that year, took this picture and every kid got one.
