AS 2010 winds down it was a year chock-full of accomplishments by a multitude of players from Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario.
LORD STANLEY: The year was marked by another Lakehead product having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as Patrick Sharp helped lead his Chicago Blackhawks to their first NHL title since 1961.
With Kenora’s Mike Richards fourth, Sharp fifth and Chris Pronger of Dryden 10th in postseason scoring it marked the first time in six decades that three skaters from the region finished among the top 10 in offensive production in the playoffs.
It last occurred in 1950 when Pentti Lund, Edgar Laprade and Don Raleigh accomplished the feat with Lund leading the way. Raleigh tied for second and Laprade shared fifth spot.
GOLD STRIKE: February was a month of golden memories with Canada claiming double gold in Olympic hockey.
First Haley Irwin mined gold as part of the Canadian women’s triumph over the U.S. while the likes of Eric Staal, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards and Duncan Keith were part of the national side that edged the Americans in overtime on the last day of the games.
The gold medal won by Staal also made him part of an exclusive group.
He became the 23rd player in history who has won a Stanley Cup along with Olympic and World Hockey Championship gold medals.
At 25 years of age he became the second youngest player to accomplish this incredible feat. Sweden’s Peter Forsberg was 23 when he capped off his triple crown.
Pronger is also part of this exclusive set joining Staal as two of six Canadians who can boast the remarkable feat.
QUEENS OF A NATION: April was an incredible month at the minor hockey level with the Thunder Bay Sportop Queens winning two significant crowns in two weeks.
They began by claiming the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association provincial title on April 11 in Mississauga and 14 days later were hoisting the Esso Cup Canadian national women’s midget hockey championship trophy in Regina, Sask., after rallying to defeat the Notre Dame Hounds in the final.
The win also helped Thunder Bay become the only community in the country to have won a national midget hockey title in both male and female competition joining the Thunder Bay Kings of 1995 and ’97 as Canadian champs.
ANNIVERSARIES: 2010 was also a year filled with anniversaries marking multiple championships won by local clubs.
It was 85 years ago in 1925 that the Port Arthur Seniors captured their first Allan Cup emblematic of senior hockey supremacy.
A half century later in 1975 the Thunder Bay Twins won their first of five Allan Cups upending the Barrie Flyers on Fort William Gardens ice.
25 years back one of the city’s most storied hockey titles came about as the Twins rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to shock the Corner Brook Royals in seven games. Making it more memorable was the fact that the entire series was hosted by the Royals in Newfoundland.
Ten years later the Thunder Bay Flyers won the Dudley-Hewitt Cup in an afternoon matinee at the Gardens while later that same day on the same ice the Thunder Bay Senators won the Colonial Hockey League crown disposing of the Muskegon Fury.
That same year the Kings brought home their first Air Canada Cup national midget trophy.
Rounding out the anniversary list is the Thunder Bay Bombers who, five years ago, won yet another Allan Cup for the city running the table after dropping their first two games at the 2005 tournament in the Saskatchewan-Alberta border town of Lloydminster.