EHL Jersey Devils' Jamie Kennedy to P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame

Jamie Kennedy, leading goalscorer in EHL Jersey Devils' history and fan favorite will be inducted this year into the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame. Kennedy had 185 goals and 260 assists for 345 points in 282 games with the Devils over 4 seasons. Jamie was a first team Northern Division All-Star in 1970-71, amassing a career high 101 points. The following season he scored 50 goals, before signing with the WHA New York Raiders. Unable to be sent back to Jersey, since the parent Philadelphia Flyers did not allow WHA players on the Devils, Kennedy was traded along with Ted Scharf, Claude Chartre and Pete Donnelly to the Long Island Ducks for Mel Gushattey and Bill Morris. Kennedy played 15 games for the Ducks that final EHL season, scoring 12 goals to go with 11 assists.

P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame announces inductees for 2011
Full Article: http://www.journalpioneer.com/Sports/2011-06-27/article-2616103/PEI-Sports-Hall-of-Fame-announces-inductees-for-2011/1
Published on June 27, 2011 by Staff - The PEI Journal Pioneer

CHARLOTTETOWN - The P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame will grow by five new members later this year.

Jamie Kennedy (athlete, hockey), Cathy Dillon (athlete, curling), Sandy Frizzell (builder, hockey), George Morrison (builder, basketball) and Myron Weeks (builder, volleyball) will be the latest inductees to join the 156 individuals and teams who currently comprise the membership of the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame.

Jamie Kennedy

Jamie Kennedy of Charlottetown is one of the most familiar faces in Island hockey. He enjoyed a professional career that included 588 professional games, scoring 321 goals and 630 points.

The feisty Kennedy landed his first professional hockey contract in 1968 with the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League, netting 40 goals in his first season. His incredible 50-goal tally in 1970-71 made him the first Maritime-born professional to reach that milestone.

His illustrious career included him lacing up the skates for the New York Raiders of the newly-formed World Hockey Association, the Syracuse Blazers of the North American Hockey League and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins of the Southern Hockey League, before returning to P.E.I. to play senior hockey for the Charlottetown Islanders and helping them win a Hardy Cup in 1981.

He has successfully passed on his vast experience and knowledge to many Island teams as a coach while also forging a reputation as an outstanding official, considered by many to be the finest referee ever produced in this province.

Kennedy will join his brother, Forbie (that's Forbes Kennedy to us non-PEI natives) , in the Hall of Fame.

******************* From The PEI Sports Hall of Fame website: ************************** http://www.peisportshalloffame.ca
The full article: http://www.peisportshalloffame.ca/news/article.cfm?ID=55

PEI SPORTS HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES INDUCTEES FOR 2011 The PEI Sports Hall of Fame has announced its inductees for 2011, and familiar faces from the sports of hockey, curling, basketball and volleyball will be honoured when the ceremonies, sponsored by the PEI Mutual Insurance Company, are held later this year.

Jamie Kennedy (athlete, hockey), Cathy Dillon (athlete, curling) Sandy Frizzell (builder, hockey), George Morrison (builder, basketball) and Myron Weeks (builder, volleyball) will be the latest inductees and will join the 156 individuals and teams who currently make up the membership of the PEI Sports Hall of Fame. Kennedy will join his brother Forbie in the Hall.

Jamie Kennedy of Charlottetown is one of the most familiar faces in Island hockey, having enjoyed a professional career that included 588 professional games with a yield of 321 goals and 630 points.

The feisty Kennedy landed his first professional hockey contract in 1968 with the Jersey Devils of the Eastern Hockey League, where he netted 40 goals in his first season. His incredible 50-goal tally in 1970-71 made him the first Maritime born professional to reach that milestone.

His illustrious career saw him lace up the skates for the New York Raiders of the newly-formed World Hockey Association, the Syracuse Blazers of the North American Hockey League, and the Winston-Salem Polar Twins of the Southern Hockey League, before returning to PEI to play senior hockey for the Charlottetown Islanders, helping them win a Hardy Cup in 1981.

