Hall of Fame for 33-0 Ooks

Ron Amyotte is still in awe over the accolades the NAIT Ooks continue to receive years after their Simply the Best 1984/85 hockey season.

“You don’t realize how important or significant it was when you’re doing it,” said the St. Albert resident and scoring threat at right wing for Western Canada’s first varsity hockey champions to go unbeaten and untied in the regular season and post-season.

“We knew we did something that really no one had accomplished before but as the years go on and on and you’re starting to get awards from it you appreciate it that much more and the accomplishment we did.”

The 33-0 Ooks will be inducted in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame on Friday in Red Deer. The event will also mark the 60th anniversary of the hall of fame and museum, dedicated to the history of sports within the province. It was created in 1957 by the Alberta Amateur Athletic Union.

The first team on the NAIT Athletics Wall of Fame in 2007 also entered the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.

“It will be a lot of fun,” said Amyotte, who will hook up with some of his former teammates the night before the ceremony. “We get together every now and then on certain occasions. We share a lot of stories and have a lot of laughs.”

The Ooks were unstoppable as one of the most dominant teams in post-secondary hockey with 30 league and playoff wins in the Alberta Conference Athletic Conference and were victorious in three games at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association nationals in Moose Jaw.

The Ooks also set six ACAC regular-season records in the process.

In addition to the perfect 33-win season, the Ooks were 11-2-2 in exhibition action.

During the Christmas break, the Ooks travelled to Switzerland and after tying the Zurich SC Lions 8-8 in the first game of the tour they won four in a row, including a 5-3 decision over the eventual CIAU champion York University Yeoman on Dec. 29, 1984 in Adelboden to capture the Altjahres Cup.

The Ooks and Alberta Golden Bears also met in the inaugural Face Off game March 19, 1985 at Northlands Coliseum and set an attendance record of 13,354 that still stands for a hockey game featuring two Canadian post-secondary teams. The Bears rallied to defeat the Ooks 5-4 for the Ronald McDonald Cup. The Bears also edged the Ooks 3-2 Sept. 28, 1984.

Amyotte, 53, credits head coach Perry Pearn and his staff for the team’s run of greatness.

“They did good scouting and we got good talent and then he put the program together and the style of hockey that would win and we were successful. They also pushed us hard and that’s how it should be,” said the second-leading ACAC scorer in 1984/85 with 52 points in 23 games and tied teammate Sid Cranston for the lead in goals with 30.

“We could play any style that you wanted to play and that was the coaching staff getting us prepared for all that ’80s era,” Amyotte added. “It was different that’s for sure. It was a lot more clutching and grabbing and interference. It wasn’t as freewheeling as it could’ve been but then again we did have a team that when we played out in Europe with the big ice surfaces we could skate with any European team and still beat them and that’s kudos to the coaching staff and Perry and his scouting. He was picking well-rounded hockey players.”

Pearn, a former St. Albert Comet and teacher in the community, served as an assistant coach in the National Hockey League for the past 22 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadians and Vancouver Canucks. He will be inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame in July.

Asked what his fondest memories were during the undefeated season, Amyotte replied: “The Ronald MacDonald Cup was quite exciting when we played the Bears.

“There was also one game in Camrose where they thought they had it. I think we were down by four in the third period and they were all laughing at us and they were saying your streak is going to end but we came back and I think we scored six unanswered or something like that in the third period and their faces were just dropping so that was kind of a nice moment for our team.”

Amyotte joined the Ooks after leading the Weyburn Red Wings to the 1984 Centennial Cup national championship as the team’s captain and the tournament’s most valuable player.

The Edmonton product had previous played in the Western Hockey league with the New Westminster Bruins and Kamloops Junior Oilers.

“I came in thinking this is just college hockey and it’s not that important but when I started playing I realized boy these guys can play. It’s good hockey and I had to pick it up somewhat,” said the ACAC record holder for most career goals with 85 and his 151 regular-season career point total is the highest of any player in ACAC history who played three seasons.

However, it was a juggling act for Amyotte studying respiratory therapy in between practices and games.

“It was difficult and time consuming. You really have to do your time management as that helps in life later on,” said the first forward to be a three-time ACAC first-team conference selection. “It was always school first with the guys at NAIT. You had to get your schooling done and if you said I had a big exam the coaching staff understood.

“Of course it was a lot of fun being on a sports team in college.”

Amyotte cranked it up offensively during the season to remember while skating primarily on a line with Randy Repchuk as his centreman.

“Back in the day I guess I kind of played like John Tonelli. I could score goals,” said the 1984/85 CCAA All-Canadian and 1986/87 CCAA tournament all-star who was also a member of two national championships with the Ooks and was the team captain in his last two seasons.

– with files from Brian Stein