Tag: Wayne Meier

Barnes of Postmedia shines bright light on scouting fraternity

The headline on the Calgary Herald website reads: “The road warriors of sports: NHL scouts have always been appreciated, but never publicly. Until now.”

Dan Barnes, a veteran sports journalist who works out of Edmonton for Postmedia, wrote a lengthy piece about NHL scouts that appeared in newspapers and on websites on Saturday (March 9).

He led the story by explaining how as many as 100 scouts would hang around for a day after the NHL draft and take part in a best-ball golf tournament that was a social event that allowed them to let loose for a few hours after a long, stressful season. It also showed what a close fraternity this bunch is, despite the fact they are in almost constant competition with each other on the scouting trail.

That annual gathering has gone away, however, thanks to the draft having evolved from a 12-round marathon to an event that ends quickly on its second day.

“Old scouts, however, are nonetheless determined to gather the fraternity on an annual basis and continue shining a spotlight on pioneers of their profession,” Barnes writes.

“The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation was formed for that reason and will fete its inaugural Wall of Honour inductees on July 29 in Okotoks, Alta. Forty-five men will be honoured for their dedication and accomplishments, 19 posthumously . . .”

This is a rich read and will take you at least two cups of coffee. But it’s well worth it.

You’ll find quotes and stories from the likes of Kevin Prendergast, Mike Penny, Wayne Meier, Bruce Haralson, Ted Hampson, Archie Henderson, Vaughn Karpan and Scott Bradley, all of whom will be among the inaugural class of inductees at the Wall of Honour celebration in Okotoks.

Retired scout Wayne Meier has three Stanley Cup rings from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Photo: Gregg Drinnan)

“At the end of his 30-year career, Henderson did the math,” Barnes writes. “He was 65 and estimated he had been at 6,000 games and spent 19 calendar years away from home.”

Henderson told Barnes: “I was away from my wife and my family, my kids, my parents for 19 years of my life. And how many people can sit back and say they would be willing to give up that many nights?”

These were and are a special breed and Barnes shines a nice, bright light on their profession.

His complete story, along with some terrific photos, is right here: https://calgaryherald.com/sports/nhl-scouts-wall-of-honour-inductees-okotoks

Scouts’ Wall of Honour to open with 45 inductees

The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation will induct 45 members of the scouting fraternity into its Wall of Honour this summer.

The banquet is scheduled to be held in Okotoks, Alta., on Monday, July 29.

Comprising three Matrix screens, the WCPHSF Wall of Honour video presentation will be on permanent display at the Centennial Arena in Okotoks.

The first inductees feature five pioneers of the scouting fraternity, including Danny Summers, who returned from the Second World War to play for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers before getting into scouting, and Murray (Torchy) Schell, who spent summers as an assistant equipment manager with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders while he was scouting.

Also being inducted will be 17 scouts from the Early Era (1968-80), including Elmer Benning, who put more than 1 million miles on one car while on the scouting trail; Pat (Paddy) Ginnell, who was a legendary junior coach before turning to scouting; and Del Wilson, a long-time scout who also was a founding father of the major junior WHL.

There also will be 20 scouts from the Modern Era (1981-present) inducted, including Vaughn Karpan, who has been a key figure with the Vegas Golden Knights; Al Murray, one of the architects of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s success; and Barry Trapp, who retired in August 2023 after more than 60 years in the game.

Rounding out the inaugural class will be Lorne Frey and the late Graham Tuer, both of whom had lengthy scouting careers in junior hockey.

Garnet (Ace) Bailey also will be honoured. Bailey scouted for the Edmonton Oilers and then the Los Angeles Kings. He was en route to the Kings’ training camp aboard United Airlines flight 175 when it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Our selection committee did an excellent job of recognizing these candidates for the Wall of Honour,” Foundation president Erin Ginnell said. “These scouts are not only builders of the game that put thousands of players into the NHL and pro ranks, but also represented their teams and the game with class, professionalism and determination to succeed.  “A lot of these honorees were real mentors to people like myself when I first started; they were always there with help travelling, directions, and generally just made you feel a part of the fraternity.”

The complete list of inductees (* – denotes deceased):

SPECIAL RECOGNITION: *-Garnet (Ace) Bailey.

PIONEERS: *-George Agar, *-Frank Currie, *-Murray (Torchy) Schell, *-Danny Summers, *-Cecil (Tiny) Thompson.

EARLY ERA (1968-1980): *-Elmer Benning, *-Bart Bradley, *-Lorne Davis, *-Gerry Ehman, *-Barry Fraser, *-Pat Ginnell, Ted Hampson, *-Charlie Hodge, Earl Ingarfield Sr, *-Lou Jankowski, Marshall Johnston, Bill Lesuk, *-Ian McKenzie, *-Gerry Melnyk, Bob Owen, *-Clare Rothermel, *-Del Wilson.

MODERN ERA (1981-present): Scott Bradley, Craig Button, John Chapman, George Fargher, Tony Feltrin, Bruce Franklin, Bruce Haralson, Archie Henderson, Les Jackson, Vaughn Karpan, Ross Mahoney, Bert Marshall, Wayne Meier, Al Murray, Gerry O’Flaherty, Kevin Prendergast, Blair Reid, Glen Sanders, Peter Sullivan, Barry Trapp.

JUNIOR: Lorne Frey, *-Graham Tuer.

As well, five scouts from Western Canada were honoured at the Sept. 30 startup banquet in Okotoks with the WCPHSF’s Recognition and Dedication Service Award. Those five are Ron Delorme, Glen Dirk, Garth Malarchuk, Don Paarup and Mike Penny.

