Remembering Wayne

While a lot of arenas across the continent have some sort of corporate sponsorship attached to their names - Scotiabank Arena, Canada Life Center, and Rogers Center to name a few - the arenas in Canada West have largely remained the same as people who have been influential in or for those programs have been honoured with the arena's name. Some of those include Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Father David Bauer Arena in Calgary, and Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg. It's this last rink that's named for the man pictured above, and I'm not sure a lot of people are aware just how important Wayne Fleming was to the Bisons men's hockey program before finding success at higher levels.

Wyane Fleming passed away on March 25, 2013 at the age of 62, so it's likely that the players who are skating on the ice today in the arena named for him are unaware of what he did for and at the University of Manitoba. While I don't usually like to bring up the memories of a man's death, reflecting on why the arena at the university was named for him is something that should be done at the start of every season for the Bisons hockey programs. I can't say whether that's done or not, but I have a feeling that it's not based on what I've seen so let's talk about him now.

The Winnipeg Free Press wrote up this article for its October 2, 2013 newspaper about the Bisons changing the name of the university rink.

As stated in the article, Wayne Fleming "played for the Bisons in 1970-73 and 1974-75 while receiving his physical education degree and certificate of education," so the soon-to-be NHL and Team Canada coach got himself started with a solid education. I've always stressed that the student part in student-athlete comes first because one's education will take one further in this journey called life, and Fleming was all-in on that part in earning his degree.

One year after graduating, however, Fleming was back at the University of Manitoba as an assistant coach "before taking over as head coach in 1980-87." During that time, Fleming led the Bisons to two Great Plains Athletic Conference championships in 1983 and 1984 while being named as the conference's best coach in both 1983 and 1985 and the CIAU's top bench boss in 1985. During his time as head coach, Fleming coached the Bisons to a 140-78-14 record in regular-season play, logging a solid .634 win percentage as the Bisons were often seen as a powerhouse in the west.

Under Fleming, players like Mike Ridley, Stu Grimson, George Maneluk, Vaughn Karpan, and Barry Trotz all went on to bigger and brighter lights. Ridley spent 12 seasons in the NHL with the Rangers, Capitals, Maple Leafs, and Canucks before retiring following a four-game skate with the IHL's Manitoba Moose in 1997-98. Ridley was the Great Plains Athletic Conference's MVP and the CIAU Player of the Year in 1984 when he scored 39 goals and 41 assists in 46 games, and his two seasons with the Manitoba Bisons would see him amass 68 goals and 79 assists in just 76 games.

Stu Grimson logged 14 seasons in the NHL, most notably with Chicago, Anaheim, Detroit, Hartford, and Nashville where he now works with the Predators after obtaining his law degree in 2005. He wasn't an offensive dynamo like Ridley, but Grimson's two seasons saw him score 15 goals and 12 assists in 41 games with the Bisons. Grimson's noted fearlessness helped him record 2113 PIMs in the NHL.

George Maneluk only spent four games in the NHL with the New York Islanders, but he was part of the 1990 AHL Springfield Indians' Calder Cup championship and the 1995 CHL Wichita Thunder's William Levins Memorial Cup championship. Maneluk played 20 minutes against the New Jersey Devils on October 23, 1990 in his debut, and he recorded his only win in the NHL in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on October 26, 1990. Like his NHL record, Maneluk played just two games with the Bisons in 1985-86, going 1-1-0 in the net.

Vaughn Karpan represented Canada twice at the Olympic Winter Games. His first taste of Olympic action came at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics where Canada finished in fourth-place. His second trip to the Olympics were more memorable as he was on the ice in Calgary for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Canada would finish in fourth-place again, and Karpan recorded no points in his 14 Olympic contests while being used as a penalty-killer and checking forward. Two seasons with the Bisons saw Karpan score 36 goals and 34 assists in 42 games.

Barry Trotz likely needs no introduction, but he spent a long portion of his life coaching at various levels including being the head coach of the Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders. He helped the 1994 Portland Pirates win the AHL's Calder Cup while being named as Coach of the Year, and he won the Stanley Cup in 2018 while coaching the Capitals. Trotz never saw his hockey career going higher than the minor leagues, so he joined the Bisons as an assistant coach in 1984 before becoming head coach in 1987 when Wayne Fleming left the program. The current GM of the Nashville Predators played one season for the Bisons, scoring six goals and 14 assists in 32 games in 1983-84.

While we often talk about the success that the Alberta Golden Bears have in sending players to higher levels, it seems the Bisons may have had their own pipeline to the NHL and the Olympics before the Golden Bears began their run of success. A lot of that success came from the recruiting and coaching that Wayne Fleming did nearly fifty years ago, and it's hard to argue that he wasn't successful on both fronts. Any coach who can sustain a .634 winning percentage over seven seasons as head coach is clearly doing something right.

While Fleming would find all sorts of success at the NHL and international levels after leaving the University of Manitoba, the Snowflake, Manitoba native was writing his name into the University of Manitoba record books long before he stepped behind an NHL bench. Because of his success both as a player and as a coach at the school, Fleming absolutely deserved to be honoured by his alma mater by having his name on the arena. If we're talking about legendary coaches like Clare Drake, Andy Murray, Dave Adolph, and Dave King who got their starts and found success in Canada West, Wayne Fleming absolutely needs to be in that group.

October 4, 2013 will be a day that should be memorialized with a plaque on the arena's wall because that was the day that the University of Manitoba arena was named correctly. Wayne Fleming put the Bisons men's hockey program on the map through the 1980s, and his pride in the team, the school, and the program should be instilled in every player who wears the Bisons logo on their chests.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!