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12—THE MEDICINE HAT NEWS, Thursday, May 24,1979Juckes' toughest job was to withdraw from World championshipsLONDON, Ont. (CP) — Canada's withdrawal from the world hockey championship in 1970 was the toughest international decision Gordon Juckes has ever been associated with, the former executive director of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association said Wednesday.Juckes was in London to attend the CAHA annual meeting, where he completed what he calls the triple crown of amateur hockey.Juckes was awarded a life membership in the CAHA on Tuesday, his third such honor. He earlier was named a life member of the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association and in 1976, he was given the same honor by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).On April 14, he was given the additional personal reward of being named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder category. Juckes said he believes he is the first amateur in more than 15 years to be named to the hall.The plaudits for the Watrous, Sask., native go on and on after 27 years with the CAHA. There have been numerous good moments and bad, but that Boxing Day meeting in 1969 led to one of the worst.The meeting, which involved representatives from the CAHA, Hockey Canada and the federal government, laid the groundwork for an emergency meeting of the IIHF in Geneva, Switzerland.The IIHF, which six months earlier had indictated that Canada would be able to use nine pros in the world championship, reversed its decision under pressure from the Europeancountries.The Europeans were afraid their eligibility' would be questioned for the 1972 Olympics, Juckes said.Canada, under Juckes and CAHA president Earl Dawson, promptly withdrew from the 1970 world championship and from all world hockey competition for five years. The withdrawal brought a wave of protests from Canadian hockey followers, who were anxious to see the first world championship staged in Canada.The event was to be divided between Winnipeg and Montreal. Instead, the site was moved to Sweden. Canada’s national team, under coach Jackie McLeod, was disbanded.“It was a very tough decision for the CAHA to* make,” Juckes said. “We had an obligation not only to Canada but to that team. They really thought they had an excellent chance of winning.What Juckes didn’t reveal at the time was that he was against the decision to withdraw then. Juckes said he felt it would have been more effective to play host to the world championship under protest, then withdraw if necessary.Domestically, the “most regrettable” event for Juckes came in the late 1960s, when the Western Canada Junior A teams pulled out of the CAHA.“Being a Westerner, I was right in the middle of it,” Juckes said of the battle that lasted two years before the teams returned.But the battles are over now for Juckes and the life of leisure has set in for the former Saskatchewan newspaper publisher.F
Newspaper Details
Medicine Hat News
Medicine Hat, Alberta, CA
Thu, May 24, 1979
Page 12
Full Page
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Jason P.
USA 01 Jun 2018
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