WEST SPRINGFIELD – Do you remember Buddy Maracle, Abbie Cox, Fred Thurier?
How about Billy Gooden, Keith Allen, Gordie Tottle?
If they’re too far back on the hockey timeline, maybe you remember Bill Sweeney, Jimmy Anderson, Marcel Paille, Harry Pidhirny, Billy McCreary, Bruce Cline.
Still too far back? Well, maybe you remember Doug Volmar, Butch Goring and Billy Smith. Or Mark Heaslip, Steve Rexe and Bobby Poffenroth.
OK, if even those guys are still too far back, try Andre Peloffy, Bob Janecyk and Bruce Boudreau. Or Jeff Hackett, Dale Kushner and Wayne McBean. Maybe Michel Picard, James Black and Kay Whitmore?
All right, all right. If none of those names jog your hockey memory, you must belong to the young ‘uns – fans of an era represented by the Springfield Falcons .¤.¤. you know, players like Jean-Guy Trudel, Rob Murray, Manny Legace, Rob Schremp?
New breed or old, all of the above names represent the sweep of Springfield hockey history, dating from the 1925-26 season of the Can-Am League and carrying forth through the 75-year run of the American Hockey League.
Oh, yes, there were other leagues, too, for Springfield clubs. The Eastern League and Quebec League, seen in the early
All of the above comes under the stewardship of a group of dedicated hockey fans intent on preserving Springfield’s hockey past, while at the same time supporting the current franchise. Some of them remember the Indians of old. Some remember the Springfield Kings. And the younger members remember when Bruce Landon and Wayne LaChance started the Falcons in 1994.
These passionate people belong to the Springfield Hockey Heritage Society, a lively, growing organization now boasting members in nine states and Canada.
The Springfield society will have its first winter gathering at a Falcons game Jan. 22. Springfield’s biggest rival, the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Wolf Pack) will be in town, so it should be quite a night.
Tickets for this members-only event go for $35.
“The price includes game tickets, good food and good stories,” said Lou Bordeaux, one of the society’s founders.
Springfield has patterned its society after one started some years ago by Buster Clegg, a lover of the dear old Providence Reds.
“We just felt that if Providence can have a hockey heritage society, Springfield certainly should do the same,” said Steve Bordeaux, an Agawam resident, retired goaltender and certified hockey buff.
The Springfield effort actually got its start when the Bordeaux brothers attended a picnic in Warwick, R.I., in the summer of 2009. It was sponsored by the Providence Reds Hockey Heritage Society.
“There were about 300 people in attendance, including some former players, and some of them had played for both the Reds and Indians,” Lou Bordeaux said.
As the brothers enjoyed the gathering, they looked at each other and said, “Why can’t Springfield have something like this?”
The Bordeaux brothers had grown up watching the Springfield Kings at the Eastern States Coliseum, then followed them when they moved into the new Springfield Civic Center in 1972. They’re fans of the first rank. They can tell you details of the first game they ever saw. Such passionate fans – and there are many – seem perfectly suited for the Heritage Society’s mission: “Preserving the legacy by honoring the past.”
As Steve Bordeaux points out, “We needed to have something like Providence has, because our hockey history is actually much more extensive than theirs.”
Right he is. Springfield has had hockey for 81 years, being without it only when the Army’s Quartermaster Corps took over the Coliseum for four years during World War II.
“Springfield and Providence are both charter members of the AHL,” Bordeaux said, “but the Reds went out of business in the
Springfield’s long-standing heated rivalry with the Reds – one that once fomented a riot at a Coliseum game – came to an end when Providence dropped out of the AHL after the 1975-76 season. Providence was without hockey until 1992-93, when it came back into the league as a Boston Bruins farm.
The Bordeaux brothers joined with Falcons senior vice president Bob Oliver and Ted Shore – son of legendary Springfield Indians owner Eddie Shore – to get the Springfield Hockey Heritage Society going.
“They have been instrumental in helping us,” Steve Bordeaux said.
Steve Bordeaux is the ideal candidate to serve as point man for the society because he has what probably ranks as the most extensive collection of Indians/Kings memorabilia.
“We’re hoping, as we go along, to set up an exhibit using some of the memorabilia I have, and some from other people. I know there are other collectors out there,” he said.
One of his prized possessions is a pair of skates worn by Don “Nippy” O’Hearn, a Springfield Indians goaltender of the late
“Somehow, he heard about it, and contacted us about joining our society,” Steve Bordeaux said. “He’s 82 and working in a Wal-Mart in St. Catherines, Ontario.”
The widow and daughter of the late Marcel Paille – goaltender on Springfield’s three Calder Cup champions of the early 1960s – have memberships in the Springfield society. So does the widow of Bill Sweeney, a prolific scorer for Springfield in the
“They also belong in Providence. We have several cross-over memberships involving guys who played for both teams,” Steve Bordeaux said.
One of them is Yves Locas, a former Springfield player who was with Providence when the Bordeaux brothers first became hockey fans. Steve Bordeaux well remembers this incident: “I was 8 or 9, and I was heading for the exit after a game when I heard someone say, ‘Hey, kid.’ It was Yves Locas, and he handed me a stick, just like that. I kept it for years, and when I met him a long time later, I told him about it. Now he’s a friend of mine for life.”
A year’s membership in the Springfield Hockey Heritage Society costs $20. Information can be obtained at
The Jan. 22 gathering – called “A Night at the Nest” – is merely the society’s first step. Summer picnics and exhibits of memorabilia also are in the works.
Springfield’s Hockey Heritage Society is built on love for the game and reverence for its past. Thanks to its members, the Indians and Kings of yesterday still skate, right along with the Falcons of today.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com