League History
All events at SCS Civic Arena unless indicated otherwise
I would anticipate this page housing pictures of our State and National Champion teams of the past as well as their rosters and maybe scores (if you have any please email). Maybe an article about our history. Anybody have anything on Mark Wells? I would like to copy the front cover of each yearbook from the SCS library and make them available (once we get some donated web server space).
Anyone with ideas to add please email the webmaster (see CONTACTS page) with your suggestions.
Mike Adams" 10/6/03 4:25:24 PM >>>
Found this site on google search and saw that you wrere looking for some historical info. I played on 3 National championship teams starting from the old Gordie Howe Hockeyland.
You asked about Mark Wells .. he played on all 3 with me. I know of a website he has www.miracleonice.net you may be able to contact him there. I also may be able to dig up old photos or hockey yearbooks from those days if you need them.
Interestingly enough.. We won the Shores first national championship as squirts in Lake Placid New York in I think 1967 or 1968. It turned out that in 1980 Mark Wells returned to Lake Placid to win a gold medal as an Olympian!!! We went undefeated that season.. I think our record was 66 wins no losses and one tie.
We also won the Pewee Nationals the following two years with the same core of players. One in Portland Ore and I think the other was in Duluth Minnesota.
Mike Adams
There is an archives of SCSHA memorabilia at the SCS library. Debby Palermino Connor updates it with yearbooks etc. each year. Check it out!
Researching information for the commemorative 40th Anniversary Booklet in 1997 was a
blast from the past for Debby Palermino Connor. This hockey league has an amazing history.
Below is an excerpt from her article of that year. Did you know that . . .
The 1977 Women's Club had a broomball team? And played hockey moms from neighboring
arenas? One of the teams they regularly defeated were the Sweeping Beauties from the
Grosse Pointe hockey league. One of the games was close, according to the Spring '77
newsletter, " Our broomball gals defeated G.P. by a 1-0 score . . . Debbie Walleman
was outstanding in net getting her shutout . . . After the game, Bob and Madeline Kacupra
invited the gals to a party at the K of C to celebrate their victory. "Thirst
-Aide" and "Nurse- Aide", Mary English and Audrey Rafferty, were there to
take care of the gal's needs." Mrs. Rafferty is still around the league, I think I'm
going to have to ask her what a nurse-aide job description entails. Those crazy gals!
The hockey team names over the past 10 years have really been pretty serious ones, usually
based on NHL teams, semi-pro hockey teams, or primal emotions. However, paging through the
league's archives of year books yielded some unusual monikers.
In the immortal words of Buzz DeHooghe, "try this on".
There were the '76 Mite Herrud Beefeater "Little Hot Dogs" and the Bantam '72
Bonanza "Steakeaters". How about the 74 Pee Wee Quo Vadis Travel Service
"Flyers" and the '80 Bantam Diplomat Travel "Jets"? Businesses
must have liked to get the most bang for their bucks. These teams once skated out of the
SCSHA: '78 Bantam Peking Villa "Dragons", the Bantam '84 Richard's Automotive
"Pistons", '84 Bantam Michigan Boiler "Boilermakers", the '73 Squirt
Mt. Clemens Glass "Cutters", the '72 Squirt City Mortgage "Chargers",
the '78 Midget Travel Ruggeri Electric "Short Circuits", Squirt '74 Industrial
Power Transmission "Chain Gang", the '74 Bantam Shores Oil "Flames",
the '69 Midget Rummel Cadillac "Eldorados", the '72 Pee Wee Eastern Freightways
"Road Runners", and the unlikely '72 Mite team, the Redford Lumber
"Studs".
Try saying Shocker Shell "Sharks", fast four times, after a few brews. Or after playing the '81 Bantam Tiffany's Pub "Spirits". Then there were the '79 Squirt Seminole "Spirits". Kinda sounds like an Indian burial ground. And who could forget the '74 Mite Shores Auto Wash "Demons", the '72 Mite Metro Disposal "Demons", and the '73 Pee Wee "Black Satans"? Most of their goals were probably scored at the 666 minute mark. Then there was the '74 Lou's Motorama "Blues". Sounds like a bad country song about a lemon used car.
