Central Newfoundland
Minor Hockey
In the 1960s, minor hockey was run and supported by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 19, Local 5457 (U.S.W.A.), the Knights of Columbus and the Lions Club. These organizations supplied all the equipment such as sticks and goalie equipment to one team in each division of minor hockey, as well as the coaches and managers of each team. This was a very successful operating venture of minor hockey. The organizations financed the minor hockey system and little, if any, money was raised by the teams themselves. In the 1970s, minor hockey was formed as the Buchans Minor Hockey Association under president William Holt. During the late 1960s, Buchans was beginning to be a power at Newfoundland minor hockey tournaments. The first win was a pee-wee B championship in 1967, and the last win was an atom H championship in 1992. In between, Buchans' teams won a total of 13 provincial championships as well as winning the Veitch Memorial Trophy as the Newfoundland junior champions in 1972. This is a big accomplishment for a small town such as Buchans when one considers that up until the late 1970s, Buchans was competing against the much larger centres in the provincial B Easter tournaments. Besides winning these tournaments, a fair amount of silver and bronze medals were won by Buchans' teams over the years. Buchans' minor hockey is still very much actively involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador Hockey Association's minor system. While the number of players is down from the early days, hockey is still enjoyed by the kids of Buchans. The reason why the numbers of kids is down is not due to lack of interest in the sport. It is due to a large number of families leaving Buchans after the mines closed down in 1982.