Page 5 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 92

www.sportsenergynews.com Issue #92 September 2020 5

THE MAZDA

100 ANNIVERSARY
th

CELEBRATION

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3301 Brookdale avenue, cornwall

DEALER OF DISTINCTION “Where sales are built on service”

Dale Hawerchuk: 1963-2020

By Thom Racine

here are legends and then there are legends - those memory-makers who
Tsimply transcend their chosen fields. Dale Hawerchuk is that kind of

legend.
Who hasn’t seen the Royals 10 license plate in the city, his broad smile after
two Memorial Cups? I get goose bumps just thinking of those heady days. As
can often happen with our heroes, because they are human, they leave us far
too early. We only need to look back to Dave Ezard’s untimely death to realize
that sad fact.

Seven years before his arrival, the Royals had won a Memorial Cup and that
moment in history was one the Seaway city’s hockey fans could hang their hats
on forever.

With the coming of Dale Hawerchuk, not one of those fans could have
imagined the team would win two more cups and cement not only the Royals,
but Dale Hawerchuk into the annals of Cornwall sports.

When Hawerchuk arrived in Cornwall in 1979 with his dad, Dale often told
the story, “We took one whiff of the smell and nearly turned around and went
back home to Oshawa.” Ten years ago Dale Hawerchuk heard Thom Racine wanted an
autograph. It was a little different than the standard signatures.
Safe to say, the Royals and a legion of die-hard supporters, were very glad Hawerchuk had to go to Thom’s house and sign the rink boards in the
they didn’t. sports vault. A memory for the ages... Photo Submitted
Hawerchuk’s record in Cornwall, the QMJHL, and the NHL is well- soft spot for their “Ducky”. He’s considered a legend in these parts, a legend
documented and the Hall of Famer will always be remembered for that face-off
gone too soon
win and the interference he ran in the 1987 Canada Cup Gold Medal Game to

set up the Gretzky-to-Mario Lemieux goal that beat the Russians in Hamilton. #10 is gone, but I am sure his ghost is floating amid the yellow girders at the
Complex, the arena where he created his legacy.
I met Dale Hawerchuk a few times over the years when he would return to his
adopted hometown, a town that held him high and always will have a hockey Rest in Peace, Dale.