1973-74 DRESDEN MIDGET HOCKEY TEAM
The inductee into the Dresden Sports Hall of Fame this year in the “Team” category is the 1973-74 Dresden Midget Hockey Team. The team was affectionately known as the “Pacers” because of their sponsorship by the Dresden Raceway.
The Midgets played the regular season in the newly formed Essex League. Other teams included Ridgetown, Blenheim, Tilbury, Harrow, Belle River and Amherstburg. In December the team entered the annual Silver Stick Regional Tournament in Petrolia and won the “B” Championship by defeating Lambeth 7-2 in the final. That qualified Dresden for the North American Silver Stick where they eventually lost to Levack in the final.
The Pacers had an outstanding regular season and began the O.M.H.A. playoffs defeating Ridgetown and Belle River. The quarterfinal matched Dresden against Southampton with Dresden winning the series two games to one.
Dresden went into the semifinals against Six Nations and again prevailed two games to one. In the O.M.H.A. best of 5 finals against Lakefield, Dresden split their first two away games. Returning home to Dresden the following weekend the team captured the championship on home ice by winning the next two games. Game 4 was a tight affair with Al Pray tying the game 4-4 with minutes left to play , and Don Martin sniping the winner in overtime.
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Amanda started playing her minor hockey in Dresden in 1994, where she continued playing until 2000, when she transitioned to girls hockey, and then came back to finish her hockey career here in Dresden in 2003. Her “storybook season” was in 2002, when Amanda was a member of teams that brought home four (4) provincial championships, in four (4) different sports.
Amanda attended Chatham-Kent Secondary School where she excelled in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and track and field. During her high-school career she attended eight (8) OFSAA Championships and helped lead her team to a gold medal in basketball and a bronze medal in soccer. In her final high school season, Amanda, was the recipient of the Dr. Jack Parry Award and was a member of the Canadian Junior National Basketball team.
After being heavily recruited, Amanda decided to play basketball and attend the University of Western Ontario. During the course of her 5-year playing career for the Western Mustangs she was fortunate to remain healthy enough to play and start in every game. As a Western Mustang, Amanda was the Canadian University Rookie of The Year, 5-time Conference All-Star, 2-time All-Canadian, Conference Player of the Year, and ended her university career as the 2nd All-Time Leading Scorer in her conference, and the Western Mustangs All-Time Scoring Leader, a record she still holds today. In 2010, she was named the UWO Western Mustangs Athlete of the Year. At the completion of university, Amanda went on to play basketball professionally in Bielefeld, Germany.
Amanda and her husband, Matthew have been together since their University of Western Ontario basketball days, where Matthew starred for the men’s basketball program. They currently reside in Hamilton, Ontario and have one son, Anderson, with their second child on the way. Amanda manages Ontario for a medical sales company where she is able to apply her competitive nature everyday.
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LYNN MARTIN MEMORIAL AWARD – GARY ROSS
In 2017, the Dresden Sports Hall of Fame created a new award, the Lynn Martin Memorial Award. This award acknowledged those special individuals who have demonstrated passion and support for the Dresden sports community. This years recipient is Gary Ross.
When he was a teenager, through Dresden Minor Hockey, Gary volunteered at the Dresden Arena from 7 am until noon. He would be on the ice, helping young hockey players improve their skating, shooting and passing. At high school, Gary was a member of the LK track and field team and excelled as a sprinter. As an adult he played competitive fastball on the Dresden men’s team. Gary also became a volunteer. He coached the Dresden Juvenile Hockey Team for many years. In the summer he coached the Dresden Legion Track and Field Team and Minor Baseball. In 1969 Gary was presented Dresden Minor Hockey’s prestigious “Mr. Hockey” for his efforts and contributions. He spent several years on the Dresden Minor Hockey executive, serving as President for the 1978-79 season.
Gary said, “Over the years, Dresden Sports has benefitted from all of the great volunteers who were willing to give of their time and talents. I chose to be a volunteer because I enjoyed the time and talent that they showed to make the game enjoyable to me”.
When Kids are involved could count on the support from Gary Ross.7
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ATHLETE OF THE YEAR – LARISSA MCFADDEN
All I’ve known in life is competition. Since I was young, all my siblings and I did was compete. I started to play hockey as soon as I could. I played hockey in Dresden for seven years. From there, I went on to play for the Chatham Outlaws for about six years. In grade 11, I played for the Kent County Fillies organization. All of these organizations helped me to understand what kind of player that I want to be but it wasn’t until I got to high school and got into rugby. Rugby is unlike any other team I have ever played. I am fortunate enough to have found my way into Mr. Morkin’s grade 9 English class. From there on, all the memories I have from Lancer Rugby are amazing ones. The most successful season that I had was my senior year. I had a rough beginning to that year as I got injured during a safety camp before the season started. Both Mr. Morkin and Mr. Phaneuf helped me to come back from that. They provided me with so much support. I never felt rushed from them to try to get back onto the field. I made it back onto the field during OFSSAA and made it to the third day. From there, I made the Ontario U18 team for Nationals in Calgary in August of 2017. Now, I’ve been playing for Wilfrid Laurier University for the last two seasons. We have done very well, especially this past season. We were second in our division. And we are getting better everyday. I’m excited for next season to see where we end up.
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LEGEND – MALCOLM MacPHAIL
Malcolm MacPhail was born and raised at RR# 1 Dover Centre. He lives there to this date with his wife of 64 years Joanne.
