Honouring The Old Lamplighter

The community of Coniston (part of Sudbury) Ontario recently held a ceremony to name their rink the Toe Blake Memorial Arena. The rink is close to where the great Blake grew up playing the game. His nearby hometown of Victoria Mines no longer exists.

Blake's last surviving son, Bruce, was on hand sharing stories of the great coach, reminding us he was also a great player, too. He was so good they nicknamed him "The Old Lamplighter."

When Hector "Toe" Blake was a child growing up in Victoria Mines, one of his teachers encouraged his love of hockey.

"Keeping his skates on in the classroom was one thing he remembered," Toe's son, Bruce Blake, said.

"One of his teachers allowed dad and a few others to keep their skates on during the morning so they didn't waste time lacing up and they would have more time at recess" to play hockey, Bruce said."

Rachel Punch of the Sudbury Star has the full story.