The Genesis of Tucker Hockey
A Four-Part Mini-Series
Part 1: Childhood Love of Hockey
Published on June 3, 2021
When growing up on Little Bay Island, a picturesque small remote island off the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland Coach Rex dreamed, like most Canadian boys, of playing in the NHL. This fishing village of less than 500 people was a beautiful and safe place to grow up. However, Rex found himself in an area of the world without a minor hockey association, hockey coaching or even an indoor hockey rink! It was not an ideal situation for a young boy who passionately fell in love with the game of hockey.
Yes, it seemed the cards were stacked against Rex, but this would not stop him with his love and pursuit of the game of hockey. At the age of 7, he laced on his first pair of hand-me-down skates, complete with four or five extra pairs of socks so they would fit better! A couple of weeks later, his father replaced the size four skates with a second-hand pair of snug-fitting size two Bauers, and Rex was off to the races.
Rex’s first pair of skates! Beauties!
He played shinny hockey with his pals and skated long hours every opportunity that came available on the local saltwater harbour, or the island’s five freshwater ponds. Rex was often the first person on the ice and usually the last one off. Rex loved to skate so much that long after all the others had gone in from the extreme cold weather. He would stay out, knowing that the trade-off would be the excruciatingly painful, and often tearful one-half hour spent thawing out toes, fingers, and ears by his parent’s warm kitchen woodstove.
Growing up Rex immersed himself in everything hockey!
“Orr and Stanfield on the point, Esposito wins the draw, puck goes back to Orr on the point, Orr over to Stanfield, Stanfield back to Orr, Orr to Bucyk in the corner, Bucyk back to Orr, Orr with the shot…He scooores!” So vividly, does Rex recall the words of Bob Wilson, radio announcer of the WBZ Bruin Hockey Network, that as he repeats them you find yourself being transported to another time, when an avid young hockey fan tuned into the AM radio broadcasts because they brought the Bruin and Ranger games play-by-play sailing north across the cold Atlantic with crystal clarity to eager ears starved for hockey action and news.
Rex would be glued to the radio or religiously watching Hockey Night in Canada, even if he had to get close to the family black & white TV to try and make clear of the very snowy objects moving about on the screen. This was often the case when bad weather conditions affected the outdoor TV antenna. He kept abreast of the scoring race and team stats by diligently maintaining and updating his own stat sheets as the information became available to him daily on the radio.
Rex was often kidded by friends and the occasional community folk about his determination to play in the NHL, but this did not distract him. If he wasn’t out skating on a sheet of ice, listening to a hockey broadcast, watching Hockey Night in Canada or updating his stat sheets he would be playing road hockey with a sponge puck.
From a modest upbringing in a small rural fishing village, Rex experienced firsthand the obstacles entailed in following his passion for hockey. With his father a fisherman and his mother a school teacher turned stay – at – home mom, funds to buy hockey equipment were quite limited. As well, there weren’t any sporting good stores on the island! Rex recalls receiving Christmas gift packages from his Aunt Doris in Montreal. It was such a joy for him to receive some hockey gear! Even with skates, a stick and limited hockey equipment, opportunities to play were hampered by the unpredictable weather and / or lack of ice quality on the outdoor freshwater ponds and the saltwater harbour each year.
(Bottom right corner – white house with black roof)
Rex’s Father Raymond would often say to him, “If you don’t get something involved in hockey it will be a strange thing.” It seemed Raymond had a sixth sense about his son’s passion, love and will to pursue his hockey dreams. Raymond was not wrong!