For many years, commencing in 1939, the Glace Bay Miners Forum was the main venue in the former coal-mining town for hockey, boxing, concerts and various other activities. It was replaced in 1994 by the more modern Bayplex Recreation Centre, located practically on the identical spot where the old Forum was situated — in the downtown area close to the Atlantic ocean.
The Miners Forum first opened its doors to hockey on Jan. 2, 1939 when the hometown Glace Bay Miners battled their chief rival, the Sydney Millionaires, in a Cape Breton Senior Hockey League (CBSHL) regular-season contest played before a sold-out crowd of almost 4,000 spectators.
According to the local newspaper of the day: “Fans began filing into the Forum long before game time and when opening ceremonies were started, more than 3,800 fans had jammed their way into the rink. Archie Morrison, long an outstanding sports figure in Glace Bay, introduced Mayor D.W. Morrison, who, in a short address, officially opened the first rink in Glace Bay since 1924.”
The hometown supporters departed the new Forum in a happy frame of mind as their Miners squeezed past the Millionaires, 5-4. A gentleman by the name of Mickey Linklater fired a hat trick for the winners with all of his goals coming in the second period. Adding single tallies were Jackie Kane and Doug Ross.
Among others in the Glace Bay lineup were brothers Roddie and Robert “Fess” Anderson from Donkin, Paddy Cormier, Rocky Montgomery, Ray Stull and Bud MacEachern. The Sydney roster, to name some, had Jack Fritz, Irving McGibbon, Bill Gill, George Appleby, Ray Powell, Maynard McEwan, Kenzie McNeil, Bun McLenahan and Hal Ingram.
The CBSHL at that time included many “imports” — players brought in from other parts of the Maritimes and Upper Canada that were paid a decent wage to enhance the league’s quality of play. And it was one of those “imports” that scored the very first goal in the brand-spanking new Miners Forum. Robert “Tic” Williams, a Charlottetown native and a member of the visiting Millionaires, christened the building at the 4:02 mark of the opening period — the first of the thousands and thousands of pucks that found their way into the nets at the Forum over the ensuing years. Also scoring for Sydney that night were the aforementioned Fritz, McGibbon and McLenahan.
“Tic” Williams, by the way, went on to win the CBSHL scoring title during that season of 1938-39. He is said to have scored one goal in each of the team’s 24 regular-season contests and assisted on 16 others for a league-best 40 points.
The mild-mannered Williams, who played with the Northside Vics in 1940-41, was a smooth skating, slick puck handler and was known to have had a deadly backhand shot. Johnny McCreedy, who scored 31 goals and added 26 assists for the ’40-41 Millionaires and later played two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, said of Williams: “He is the greatest player I ever saw.”
During the 1940 playoffs against the Halifax Wolverines, Williams was ‘benched’ by Millionaires coach Bill Gill for scoring too many goals during a game. You see, Gill was worried that a lopsided score would lessen fan interest for the subsequent match of the series that was slated for the Sydney Forum, thus the sniper was rested.
Following the 1941-42 season, Williams moved on from the Cape Breton Senior Hockey League scene to Pictou of the Antigonish-Pictou-Colchester (APC ) Senior League. Reports have it that he scored more than 350 goals in 11 APC campaigns, including season totals of 53 in 34 games; 43 in just 32 contests; 42 in 29 matches and on another occasion he netted 38 goals in 33 games.
New Waterford residents might be interested in knowing that when the Pictou Maripacs won the APC title in 1952-53, two of Williams’ teammates were local lads Mel Gadd and Frankie Prozenar, who helped their home-town team, the New Waterford Strands, win the 1945-46 Cape Breton Senior Hockey League championship.
Williams retired from hockey after suffering a heart attack during the opening game of the 1954 -55 campaign. He settled in the Pictou area where he sold cars and drove taxi. Williams died in 1960 at the young age of 45 from yet another heart attack while attending a skating session at the Pictou Arena, the place where he had experienced plenty of hockey success throughout the years.
Indeed, “Tic” Williams, who scored the first-ever goal at the historic Glace Bay Miners Forum, had a tremendous hockey career.
John White | Cape Breton Sports Scrapbook, May 25, 2016
(Cape Breton Post website)
