In 68 games this year, the Sudbury Wolves potted 223 goals.

During the 1975-1976 season, Rod Schutt buried 72 goals in 63 games – by himself – singlehandedly.

Apparently, the local juniors need to devote more of their current scouting efforts to the area of Palmer Rapids (Ontario) – population perhaps 200 or so.

“It’s a farming community; we used to get the kids from all of the little hamlets around there: Quadeville, Combermere – and then we would go and compete against Barry’s Bay (population 1300),” said Schutt recently.

“If you were good enough, you might be playing atom or peewee and the teams that were older could call you up. You might go to the rink and play three games in a day, just to fill rosters.”

If you’re still having trouble placing this hotbed of hockey on the map, think roughly of the Algonquin Park region, following the Madawaska River, with highway 60 running from Huntsville off in the direction of Ottawa and the area south of that which kind of extends down to Peterborough, where you enter the Lakelands Region.

Now 65 years old and still living in Sudbury, the Wolves single season goals record holder recalled a simpler time when player development could occur within spitting distance of the family homestead. “We had an arena in Palmer Rapids that had natural ice and my uncle was the caretaker,” said Schutt.

“He worked for the MNR during the summer, spring and fall, fire-fighting. He had two sons, around my age, and he would let us go out on the ice – as long as we volunteered to help flood and sweep and that sort of thing.”

By the age of fifteen, Schutt had caught the eye of Pembroke Lumber Kings head coach Mac MacLean, the man who would also be behind the bench in the very first season with the Wolves for the middle-ish of four children.

Playing in an exhibition game against Pembroke, a member of the Madawaska Valley District High-School team at the time, Schutt and mates had given the favoured juniors quite the run – with the future OHL first rounder accounting for much of the offense.

“I don’t remember thoughts of the OHL even crossing my mind,” said Schutt. “I thought that getting to Pembroke and playing there was a really big deal.” With 86 points in 56 games, it was the high-flying winger that, if anything, was a really big deal, selected in the 1973 OHL Entry Draft behind only Jack Valiquette (SSM), Dale McCourt (HAM) and Doug Risebrough (KIT).

“When I got drafted to Sudbury, I obviously knew where Sudbury was and everything, but I honestly thought I was going to be drafted by Peterborough,” said Schutt. Roger Nielson, by all accounts, had maintained contact with the Pembroke prospect pretty much right throughout the year, only to be scooped by the Wolves five picks ahead of their #9 slot.

In his three years with the Sudbury OHA Junior “A” entry, the natural goal scorer would amass 130 goals in 199 games, finishing his junior career just shy of the 300-point plateau. “I think we knew that we were good, especially my last year,” Schutt suggested, alluding to the three-year span when the Wolves won 109 of the 206 games they played, including the 1975-1976 season for the ages, posting a record of 47-11-8 before falling to the Hamilton Fincups in six games in the league final.

“We might have been a little too complacent. We had a better team that what Hamilton did; we had an equal team to what Toronto did in our second year – and both of those teams walked through the Memorial Cup like it was nothing.”

The three year run (1973-1976) that coincided with the time in which Schutt donned the green and white is easily among the very best periods the local franchise has ever enjoyed, a fact that was not at all lost on the young man who would go on to play ten years in pro hockey, stringing together seasons of 24-18-25 markers as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the late seventies.

“It was building during my time in Sudbury, almost like a wave,” said Schutt. “My first year, we had a lot of talented rookies and made the playoffs but got beat out in round one. The next year, we had a better year and brought in some more guys and we were on an upswing. By the time my third year rolled around, we were getting four or five thousand people a game for the playoffs.”

“I remember them standing outside, a ring right around the arena to buy tickets. It was a lot of fun to play at that time.”

Ironically, for as good as the on-ice results of the era were, the Wolves were challenged to maintain stability behind the bench, with coach MacLean, Stu Duncan and Jerry Toppazzini all part of the picture for Schutt.

“With Mac, I knew what he wanted and what he expected,” he noted, benefitting from the carryover from Pembroke. “Stu was a very good teaching coach. I think I related more to Jerry. He had played the (NHL) game and knew what it takes to get to that next level, what they were looking for.”

“I remember starting my last year on a line with (Ron) Duguay and (Alex) McKendry,” said Schutt. “We were together for maybe eight to ten games and we were tearing up the league. Then Jerry puts me on a line with Wes Jarvis and Randy Pierce – and it worked out. It kind of split up the offensive power that we had.”

While he would have liked to play longer, back woes made the challenges of staying up with the big club even more grueling – not that there wasn’t plenty to like. “Every team that I ever played for, at every level, we always made the playoffs,” said Schutt with pride.

In the end, the truth is that it was going to be tough to duplicate those years with the Wolves, a time when junior hockey reigned supreme in the nickel city. “When you’re in the spotlight in the community and everyone is behind you, it’s a lot of fun.”