As a coach he has successfully passed on his vast experience and knowledge to many Island teams, and he also forged a reputation as an outstanding official, considered by many to be the finest referee ever produced in this province.

EHL Syracuse Blazers' Brian Elwell to Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame

From this morning's Syracuse Post-Herald, The Eastern Hockey League Syracuse Blazers' Brian Elwell will be inducted into the Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame. He is the first Blazer to be so honoured. (Photo left is an ad from a 1972-73 Syracuse Blazers Program. Photo Below is Brian on a Program Cover from Groundhog Day 1792 - yes 1792 - read it.)

Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame rewards nine for their work

Published: Friday, June 17, 2011, 5:10 PM Updated: Friday, June 17, 2011, 11:26 PM

By Lindsay Kramer/The Syracuse Post-Standard The Post-Sta http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2011/06/greater_syracuse_hall_of_fame.html

The stay was supposed to last 30 days.

Brian Elwell was sent down from Tulsa of the Central Hockey League to the Syracuse Blazers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1969 to rehab from a separated shoulder. Two days before Elwell, a Montreal native, was scheduled to leave the Blazers, he tore up his ankle.

Forty-two years later, Elwell still hasn’t gone anywhere. Friday, he was forever linked to the city with one of its highest sporting honors.

Elwell was announced as one of nine new entrants into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame. One bum wheel turned him to a life centered around helping his new home.

“As soon as I left Montreal, I think I really liked the size of this city more than a big city,” said Elwell, 68. “I knew I wanted to stay here after I spent a couple of summers here.”

Elwell decided he wasn’t going to make the NHL, stuck around three more years to play for the Blazers and then ran the team as general manager. He made the city his full-time home, and two decades later he was the driving force behind bringing the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL to town.

He has also been a member of the Syracuse Sports Committee and currently oversees facility operations at Alliance Bank Stadium.

“I like people,” Elwell said of his efforts. “Somehow, I ended up being captain of the teams I played for. I enjoyed the leadership role.”

This year’s class, the 25th in the history of the hall, brings its total membership to 190. The inductees will be officially installed at a dinner at Drumlins on Oct. 17.

Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame:
http://www.syracusehalloffame.com/pages/frame.html

The Atlantic City Boardwalk Trophy:
Brian was the one who re-discovered the EHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Trophy at his Tavern. Read all about it, along with a lot of other good EHL history at...
http://www.chuckthewriter.com/ehl.pdf

Brian Elwell's Stats at: http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=11478

The EHL: http://TheEHL.com/

Talk about Brian Elwell and the Eastern Hockey League at: http://theehl.yuku.com/forums/66

Syracuse Blazers - Charlotte Checkers 1971-72 Game 1 Brawl Video

Here's a YouTube video, courtesy of Kurt Golembrosky, son of Checkers' Frank Golembrosky. It's from Game 1 of the 1971-72 Finals,. The Syracuse Blazers at Charlotte Checkers. There's also a little hockey in there. Thanks, Kurt!

I just realized I have a program from this game. It notes that Charlotte hadn't played in two weeks since beating Greensboro in 5 games in the semi-finals. The Checkers had beaten the Suncoast Suns in 6 games in the opening round. Syracuse hadn't played in a week since beating Johnstown in the semis. Both arenas had scheduling issues. The Checkers had to travel to Salem, VA and Concord, NC to practice. Ironically, it was the Billy Graham Crusade that delayed the brawl below in the Charlotte Coliseum.

Charlotte won the previous year's title, beating the New Haven Blades 4 games to 1. The program says that the three keys to the previous years' team and this years' team were Allie Sutherland, Frank Golembrosky & Mike Rouleau. Syracuse was led by Ray Adduono and Paul Larose.

Greensboro Generals' Roy Pyke Inducted into Brockville Sports Hall of Fame

Roy Pyke, veteran of the 1965-67 Greensboro Generals was inducted Friday into the Brockville (ON) and Area Sports Hall of Fame.

http://www.recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3166745#

A thrill for new inductees

RON SMITH, Sports Editor, The Recorder & Times, June 11, 2011

It's an amazing wall that just became even more impressive. The Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame inducted its five newest members for the lobby wall of the Memorial Centre on Friday afternoon. With the well-deserved addition of Jim Hale, George Hunter (deceased), Steve McAllister, Roy Pyke and Jim Vickery, there are now an even 100 plaques recognizing the sports accomplishments and achievements of Brockville and area.

