Pictou County mourns the loss of Hughie Sim
Who was Hughie Sim?
“A fierce competitor,” says Steve Crowell, who first got to know Sim while coaching on opposing benches during midget hockey games in the 80s and 90s.
The larger-than-life Pictou County man passed away Nov. 1 at age 69. While many will recognize the Sim name in connection to Jon Sim, the former NHL player and Stanley Cup winner, the elder Sim was a notable figure in his own right in Nova Scotia rinks for many years.
“His teams always had a trademark of hard work and doing all the things you need to do to win, whether it’s blocking shots or finishing checks or chirping,” Crowell said.
The players on the ice mirrored the persona of their coach, and any team playing against a Hugh Sim team knew they better be prepared.
“He and I had our battles,” said Crowell, who coached the Dartmouth midget team.
There was a time he wouldn’t have conceived it possible that they would one day put aside their on-ice differences and know each other on a personal level. But that changed over time. He recalls during the 1997 Air Canada Cup that was hosted in Pictou County he was invited to the Sim household. An evening visit ended up stretching into the wee hours of the morning.
Crowell admired the competitor, but he enjoyed most the man he’s spent the last decade getting to know better. He recalls sitting in the stands of rinks in Pictou County; Crowell scouting and Sim watching his grandchildren play.
“I’m going to really miss those conversations,” says Crowell. “We talked about the old days.”
Like many people, Crowell was shocked to learn Sim had passed. Just three weeks ago he had wished him happy birthday.
He said it’s been touching to read the comments players have made about their former coach and it’s clear his legacy will live on.
“At the end of the day I know he respected what I did, and I certainly respected what he did,” Crowell said.
John Lynn was a friend of Sim and president of the Weeks Hockey Organization when Sim was coaching the midget hockey team in Pictou County.
“Hughie Sim was the most passionate coach I ever met,” Lynn says.
He says Sim was one of the most knowledgeable hockey people he’d ever encountered and he doesn’t believe there was a coach who ran a better practice than Sim did. The practices incorporated skill development, motion, physical fitness, and intensity in a way that few others are able to achieve.
And make no mistake about it, Sim wanted to win.
“The first priority was always to win,” Lynn said.
That may not be a popular concept in today’s world, but Lynn believes anybody who finds success at hockey knows it’s a main objective.
“The hockey players that have the same level of intensity and passion and will to win, always loved Hughie Sim.”
It made him revered by many in the league.
“All of his peers in the hockey world knew that when you were playing a team coached by Hugh Sim you were going to have a mouth full.”
That didn’t change from year-to-year depending on the quality of the team either.
“Sometimes we had great teams. Sometimes we only had average teams that achieved great results,” Lynn said.
The common denominator was Sim. His loss is one that Lynn knows can never be replaced.
“They don’t make them like Hughie Sim anymore.”
OUTSIDE THE RINK
Sim’s impacts stretch well beyond the hockey arena. He was also well respected in the world of financial services. He was an employee of Scotia Bank in Pictou County for many years and it was through his role as a mortgage broker, that Pictou County real estate agent Sherry Blinkhorn said she got to known him. Over time he became her friend.
“He would call me the pitbull with lipstick and I’d call him a few other things,” she says laughing at the memory.
She said what stood out most about Sim was his bigger than life personality, his zest for life and positive attitude.
“He was loyal to his friends. He was just as loyal to his clients,” she said.
If someone was going through a rough time financially, but needed a mortgage, he was the kind of person who would go to bat for them. For Sim, credit meant more than dollars and numbers, she said. He believed in people and their integrity.
Blinkhorn recalls hearing more than once in the Pictou County real estate world, “If Hughie can’t get it done, nobody can get it done.”
She said she’s grateful for the way he helped her personally by referring clients looking for a home to her. He was always one of the first mortgage brokers she would recommend people to. She knows from working with him, that he was one of the top mortgage brokers in the country and because of that he really put Pictou County on the map, she said.
While Sim could come across as gruff to some, Blinkhorn said he was really a teddy bear at heart.
“The people who knew him best, knew how sensitive he was,” she said. “He cared about his clients and he cared about people in general.”
There’s a quote that was included with Sim’s obituary that Blinkhorn thinks is particularly fitting: “A champion is someone who gets up even when they can’t.”
Sim was truly a champion in her mind.
“He was one of a kind,” she said. “He was a force.”