CALGARY, Alta. – Glen Dickey has enjoyed outstanding success in the oil business, but this is something he never brings up.
The often smiling Middle Stewiacke native would rather talk hockey and remember his early days on skates.
“I started on the pond in Middle Stewiacke at age four or five,” Dickey, 70, of Springbank, Alta., said. “I never actually played in a rink until high school hockey and playing three seasons for coach (Bill) Sears. We had guys like Greg vanTassell, Randy Roop, Genie Retson, Herk Sutherland, Donald Ross, my brother Jim and Moose Campbell.
“It amazes me nowGl when I look back, coach Sears packed five guys and bags of hockey gear in his car and started out in a snow storm. By today’s standards, coach Sears went above and beyond for his hockey players, he was a wonderful guy.”
After playing high school hockey, Dickey continued on ice. There were four seasons with Dalhousie Tigers in collegiate hockey, two seasons with Kentville Wildcats in Valley intermediate hockey and three seasons playing in the Cape Breton Senior Hockey League, one with North Sydney and two with Sydney.
Upon returning to Colchester County, he played three seasons for Middle Stewiacke Cougars in the South Colchester District Hockey League which played out of the Don Henderson Memorial Sportsplex in Brookfield.
Arriving in Calgary in 1981, Dickey laced up the blades a further 25 years in the Rangeland and Stampede city leagues. For Dickey, there were many wins and losses over the many years playing the game. Not escaping injury, he suffered a broken leg, a broken collarbone, torn ligaments and altered teeth.
“Offsetting the injuries, all the memories are priceless,” Dickey said. “Hockey is a great team sport, and to me, more than just a character builder. With responsibilities to your teammates, players do whatever necessary for the team. Aside from the influence of our parents, I don’t know anything that has been more instrumental in my career than having been involved in team sports. We build long relationships and the skills developed transcend very well to the business world.”
I knew all Glen’s brothers, Roger, Jim, Jeff and Bib (Gerald) — their father, Big Jigs Dickey, had been a sports hero to Brookfield kids during my youth. Playing for many years with the Elks in the Truro District Hockey League, Jigs played both forward and defence.
Standing approximately six-foot-six inches and weighing 225 pounds, Jigs could, if necessary, resort to fisticuffs.
“I thought his famous fight was against a Bible Hill player,” said Glen.
There were smiles and giggles as I repeated Terry Henderson’s description of one of the Truro District Hockey League’s most famous fist-fights. It was told a couple weeks ago to an intent audience at the Colchester Historeum in Truro during a hot stove league session.
Henderson colourfully recalled: “it was the Elks Big Jigs Dickey verses former boxer Adam Gray of the Maccan Bombers.”
The Elks and the Bombers met in a Nova Scotia royal district playdown series and as Henderson’s stated “the two big guys went at it toe-to-toe, not once, but twice, to the delight of a packed house at the old Truro Forum.”
It was great spending time with Dickey during this Calgary trip, following 35 rewarding years in the oil business, the Middle Stewiacke product still has a big passion for hockey.
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Laura Carter, my son James’s wife and my daughter-in-law, plays a lot of ringette. But, it was another family member I went to watch play early last Saturday morning.
The game played at the Stu Peppard Arena in southwest Calgary saw the Snow Angels edge the Blue Dragons 8-7. The players were between seven and nine years of age.
Wally Hawryschuck, a visitor from Edmonton, had a granddaughter, Siena Hawryschuck, playing for the Angels. My granddaughter, Ema Carter, was playing for the Dragons.
As we enjoyed the exciting action, Wally shared that at 75 he is still playing considerable oldtimers hockey. He made one trip to Moncton to play in a tournament and this summer his Edmonton team will play in a tournament in Saint John, N.B.
Talking ringette with Ema later, she was fine with the game, figuring it could have gone either way. And, the wise seven-year-old took time to carefully touch on another matter.
“When you get a goal or an assist in a ringette tournament they say your name on the speaker. Like, ‘for Blue Dragons, assist by Ema Carter.’ They said my name on the speaker two times this year.”
Lyle Carter’s sports column appears Saturdays in the Truro Daily News. If you have a story idea, contact him at 902 673-2857.