Pyke, well known as the tough, hard-nosed catcher for the Brockville Commercial Stars fastball team, found it a special wall to see. "It means an awful lot to me. Seventy per cent of the people (on the wall) I know or played against or played with, and it just makes me feel so proud and honoured to know I am going to be joining the people who have become my friends. I am very honoured," said Pyke.

The casual, 60-minute ceremony recognized the returning Hall of Famers along with the newests inductees.

"This is THE highlight of my career and I've had some good ones," said Pyke, who won gold for Canada in playing senior hockey with the Morrisburg Combines. "This is the highlight of my sports career, No. 1."

Pyke played baseball and hockey growing up, and some semi-pro hockey before being one of the final cuts of the St. Louis Blues in 1967.

He joins Hodgkinson, Dixie, Bates and Metcalfe from the Commercial Stars in the Hall of Fame.

"It shows you how talented that team was," said the 65-year-old Pyke of a dominant fastball team from the 1970's to the 1990's.

(I'm pretty sure Roy Pyke is the second from left in the article photo.)

Roy Pyke's Stats courtesy hockeydb.com

"The Arena" in Philadelphia - The Last Years as Martin Luther King Arena

For those of you who saw games at The Arena in Philadelphia (and those of us who didn't), follow this link to the "Fun While It Lasted" blog about the last years at the Arena. It's in the early 1980s, way beyond the Philadelphia Ramblers, and the EHL, but interesting history. The team that played there was the CBA Philadelphia Kings, who moved back to Lancaster after one season of averaging about 125 fans a game. The Philadelphia Fox of the Womens Professional Basketball League put up similar attendance numbers at the Philadelphia Civic Center (NAHL's Philadelphia Firebirds played here) the previous season. I had never put 2 and 2 together that Public TV's WHYY studios were at the Arena in the 1970s.

I couldn't help but notice that the guy pictured had a great porn name (Ha, I used the word "porn". That should at least quadruple the number of hits my blog gets. I might hit double figures. But, I digress.) If you're not so much into history, follow the link from whence I borrowed the photo to the Basketbawful Blog . I got a good laugh out of a few of his blogs. You don't need to be a basketball fan (I'm not) to get the humor. That links back to the 10 Dirtiest Names in Sports at the Flumesday blog, although I found that the Sequel - 10 Diritiest Names in Sports to be a better list. Somehow, Dick Duff didn't make either list.

Golf Hole Dedicated to Johnstown Jets' Don Hall

From Mike Mastovich in today's Johnstown Tribune-Democrat.

Sunnehanna notebook: Club honors legendary golfer

JOHNSTOWN — On most days, Don Hall’s number is 9.

His nickname, Jet 9, was given to Hall based on his prolific 11-season hockey career with the Johnstown Jets.

Wearing No. 9, Hall scored 393 goals and 978 points from 1951 to 1962 and is among a group of four players in Johns-town’s lengthy pro hockey history to have his jersey retired.

But 5 also is a special number to Hall.

Sunnehanna Country Club dedicated the par-3 No. 5 hole to Hall during a banquet on Wednesday, the eve of the 58th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.

Teeing off

What: 58th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.

When: Beginning at 8 a.m. (see tee times on B3).

Where: Sunnehanna Country Club, Westmont.

Field: A record 75 entries will look to win one of amateur golf’s biggest tournaments.

Twitter: @masty81.

Hall’s golfing resume is filled with superlatives, too. In fact, he’s had five career holes-in-one, with four of those aces coming on the fifth hole at Sunnehanna. He even made two holes-in-one on No. 5 in one week during 1983.

“It’s a great honor,” said Hall, 81, who participated in the Roger McManus Amateur Sponsor championship on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s sweet being the fifth hole because I’ve had four holes-in-one there.

“If you look at the people who have been honored before, it’s a who’s who of golf at Sunnehanna. To be included in that group is certainly a great honor.”