“Two Former Huskies in Hockey Hall of Fame”

“Two Former Huskies in Hockey Hall of Fame”

By: P.J. Kennedy

Eddie Litzenberger, Bill Hay and Dave Dunn are all former Huskies who made it to the NHL as players. Yet there have been only two alumni of the University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team who have been enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and neither of them was inducted as a player.

Winner of the Foster Hewitt Trophy for broadcasting was former Hockey Night in Canada commentator, Dick Irvin, who played for the Huskies in 1950-51. While a student iin the College of Commerce, he performed at Rutherford Rink in mid-century before transferring to McGill University. After more than three decades as Montreal Canadiens colour commentator and director of CFCF radio sports in Montreal, Irvin was named to the hockey shrine in 1988. In a recent visit to campus, he recalled playing several games against industrial teams but only two or three contests for the Hardy Cup against University of Alberta. Official CIS records list him as playing two interuniversity contests garnering no points. Nevertheless, he is one of the two former Huskies to make it to the Hall of Fame.

The second inductee was former Huskie goaltender Charlie Hay (1902-1973). Hay is first referred to in December 1921 in the Saskatoon Phoenix as “showing good form in the nets” (11). In the 1922 Keystone yearbook he is referred to as one who “guarded the hemp for the team in spectacular fashion” (40). Indeed the 1922-23 team that followed with Hay in goal captured the city, provincial, and Western Canadian Senior Hockey championships and advanced to the Allan Cup final—the Canadian Senior Hockey national title where they fell short of their goal. The following years he continued to play goal and also served as captain of the team. Yes, a goaltender who was team captain of a hockey team. Even more impressive was his coaching of the University women’s team in 1923-24. It was here he met his wife, Florence “String” Miller who was the Huskiettes’ goalie. Charlie Hay’s career with Huskies continued until 1926-27.

He went on to have a successful career in the oil industry, but earned his way into the Hall of Fame as a builder for his indefatigable work with Hockey Canada where he served as president and guided the organization to implement a coaches’ certification programme, a scholarship and bursary programme for players attending universities, and ongoing funding for hockey research. He was also a very important behind the scenes negotiator in the 1972 Canadian-Soviet Union Summit Series. Although Allan Eagleson received most of the glory for organizing the series, without Charlie Hay’s tenacious negotiations, a defining moment in Canadian history never would have happened.

This is #2 in a series of articles taken from research by Bill Seymour and Kerri Archibald for Kennedy’s Dogs on Ice: A History of Hockey at University of Saskatchewan


national title where they fell short of their goal. The Cup final—the Canadian Senior Hock