Cape Breton's Magazine

Elmer "Porky" MacMullin (How important was hockey to you, as a kid?) Very, very, very impor? tant to me as a kid. Very impor? tant. When I wasn't playing it, I was thinking about it, eh? And I remember back--I lived in Reserve Mines, and the only rink in the area was the Glace Bay Forum. We didn't have a lot of hockey in Re? serve then. And I didn't make the school team that year. But why I talking way back then--I remember St. John's had the worst team in the league. St. John's was Number 2 (Colliery). And I called the priest, and he told me to come down. But I'd have to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and get ready and go with my father--he worked in the mine. And we'd go down to--like, I'd get about a mile and a half or two miles from the For? um and I'd get off the miners' bus. I'd get down for free with him. And then I'd have to carry my gear to the Forum. And get ready and practice. Say the practice was 6 to 7. And then I'd have to come back, and hitchhike back home, and get changed, and get back to school again. But it had to be quite important for me to get through that. And I looked forward to that, eh? I'd go twice a week, three times a week, just to practice. Now, we played later, played after school. But if we were trying out for a team, trying to make a team, we had to go through those things in order to get to the rink and get on a team. And that was my dream. We started here. When I was a kid, there was a little pond right here, behind the rink. And I'd play that. And the bigger kids were up here. And that would be like going into a Junior League: they had a bigger pond here. And then Murray's Pond was down the road. And to get there, that would be like going ijito the NHL. And then to get from Murray's Pond to the rink in Reserve was another big step. And then to go from the Reserve rink to the Miners' Forum--that was the ultimate. That was-- you know, you were world champions then, when you got there.... My first game with Junior (Hockey) in North Sydney, I lost my teeth. A fellow BOOKS ARE A GREAT GIFT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR Cape Breton Books • A Good Selection of First-Rate literature • A Wide Range of Books from Popular to Scholarly 361 Charlotte St., Sydney B1P1E1 (next to the Peking Restaurant) (539-8551) PIPER'S TRAILER COURT Featuring: Fully Licensed Dining Room Laundromat Mini-Mart Ocean-Side Campsites Swimming Pool 929-2233 929-2067 Indian Brook on the Cabot Trail (Halfway between Baddeck and Ingonish) From either direction on the Cabot Trail, plan for comfort and welcome The Old Manse GUEST HOUSE with Bed and Breakfast Official Home of "Your Pace or Mine?" !'* Ahhass Studio Ltd. Passport Photographs While You Wait ( ONE HOUR FILM PROCESSING ) 5" X 7" Enlargements or Reprints in Only 20 Minutes! Weddings • Commercial & Industrial • Family Groups • Graduation ABBASS STUDIO LTD. 170 Townsend St., Sydney * 564-8234 or 564-6491 OVER 40 YEARS OF SERVICE TO CAPE BRETON 83