CALL TO THE HALL
Northside Sports Hall of Fame to induct class of 2017.
The Northside Sports Hall of Fame will hold its annual induction ceremony on Saturday at the Emera Centre Northside.
The class of 2017 includes four athletes: Aimee Gordon (speed skating), Stephen Gordon (hockey), Kenny Jardine (baseball, hockey) and Wendell Coldwell (tennis); builder Harold (Haddie) MacDonald (minor hockey), the Sydney Mines Colts hockey team and the 1957/1958 Thompson High School curling teams.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the induction ceremony and banquet to begin at 7 p.m.
Aimee Gordon
Special Olympian Aimee Gordon became interested in skating at the age of seven and with the encouragement of her father, Alex (Skipper) Gordon, and coach, Ruth MacInnis, she began speed skating. In her first year representing Nova Scotia at nationals, she came home with a gold, two silver and a bronze. She won two silver and a bronze competing in Calgary and took home gold and three silvers at the Nova Scotia Special Olympics Winter Games in Wolfville. In March 2017, Gordon was a member of Team Canada and won gold in the 500 metres and bronze in the 333 metres at the World Special Olympics in Austria.
Stephen Gordon
Stephen Gordon was a standout player at a young age, and had a scoring touch as a member of the Cape Breton Colonels major midget team. In 1984, he earned a spot on Team Canada’s under-17 team through Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence. In junior, he played for the Halifax Lions junior ‘A’ club from 1985-87, and went on to skate for the former UCCB Capers hockey team for five years. In 1996, he won an Allan Cup, the Canadian senior hockey championship, with the Truro Bearcats, a team that was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame. He also played senior fastball and senior baseball as well.
Kenny Jardine
Kenny Jardine of Sydney Mines excelled in baseball and hockey in the 1950s and 1960s. In hockey, he dominated his high school years and in baseball, pitched in junior and senior leagues in Cape Breton semi-pro baseball. He also pitched for the Notre Dame High School team where he won every game he pitched. He threw for the Corner Nine Royals in junior and the Sydney Mines Ramblers in the Cape Breton Senior Baseball League. In 1958, he won three games and led the Ramblers to the league title, and runner-up at the Maritime tournament.
Wendell Coldwell
Wendell Coldwell from Groves Point was a top tennis player in Cape Breton and all of Nova Scotia in the 1940s through the 1950s. He won the Cape Breton Open men’s singles titles in 1949, 1951, 1952, 1954 and 1958. In 1952 and 1959, he and his partners won Cape Breton Open men’s doubles titles. Coldwell was ranked No. 10 in open tennis competition in Canada and ranked first in Canada in 18-and-under competition in 1928.
Harold (Haddie) MacDonald
Haddie MacDonald was a long time minor hockey coach and executive member on the Northside serving on minor hockey boards from the 1960s through the 1990s including 10 years as president of the Sydney Mines Minor Hockey Association. He also coached school teams in Florence, including Florence High School for three years as well as the junior high school team that he coached to a provincial final. MacDonald also coached the first bantam-aged team from the area in an organized league in the late 1960s.
He was was instrumental in getting the Sydney Mines and District Community Centre constructed and served on the board of directors for 14 years. The Haddie MacDonald Memorial Junior High School Hockey Tournament has been running at the arena for the past 10 years.
Sydney Mines Colts
The stage was set for the 1979 Maritime Intermediate ‘D’ Hockey Championship. It was a one game, winner take all championship game between the New Brunswick champion Black’s Harbour Silver Kings and the Nova Scotia champion Sydney Mines Colts at the Sir James Dunn Arena in St. Andrews, N.B. The Colts concluded their impressive season with the win to take the title. The team competed in the Northside Intermediate Hockey League compiling a record of 14-2-2. In the Cape Breton championship, the Colts defeated the Bras-d’Or Lakers in four straight games, the North Sydney Rebels, 4-2, and the Port Hood Bees, 4-2. The Colts then defeated the Cape Sable Island Fishpackers in a best-ofthree series played in Baddeck to complete their Nova Scotia championship run.
1957/1958 Thompson High School Curling Teams
The Thompson High School curling team won the Provincial Headmasters Curling Championships in 1957 and 1958. The 1957 team, made up of skip Allen Kenny, mate Paul Price, second George Rowe and lead Billy Youden led all teams with a record of 7-1 heading into the playdowns. Coached by George Chapman and Sam Waye and with faculty advisor Alex Gilchrist, they upset top seed Queen Elizabeth High School for the provincial crown.
In 1958, the team repeated their winning ways in Yarmouth led by skip Kenny, mate Rowe, second Youden and lead Les Hare. The team had a strong showing at nationals in Charlottetown.