80+ Hall of Fame games this weekend

By Rob Saunders

Active, healthy ageing is a goal of many levels of government and citizens themselves. The Town of Huntsville needs to look no further than the upcoming 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame ceremonies, happening this coming Saturday, August 24, to get a great example of this goal in action. The 80+HHOF is a volunteer organization founded to support and promote health and safety initiatives for adult hockey players. As a tribute to players who are actively still participating in the game, 80 years of age or older, there is an opportunity to allow these players to be inducted into the Hall. Induction events happen in towns and cities across Canada, and this Saturday, Huntsville will be hosting an Ontario regional induction ceremony. In all, thirty-one new members will be inducted. What makes it special is that five of those inductees reside in Huntsville and are part of the Senior Shinny group in town.

David Burgess

David Burgess has been a lifelong hockey fan and played intramural hockey in the mid to late seventies at Western University, where he was a Professor of Economics. Later in life, his daughter encouraged him to dust off the blades and join the Senior Shinny group, and he has been an active participant for the past few years.

David Scott

David Scott never played organized hockey when he was growing up. As a teacher at Huntsville High School, he joined other teachers in a regular weekly game and has continued to play into his retirement.

John Snowden

John Snowden grew up in Huntsville and played hockey from an early age. He had many successes during his minor hockey career and went on to play Junior B with St Mary’s. In 1961, he played on the Intermediate C team that won the All-Ontario Championship, allowing them to be inducted into Huntsville’s Sports Hall of Fame. He followed that with some stints with a Senior A team in Owen Sound, where he played both hockey and lacrosse.

Glen Boon

Glen Boon started organized hockey in 1951 at the Scarborough Arena, one of the first indoor arenas in the city. He went on to play Junior B in Unionville and continued playing pickup hockey when he moved to Huntsville, playing for many years on the Huntsville Old Timers travelling team. In fact, he was one of the original members of the Sportsmen’s League, which is still going strong as the organized league for hockey players in the area. 

Remo Campitelli

One of the great characters of the Shinny group, Remo Campitelli, started playing Industrial hockey in Toronto and took to it quickly, capturing a scoring championship in his first year. At 65, he started playing goal and was a regular ‘tender’ for Senior Shinny games for the next number of years. However, failing knees and scars from a house fire a couple of years ago forced him to return to regular skating, and he’s just now getting back into the groove of skating as a forward. Remo has been a leader in organizing mini-hockey tournaments to raise money for his charity ‘Remo’s Kids to Camp.’Over the past eleven years, the games have raised $140,000, primarily directed to support local and area youth suffering from cystic fibrosis but also supporting our local hospitals.

To see these ‘warriors’ in action, visit the Canada Summit Centre this Saturday. At 2 p.m., Alumni players from inductions from previous years will be playing a game against the local girls’ U13 Sting hockey team. At 3 p.m., following opening ceremonies, the 31 inductees will split into two teams and play an exhibition match against each other. Following the games, all of the players and their families will enjoy a meal and the induction ceremonies at the Active Living Centre, where they can trade hockey stories and make new friends and acquaintances.

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