1932-2017
Induction 2018 - Athlete
Hockey
Western Canada Championship
1958-59
Two Interprovincial Series Titles
1954-55, 1958-59
Two Provincial Championships
1954-55, 1958-59
Five League Scoring Titles
Four MVP Honours
Twenty-Two League and Conference Titles
Between Farm Pond and City Arenas
Surfaces a Star on Ice
Rod
Fonteyne is being inducted into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of
Fame for his achievements in and contributions to the sport of hockey.
Rod was born in Wetaskiwin and until he was thirteen lived on a farm in
the Bear Hills School District. He and his brothers learned how to
skate on a pond. When the family farm was sold the Fonteyne's moved to
Wetaskiwin and the older boys were enrolled in the minor hockey
program. Rod and his brother Val were assigned to a bantam hockey team
and began play as paired defensemen. It was here that his lifelong
involvement in hockey began and the sport became Rod’s enduring passion.
Prolific Scorer Tallies up 22 League and Conference Championships
Throughout
his life, Rod's hockey career as a player and player-coach took him to
many different towns and cities in Alberta, BC and the US. His personal
hockey achievements and awards are certainly worthy of recognition and
his hockey skills helped many teams to championships.
He was a prolific scorer
and in his career he won five league scoring titles, was named MVP four
times, voted onto All-Star Teams and selected Most Popular Player a number
of times. His most outstanding personal achievement was scoring fifty
goals in thirty-nine games with the Red Deer Rustlers in 1958-59.
Teams that Rod played on won twenty-two League and Conference Championships which led to an additonal two Provincial Championships, two Interprovincial Series, and a Western
Canada Championship. Rod played hockey for more than five decades and
retired in 1998. Even though he wasn’t playing he was still part of the
hockey scene in his home of Fort St. John as he served on the Board of
Directors of the Fort St. John Hockey Club until he passed away in 2017.
Catches the Eye of Scouts
In 1951 Ralph Pocock
enrolled and drove Rod and Val to a Hockey Camp in Calgary. Scouts from
Medicine Hat were at the camp and both boys were invited to attend the
Tigers training camp and both made the team as forwards. Rod played on
the Medicine Hat Tigers Junior A Hockey Club for the 1951-52 and 1952-53
season. When he was twenty-one and finished Junior Hockey, Rod began
play at the Intermediate Hockey Level with the Ponoka Stampeders of the
Central Alberta Intermediate Hockey League (CAHL). That year (1953-54)
the Stampeders won the CAHL and lost to the Trail Smoke Eaters in the
Interprovincial Playoffs. The next season (1954-55) the Stampeders
again won the CAHL, the Provincial Intermediate Championship, the
Interprovincial play-offs and were runners-up in the Western Canadian
Championships. In 1955 Wetaskiwin Hockey Association Director Al Arner
was instrumental in hiring Rod as Supervisor of Hockey in Wetaskiwin as
well as the Player-Coach of the Wetaskiwin Colonels. The Colonels were
not competitive that year, however, the forward line of Ron Emmerling,
Gerry Kaiser and Rod was the most dominant scoring line in the league.
Rod’s play was outstanding and he was the leading goal scorer of the
league, scoring as many as 5-6 goals and 2-3 assists per game.
Rod’s Semi-Pro and Pro
Hockey Career began in the 1956-57 season when he played nine games for
the Washington Lions of the Eastern Hockey League. In 1957-58 he played
three exhibition games with the Seattle Americans of the Western Pro
Hockey League. When he was cut from the team Rod finished the 1957-58
season with the Red Deer Rustlers of the CAHL and helped the team win
the League Championship. In the Western Allan Cup Finals the Rustlers
were runners-Up. In 1958-59 Rod again played for the Rustlers and they
won the CAHL Championship, the Provincial Intermediate A Championship,
the Interprovincial Series and the Western Canada Intermediate
Championship. That season Rod won the League Scoring Title and was the
dominant player on his team scoring fifty goals in thirty-nine games.
However, Rod was injured during the last four games and thus missed out
on the try-outs with the Calgary Stampeders of the Western Pro Hockey
League. In 1959-60 Rod played for the Milwaukee Falcons of the
International Hockey League. Rod played fifty-five games with the
Falcons, scored fourteen goals, and accrued twenty-eight assists. In
1960-61 Rod returned to the CAHL and played with the Red Deer Rustlers.
Player Hangs up Skates at the Age of Sixty-Six
1961 saw Rod move to
northern BC where he became the player-coach of the Senior Intermediate
Fort St. John Flyers Hockey Club of the South Peace River Conference.
It was here that Rod would spend the rest of his life immersed in hockey
and become the “Face of the Fort St. John Flyers”. In 1961-62 under
Rod as coach the Flyers won their first league championship. Rod
continued as player-coach for the next eleven years. During Rod’s
tenure as player-coach the team won eleven South Peace Championships and
seven All Peace championships. After Rod stepped down from coaching he
continued with the Flyers as a player. As a Flyer, Rod scored over 300
goals, won three consecutive scoring titles and was awarded two league
MVP honors. After retirement from playing with the Flyers, Rod
continued to play Fort St. John Old Timers Hockey and at times he also
played with the Wetaskiwin Relics at various National and International
tournaments.
Face of Community Hockey
for 50 Years
Rod played hockey until he
was sixty-six years old, “tying up his skates” in 1998. As well as
serving on the Fort St. John Flyers’ Hockey Board of Directors for over
fifty years, Rod spent some time as Arena Manager for the Fort St. John
Recreation Department. Rod was well-liked and indeed “Mr. Hockey” in
Fort St. John. He was described by the President of the Senior Flyers as
“a great guy with a great smile, always cheerful and a great sense of humour”.
Rod Fonteyne spent his
life engaged in a sport he loved. At times Rod was very close to being
on the path to a sustainable pro-hockey career but this did not happen.
However, his hockey career was extraordinary and remarkable and very
deserving of recognition.
In Rod’s words:
“I have been to a lot of
arenas, played with and against a lot of hockey players, been to a lot
of cities and town. I didn’t make a lot of money, but I had a chance to
travel and experience a lot of things. If I had to do it all over
again, I probably would.”
We acknowledge Rod Fonteyne’s life-long
hockey achievements and his contributions to his community by inducting
him into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of Fame.
