Page 9 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 15

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Presents...Then and Now
Cornwall Royals Edition ... Bill Snelgrove
By Terry Tinkess
t is a rare day when you can find
IBill Snelgrove without a laugh
and a smile. His positive outlook
is something that served him well
both as a member of the Cornwall
Royals and later on in life as he
pursued a career with The Seaway
News.
Snelgrove played with the
CJHL version of the Royals from
1965-1967, long enough to build
a lifetime of memories. When
asked what he remembers most,
he doesn’t have to think before
responding.
“The people I played hockey
with,” says Snelgrove, “and the
most memorable thing personally
was getting the only hat-trick I
ever had. It was against Smiths
Falls and I think we won the game
and it was 8-7. It was always nice
to beat Smiths Falls.”
The names of the players he
played with in his first year will
be familiar to local hockey fans
of that era: Jean Payette, Larry
Gabri, George Desjardins, Dave
Woodward, Harold Murphy,
Jake Lefebvre, Pete Prevost.
“In the second year it was Rick
Plumadon and Wayne Horn. We
were basically a line together that
particular year.
The team had reasonable success
for all three of the seasons in which
Snelgrove wore the Maple Leaf
crest that was the Cornwall logo at
the time. “We went to the second
round of the playdowns each
season,” says Snelgrove. The first
season they played an unknown
team from the west and won.
“Then we went to Halifax and
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Halifax beat us in seven games,”
says Snelgrove. The second year
was the same thing. We went out
and beat Sault Ste. Marie and then
came back and Thetford Mines
beat us.
“They beat us in about six games,
I think,” says Snelgrove. “They
had a line with Gilbert Perreault,
Marc Tardiff and Rejean Houle.”
Perreault went on to star with the
Buffalo Sabres while Tardiff and
Houle had long careers with the
Montreal Canadiens.
The third year, they played
against North Bay with “Battling”
Billy Smith as one of their
goaltenders. They won to advance
to the second round against
Verdun, but that would be as far
as they would get. Snelgrove was
unable to play in his last game
of junior hockey after suffering
a knee injury. Verdun had a big
defenseman by the name of Gilles
Marotte, who went on to an NHL
career with Los Angeles.
His junior days behind him,
Snelgrove moved to western
Ontario to work and stayed there
for ten years before returning
to Cornwall. Upon his return, Bill Snelgrove is one person, both as a player and later on in life, who
he became involved with minor would rarely be seen without a smile on his face. Submitted photo.
hockey and spent more than ten
years on the ODMHA executive. don’t seem to have as much though came back to Cornwall, I was very
adds Snelgrove. “A backhand is no fortunate that people remembered
Still a hockey fan, Snelgrove longer a weapon, very much any me and as a result I was able to
says there is a world of difference
between the players of his era and more, but they certainly shoot the make a pretty good career while
those that play the game today. puck a lot harder, with their new working at The Seaway News.
sticks.” Playing for the Royals gave me,
“The fellas are tremendously After they leave the game, most an opening, that people knew who
bigger than we were,” says athletes will talk about what they I was and there was a respect for
Snelgrove, “and faster, and were able to take away and use that.
stronger. And the things they can in their life away from the rink. “There are so many people who
do with the puck! I don’t think our Snelgrove is no exception. remembered the days that I played
guys were that skilled.” and helped me at my career and
“After I finished hockey and
There are some skills that they that meant the world to me.”
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