Special ceremony planned for Valley Maple Leafs’ home opener

WINDSOR, N.S. — The Valley Maple Leafs will be holding a special ceremony prior to their home opener Oct. 19 at the Hants Exhibition Arena against the expansion Eskasoni Jr. Eagles.

The Leafs, of the Nova Scotia Junior Hockey League, are 3-2-0 going into the game with the Eagles.

At the special opening ceremony, the Leafs will be honouring two members of the 1963-64 Windsor Maple Leafs senior hockey team: Chook Smith and Frank Barteaux.

The Leafs team inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1990 has been described as the strongest Maritime team to ever represent the Maritimes in Allan Cup play.

Jacques Allard led the league in scoring that season with 183 points but Allard, even with his prolific scoring that season, was only in on 183 of the 486 goals scored by the team. The 1963-64 Leafs finished the regular season with a 58-9-3 record.

The opening ceremony will also include former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Reagan.

Reagan, who was born and raised in Windsor before politics took him to Halifax and then Ottawa, was a famed promoter of the Windsor sports scene while living in Windsor.

The Leafs hope to see all local hockey fans at the Hants Exhibition Arena Oct. 19 to relive some hockey memories from that 1963-64 hockey season and then cheer on in this year’s version of the Valley Maple Leafs. It all begins at 7:30 p.m.