Game on still for former IceDogs
Q: I was wondering if Marty Williamson, former IceDogs coach, was involved in hockey anywhere this year. And last season there was a player, Gillard, who was seriously injured. Is he still recovering?
A: Former Niagara IceDogs head coach Marty Williamson rediscovered his hockey roots this year.
He helped coach his son’s team, the Garden City Falcons, to a championship this season.
Williamson said he’s watched his son Sam play hockey but he’s never coached him or been involved in tournaments before because he was too busy with the IceDogs. He was the OHL team’s head coach and general manager from 2010 to 2016.
“It was kind of nice this year to be 100 per cent focused on him and make every tournament and make every practice and game,” Williamson said. “I know he enjoyed it an awful lot.”
The Falcons team became the first from Niagara since 1984 to win the bantam double A Ontario Minor Hockey Association title. They went on to represent the OMHA at the Ontario Hockey Federation championships in Timmins and lost in the semi-finals.
Williamson said they had a great parent group and were not a flashy team but heavy underdogs. Oakville was the perennial champions and to beat them in the playoffs three games to one was exciting for everyone.
“It was an awful lot of fun and the kids were fantastic. They were great to coach,” he said. “For me, it was a full circle kind of thing. It brought me back to grass roots where I started in minor hockey before I got into the big times so it was a very rewarding year for me.”
Former IceDogs player Matt Gillard, meanwhile, has put competitive hockey behind him but he’s still on the ice.
The Welland native fractured his neck in two places in a game in October 2015 which ended his career in his fourth season with the Ontario Hockey League.
Bernd Franke, regional sports editor for Postmedia Network in Niagara, caught up with Gillard this week. Gillard is now running hockey camps and teaching skills at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls and the Vale Centre in Port Colborne.
His Gillard Elite Hockey includes teaching edge work, power skating, stick handling and shooting.
Fans may have spotted Gillard back at the Meridian Centre last October when he was invited to drop the puck as part of the ceremonial face off.
Q: My kids and I have always wondered… In Garden City Arena in St. Catharines the levels are marked by letters A at ice level up to J at the top. For some reason they skipped “I”. It’s been like this for years.
A: There’s no “I” in team, but that’s not the reason there’s no row “I” at Garden City Arena.
The explanation is actually pretty simple. Phil Cristi, acting director of parks, recreation and culture services, said the city didn’t use “I” to avoid having people confuse it with the number “1.”
It’s a practice done in some other rinks too, including the Meridian Centre.
Spokeswoman Kay Meilleur said the Meridian Centre’s rows go from H to J, skipping “I” for the same reason. Send your queries to Karena Walter by email at kwalter@postmedia.com; by Twitter @karena_ standard or through Facebook at www.facebook.com/karenawalter