With Hanna Mayor Chris Warwick handling emcee duties, the evening honouring hockey legend Tony Kollman turned out to be a memorable event.
Over 100 fans, friends and family met at the Canalta Conference Centre Friday to honour Kollman who was recently inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame. This night was dedicated to resurrecting the many memories of an extended hockey career of the Hanna native, who shone during the Drumheller Miners run for the Allan Cup in 1967.
Drumheller Councillor Tom Zariski brought greetings to the gathering from the Town of Drumheller, and Jim Fisher took to the microphone to announce that fellow Miners team member Ron Leopold could not attend, following a hernia operation.
Fisher introduced two members of the Minerette fan club in attendance at the event, Kay Vickers and Marj Patterson, drawing applause. Another team member Don Phelps, an inductee himself in 2012, spoke of his friend Tony and touched on some of the highlights of their experiences, on and off the ice.
Former Edmonton Oiler player and coach Greg Pilling, himself a former Memorial Cup winner in 1963, told about playing both with and against Tony during those years. Pilling noted that Kollman instilled a passion for playing hockey in younger players, and that his ongoing achievement had them set a high standard for younger players as they went through their careers. He also spoke briefly about the time he was coaching the Roanoke Valley Rebels in Virginia during the early days of the WHA, and the influence Tony had on other players.
Jim and Linda Fisher's Agri-Media presented autographed hockey sticks to the Minor Hockey Associations in both Hanna and Drumheller, and also sold commemorative pucks to anyone wanting one, with all the proceeds realized, split between the two groups. A third stick put up for auction netted the two associations another $500.
And one more autographed stick will go up for auction at the upcoming Rotary Radio Auction on October 11 and 12.
