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Juckes reflects on years in amateur hockeyHALIFAX (CP) - Hockeyhas gone through many changes in the last 25 years and Gordon Juckes has seen them allJuckes, a life member of the Canadian Amateur HockeyAssociation, received tribule from his peers Tuesday during the second day of the association’s annual meeting.The praise came in response to his selection since the previous annual meeting as a recipient of the Order of Canada, the first amaleur hockey official placed on the federal government's honor role.Juckes has also has been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Hockey Had of Fame.In the Course of the day's business, the CAHA rejected a proposal for more expansion into the L'.S., named sites for midget and juvenile championships and sent representatives of a junior franchise home happy to Hobbema, after assuring them their plan to recruit an all-native roster can be accomplished within CAHA regulations.Juckes, 67 next month, is a fixture at the annual CAHA gathering and drove into town in his mobile home from the Florida Keys for the meeting.A native of Melville, Sask., he began serving in an execu* tive capacity when he was elected second vice-president in 1955. He is a past president and worked as executive director for 10 years before stepping down in 1977.The major change since I retired has been Uie tremendous expansion of the support staff amateur hnrkey now has, he said rn an interview.The most crippling problem we always had in the past was that, while we may have had many ideas and many programs we would have liked to have proceeded with, we just didn’t have the manpower.Juckes worked alone as the first full-time executive director, with just a part-time secretary to help him with correspondence.Today there must be 15 people in the national office and they’re all doing from what I car see from a senator’s seat what is a pretty, good job Juckes said be agrees with rule changes made in recent years, including those decreasing body contact among minor leagues,“Many diehards for years resisted the idea of separate rules for minor hockey. They felt hockey was hockey and everybody should live by the same rules. Once that principle was broken, the rules began to be adapted to the class and the style of hockey. 1 think this is good.He said rules imposed yean ago for protective equipment have come to fruition.I can remember 10 years ago everybody resisted like the devil even helmets for minor hockey players. We bad to start with bantam and pee-wee and introduce helmets gradually, moving up a division each year.That broke a lot of the resistance because I don't think there was quite as much opposition later on to face masks and so on.”Juckes’s reputation was built partly on his ability to interpret CAHA bylaws and hockey rules. At one point during discussion Tuesday, an executive officer having trouble defining a constitutional clause turned to Juckes, sitting as an observer, for clarification.Murray Costello, the current president, said Juckes has been personally involvedin almost every major move this association has made over the last 2fl to 25 yeare.There seems to be nothing that happens in amateur hockey that he has not experienced first-hand before....He's very straightforward, very honest and has a whole lot of integrity.In plenary session, the board of directors rejected a proposal from the Saskatchewan contingent to admit U.S.-based franchises in any junior and major junior league. At present, the only league permitted U.S.-based franchises is the major junior Western Hockey' LeagueEd Boychuk of Regina, SAHA president, said Saskatchewan's tier-two junior league has had a nibble from a group in Minot, N.D., wanting a franchise. Allowing the U.S. team would foster more inter-est in the league, he suggested.But the board threw’ out the SAHA’s motion and executive-director Hal Lewis said later Uie prevailing feeling was that Canadian championships should be the sole domain of Canadian teams.Another motion concerningjunior teams, this one by the Ontario Hockey Association to have rosters increased to 21 trom 19 players, was withdrawn.Victoria was announced as the site for the 1982 Canadian championship midget tournament and St. John's, Nfld., will be the site of the juvenile championship.Jim Minde and Graham Parsons, president and general manager of Hobbema Hawks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, left the meeting satisfied they'll be able to Ice an allmative team without contravening CAHA bylaws.
Newspaper Details
Lethbridge Herald
Lethbridge, Alberta, CA
Wed, May 27, 1981
Page 32
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason P.
USA 01 Jun 2018
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