Wayne Simmonds creates memories

By Ron Baldwin

We all remember the first time we met our first NHL player. What a thrill!

I grew up in North York and lived right across the street from the North York Centennial Centre, where the Toronto Maple Leafs held their team practices.

I was in grade 3 and my mother took me across the street and I got Dave Keon and Ron Ellis’s autographs. It was such an exciting moment for me that over 45 years later I still remember it clearly.

A few years later when rookie Terry O’Reilly of the Boston Bruins flipped me a puck at a practice at Maple Leaf Gardens, and then autographed it for me, he became my new favorite player for a long time.

The thrill of those first encounters is what Scarborough native Wayne Simmonds is providing for many of the youth of Scarborough.

Tournament in fourth year

For the fourth year in a row, Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers has put on his Wayne’s Road Hockey Warriors ball hockey tournament at Scarborough Arena Gardens in Birch Cliff.

Simmonds once again gathered some of his closest hockey buddies to interact with the kids who play in the tournament and put big smiles on their faces.

A huge tent was set up outside the arena and all of the kids in the tournament were brought in team-by-team to get autographs from Simmonds and his friends Joel Ward (Washington Capitals), Chris Stewart (Minnesota Wild), Devante Smith-Pelly (Montreal Canadiens), Mike Cammalleri (New Jersey Devils), Raffi Torres (San Jose Sharks), Malcolm Subban (Boston Bruins), Zac Rinaldo (now of the Boston Bruins) and Ray Emery of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Former NHLer Anthony Stewart (K.H.L) and Florida Panther prospect Jesse Blacker were also there to sign autographs.

Simmonds believes in giving back

I interviewed Simmonds and he spoke about how it is important for professional hockey players to realize that kids look up to them and giving back and interacting with them is fun and a great thing to do.

He had a lot of people help him as a youngster and he realizes that without it, he may not have got as far as he has in hockey.

This is his chance to give back and help out, raise money for a few more young players to play hockey and also provide an exciting day for the local kids.

Pamphlets were handed out at many of the schools in Scarborough encouraging children to come out to this event.

More girls this year

This year there were ten teams of players between the ages of 8 and 12 years old.

There were a lot more young girls participating this year, including one who wore a tutu. Each team had at least three girls, which bodes well for our future women’s Olympic hockey teams.

The teams played a round robin format and many of the games were close and competitive. In the end, the final was won by the Orange team.

The players were very excited to win and they all took turns holding the trophy up in the air and then happily posed for a Championship team photo.

Children loved it

Simmonds and his friends all seemed to be having a great time too and near the end of the day many of the parents and participants were getting their pictures taken with many of the players.

I chatted with a few young players and asked them what they thought of being able to participate in this event.

Scarborough Young Bruin AA player Lachlan, who played on the Red team said it was “awesome”.

He is a Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Towes fan and this is his second time in the tournament. He said he enjoyed meeting all of the NHL players

Orange team member and fourth year participant Kody, who also celebrated his 11th birthday today said “It was a lot of fun and it’s neat because I get to meet the players and get autographs, which lot of other kids don’t get to do.”

I think he realizes at a young age how cool it is to be in the presence of these NHL players. Kody plays for the Scarborough Ice Raiders and is happy to know he can come back next year for one last time.

San Jose Sharks fan, eight year old Ian, played on the Blue team and he said he really liked being here because it was a lot of fun and he was very happy to meet Simmonds and the Sharks Raffi Torres.

Ian plays ice hockey and lacrosse and said he likes ball hockey too because it helps him develop his skills.

Pro tournament

After the kids were done with their tournament the pros then split into two teams of Team Orange verses Team White and they put on a very exciting ball hockey game.

There were some great saves and some fancy goals and at the end of the game they were tied at 10 goals apiece.

They decided to have a shootout to decided who wins, and after going back and forth in a goaltender dual, Team Orange’s Jesse scored the winning goal.

Corporate sponsors

Every year this event gets bigger and bigger with more sponsors joining in the fun.

This year McDonald’s Restaurants had a food truck offering free hot coffee, which was very welcome on such a wet and cold blustery day.

Ronald McDonald was also there to visit the children and drop the ball to start the NHL players game. SportChek banners were everywhere and they supplied free white hockey sticks for all the tournament players, which were soon filled with autographs from Wayne and his friends.

Organizer Richia McCutheon did a fantastic job coordinating all of the volunteers and getting the whole event to run smoothly. There were raffles, silent auctions, a DJ and all kinds of stuff going on. It takes a lot of people working together to make this a success and they all did a wonderful job!

It was an exciting finish to another great day, and I can’t wait until next year!