In hockey communities across Canada, the notion of names that maintain a hold in the rink side lore of that region is pretty much common place. These are the names that seem omnipresent, that are shared from one generation to the next, regardless of whether a formal introduction ever occurred.
Go back far enough in Sudbury hockey history and you’re talking about gents such as Max Silverman and Sam Rothschild. In my era, one Marcel Clements certainly fit the bill.
My highly unscientific research would suggest that of the local hockey talent that enjoyed some degree of success through the sixties and seventies, roughly one in every three that I chat with seem to have been coached by Marcel at some point in their youth.
Sadly, given his untimely passing at the young age of 55 in 1985, there is an entire generation or two that might be oblivious to the legacy of a man who was born in Sudbury, travelled across Canada and the United States as a player and later enjoyed multiple stints as head coach of the Wolves.
And this is but part of the story for a family that maintained strong ties to sport – understandably so.
“If you were his son, you were kind of a target – or at least you felt that you were,” noted Lou Clements, with a laugh, recently from his home in Toronto.
The eldest of the four children of Marcel and Shirley Clements, Lou would help welcome the off-season arrivals of Heather (married to former Wolves’ defenseman Randy Hillier and living in Pittsburgh), Lori (living in Toronto) and Scott (also in Toronto – played in OHL from three years, went on to attend and play at UNB and suited up for five years of pro hockey in AHL/IHL).
At a time when a start at St Michael’s College often gave way to hockey adventures near and far, Marcel would spend his early twenties in the Maritimes (Moncton Hawks / Charlottetown Islanders), return home to play with both the Sudbury Wolves and Soo Greyhounds well prior to their ascendance to the OHL – 1953-1957), and closed off his playing days with stints with the Washington Presidents, Indianapolis Chiefs and Nashville Dixie Flyers.
In Sudbury, however, it was as a coach that Clements would most make his name – and not just any run of the mill coach.
“Dad was an innovator,” suggested Lou, who still recalls with ease the 1970 edition of the Sudbury Johnny’s Baby Peewee crew that captured the all-Ontario banner that year. “He was ahead of his time.”
Lou Clements recalls his time on the ice spent in figure skating, long before edgework was mandatory curriculum for any self-respecting junior hockey prospect. It surely did not hurt that the girls in the family were heavily immersed in the sport.
“I have a pretty clear recollection as a young kid of Marcel challenging one of his best skating defenceman to a backward skating race with a local female skater,” suggested Lou. It was no contest – and Marcel had made his point.
Yet if there is one coaching idiosyncrasy, above all others, that endeared Marcel Clements to the more creative minds in his field, it was his willingness to think outside of the box – particularly when it came to pulling his goalie.
Recognizing quite early that he could ramp up the urgency of his lads several levels with no last line of defense manning the area between the posts, Clements began pulling his goalie while his team was on the power-play, mid game – particularly in contests that had perhaps begun to slip away.
In a story penned by Lance Hornsby for the Toronto Star in December of 1982, Clements managed to pull off the strategy successfully on three occasions as the Wolves dropped an 8-4 decision to the Toronto Marlies.
“Been doing it for 20 years,” said Clements to Hornsby, a fact that was verified by Lou from his minor hockey memories. “I’d say that 50% of the time, we score; 40%, nothing happens and 10%, the other team scores.”
It certainly caught the attention of Toronto head coach Jimmy Jones.
“That was incredible,” he said. “It was risky, but it paid off. I’ve never taken out a goalie that early, but judging by today, I would consider it.”
While Clements stepped in to assist with the team in which he once was part of ownership, filling in OHL games in both 1977-1978 and 1982-1983, it was in the Wolves time in the NOHA where he and Sault Ste Marie native Angelo Bumbacco were absolutely legends.
“He and Angelo would be on the radio, talking it up, building the rivalry,” said Lou. “He told me that they were just trying to fill the rinks.” More often than not, it worked.
That street smart business-sense came in handy as Marcel looked to move on from his hockey playing days.
“He created a golf course; designed it and was out on his tractor with the help of Enzo Cacciotti and Rick Cacciotti,” said Lou, explaining the genesis of what would eventually become the Pinegrove Golf Course. “He saw golf as a game that was going to develop.”
“He went on business wise and did quite well.”
Ironically, it was his ability to reinvent himself that would ultimately lead Lou to his long-time career, Managing Director of Clements United, a firm that focuses on career transition for company executives and such.
“I just developed an innate interest in the journey that people are on,” said Lou.
And in the case of one Marcel Clements, his was a journey well worth sharing – even all of these years later.
