GENERATIONS OF STICK-HANDLERS
Posted By CATHY PELLETIER , CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Posted 1 month ago
From the first time he laced up his skates at age seven, Dave Green was hooked. His father, Lloyd "Soggy" Green was one of the original Dunnville Mudcats, and through a lifetime spent skating and coaching generations of hockey players from Dunnville, Green has gathered an extensive collection of memorabilia, which he plans to share with the public.
All Oldtimers and hockey fans are invited to see his photo collection and DVD presentation tonight at 7 p. m. at the Dunnville Library, where Green will be a special guest of the Dunnville District Heritage Association.
Although the Mudcats weren't officially called the Mudcats until 1914, the term and the team have become synonymous with Dunnville's history through decades of wins and losses, and with generations of the Green family as well.
Green's skate down memory lane begins with the town's very first organized hockey team in 1908 - which "was made up of all Greens and Gillaps -all cousins," said Green, and ends 101 years later, with local players who started skating in Dunnville and are now deemed 'Hockeyville Heroes.'
"I consider Dunnville Hockeyville," noted Green, referring to players like Jim Gregory, who was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2008, Nathan Horton, who now plays for the Florida Panthers, and Peter deBoer, who is now Horton's coach.
"They all started skating in Dunnville, and moved up through the system" before achieving fame and, in some cases, international success, explained Green, who was born and raised here.
"I coached Dave Fenyves when he was 14 to 16, and he was drafted to the Peterborough Petes and then the Buffalo Sabres and the Philadelphia Flyers," as well as the Rochester Americans and the Hershey Bears.
"Danny Marr was our trainer in junior, trained for the Toronto Maple Leafs and is now the head scout for the Atlanta Thrashers, and Bill Davidge was a terrific athlete. He played with my brother, Bob in Welland and for Miami/Ohio, and is now a colour commentator for the Columbus Blue Jackets."
Green has photos of well-known locals such as Justice David Marshall and Bud Bradley sporting Dunnville uniforms. "Bradley had to leave hockey to join the armed forces," he said. "As education became more important, a lot of the kids were going to school so they had to really hustle to get teams together."
"In 1937-38, the Mudcats won the group championship, and my dad and his brother Ray play in the 1940s. In the 40s and 50s, young players were moving up to become future Mudcats."
A huge year for local hockey was 1949-50, when Dunnville "first got ice in the Memorial Arena, and the team won the group championship that season. In 1960 it was the Centennial year for Dunnville and the Centennial team was coached by Jack Gibson," said Green.
"After that, they had to renovate the arena, so there was no hockey until about 1965. Minor hockey was in and out but there were no Mudcats for 10 years."
During that time, Green was busy playing for various teams himself, including the Junior Bs in Welland, the Jr. A St. Catharines Blackhawks, and the New Jersey Devils. He also played two years for the St. Louis Braves -farm team for the Chicago Blackhawks -and a year in the International Hockey League for the Port Huron Flags. His professional career ended with an injury, which left him in a leg cast from hip to toe.
"After 10 years, we started the Mudcats up again and got players like Don Hines, who was 39 at the time and Fred Murphy, who was also 39. Many of the younger guys had gone to play for the Port Colborne Sailors. It took us quite a while to build from players who hadn't played in 10 years to winning championships. They were struggling years."
With Green acting as coach in 1970-71 and Ted Pitts following in 1971-72, they rebuild, and in 1974-75, they added a junior club -the Dunnville Terriers.
"We went to the finals and won several Ontario championships," he said. "A lot of the juniors moved into intermediates and really strengthened the team. Many of them moved up to become a powerhouse and from the 1980s to the 1990s, we won lots of championships."
Meanwhile, Green and others who had played together for decades in Dunnville joined an Oldtimers team, which won several gold and silver medals at Lake Placid in the 1990s. "People like Don Hines and Ted Pitts played together," said Green. "They were really fun times."
Now in charge of an alumni group hoping to raising funds for the town's new arena, Green proudly shows his collection, which ranges from photos of former Dunnville players who achieved success in the sport, such as Mike Hedden Jr., to lesser-known players, like the 1922- 23 women's hockey team, which eventually fell by the wayside.
