Wolves hockey has Madawaska Valley howling on Saturday nights now.
A crowd, several hundred strong, packed the Paul J. Yakabuski Centre on Oct. 21 to see the new Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League team.
The Madawaska Valley Wolves won 7-3 over the Gananoque Islanders, in what was their third–ever game at the Barry’s Bay arena.
To some, the score was less important than the fact that a community, steeped in hockey tradition, has a high-calibre team to cheer for again.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP (and Wolves’ anthem singer) John Yakabuski says Madawaska Valley needed a team to give hockey fans a new Saturday-night tradition, given the arena, which bears his father’s name, hadn’t had a chief tenant in several years.
“It is about your identity,” he says. “If you go back into archives and some of the old papers, you’ll see great hockey was played in this town for many, many years.”
“To be able to see this type of hockey being played at home again, it is a sense of pride for the community. And there will be economic spin-offs as a result of that.”
Long-time area resident Greg Ryan, father of Wolves player Spencer Ryan, agrees the Wolves give Madawaska Valley a sense of pride.
He says the industries that once kept the region’s economy going have waned over the years, but one thing Madawaska Valley hasn’t lost is a love for hockey.
“Our community is changing now,” he says. “There aren’t trucks going down the road, every half hour. But hockey is keeping up.”
The Wolves will play at home on several Saturday nights this fall winter, including Saturday, Oct. 28 when they take on the Deseronto Bulldogs, at 7 p.m.