The hockey community took time out from its various playoffs to celebrate the life of Ed Chynoweth on Monday in Calgary.
And what a celebration it was.
There were tears and there was laughter, and somewhere the late Bill Hunter was looking at Chynoweth and asking why his family hadn’t sold tickets to the event.
Chynoweth, the long-time WHL president and owner of the Kootenay Ice, died April 22 following a 16-month battle with kidney cancer.
More than 2,000 people were in attendance at the First Alliance Church in the city’s south east quadrant and you can bet each one of them went home smiling, which is just the way Chynoweth would have wanted it.
Tribute was paid by WHL president Ron Robison, long-time friend Bill Hay, former Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Murray Costello and nephews Dale and Don Chynoweth.
They all referenced Chynoweth’s love for family, hockey and life.
“He loved to laugh,” Costello said, “often, fully and loudly.”
The gathering drew a veritable who’s who of the hockey world.
David Branch, the president of the Canadian Hockey League and commissioner of the OHL, and Gilles Courteau, the commissioner of the QMJHL, were among the honourary pallbearers, was was Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson.
All 22 WHL teams were represented, most by far more than one person.
Among the other attendees were former WHL coaches Parry Shockey and John Chapman, along with Wayne Fleming, a veteran coach who spent this season working as a pro scout with the Calgary Flames.
Former Vancouver Canucks GM Dave Nonis was there, as was Canucks centre Trevor Linden, who played for the Medicine Hat Tigers alongside Chynoweth’s son, Dean, in the late 1980s.
John Davidson and Mike Vernon, both former goaltenders who played for Calgary’s WHL franchise, were there, as was veteran scout Frank Bonello and Don Murdoch, the WHL’s rookie of the year with the Tigers in 1974-75.
Doug Sauter, who played and coached in the WHL and now runs the Central league franchise in Oklahoma City, was there, as was former Brandon Wheat Kings owner Bob Cornell, who is up and around after suffering a heart attack last fall while leaving an NFL game in Green Bay. Also in attendance were Byron McCrimmon, who sent two sons into the WHL, and Nashville Predators assistant coach Brent Peterson, who played and coached the Portland Winter Hawks.
Jim Gregory, a long-time NHL team and league official, was there. He and Chynoweth were on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, along with Hay, a Hockey Canada official and a former NHLer who was a great friend.
Brent Sutter, who owns the Red Deer Rebels and coaches the New Jersey Devils, was there, as was forward Jarrett Stoll of the Edmonton Oilers, who played for the Kootenay Ice. Former WHL coach Peter Anholt, who now manages a golf resort in Candle Lake, Sask., was on hand, saying he is getting back into the coaching racket – with his son’s bantam AA team in Prince Albert in the fall. Terry Simpson, one of the most-successful coaches in WHL history, was on hand, as was long-time U of Calgary sports information officer Jack Newman.
Former Calgary sportscaster Gary Arthur, who went on to a successful career as a baseball official and continues to consult, made it in from Sorrento, B.C. Dave (Tiger) Williams was there, as were player agents Dennis Polonich, himself a former WHL player, coach and manager, and Jason Taylor, who played in Brandon and whose father, Ted, once captained the Wheat Kings. Also there was former agent and former Phoenix Coyotes GM Michael Barnett and Stew MacDonald, who cut his teeth in the Regina Pats' office and now is with the Edmonton Oilers.
Les Jackson, the co-general manager of the Dallas Stars, was there, his club having finished off the San Jose Sharks in quadruple overtime the previous night. Jackson was once an assistant coach under the late Dunc McCallum with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
“I have a feeling,” Jackson said, “that Dunc has already been suspended by Eddie.”
Robison, in his tribute, referred to the time when Richard Doerksen, now in his 30th season with the WHL, had to suspend Dean Chynoweth, then a defenceman with Medicine Hat. Chynoweth, it seems, had bitten an opposing player during an altercation. Robison painted a picture of Ed Chynoweth wanting to fire the referee in question. The laughter told you that everyone could see that picture.
And then there was Hay, who begain his tribute by looking over the crowd and saying: Eddie . . . it’s not quite a sellout. . . . but it’s a big house.”
It was a big house for a big guy, which is just the way it should have been in what really was a celebration of a hockey life.
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