by Barry Stagg
February 1994
Newfoundland's Teenage Hockey Exports
How odd it is that a baseball player, Rob Butler, has become the most famous sporting product of Newfoundland. As a one generation removed Newfoundlander, Butler has achieved fame over and beyond that achieved by the more conventional major league sporting product for Newfoundland, that being hockey players. There has not been such an avalanche of publicity about a sports figure in Newfoundland since Alex Faulkner broke into the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the early sixties. Faulkner was the first Newfoundlander to play in the National Hockey League and his playoff success with the Detroit Red Wings stands as the pinnacle of achievement of any Newfoundlander in major league sport. Faulkner played only twelve playoff games with Detroit but scored five goals which ranks him with the greats of the game in terms of playoff productivity.
It is certainly a sign of the times that the one generation removed Newfoundlanders are making more impact on the professional sports scene than their counterparts still living in Newfoundland. Simply put the vast number of Newfoundland migrants of the 60's, 70's and 80's are growing up and raising children on the mainland and many of them are proficient at sports. This migration is just one of the many inevitable consequences of a province that is chronically unable to support its full population in employed fashion. One day, with hard work and some competent political muscle in Ottawa, that situation with Newfoundland will change, but for now there are a lot of youngsters with Newfoundland parents making quite a showing for themselves in the hectic scramble toward professional sports careers.
Over the Christmas holidays, three young minor hockey prospects with Newfoundland roots showed their stuff with the Mississauga Senators, a major midget team in the Metropolitan Toronto Hockey League. The Senators were participating in the prestigious and well scouted Major Midget Tournament at St. Michael's Arena in Toronto. Defenceman, Brad Simms with roots in Central Newfoundland and Jerry Galway with parental links all the way back to Bell Island, were showcasing their considerable talents. Along with them was hardworking, two-way leftwinger, Colin Chaulk, who is just one generation removed from Western Newfoundland.
These fellows are not alone in playing high caliber minor hockey in Toronto and it will be interesting to watch their progress as they try to bridge the considerable gap between prominence in minor hockey and success at the major junior level and beyo
Simms is a heavy-set fifteen year old who is playing a year ahead of his age group and his skills are especially prominent in the necessary defensive corner work. Galway is as diminutive as Simms is brawny, but the little Captain of the Mississauga Senator's team makes up for a lack of size with a combative attitude and smart positional play.
Chaulk is a rangy winger who also takes a turn at centre from time to time and is a steady two-way player who has learned the benefits of patrolling the boards at both ends of the ice. Chaulk is an East York resident and as such is following along in the wake of East York's most famed athlete, Rob Butler, while attending school at East York Collegiate and finding prominence at the sporting level.
While these young men and others like them will have achieved a lot if they manage to fashion a professional hockey career, their achievements still pale in comparison to the quantum leaps performed in the fifties by the Faulkner brothers, George and Alex when they were able to play their way out of the fledging Newfoundland minor hockey system to professional careers. George Faulkner was the first Newfoundlander to fashion a professional hockey career. Faulkner did this by playing in the Quebec Junior Hockey League and graduating from there to the Quebec Professional Hockey League. This was a league that existed into the early sixties and produced a wealth of talent for the National Hockey League. Its most prominent graduate of course is the great Jean Beliveau, the stately centre for the Montreal Canadiens.
Alex Faulkner followed in his brother's footsteps and went beyond when he was picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs. After performing with the American Hockey League Rochester Americans, he was able to break into the Leafs lineup for a single game. Faulkner was drafted off the Leaf roster by the Detroit Red Wings and had a brief but successful NHL career playing in the same lineup as the great Gordie Howe.
It is a fair comparison to rank Alex Faulkner's leap from Newfoundland to the National Hockey League with that of Rob Butler's ascent from East York to the World Series. The odds of a player from an unlikely spot on the globe making it to the major leagues was probably greater in the case of Faulkner since organized hockey had really only nosed its way outside St. John's after World War II.
The Faulkner brothers and the Butler brothers are historical figures in Newfoundland sports history, and while the Faulkner pages have already been written, the Butlers, both Rob and Rich, still have an open book to write.
Until next month, be proud, be prosperous.