Page 14 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 5

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The Games Are Over, The Memories Live On
It’s Funny Where Life Can Take You: Orval Tessier
By Terry Tinkess
Who would think that a beer salesman with
community college coaching experience could
go on to earn two Stanley Cup rings and earn
coach of the year honours along with winning
the Memorial Cup and an American Hockey
League championship? The man himself, Orval
Tessier, says even he has a hard time believing
it. He describes getting the job as the Cornwall
Royals coach got it all started.
“It was a fluke,” says Tessier. “We were
having a few beers at the Glendale (Tavern)
and Norm (Baril) was there and Jimmy (Larin)
was there and Luc (Emard) was there and there
was a whole bunch of us and they ask me, why
don’t I coach the team?
“I said, ‘Are you crazy?’”
Apparently the Royals owners (there were
six) saw something in Tessier they liked. Or
maybe they felt that starting with a last place
team, the only direction he could go was up.
“Really, we had six players, seven players
coming back from a team that finished dead
last,” says Tessier. “If it wouldn’t have been for
Gordie Wood in Kingston…I knew that there
was a good batch of midget players in Kingston,
but it was a matter of getting to them, but he
knew them all.”
Tessier learned that during the summer some
of the NHL players that lived in the Kingston
area rented the ice along with some of the
midget players, so he went up for look. It was
a worthwhile trip, and he liked what he saw.
“Gary Macgregor was on the ice, Kevin Tracey
was on the ice, Bob Murray was on the ice
and Tom Wynne was on the ice,” says Tessier.
All four became part of the Royals 1971-1972
Memorial Cup winning team.
“The key was Gary Macgregor,” says Tessier.
“I talked to Bob Murray and he said that where
Gary was going to go, the rest of the boys were
going to go. We convinced Macgregor to come
to Cornwall, and it wasn’t easy, and the rest
followed.
“One was drafted in the first round
(Macgregor), Bobby Murray played 15 years
in the NHL (currently the vice-president and
general manager for the Anaheim Ducks),
and Kevin Tracey was a very good player and
became a very successful account. With those
kingpins, and we had (Gerry) Teeple, and Brian
McCullough, but we were still missing a lot of
players.”
Orval Tessier was a success at every level he coached at. Coaching the 1971-1972
Cornwall Royals to a Memorial Cup, however, holds a special place in his heart.
Photo by Terry Tinkess
Dan Lupinette, Al Sims, Dave Johnson, The Water Street Arena (later the Si Miller)
John Wensink, Gerry Teeple, are just a few of was also the talk of the league. “The 1,300 seats
the names that together found a way to spell and the 600 standing, some of the executive of
success. the Quebec league came here and they couldn’t
believe it,” says Tessier. “We had to put them
“They came together as tight a group as I’ve
upstairs near the front of the arena. There were
ever seen,” says Tessier. “And I wasn’t tough,
no seats, and the seats there were weren’t that
I’ll tell you that. I never checked a curfew all
good either. I was standing behind the bench
year. We knew the boys were going out, and all
and I was getting advise from the people right
that. Hey, I played junior…” I was tough during
behind me!”
the practices and during that games, but other
than that…” The year after winning the Memorial Cup
Coaching a team with a small budget that with Cornwall, Tessier had to make a decision.
Molson’s let him know that if he were to
played in a small arena was an experience
continue coaching, he wouldn’t be able to work
Tessier says he will never forget. He speaks of
with them because of Liquor Control Board
going to pick up expense money for a road trip
of Ontario (LCBO) regulations. With this in
to Quebec City and being handed a box of egg
mind Tessier approached the team, agreeing
sandwiches for the players to eat on the way
to coach the team if they would pay him the
home. “If we were going to Quebec City, we
same amount as his job with Molson’s would
left here at 2:00 p.m., so they ate at 1:00 p.m. pay. They refused, and as a result Tessier turned
and they are going to eat again at 11:00 p.m. down offers from the Quebec Nordiques of the
and we’ve each got an egg sandwich?
fledgling World Hockey Association (WHA)
“I said, ‘No thank you, you keep the egg
and a number of other junior teams to accept the
sandwiches, I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,’
reigns of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec
and on the way back we stopped in Louisville,
junior league.
they had a nice barbeque restaurant, and we
“Looking at the situation in Quebec, playing
got them all half-chickens. We settled all that
in front of 10,000 people every night, people
though.”