——

“Our committee’s selections were primarily based on years of combined service as a scout and/or an association to the scouting process,” Garth Malarchuk, the Chairman of the Foundation’s board of directors, said. “I think everyone who has been associated with the scouting fraternity will agree that this is a pretty impressive group of individuals that we will be honouring. “Trust me, our committee could easily have added another 15-20 deserving individuals to this list, but we had to cut it off somewhere.” Moving forward, we certainly don’t want to miss anyone and the plan is to keep adding individuals to our Foundation’s Wall of Honour on an annual basis.”

——

The startup banquet on Sept. 30 was a rip-roaring success, highlighted by a roast of Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, along with silent and live sweater auctions. If you weren’t fortunate enough to attend, you are able to find a highly entertaining video of Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman roasting MacLean at hockeyscoutsfoundation.com.

——

Planning is well underway for the inaugural induction banquet on July 29 in Okotoks. Banquet details, including information on tickets, will be announced in the near future.

Meier takes three Stanley Cup rings into retirement . . . Broncos lose scouts, associate coach . . . News on two WHL trades

NOTE: Updated to include resignation of Swift Current Broncos associate coach Ryan Smith.

ThisThat

Meierrings
Wayne Meier’s three Stanley Cup rings.

Wayne Meier, a longtime WHL and NHL scout, has told Taking Note that he is “ending my career and off to retirement.” . . . Meier, from Edmonton, has scouted, mostly in the west, for more than 45 years, spending 31 seasons working for NHL teams. . . . He started his scouting career with the Portland Winter Hawks in 1976. He went on to spend a total of 10 seasons with Portland, and was the director of player personnel for seven of those seasons. . . . He also worked in the NHL as a scout with the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins. . . . He spent the past 12 seasons with the Penguins, so was part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams.

There have been rumblings out of Swift Current for the past while that there was going to be some upheaval in the Broncos’ scouting department following the signing of Dean SCBroncosBrockman as director of hockey operations and head coach.

The above tweet from veteran scout Brian Leavold would seem to signal that something is happening as he indicates that he is leaving the staff “as have many others.”

There has yet to be an announcement from the Broncos on the state of their scouting staff, but all names have been deleted from the team’s website. As well, one person familiar with the WHL scouting fraternity has told Taking Note that “I believe they all have quit.”

The Broncos won the WHL championship on May 14, and Manny Viveiros, the team’s director of player personnel and head coach, left shortly after to join the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers as an assistant coach.

Brockman was named the director of hockey operations and head coach on June 27.

One day before that, Jamie Porter, the Broncos’ assistant general manager and director of hockey operations, announced that he would be leaving the organization at the end of July. Porter had been with the Broncos since signing on as a scout in 2003.

Meanwhile, the Broncos also have lost a member of their coaching staff with the resignation of Ryan Smith, who had been their associate coach.

Smith had been the Humboldt Broncos’ general manager and head coach when he left three years ago to join Swift Current as associate coach.

In Humboldt, Smith, who had been the head coach of the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers, took over from Brockman, who had been there for 16 years before signing on as an assistant coach with the Saskatoon Blades.

Jamie Heward, the director of player development and head coach, is still with the team, although Steve Ewen of Postmedia tweeted this week that the Vancouver Giants “are talking” to Heward “about being assistant coach.”

As Ewen pointed out, Heward and Michael Dyck, the Giants’ new head coach, were teammates with the Regina Pats “in the late 1980s.”

The Saskatoon Blades have acquired veteran F Riley McKay, 19, from the Spokane Chiefs Saskatoonfor a fourth-round selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft and a seventh-round pick in 2020. . . . From Swan River, Man., MacKay has played two seasons with the Chiefs, putting up seven goals and 15 assists. . . . McKay is one of the WHL’s toughest players and you can bet that Mitch Love, the Blades’ first-year head coach, saw a lot of him while he was an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips. In other words, you can bet that this deal has Love’s stamp of approval.

The Spokane Chiefs have acquired F Michael King, 18, from the Kootenay Ice for a conditional fifth-round pick in the WHL’s 2020 bantam draft. . . . King was selected by the Ice in the seventh round of the 2015 bantam draft. . . . King, from Winnipeg, had eight goals and seven assists in 56 games as a sophomore with the Ice last season. In his freshman season, he had two goals and seven assists in 66 games.

The Edmonton Oil Kings have signed F Vladimir Alistrov to a WHL contract. From Belarus, he was selected in the CHL’s 2018 import draft. Last season, he had 31 goals and 39 assists while splitting 50 games with Team Belarus’s U-17 and U-18 teams. He also had three goals and four assists for Team Belarus at the IIHF’s U-18 World championship.

John Dean is the new head coach of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds. Dean, 37, is the reigning coach of the year in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he guided the Toronto Patriots to a 40-8-3-3 record. . . . He spent three seasons (2014-17) as an assistant coach with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion. . . . Dean takes over from Drew Bannister, who left the Greyhounds to become the head coach of the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues.

Tweetoftheday

Dorothy and I live on Shuswap Road, about 20 km east of Kamloops. This fire, which started at 20 hectares and quickly grew to 400, was about 10 km west of us and we were never in any danger. As the fire burned, it moved north and west, but the crews did a tremendous job of keeping it away from homes and other structures.

It was a reminder, though, that it was one year ago when we were blanketed by smoke in what turned out to be an ugly summer.

Here’s hoping that we aren’t in for a repeat performance.

If you are interested in more photos and some terrific videos of planes fighting the fire, just go to Twitter and do a search for ‘Shuswap Road.’