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Woonsocket Midget team recalls beating club from Sarah Palin's home town |
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Sunday, 26 October 2008 |
By Terry Nau
WOONSOCKET – When Sarah Palin was named Vice Presidential running mate to Republican Party Presidential candidate John McCain back in August, the Alaska Governor’s hometown stirred the memory bank of Moe Rondeau.
“They said she was from Wasilla, Alaska,” Rondeau was saying on Friday. “I mentioned to my wife, Jeannine, that I thought Wasilla was the name of the hockey team that our Woonsocket North Stars beat in the national championships back in 1985. Jeannine didn’t believe me. I asked the coach of our team – Donnie Choquette – and he thought we beat Fairbanks in the finals. Finally, I asked Dan Fawcett. He had the original game program in a box in his cellar. Danny also showed me a newspaper clipping he had saved from The Call that proved it was Wasilla that we played in the finals.”
Fawcett, who now owns the R.I. Sports Center hockey arena in North Smithfield, got together with Rondeau, Choquette and a few of his teammates on that 1985 team for a reunion photo on Saturday evening at Adelard Arena.
“It was a lot of fun playing with my friends on the North Stars team,” Fawcett said. “I played youth hockey in my hometown of Lincoln but they didn’t have a Midget program. I tried out for Edgewood, not realizing that a Midget team was forming in Woonsocket. After the North Stars had their first practice, some of the parents noticed I wasn’t there. Greg Smolan called me and asked me to try out. It was great because I got a chance to play with kids from surrounding towns that I had played against in Bantams.”
Rondeau picks up the thread of the story.
“I was president of the North Stars youth hockey program,” Rondeau said. “The North Stars came about as the result of a merger between the Woonsocket Comets and the R.I. Kings. In 1985, we had five kids coming out of our Bantam program who said they wanted to start a Midget team (for ages 15-16). There were only three Midget programs in Rhode Island at the time. Edgewood had one down in Cranston. I told these boys that you need 20 players to make a Midget team. They went out and started recruiting their friends, and kids they had played against from other towns. In about 10 days, we had 20 kids who wanted to play for our Midget team.
“I went to (Mount St. Charles coach) Bill Belisle,” Rondeau said, “and Bill gave me an hour of ice time every Sunday morning at 7 a.m. Now we needed a few coaches. Fortunately, we were able to get Donnie Choquette to come in. Donnie comes to me about 30 minutes into our first practice and says ‘Moe, you can’t believe the amount of talent we have here.’ And he told me there was good balance between offense, and defense, and we had a couple of good-looking goaltenders, too.”
Choquette, who currently coaches Mount’s junior high team, remembers the early days with the North Stars.
“That team had a lot of speed,” he said. “You had Greg Smolan, Fawcett, (Jim) Monti, the Forrest brothers (Mike and Steve). Scottie Paquin and Garth Snow were the goalies. I remember one time in practice I had to chew Garth out. Guys were scoring right and left against him. I yelled at him, said he couldn’t stop a beach ball. After practice, I’m walking out to the lobby and Garth’s father stops me. He was a big man, around 6-foot-6, and he said ‘I want to shake your hand. Nobody has ever said things like that to my son. He needs it. Thank you.’”
Choquette smiles at the memory.
“Garth went on to have a pretty good career,” he said with a laugh, talking about the youngster from Wrentham who starred at Mount St. Charles, the University of Maine, played for several NHL teams and is now general manager of the New York Islanders, only 23 years after he played for the North Stars.
Fawcett looks back upon the experience with fondness.
“I don’t know if we could appreciate the experience at the time, when we were just 15 years old,” he said. “It was such a great experience for us, advancing from the states to the regionals and then the nationals. We made friends with players from all over the country … Alaska, Illinois, New York … we learned there is a lot of good hockey played all over the country, not just in New England.
“Hockey helped me learn some lessons in life,” Fawcett added. “I see a lot of analogies between team play and how I run my own business. You have to stick with things, keep plugging away, before you can succeed. In hockey, different players play different roles. That’s the same thing as in a workplace. And you learn in hockey that everyone is different. It’s that way in work, too. There are some great life lessons to be learned from hockey, and every other sport, too. It’s about team play. I’m hoping my four children learn the same lessons as they grow up.”
The North Stars actually finished second to Edgewood in the 1985 state championship tournament. Edgewood competed in the Tier I regionals while Woonsocket went to the Tier II tournament. They advanced from the regionals to the 1985 National Midget Tier II Championships in Havertown, Pa. – a suburb of Philadelphia.
The team, sponsored by the former Marquette Credit Union, won two of three games in the qualifying round, then defeated Ithaca, N.Y. 3-2 in the semifinals on an overtime goal by Steve Lawton, younger brother for Cumberland’s Brian Lawton, who would be drafted No. 1 in the country by the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars after his senior year at Mount St. Charles Academy.
Fawcett, playing with a fractured wrist, scored two goals in that game.
In the championship game against Wasilla, Woonsocket’s Tommy Menoche scored three goals as the North Stars posted a 6-3 triumph.
Snow shared goaltending duties with Woonsocket’s Scott Paquin.
The North Stars’ roster boasted players from all over Northern Rhode Island. Cumberland was represented by Mike and Steve Forrest, Steve Lawton, Mike Sendley, Kevin Murray and Scott Lavallee. Fawcett and Greg Smolan hailed from Lincoln. Woonsocket players included John Scully, Scott Paquin, Tommy Menoche, Keith Bacon, Paul Sugden and Tom Buteau. Bellingham’s Dave Duhamel was also a key player on the squad.
Smolan led the team at nationals with 4 fours and 3 assists. Menoche collected 3 goals and 3 assists. Fawcett finished with 3 goals and 2 assists.
“We were even better the next year,” Choquette said. “We went up to Tier I and lost in triple-overtime at the regionals. We were one of the best teams in New England.”
Choquette went on to coach for five years at Cumberland High, winning three state titles. In 1991, he coached a 13-player Woonsocket High squad to the Met B title. Now he’s back at Mount, helping out Bill and Dave Belisle, doing what he does best, which is coach hockey.
“I had never coached before I took on the North Stars job,” Choquette, a 1976 Mount St. Charles graduate, said. “I went to Bill Belisle for some advice. He came to our first practice, opened the rink up for us, gave me the keys, and told me ‘Just teach them what you know.’ And then he left the rink. That was the best advice he ever gave me about coaching.”
Moe Rondeau will never forget his many years working with Woonsocket youth hockey.
“I started with the Woonsocket Comets 39 years ago,” he said. “I was the first president of the North Stars. That 1985 Midget team was an unforgettable experience for me and everyone else who was involved with the program.” |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 28 October 2008 )
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