But, I've saved my favorite team name for last . . . The '63 Pee Wee Bagnasco Funeral Home "Torpedoes"
There have been several players that have made their way out of the SCSHA to the Big
Show. The first was Dave DeBol, who skated on the 1963 Ray White Chevrolet team. Dave went
on to U of M, where he broke record after record. After college, he was drafted by
and played for the Hartford Whalers. Doug Weight, who is one of Edmunton's hot
scorers, began his career in the Shores. If you look in the 78-79 yearbook, you'd find him
on the Mite A Parton & Brebel travel team.
Mark Wells, a member of the Team of Destiny, the Miracle on Ice 1980 Olympic team, skated
for SCSHA. He was a member of the '69 Squirt National team. Then he left for Bowling Green
College, and was then given the nod of a lifetime, the chance to compete in the Olympics.
And Mark's dream turned gold in the winter of '80 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Inspiring? You bet. Did you know that SCS had another participant at those same Olympics?
Cindy Lineau, who had worked at the Civic Arena since 1974, practiced day in and day out
to become . . . the first female Zamboni driver in Olympic history.
If you read Tory DeLeeuw's piece on girls' hockey in SCS, you'll see that a girl's team
did exist in the late 70s. They were called the Mini-Wings. There's a great picture of
them in the 1968-69 yearbook. And one of the players, on the '70-71 team, Tonia
Pacifico, was my junior high locker partner! Then there were the Schiele girls who were on
the Girl Scout drill team with me.
The ads in the old yearbooks are a look back into Shores' hockey history. They are a
chronicle of businesses come, gone, and still continuing. It's wonderful to see all of the
local business that have faithfully supported our teams. Did you know that Gordie Howe
Hockeyland ran a hockey school. The ad states, "learn Howe at hockey's hall of
action! Lodge 2 players and get your tuition for free." Jerry Sawchuck, son of Wings'
great Terry, had an ad in the '75 yearbook for a goalie school. And the 1978 - 79 yearbook
was dedicated, in part, to Dubbie Kaufman, master carpenter. Dubbie, apparently would take
any player's broken hockey sticks and cut them down to mini-sticks free of charge. The
boys thought he was magic. And that's part of the SCSHA, the magic and the memories that
enrich the varied fabric of our association.
My co-chairperson on this 40 th celebration, Karen White, and I enjoyed the nostalgia
working on this event generated. Inviting old friends and family back to the Civic Arena
for this one glorious reunion on an October Sunday has been a gratifying experience. We'd
like to thank Sandi Parr Witzke, who researched the first 30 years of the hockey league
for the SCSHA's 30th Anniversary celebration. Her finely documented work is invaluable.
We've included her work from the 30th anniversary book ,untouched, not only because
we're lazy, but because her contribution is part of the never-ending story of hockey in
the City of St. Clair Shores. Further, it is a special day because our city is
rededicating the Civic Arena, which has undergone a $1.5 million dollar facelift.
Hockey is a game of tradition, that's why for our 40th anniversary, we have resurrected
the original SCSHA crest. The rooster. The current board pondered its derivation. Perhaps
it signified SCS hockey, something to crow about; or you have to get up with the roosters
to play hockey. It had to mean something! Bud Rake, who served this association for many
years, and was the president for the 1970-71 season, shared the rooster's origins with us.
The founding fathers were sitting around thinking of ideas for a crest. Hank Lorant was
there and doodling. According to Bud, a rooster was what he drew best. And that's it.
Lucky for us that Hank was no good at drawing rats or weasels.
It's amazing, as you flip through yearbooks, to see all the players that began their
hockey career here and are back to coach their sons and daughters. There are just too many
of them to mention here. The generational continuity is unbelievable. But then again it's
not really surprising. These men have chosen to return, showing us how deeply grass roots
can really go and how tightly they keep you rooted to St. Clair Shores and sport that you
love the best.
So on behalf of Karen, Tory, the 40th Anniversary Volunteers, the Parents' Club, The
Executive Board, and the Board of Governors, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ST. CLAIR SHORES HOCKEY
ASSOCIATION. WAY TO GO HOCKEYTOWN, USA. WAY TO GO.
Debby Palermino Connor
October 19, 1997