Page 66 - Glace Bay Cinderella Miners

ISSUE : Issue 51

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/2/1

them to their farm clubs for grooming. And it was much more so at that time. (So, the Glace Bay Miners. Was that kind of a business operation? Was it just a way of letting the local people play hockey, or was it set up as a serious route to getting into the NHL?) No, I don't think that was ever--you hoped that would hap? pen, but.... I think it was just natural that each community had a Junior team to help support the Forum financially. If you didn't have a Junior team--it's like Cen? tre 200 now. If they didn't have this American Hockey League team here now, they'd never draw any crowds to anything. There'd be nobody to go. Because people like to see a good brand of hockey. And you need income. You have to generate income in these forums, through the win- NO SQUAWK POLICY While others tend 1 squawk when you demand the best, we take pride in keeping you satisfied with FREE DELIVERY, GREAT SERVICE, and GUARAN TEED LOWEST PRICES. FREE HOME DELIVERY PRICE PROTECTION POLICY FULL MANUFACTURERS- WARRANTIES 100% EXCHANGE POLICY IF YOU'RE NOT SATISFIED, BEFORE YOU BUY ANYPLACE ELSE, BRING THAT GREAT PRICE TO KRAZY KRAZY WE'LL BEAT IT! J Lake Rd. SYDNEY 562-8887 ter, between skating and hockey. Now obvi? ously, rentals won't generate enough in? come. They used to pay $20 an hour. Well, that would never generate enough income to keep a forum going. So the hockey teams are what used to keep things going. And we had a hockey league here, in the '40s and early '50s--up to 1952--called the Maritime Major Hockey League. Which today would be equivalent to the NHL. That's how good it was. It was all im? ports. There used to be the odd guy local? ly who could make the team. So Glace Bay and Sydney, Halifax, Saint John, had teams in that league. That was a very, very high calibre of hockey. Today those teams would be playing in the NHL. Because there's 21 teams today. There were only 6 in the NHL then. So common sense tells us that those teams would be part of the 21 today, if they were in existence.... Now that Maritime Major Hockey League dis? solved in--I believe it was 1952. And the team from Glace Bay--Glace Bay Miners, they were called--moved to Sioux, Ontario, and became the Sioux Ontario Greyhounds. The whole team. An extremely high calibre of hockey. We used to have about two players on each team, local. Most of them were brought in from all over the country. (And that team was to support the local forums....) Oh, yeah. To carry on with your story. Once that folded, you see, then the crowds were left without big hockey, as we call it. Good calibre hock? ey. So then we reverted back to local Sen? ior teams--they formed Senior leagues, and the over-age Juniors from around here would play Senior. But it was a watered- down type of Senior--it wasn't as good as we had had in the Maritime Major. And of course, the forums then all carried on with Junior teams.... In this area it was always Sydney, Northside, and Glace Bay. And very fiercely competitive. Now at this point, when the Maritime Major dissolved, or left here, then North Sydney and Sydney started to bring in--I think they had rules then, they could bring in 4 n i*tt ''ttj' E30IMU |.""U' ( OPEN 24 HOURS • 7 DAYS A WEEKI flm ffoitin 'bONUTS. f Cor. Chariotte & Townsend Sydney (562-8085) 1058 Kings Road Sydney River (539-3931) 412 Weiton Street Sydney (562-5033) Prince Street Sydney Shopping Centre (539-4287) Sterling Mall Glace Bay (849-0988) 106 King Street North Sydney (794-8337) ifMbT' "Mways fresh because you keep eating them!" 66 ??

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