HOCKEY, SOCCER STANDOUT HONOURED
Allan MacCormack to be inducted into sports hall on Saturday.
Allan MacCormack was a hockey and soccer standout at St. Lawrence University, but credits his youth sports days in Cape Breton for giving him the foundation for his later success south of the border.
“I’m a very competitive person and I get that competitiveness from my brothers,” said the 66-year-old Sydney native, who now lives in Palmyra, Pa. “Growing up with five brothers was so special to play with them and go on and watch them and, from what I’ve been told, I was the first Nova Scotian to take a scholarship to the United States.”
His career both on and off the ice has earned MacCormack a spot in the Cape Breton Sport Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted on Saturday during the Cape Breton Sports Heritage Awards at Centre 200.
“It’s the best honour I could have to be honoured where you’re from,” he said. “There are so many special people that are in the hall of fame and I feel privileged to be in there with those people.”
Locally, MacCormack was a leading scorer at Holy Redeemer, Don Bosco and Sydney Academy. With the blue and white, he’d lead Sydney Academy to three straight provincial headmaster championships and was named athlete of the year in his final season.
Following a rookie campaign with the Cape Breton Metros, MacCormack was offered a full scholarship to St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y., an NCAA Division 1 school.
On the ice, he recorded 127 points (49 goals, 78 assists) in only 80 games. He led the team in scoring in both the 197172 and 1972-73 seasons, and served as a captain in 1973-74. He tied the school record for most consecutive games with an assist (21) and was tied for second with most consecutive games with a point (25).
He was a walk-on with the varsity soccer team, and as a sophomore, led both the hockey and soccer teams in scoring. That resulted in a brief mention in an issue of Sports Illustrated at the time, and he was named the school’s athlete of the year. Over his career at St. Lawrence, he earned four Eastern College Athletic Conference all-star nods four times between the two sports.
“I had the chance to experience so much coming from Cape Breton and playing at different venues,” he said. “It was tremendous.”
After university, MacCormack pursued a masters degree in sports psychology, and his 32-year coaching career in the United States began. He worked in the physical education departments at Ithaca and Elmira Colleges, Cortland State University and Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, where he coached both hockey and soccer.
He’s worked for the past 25 years with USA Hockey as well, and has worked at hockey camps across the world as a result. A handful of players he helped mentor went on to NHL careers, including the likes of Brooks Orpik, Dustin Brown and Mike Richter.
“To have an effect on so many players’s lives — and there are so many coaches that will be there Saturday night who had such an effect on people — I think it’s important for a coach to recognize that he contributed to somebody’s life to help guide these young guys,” he said.
“There’s nothing better than when I walk around and have former players come back and say thank you very much for what you did for me.”
In 2002, MacCormack was enshrined into the St. Lawrence University Hall of Fame for both hockey and soccer.
MacCormack is bringing his coaching expertise to the ice the morning of his induction. He’ll be hosting a coaching clinic at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre for atomand peewee-aged players.