Former NHL goalie to be honoured by Whitby Sports Hall of Fame
Apr 16, 2009 - 02:26 PM
By Shawn Cayley
ROSSLAND, B.C. -- Dunc Wilson is looking forward to coming home next week.
The former National Hockey League goaltender is among the 2009 group of inductees into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame.
"I guess I am quite honoured," Wilson said of his impending honour. "I really don't know what to say."
Wilson, who now lives in Rossland, B.C., played parts of 10 seasons in the NHL for five different clubs in the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was his time in Vancouver that Wilson recalls with the fondest of memories.
"My favourite (stop) I think would be Vancouver," he said of the team with which he had two stints in the 1970s. "You come out this way, walk around the corners and you run into a mountain ... I've never ever been in awe so much in a day. This country is unreal."
Playing for the Canucks also provided Wilson with one of his most cherished hockey memories. It took place at Maple Leafs Gardens in Toronto, where Wilson and Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent battled, save for save, to the final buzzer in a 0-0 draw.
"It was quite a night. Of course, I had a little more work than Bernie did," Wilson said with a laugh.
In all, Wilson totaled 287 career games played with the five teams, compiling an 80-150-33 record with eight shutouts. Though he never managed to have a season with more wins than losses, Wilson played on several sub-par teams during his career.
As for returning to town next week, the 61-year-old Wilson, who suffered a stroke in 2003, which has altered his speech, is looking forward to yet another reunion in these parts.
"Tremendous feelings," he said of what he remembers most of growing up in Whitby. "We were kids, it was a small town then and it was a great place to grow up. We played in the rinks and on creeks and that. It was just great."
Wilson will join golfer Kay Helleur and the Henry Street Hawks High School baseball team of 1995 in the 2009 class of inductees. Helleur moved to Whitby in 1980 and has a long list of accomplishments both on the links and in designing and managing courses, while the Hawks are being honoured for their Prentice Cup championship win.
Tickets for the April 25 gala at Haydenshore Pavilion are still available and can be purchased at
www.whitbysportshalloffame.com.
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