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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-28, Page 78Norval, Jim and Bob Jones Have trucks, dozers, backhoes, gravel, sand . . . WILL HAUL, DIG, PUSH PLOW, PULL, SPREAD or DUMP NORVAL JONES & SONS 4 Hockey enthusiast is in hall of fame Section 3, Page 26 THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE JUNE 28, 1973 HOCKEY HEYDAY - Hockey in Exeter was in its heyday after the new "Dome rink" was built in 1911. In their flashy uniforms above are the members of the Exeter hockey team in 1914. In the back row left is C.V. Pickard, right wing; "Tiny" Torrance, sub-goalie; Clarence Hoffman; Al Pickard, left wing; and Bert Rivers, defence. In the front row from left is Cecil Pickard, who lost his life in World War I; Earl Southcott, centre; Derry Boyle, manager; Bill Kydd, goalie; and Morris Senior. Competition was keen T-A May 1, 1958 Alan W. Pickard, 62, former Exeter puck star who has become known as "Mr. Hockey" out west, has been named to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame. Pickard was one of seven "hockey builders" who, along with 14 famous players, were added to the original list of 42 names by the selection com- mittee which met for the first time in six years in Toronto, Sunday. Now living in Regina where he is a school principal, Mr. Pickard won recognition for his out- standing leadership in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, of which he was president for two years. The respect in which he is held in the game out west is indicated by the fact that he runs the Westwen Hockey League as a one-man committee. He has made all the decisions for the organization during the last three years. Although it was as a "hockey builder" and not as a player that Mr. Pickard won his Hall of Fame recognition, he is still remembered by the oldtimers in this area as a star of the Exeter team when hockey thrived in the old dome rink here. He played forward on the club, along with his brother Clare. He was not a member of the famous Exeter-Zurich team which highlighted early hockey history in this area but he could have been. He went west in 1920 and, although officials here wired him several times to come back, he never did. Out west, he played for a number of top teams and later became a success as a coach. His first coaching position was with the Regina Aces, a senior club. In 1945 he became vice- president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and two weeks later was elected president. At that time, the Regina Leader-Post paid him the following tribute: "The real Mr. Hockey, most centres have their own Mr. Hockey but the real one is in Regina. Alan W. Pickard is president of the C.A.H.A. and controls more hockey players than any man in the world. The Regina school principal rose through the ranks as player, coach and executive to attain the highest honor amateur hockey can pay." He represented the C.A.H.A. at international amateur hockey conferences in Europe. JOTTINGS BY J.M.S. May 2, 1958 Last week The Times-Advocate paid tribute to' a former Exeter boy Al Pickard, of Regina, Sask., who has been named to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was in the old dome rink that Al and his two brothers, Clare and Cecil, as members of the Exeter hockey team got their introduction to hockey. The Dome rink was erected in 1912 by the late Wm. Leavitt on the property now ocupied by the Exeter Legion. During the next few years Exeter boasted of one of the best teams in the district. Hockey in those days was confined to the neighboring municipalities as transportation was by horse-drawn vehicles and weather conditions entered into the picture. The hockey season started around the beginning of the year when the weather was cold enough for forming natural ice and at the end of the season the games were sometimes played with considerable water on the ice. In those days it was customary for the players to provide their own equipment, including hockey sticks. Often there were only sufficient players to make up a team and there would be no substitutes so the players played the full sixty minutes. This required lots of stamina and fine physical condition. There were seven players to a team, , goalie, right and left defence, rover, centre, and wings. So enthusiastic were the players that often they paid the money themselves to rent the rink for practice. It was during the year 1915 that Exeter and Zurich formed a team and entered wider competition. On the team were "Babe" Siebert and the Hoffman brothers from Zurich, who became quite famous players, the former with Montreal and the latter two with Stratford at a time when Howie Morenz, an all-time great from Stratford, was beginning his famous career. The Pickards that year had Exeter Times-Advocate, February 14, 1948 For the first time in the history of Exeter, photos were sent by wire from this village to appear in a Toronto newspaper, A Globe and Mail photographer took pictures on Monday — they were developed in Jack Doerr's studio and a machine was set up to transmit them to Toronto, moved to the west where Al continued his interest in the great national game right up to the present. At the time the Dome rink was opened January 15, 1912 the Exeter Advocate had this to say: "The formal opening of the skating rink took place in the form of a carnival. Reeve W.J. Heaman and Rev.. D.W. Collins were present and delivered inaugural addresses in which they referred to the enterprise and worthy citizenship of the proprietor, William Leavitt, in erecting such a magnificent place of amusement for •those who enjoy the exhilarating pastime of skating or the "roaring" game of curling. The rink was 80 x 180 feet part of which was used for curling and the rest for skating and hockey. Following were the prize winners: mile race. Oscar Anderson, Owen Atkinson; half mile race, Morris Senior, Harry Parsons; gent's costume, Ernest Harvey, Indian chief, and Latimer Grieve, squaw; ladies' costume, Olive Treble; comic costume, Leon Treble. + + + In February of that year The Exeter Advocate had this to say: "Referring to the hockey match last week in Exeter bet- ween Hensall and Exeter juniors the special correspondent of the Hensall Observer must have been possessed of a distorted imagination and an unfortunate disregard for the truth when he wrote: In the first half Hensall played the Exeter team to a standstill, score being 4-1. This was a sore touch to Exeter and seeing they could not win by playing hockey they started to rough it and if a Hensall player got hold of the puck in the second half he was lucky to come out without a few broken bones. "This is usual with the Exeter bunch who are noted for being poor sports. The spectators wanted to get out and fight with a few 16-year-old kids but they were a false alarm. They only beat our juniors by the score of 5- 4. The crowd of Exeter sports managed to swipe quite a bunch of caps and gloves and everything of value left in the Hensall boy's coats.' The Advocate said: "It is regrettable that the Hensall fellows could not take a defeat without passing all kinds of dirty insinuations in which there is not a particle of truth." HOCKEY GREAT - Al Pickard, right, a former Exeter resident, was one of 21 hockey greats selected for the Hall of Fame at a meeting in Toronto in April 1958. He is seen here with three other renowned men of the game, Red Dutton, Lester Patrick and George Dudley. He retired to Exeter in 1960 and became chairman of Exeter's Planning Board for a number of years until his resignation in 1968.