‘I loved the game too much already’
Former teammates share induction into P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame
Peter Gallant started his curling career at Birchwood Intermediate School over 50 years ago.
Gallant enjoyed the curling section in physical education class so much he joined the after school curling program.
After all, he only lived a stone’s throw from the Charlottetown Curling Club.
One day, Gallant was playing against the teachers of Birchwood.
In the first end, he threw his rock down the ice and split his pants.
He left the ice, ran home, changed his pants and got back on the ice before the second end started.
“I loved the game too much already,” Gallant said after being inducted to the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame Nov. 25 in Charlottetown.
Gallant has won 14 provincial championships: nine men’s titles, four mixed and one senior. He has also won a Canadian mixed championship.
As a coach, he commanded the South Korean women’s curling team to an Olympic silver medal in 2018, and he is father to Canadian Olympic curler Brett Gallant.
Peter Gallant's former teammate, Robert Campbell, was also inducted into the hall of fame at the same Nov. 25 event. The teammates went to the Brier seven times together.
The two worked well on the ice together, with Gallant offering guidance, said Campbell.
“I was probably heading down that road of being too fiery at times. But having a third like Peter Gallant slowed me down somewhat and gave me some wisdom,” Campbell said.
The 1995 Halifax Brier sticks out the most to Campbell.
“We started off 0-4. We weren’t Nova Scotians, obviously, but we had kind of a hometown crowd by the end of it. We reeled off seven straight wins to make the tiebreaker.”
Unlike Gallant, Campbell said he won’t be coaching an Olympic team anytime soon.
“Coaching – it’s always interested me. But I don’t know if I have the patience Peter does.”
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Also inducted during the same event, broadcaster Dave Holland recently celebrated his 50th year on Island radio, beginning in 1972 when he moved to P.E.I. to work for CFCY.
Holland has covered numerous sports, including baseball, football, curling, soccer and the Canada Games.
Holland’s area of expertise is hockey. While his knowledge of the sport is vast, he can’t pick a favourite NHL team, said his co-worker, Scott Chapman.
“I soon realized that Dave cheered for NHL teams based almost solely on P.E.I. connections. He changes NHL teams like most of us change our socks.”
While Holland has either interviewed or commentated on the other three inductees through their careers, he remembers the most – Harry Poulton, the fourth inductee of the evening.
“I remember Harry winning the Gold Cup and Saucer back in 1989. He probably had the biggest family gathering ever in the winner’s circle. I think the whole Poulton clan and beyond was there that night,” Holland said.
The horse trainer and driver began working with his own horses 40 years ago.
But, his life in training began at the bottom of the ladder, Poulton’s sister, Deanna Clow said.
“Harry started where all young horse people should, at the end of a pitchfork mucking stalls and grooming horses on his daily visits to the racetrack with our father, Oliver.”
Poulton currently trains 12 horses in Ontario. But he couldn’t miss his induction to the hall of fame.
“It’s unbelievable. You never dream of anything like this happening to you,” he said.