The Tommies hockey club has been rife with controversy for
years. So this latest setback of
Troy Ryan resigning the coaching position at STU sort of falls into line with
things from the past. Sometimes it takes a look back in order to see
clearly in the present.
When St. Thomas was in Chatham the hockey program grew from
a little seed to a big majestic tree that produced an Atlantic championship in
1961. It was a big deal on the Miramichi and the legend of that team
lives on to this day. Shortly thereafter it was announced that the school
would be moved to Fredericton. This set off shock waves throughout the
St. Thomas community and they lasted for 40 years or more. The hockey
team was not immune and coach Vance Toner and several of the players rejected
the move outright and refused to follow the Tommies to their new home.
The hockey team suffered when they started playing in 1964-65 in their new city
and more players had to be recruited. Luckily the City of Fredericton
opened their arms and their hearts to the new hockey team and soon fans could
see a bright future looming.
The Tommies won a tournament in early 1967 between U de M,
MT. A and UNB. It earned them the right to represent New Brunswick at the
first Canada Winter Games in Quebec City. It was a huge accomplishment and it
would help St. Thomas recruit some dandy players such as Gordon Wheaton, Scott
Harvey, and Gary Marsh. The
Tommies looked to be inserting themselves back into the conversation again when
it came to winning a championship. St. Thomas would lose in the Atlantic
University Hockey Conference finals to a powerhouse Saint Mary's team in the
early 70's before things changed at the University (again) and recruiting of
hockey players was no longer a priority. It only took a few years and by
the mid 1970's the Tommies were horrible. St. Thomas scrapped their men’s
hockey program.
STU took a four-year hiatus from competitive hockey. To
a segment of the population in Fredericton this was unacceptable. A few
hard working, dedicated individuals led by Professor Bill Spray pushed to have the team resurrected.
Their hard work was rewarded in 1979-80 when the St. Thomas Tommies were
introduced back into the AUHC. The builders (Hockey committee) knew that the team would be
hard pressed for wins in the early days but they also knew that their hard work
was worth it. They also realized that the team needed the backing of the community and a network of supporters to help sustain their development. Thus the birth of The Friends of STU
Hockey in the early 1980's.
The team slowly became competitive through the eighties
under Larry Wood and started to take off under the guidance of former NHLer Al
MacAdam. MacAdam was a wizard when it came to using the human resources
of the Friends group and the Tommies became Fredericton’s team. When
MacAdam left, the team switched to Derryl Smith. Smith inherited a
strong team with lots of talent but he distanced himself from the community and
particularly from those people that had rebuilt the program from the ashes of
the 70’s. Smith won a championship in 2001 but was soon replaced in 2002
for reasons unknown to this writer.
Mike Eagles, a retired NHL player, took over the reigns of
the men's hockey program in the 2002-2003 season and was named CIS coach of the
year. The following year the Tommies squeaked into the playoffs with a
win on the last day of the season (2004), finished last (missing the playoffs)
the year after (2005), before climbing back up to 5th place the year after that
(2006). STU remained in the mix for the next two years before faltering and
missing the playoffs for the next three years. Mike assumed the position
of Athletic Director at STU in July of 2008 and the hockey team has never
returned to the playoffs since.
Eagles relinquished the men's coaching job in February of
2011 at which time a comprehensive search was undertaken for a successor. A "green and gold" ribbon
panel was put together to find the right person to bring the Tommies back to
prosperity. Troy Ryan was named head coach in May of 2011 too much fan
fare. After two losing seasons and only 8 wins, Ryan resigned in May of
2013.
So there you have it, a history lesson.
As an avid supporter of STU hockey (men's and women's) for the past 10 years I
have gotten to know some great people. I have also observed many things
and will give you my opinions of what has recently happened in regard to the
men's hockey program.
I am no longer going to support the men's and women's hockey
teams as I have in the past. My time is more valuable now that I see that
my contribution made little or no difference to STU administration. The website and twitter account will be
maintained by me but on my terms dictated by whenever the whim strikes me. I
am truly disappointed by the loss of Troy Ryan as coach of the Tommies and I
will explain why.
In his short time as leader of the STU hockey team Troy took
the time to reconnect to the grass roots of the program. I believe he
realized that getting support from the community was the keys to moving the
program forward. I also believe that STU administration wants complete
control of hockey operations and only looks to the community as their ATM who
should finance their decisions without having any input. They know best
and nobody else knows anything.
While this may not be apparent to everyone, the Friends of
STU Hockey are a community minded group of hockey people who's sole purpose is to promote the men's hockey program by supporting
it in a host of ways. Let's remember something from the history lesson above, they gave their
time and effort back when there was no team and brought it back. None of
the current STU administration was around to do the heavy lifting back in the
day but they are completely prepared to exclude those that did and therein lays
the rub. Troy Ryan was inclusive.
For the first time in years the Friends group were given
back "visitation" to their child. Their opinions sought out and
valued. Listened to. Troy tried to re-build bridges that had been burnt from the previous two coaches. People who had given up on
Fredericton's team were coming back, even if the team was still losing. There
was hope. Troy didn't try to fool us, he told us what he thought. I
personally can say that I didn't like some of the stuff he said because I
wanted a quick fix but he told us anyway.
Administration has done nothing but ignore us or ask for money, either
by donation, by buying tickets, or buying advertising.
So I am sorry to the many viewers of this website, enough is enough for this Tommies fan. Something has to change and
according to Communication Director Jeffrey Carleton in yesterday's Daily
Gleaner "there has been "absolutely no discussion here at St. Thomas
to making any changes to the program. Zero."" So there
you have it. What change are you
expecting to see for the hockey team with a mindset like that? I think it
is time to "clean the bus".
It's official the STU Men's Tommies hockey team have a new Head Coach, Pat Powers has been selected to lead the