NEW TWIN-PAD FACILITY: Idea pitched to name rink in honour of former NHL blueliner, coach
Posted By DAVE DAWSON, SPECIAL TO THE PACKET AND TIMES
Only one person has been born in Orillia, played his minor hockey in Orillia and gone on to a lengthy NHL career.
For that reason alone, the new twin-pad arena being built in west Orillia should be named in honour of Rick Ley, says Mel St. Onge, who grew up with Ley and played on various hockey and baseball teams with the future pro.
"Rick Ley, in my mind, is head and shoulders above anyone else
who ever grew up in Orillia and played minor hockey in Orillia," said
St. Onge. "In fact, he's the only guy who ever played all their minor
hockey in Orillia and went on to play in the NHL."
St. Onge pitched his proposal to name the new twin-pad arena in Ley's honour at last week's recreation advisory committee meeting. While he said the majority of the committee was supportive of his idea, city council will have to make any final decision on the matter.
"I gave each councillor and the mayor a copy of my presentation and talked to several of them personally," said St. Onge, who once chaired the recreation advisory committee and formerly wrote a sports column for The Packet.
St. Onge was instrumental in having the baseball diamond at Tudhope Park named in honour of Orillia's athlete of the half-century, Jerry Udell. He was also behind the naming of other diamonds: the Dean Heliotis and Gander Ross diamonds at McKinnell Park and the Cliff Yeo diamond at Franklin Carmichael Park.
"I just think it's important that we recognize these people who helped put Orillia on the map," said St. Onge. "Rick Ley is a perfect example of an Orillia boy who learned his craft here and went on to do great things. And wouldn't it be great for today's minor hockey players to know that a kid who once grew up in Orillia and played minor hockey here went on to play in the NHL...That's why it's important to recognize people like Rick. "
Ley, who was born in Orillia on Nov. 2, 1948, went to Central Public School during an era in which all the elementary schools in town had their own hockey teams.
"When he was at Central, we won the championship every year," said St. Onge, who had the unenviable job of being the team's goalie. "I can remember in practice when Rick would want to take shots on me, I'd tell him to back up because his shot was so hard."
St. Onge remembers Ley getting called up to play midget and junior hockey -- long before his age permitted it.
"He was named the top junior hockey player in Orillia when he was just 14," says St. Onge.
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