OVER the years, the area has produced a multitude of sturdy defencemen who made their presence known with bouncing body checks, while also contributing at both ends of the ice, to a plethora of championship teams.
One such rearguard was Dennis Owchar.
While born in Dryden, it was on the rinks of the Lakehead where he was quick to draw notice among spectators and opposing players alike.
Joining a sturdy Westfort Hurricanes junior side coached by the popular Benny Woit for the 1968-69 campaign, Owchar, despite not being overly towering in stature, swiftly made his mark as a rugged 15-year-old blueliner.
Westfort went on to win the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League title that season and would accomplishment the feat the following year as well.
Owchar’s efforts on the back-end kept those competitors on the other side on their toes as the Hurricanes upset the league-leading Fort William Canadiens to hoist the local trophy again in 1970.
After soaring past the Schreiber North Stars to collect the district crown, the club continued their winning ways by crowning the Dauphin Kings in the western Memorial Cup semifinal.
Things looked good for the squad in the Abbott Cup western junior final as they took their first two outings versus the Weyburn Red Wings, only to see the Saskatchewan side counter with four straight triumphs and move on the national final.
Wrapping up his time in Thunder Bay with two consecutive TBJHL Top Defenceman Awards, Owchar continued his run of titles in southern Ontario, helping the vaunted Toronto Marlboros skate to both an OHA league triumph, and later the Memorial Cup, in the spring of 1973.
His on-ice skill-set was recognized by those at the highest levels as both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Houston Aeros selected him in their respective NHL and World Hockey Association Drafts that year.
Signing with Pittsburgh, Owchar began his pro career in the American Hockey League with the Penguins’ affiliate side, the Hershey Bears.
There, the rookie rearguard once again contributed to his club’s overall success as Hershey went on to win the 1974 Calder Cup, emblematic of AHL champions.
Making his NHL debut with Pittsburgh on October 12, 1974, Owchar contributed immediately with two assists in a 7-2 victory against the visiting Detroit Red Wings.
A solid local contingent of skaters appeared in that contest as Bob (Battleship) Kelly and Ron Schock were also in the Pens’ line-up, as were Nelson Pyatt and Kenora’s Gary Bergman with Detroit.
Beginning his NHL career with seven points in as many outings from the back-end, he went on to notch his initial goal in the league back on November 7 of ‘74, with a marker against the Los Angeles Kings.
Going on to appear in 288 NHL contests over six seasons, with Pittsburgh and the Colorado Rockies, he went on to score 30 times and help set-up 80 others, while collecting 200 penalty minutes and doling out many thundering body checks.
Owchar even represented Canada at the 1979 Izvestia tournament, a five-nation event in Moscow.
Returning to northwestern Ontario, Owchar continued to lace them up with the Thunder Bay Twins senior team.
A tremendous presence there, he earned Central Amateur Senior Hockey League 1st All-Star Team laurels in 1983-84 and played a pivotal role in the Twins winning back-to-back Allan Cups in ’84 and ’85.
This included Thunder Bay’s comeback for the ages in the second of those national titles as they roared back on the road from a three games to none deficit to stun the Corner Brook Royals in Newfoundland with four successive victories and etch their place in local hockey lore.
Winning at nearly every level he played, Dennis Owchar was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame back in 2004, and is definitely included on the list of physical and talented defencemen from the region that patrolled the blueline with a certain vigour and robustness that caught everyone’s attention.