Great Honour For A Great Man

While the kid on the right in the image is still writing his name into the Winnipeg Jets' history books with his offensive talents, the man in the middle giving him instructions likely needs no introduction to hockey fans in the Manitoba capital. The late, great Dale Hawerchuk is, and always will be, held in high regard both on this blog and in Winnipeg for his abilities both on the ice and behind the bench, and for his love of the game, and the city of Barrie, Ontario announced that they will be honouring him by renaming the entrance to the Sadlon Arena in honour of Dale Hawerchuk.

It's no secret that the OHL's Barrie Colts saw an upswing in their fortunes with the hiring of Dale Hawerchuk as the head coach. Besides preparing a number of former Colts for NHL careers including Mark Scheifele shown above, Hawerchuk helped the Colts to an overall record of 305-269-38 under his watch while making the playoffs seven times and capturing four Central Division titles in his nine seasons behind the bench. The Colts also won the Eastern Conference championship in 2013.

With their fortunes significantly improved with Hawerchuk guiding them, the Colts became one of the destination clubs in the OHL for players to play. Among the talent that has gone through Barrie under Hawerchuk's watch includes the aforementioned Scheifele, Vancouver's Tanner Pearson, San Jose's Kevin Labanc, Florida's Aaron Ekblad, and Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov. All are having pretty significant hockey careers at the NHL level, and Dale Hawerchuk and the Barrie Colts have a hand in that.

In the announcement today, Barrie Council unanimously approved renaming the entrance of the Sadlon Arena, seen to the right, in honour of Dale Hawerchuk and the many days and nights he spent there with the Colts. The city will work with the Colts to install signage to reflect the new name of the entrance, and an unveiling date for the newly-named entrance will be announced in conjunction with the Colts as they plan to announce more honours for Hawerchuk.

If you were hoping that perhaps the Colts and the city of Barrie would honour Hawerchuk by naming the rink after them, that's not going to be possible after the city struck a $1.7-million deal with Sadlon Motors for the naming rights on the former Barrie Molson Centre in 2019. The naming rights agreement is a ten-year pact between the city and the well-established Barrie-based business, and the deal allows for an additional ten-year extension to be made if both sides agree to it at the conclusion of the initial ten-year deal.

It seems pretty clear that Sadlon Motors saw no issue with Hawerchuk being honoured since they own the naming rights for all city-owned interior and exterior signs at the arena, and it's nice to see a business with such strong local roots recognizing the efforts made by Hawerchuk in his nine seasons with the Colts. While I dislike the business of arenas and teams selling naming rights on buildings, I'm inclined to let Sadlon Motors off the hook on this one because of its strong community connections.

Seeing the city of Barrie honour Dale Hawerchuk with this move shows how much the community of Barrie cares for the memory of Hawerchuk and how much he meant to their community. While it may not be the renaming of a street or a statue outside the arena, every hockey fan coming in to cheer for or against the Barrie Colts will pay their respects by walking through the doors named for one of the greatest men to ever play and coach the game of hockey.

Well done, Barrie. Dale Hawerchuk would be proud.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!