‘Twas the arrival of the global pandemic that begat the creation of Nickel City Nostalgia.

No, I am not about to break into a Christmas lullaby.

With live sporting events in Sudbury – and most of the world – slowed to a snail’s pace some two years ago, the notion of looking back in time quickly gained favour.

Truth be told, I had borrowed upon the writings of former Sudbury Star reporter George Grace, though I am quite sure that he himself had seen the notion of retrospectives in print media circulate well before he undertook the challenge for the local daily newspaper.

Since March of 2020, countless have been the wonderful hours I have whiled away with many very special folks in these parts, folks who could paint a truly poetic picture of the local sports scene of the 1950’s and 1960’s and such.

But my go-to, even before that, lie in the basement of the main branch of the Sudbury Public Library where resides the microfilmed copies of the Sudbury Star. For as much as individuals’ tales may overflow with colour and emotion, there is something to be said for the accuracy of going back to the reporting of the time.

With that in mind and with an eye towards expanding the definitive knowledge surrounding the opening of the beloved Sudbury Community Arena, I secured the copies of the paper heading back to the late spring and early summer of 1951.

While the four paragraphs devoted to the edifice on Wikipedia make note of the fact that ground was broken in 1950 and that the arena doors were first opened a year later, there are precious few remaining details: an exact opening date and what event first graced the ice of Sudbury Arena, for instance.

Turns out that early 1951 was, in fact, too early.

At that point in time, the first manager of the Sudbury Civic Arena and Community Centre, the original moniker for the facility, had yet to be named. In fact, spring discussions through the SCA and CC commission, the group led by Mayor Bill Beaton which handled most key decisions at the time, centered on determining a primary tenant.

Turns out that while we have all come to know and accept the Sudbury Wolves’ name as every bit as central to our city as the Big Nickel itself, we could easily be talking about the Sudbury Miners or the Sudbury Carusos trying to secure, against the odds, the final OHL Eastern Conference playoff berth in April of 2022.

“Though the commission was satisfied that all three clubs had sound hockey organizations and were financially capable of operating in the senior league, it was felt that the Wolves were in the best position to secure player help through their affiliation with the Montreal Canadiens,” noted an article of the time.

It also appears that local hockey organizations were no more capable of creating consensus in their sport in the 1950’s than Sudbury and area boards have been able to at various times since the turn of the millennium.

The club representatives for those initial meetings constituted a who’s who of early Sudbury hockey folklore. Max Silverman, Rodger Mitchell and Dr Paul Laflamme formed the Wolves delegation, with Sam Rothschild and Jack Keaney speaking on behalf of the Miners and the quartet of Frank Musico, Oliver Commisso, Leo Gasparini and Jim Ruddy handling the duties for the Carusos.

Fast forward to the fall of 1951 and the arena commission has reversed their stand to allow the Wolves as the sole occupants, with the now combined hockey organization that were the Caruso-Miners also making the move from Stanley Stadium in Copper Cliff to the new $1,200,000 digs on Elgin Street.

Tipping my hat to the bulk of the source of information from that era, a daily column (“Around the Sport Circuit”) penned by Don Makintosh, I was able to narrow down somewhat my search for the information that I noted to begin this column – albeit a search that is not fully completed.

In his September writings, Mackintosh noted that while the arena contractor had originally targetted October 15th (1951) as a date of completion for the project, that seemed unlikely six weeks out. “Since then, others have estimated a much later date”, stated Mackintosh.

In fact, September of 1951 would only see the commission agree to allow the Sudbury Star to hold an arena naming contest, one which it would seem produced the current name. On a somewhat similar note, many of you have likely tuned in to the history of the stuffed wolf at Sudbury Arena, as was presented as part of Rogers Hometown Hockey (and is now on You Tube).

It sure looks like the start of this whole conversation actually goes back to a time before the rink was actually built. In conversations with Don Mackintosh, George Panter, the very first manager named to the venue, noted his interest in bringing in a live wolf to howl after every goal that was scored by the home team.

It turns out that trying to train a wolf to howl on command is about as easy as trying to convince some minor hockey parents that it’s reprehensible to be screaming non-stop at a young official who has yet to celebrate his or her 15th birthday.

Still, it seems quite conceivable that the incorporation of the stuffed wolf into Sudbury junior hockey lore was simply a very natural extension of these early discussions.

Still with Sudbury hockey in 1951, the Barrie Flyers apparently received a rousing ovation, making a stop in the nickel city on their return trip from western Canada, having claimed the Memorial Cup that year with a series win over the Winnipeg Monarchs.

Much of that ovation would come courtesy of the Copper Cliff crew on hand, ready to celebrate the efforts of Jerry Toppazzini, the second leading scorer with the Flyers that year. Toppazzini picked up three assists in a game two win over Winnipeg and added a two goal effort in the Cup-clinching encounter, leading to plenty of speculation that he would be called up by the Boston Bruins the following year.

Such was somewhat the case as the future head coach of the Sudbury Wolves would spend one season with the Hershey Bears (1951-1952) before making his way to the NHL and a career that spanned 783 games.

Truth be told, details like that are not always at the immediate recollection of local legends, just one more reason to enjoy the trip down memory lane that microfilmed copies of newspapers from more than seventy years ago can provide.