In Dresden, Malcolm will always be recognized and remembered as a Legend at Dresden Raceway. He owned and partnered on numerous winning horses at the track. Malcolm also dedicated himself to The Ontario Harness Horse Association. Her served as Director for 25 years and as President for 7 years.
On the farm Malcolm grew up riding the work horses As well the ponies that the family owned. The rest they say is history.
During the years, Malcolm and his Brother Bob owned as many as 22 horses at one time. He always rented stalls at Dresden Raceway and trained there. On July 2013 WINRAC sent all tenants at Dresden Raceway notices that they were going to close the back track and training track in Dresden. Malcolm took up the fight and wrote a letter to WINRAC, copied to Premier Wynn, O.R.C., O.H.H.A., Dresden Ag Society and to the Municipality that without the written permission from The Ag Society they could not close the training facility and that he was not moving.
The facilities have since been turned over to the ag society and the horsemen are still training there.
Malcolm MacPhail has always been the Horsemen’s representative at the Dresden Raceway.
To quote Malcolm, “ It has been a very eventful and rewarding time”.
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BUILDER – PAUL MCKELLAR
The 2019 Builder award is being presented to a long-time local Dresden businessman Paul McKellar.
Paul became involved in Dresden’s minor hockey back in the 1970’s. He served as both a hockey team manager as well as in the hockey executive and as their secretary. Paul managed the Dresden Bantam All-Stars and was also the manager of the 1978-70 Dresden Bantam O.M.H.A. championship team, he was also the manager of the 1984-84 Junior Kings team that won the Great Lakes Junior C. hockey title.
Paul had a 20 year association with the Junior Kings a well, he was a part of the teams executive as well as their manager when the team captured the 1983-84 great Lakes Junior C championship.
During the summer months Paul would shift his focus to another of his passions, Minor Baseball. He would umpire as well as coach in town for a number of seasons.
What many in town don’t know is the behind the scenes work that Paul performed for a number of years as our Bingo chairman. Thru Bingo’s thousands of dollars were raised to support local youth sports and their facilities. This is something that Paul takes a great deal pride and satisfaction in.
Paul McKellar is a founding member of the Dresden Sports Hall of Fame Committee and it is our honour to this year induct him to the Hall of Fame in the Builder category.
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MALE ATHLETE – TIM VITEK
Tim’s hockey career started at age 5 with the Dresden Minor Hockey Association. His first coach was none other than Ken Houston, who encouraged him to play centre from the start. At age 11, Tim transitioned to the Chatham Kent AAA Cyclones where between the ages of 11-14 he won two All Ontario (OMHA) Championships.
He attended high school at Lambton Kent Secondary School in Dresden, excelling at basketball, cross country and track and field. He was a SWOSSA champion for cross country and athlete of year in grade 9.
At age 15, Tim decided to focus solely on hockey. He returned back to Dresden and spent one year playing for the Dresden Junior Kings. His head coaches were Al Houston and Wayne Cowell; Tim won Rookie of the Year that season.
Following his year in Dresden with the Junior Kings, he advanced to the Chatham Junior Maroons. Tim was part of the Maroons dynasty, winning back to back Western Junior B Championships and was top 5 in scoring for the league. He was reunited with childhood coach Ken Houston, who led with Dave Torrie and Steve English.
Tim was a Junior B All Star and was drafted by the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Draft.
Tim was sought out by many US colleges, and landed a Division One athletic scholarship to University of Massachusetts Amherst, who played in the Hockey East Conference. Tim played four seasons with the Minutemen, their best season losing in the Hockey East Championship Game to Maine University in triple overtime. At the time of graduation, Tim was second in career games played with the Minutemen and leading scorer of his graduating class. He graduated with an Economics degree in 2005.
He continued his hockey career playing in the Central Hockey League and Southern Professional Hockey League from 2005-2010. He played for Corpus Christi Rayz, New Mexico Scorpions, Florida Seals and Knoxville Ice Bears. Tim was a first team and second team all start with the Ice Bears. Additionally, he won two league championships in Knoxville in 2007 and 2008 and was top 5 in scoring for the league.
Tim and his wife Shannon reside in Stoney Point Ontario, with their four children – JD, Caralina, Bennett and Cameron. He works as an Orthopedics Sales Representative for a Medical Device Company. He continues to play hockey recreationally in his spare time.
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SPEAKER – DOUG GILMOUR
If there is a player who inspires near-hysteria among the Leafs Nation, it is Doug Gilmour. Selected by St. Louis in the seventh round, he eventually started in 1983 when the Blues’ depleted roster required a call-up. Nicknamed ‘Killer’ for his intensity, Gilmour played like a man much larger. After five seasons and the1987 Canada Cup tournament, the Blues traded Gilmour to Calgary. That year, he was a star in the playoffs (22 points in 22 games) and the Flames won their sole Stanley Cup. After three more seasons, he was traded to Toronto in the biggest deal in league history. In his first full season, he earned 127 points, a Maple Leaf franchise record and still won the Frank Selke trophy for best defensive forward! The Leafs made him captain in 1994, which he remained until he was traded to New Jersey in 1997. He then bounced between Chicago, Buffalo and Montreal before returning to Toronto. In 1656 games, he finished with 510 goals and 1092 assists for 1602 points. Doug is currently the General Manager of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs.
