Written By Jeffrey Reed
Fall is perhaps the most exciting time for sports fans as seasons cross paths. The local golf calendar is winding down with university, college and high school championships, while junior hockey schedules are well underway. Baseball and soccer enthusiasts may beg to differ, but the strongest argument can be made that Middlesex County embraces golf and hockey more than any other sports.
Yes, with no exaggeration, Middlesex County is hockey country. The same can be said about our entire nation. From 5 a.m. minor hockey practices to prime-time NHL games at Scotiabank Arena, hockey brings Canadians together more than anything else. Local clubs including the Strathroy Rockets and Jets, Mt. Brydges Bulldogs, Komoka Kings and Lucan Irish are even more important to locals as they are strongly attached to our history, community spirit and philanthropy. Those clubs provide much more than a distraction from the hardships of life: in fact, they help define who we are as a community.
During a deep conversation about how hockey contributes to the Canadian fabric, long-time broadcaster Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada spoke passionately with me about why hockey means so much to Canadians from coast to coast.
“I refereed for 23 years, and went into every community. I saw the 50/50 ticket sellers, the people who worked the timekeeper’s box. They’re the backbone of the game,” said MacLean of his hockey roots.
“Whether it’s the fisheries in Atlantic Canada or the grain elevators in the West, the rink is the staple of every community. We huddle against the cold. It’s one of our ways to cope with winter. The game followed us around the country with the railroad as it moved across Canada.
“Saturday night is a TV wasteland in the U.S.,” MacLean added, “but luckily in Canada, a mom can sit with her boy, a dad can sit with his daughter and watch hockey. It crosses genders and generations. It’s who we are.”
MacLean and singer-songwriter Tara Slone visited Strathroy in 2019 for a Rogers Hometown Hockey celebration which added proof to the fact Strathroy is a hockey town to the core.
The same can be said about Elliot Lake, Ont., winner of Kraft Hockeyville 2024 and $250,000 for arena upgrades, plus $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund.
Through literature, NHL hall of fame goalie Ken Dryden has become the Pierre Berton of Canadian hockey. Dryden once quipped that hockey in Canada “serves as a bond drawing individuals and communities together,” and that the 1972 Summit Series Game 8 win over the Soviet Union was “the most shared moment in Canadian history.”
“I’ve always said, it’s a story of a love affair,” said MacLean of how Canadians embrace hockey, and how hockey embraces us.
Local hockey fans won’t argue.
Award-winning writer Jeffrey Reed has covered Middlesex County sports since 1980. He is publisher and editor of LondonOntarioSports.com. Reach him at
jeff@londonontariosports.com.
