Giving back to the team
A hockey sting – Lower Truro were district league champions
Dennis Nolan, a 25-year-old Truro resident, is an educational assistant at Truro Elementary School.
Nolan, who has also spent much of his life in sports, is a former junior goaltender in hockey and plays fastpitch ball during the summer.
This past season Nolan was the goaltender coach with Brookfield Elks of the Nova Scotia Hockey League.
“I have a passion for hockey and for goaltending,” Nolan, who grew up in Upper Stewiacke, said.
“When Phil Lynds talked to me about becoming a coach with his Elks junior B team, I was really interested. I had enjoyed playing hockey for Brookfield and I felt it would be great to be able to give back to the team,” he said.
“In the early going I was a bit nervous. I wondered how I would react to what a player might say. But, in working with the goalies, I reached out to former goaltender coach John Currie. He assured me that I had played the game and he encouraged me in a number of ways. John was definitely a big help to me.”
Nolan shared that Currie had been his goaltender coach for three seasons.
“John, who passed away earlier this year, was both a friend and a mentor,” he said.
The rookie goaltender coach enjoyed the role under Lynds.
“To be part of the coaching staff with Troy Mcnutt and Ernie Mcnea, I found that Phil took input from all of his coaches. With Phil being a veteran coach and me in my first year, he made me feel comfortable, he gave me pointers as I needed them.”
Nolan also liked Lynds’s outlook and that he was focused on developing a real young team.
“Phil wanted to build for the future, he wanted to change any negative outlooks players might have and he wanted his hockey players to enjoy coming to the rink. Phil believed his players should be proud to wear the Elks uniform.”
Nolan said the Elks expect to have 15 returning players next season.
“By going in the direction we did, we’ll eventually be a competitive team. We’ll also have some good new young players join us, this should help us knock on the playoff door.”
Nolan, a graduate of the South Colchester Minor Hockey Association, played goal for three seasons in minor midget with Brookfield and Truro, he also played three seasons of junior B with the Elks followed by playing a fourth season with Cumberland Blues.
A familiar outfielder in the Shooters Bar & Grill Fast-pitch League, Nolan enjoyed seasons with Miller’s Expos and Brookfield Elks, he played the past two seasons with Shubie Lions.
Shubie were champions of the Shooters league last season, they also won the provincial intermediate title.
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A couple months ago we featured the Lower Truro Maple Leafs hockey team from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Former team member Gerry Macleod looked back at the good old Truro District Hockey League.
A telephone call followed from Mike Sandeson. We discussed whether Lower Truro had ever won the TDHL (playoff) championship.
Sandeson’s father Al had played for, and managed, the Maple Leafs, his uncle, Frank Sandeson, also played for the team. Mike was not certain but he felt Lower Truro had won the championship trophy a time or two.
I was uncertain. We agreed to do a little research.
Talking to Terry Henderson, the former Brookfield Elks player felt the Maple Leafs had possibly been champions a time or two during the early days of the league.
Next, a call to another former player Johnny Hutchinson. Hutchie referred me to page 31 of a book ‘Memories of the Truro District Hockey League.’ In the book, which Hutchinson had put together in 2015 (301 pages of photos and district league history) there it was – the
answer. The page carried photos of Lower Truro Maple Leafs, in 1936 and 1937, district league champions both seasons.
Now, here’s the sting, or let’s call it coincidence.
In beginning to work on this week’s column, I intended to mention Lower Truro Maple Leafs winning two TDHL championships. But, last Friday, the telephone rings and it’s Mike Sandeson. Beating me to the punch, Mike advised that at Moore’s Service Centre on Willow Street there are two photos on the wall of Lower Truro Maple Leafs when they were TDHL champions.
It’s too bad Mike couldn’t have seen the smile on my face.
Thanks Mike. Lyle Carter’s sports column appears weekly in the Truro News. If you have a story idea, contact him at 902-673-2857.