2004 Inductees

1970 West Kings High School Hockey Team

When Ed Morgan agreed to coach the "new" hockey team at West Kings in the fall of 1969, only his sweetest dreams could predict the outcome of the initial season.

Most of the boys played minor hockey outside of school, some with the Berwick Bruins Junior "B" Team. This would be the first season for the West Kings Kings in the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation playdowns. There was a huge interest in the team with a large number of players attending tryouts. West Kings played in the Valley League along with Horton, KCA, Acadia Junior Varsity and Central Kings. West Kings were league champs with 5 wins, 2 losses, and 3 ties. The Team also played 13 exhibition games going 6-6-1.

The NSSAF A Division playdowns began against Horton. West Kings won 3-1 against Horton and followed up with a 13-0 whitewash at home in Berwick. In their next series at Clare, West Kings managed a 3-3 tie. The friendly confines of the Berwick Arena were too much for Clare as West Kings easily handled them 6-2 to advance to the provincial finals in Antigonish.

In their first match the West Kings Kings were to meet New Glasgow High who listed nine of the New Glasgow Junior Bombers on its roster. The Bombers had just disposed of the Berwick Juniors in a 2 game series. The first period was scoreless with both teams having many opportunities. New Glasgow opened the scoring early in the second. West Kings replied with two of their own in the second and iced the victory with two more in the third. The win took the Team to the championship game to face St. Pat's High who had earlier defeated the host Antigonish High School 8-1. Prior to the final, six of the West Kings players had to write a Physics exam as a condition of missing school on Friday. The students were sequestered in a hotel room and the exam was written between games and all the students passed!

The championship game was full of excitement. St. Pat's scored first. The West Kings Kings responded with two to end the first period 2-1. Each team had a pair of goals in the second. St. Pat's rallied in the third to tie the score but with less then five minutes to play, Berwick's own Alden Huntley scored the winner for West Kings. Sangster had a hat trick and Steve Varner was stellar in the net.

The Cinderella season was complete as the West Kings Kings captured the NSSAF 'A' Division hockey championship in their first full season and to this day, the only Hockey Provincial Championship.

NSSAF "A" Division - Provincial Hockey Champions

Back Left to Right

Dale Clark (Manager)
Dave Lewis (Manager)
Gary Algee (Manager)
John Peck
Greg Justice

Middle Left to Right

Rick Bezanson
Dan Sangster
Jim Orman
Bill Best
Ken Sutherland
Kent Speiran
Henry MacArthur
Alden Huntley

Front Left to Right

Larry Deziel
Randy Speiran
Ed Morgan (Coach)
Greg Best
Mike Olsen (Captain)
Bob Book
Jon Carey (Assistant Coach)
Steve Varner
Fred Hayden

Inducted June 2004