ONE never really feigns disinterest when hearing tales of players from the Lakehead back in the day; especially of those who could handle themselves in any situation.
One such individual was a hard as nails defenceman by the name of Lynn Margarit.
He, who along with his twin brother Laverne, a forward, both played junior hockey locally with the Fort William Canadiens.
After convincingly finishing in top spot during the 1964-65 regular season, Fort William was upset by the rival Port Arthur North Stars in a best-of-nine Thunder Bay Jr. League final, 5-4, with one tie.
Learning from that, the Canadiens, led by Laverne offensively and Lynn producing at both ends, rebounded the following campaign by ending up in first once more, then dimmed the Stars in the playoffs to earn local laurels.
Next for Fort William, who were coached by the legendary Alex (Moe) Irving, came a sweep of the Geraldton Gold Miners to claim the district title. They followed that up with a sweep of the Winnipeg Rangers in western Canadian quarter-final action.
From there, a date with the Estevan Bruins awaited in what proved to be a seven-game slugfest.
Going toe-to-toe with their foes from Saskatchewan, there was no let-up given in terms of on-ice play, and donnybrooks, in a bruising affair that went the distance.
A late Game 6 brawl, won 3-1 by the Bruins at home to prolong the series, saw Lynn ejected for his part in the melee and eventually seeing him receive a lengthy suspension from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.
Without him in the finale, the Canadiens did rally with late third period tallies from Murray Smith and Ron Busniuk to keep the contest on the go, but ultimately fell 5-4 in double overtime to see their season dissipate in heart-breaking fashion.
Turning pro, Lynn later found himself skating for the Muskegon Mohawks of the International Hockey League, where he endeared himself to the western Michigan faithful for close to a decade.
Despite not being overly large in stature, he was never shy to mix it up in defence of himself and his teammates in piling up an IHL-record 2,156 penalty minutes over the course of 554 games played.
Margarit proved to be skilled offensively as well, wrapping up his time as Muskegon’s all-time point-getter among defencemen with 285 on 41 goals and 244 assists.
Those numbers also placed him seventh-best overall in club annals.
His time in the IHL saw him go up against many players over the years, where he took on all comers.
He also competed on the ice versus a solid stable of hockey talent who called Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario home.
This includes the likes of 1974-75 IHL leading scorer and rookie of the year Rick Bragnalo; Bob McCammon; (Battleship) Bob Kelly; Gary Mork; Dave Simpson; goaltender Johnny Adams and others.
The Hawks never played under .500 hockey in his time there and captured many divisional titles. He also aided the squad in winning an IHL Turner Cup championship in the spring of 1968.
So renowned was Margarit during his professional career in Muskegon, he was justly honoured by the organization for his many contributions and saw No. 5 jersey retired and raised to the rafters of their home venue, L.C. Walker Arena.
MADIGAN EARNS HALL CALL: Connie Madigan, an eight-time Western Hockey League all-star with the Portland Buckaroos, was recently enshrined into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
The robust rearguard was a fierce competitor and either end of the ice as he career totals of 714 points and 3,242 penalty minutes in nearly 1,200 games would indicate.
Madigan still holds the NHL mark for being the oldest-ever rookie to play in the league, at age 38, back on February 6, 1973 with the St. Louis Blues.
Among his multitude of accolades, he was also named the WHL’s top defenceman in 1965-66 and helped the Buckaroos win multiple league championships.
Like Lynn Margarit and Connie Madigan, the lore of all our local hockey legends rarely seems to dissipate.