Ranford’s Career Nearly Ended
at 14, Leads New Inductees Into
Manitoba sports Hall of fame
By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy of Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame
Bill Ranford will never ask for
sympathy. His life was never that
hard. He had great family support,
his dad was the most influential
person in his life and he had the
will and desire to become a great
hockey player.
Trouble was, his dad was also
in the Canadian Armed Forces.
That’s a good thing for Canadians,
but not such a good thing for a
teenaged kid trying to make his
way through minor hockey.
Ranford is living proof that
no matter how much skill you
have, reaching the pinnacle in
any sport, isn’t easy. Of course,
he did reach the pinnacle. He
won two Stanley Cups, a Conn
Smythe Trophy and will now be an
inductee into the Manitoba Sports
Hall of Fame.
The latest list of Hall of
Fame inductees was released
this summer and it includes a
three-time Grey Cup champion
placekicker, a tremendous U of
W basketball star (and my old
teammate with the St. Andrews
Super Saints in the 1990s) a
world-champion rower and
Ranford, a Conn Smythe-winning,
Stanley Cup-winning goaltender.
Meanwhile, a legend at the
Winnipeg Winter Club in all
things racquet sports and a
pioneer in sport medicine make
up the Builder category and
a dominant CIAU (now CIS)
champion hockey team rounds
out the new slate of inductees.
On Nov. 7, five athletes, two
builders and one team will be
inducted into the Manitoba
Sports Hall of Fame at the 36th
Annual Induction Ceremony at
the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg.
26 / sportslife
The 2015
inductees are:
• Arjinder (Archie) Chawla,
Badminton/Squash/Tennis,
Builder
• Dr. Gordon Cumming, Sport
Medicine/Speed Skating,
Builder
• Trevor Kennerd, Football,
Athlete
• Ken Opalko, Basketball,
Athlete
• Ken Peters, Athletics, Athlete
• Jeff Powell, Rowing, Athlete
• Bill Ranford, Hockey, Athlete
• 1964-65 University of MB
Bisons, Hockey, Team
“These eight recipients join an
exclusive group of Manitoba’s
finest in sport,” said Susan
Nemec, President of the Hall of
Fame’s Board of Directors in a
written statement. “We strive to
preserve, celebrate and showcase
the history and heritage of sport
excellence and achievement and
these seven individuals and two
teams have earned their place in
Manitoba’s sport history.
For Ranford, reaching the
Hall is an almost unbelievable
accomplishment. Especially
considering that he hasn’t lived
a great deal of his life in our
province.
“I was born in Brandon, but I
didn’t start playing hockey until
I was living in Cold Lake, Alta.,”
said Ranford, 59, as he began to
tell of young man’s journey with a
Canadian forces family.
“I played in Cold Lake, then
in Germany, then in Portage la
Prairie, then in Summerside,
PEI, and finally in Red Deer. In
Summerside, when I was 14, it
almost ended. I went out for the
midget team and was cut. I ended
up playing forward in House
League when one of the goalies
decided to play high school
hockey and the coach called me
back. My career as a goaltender
almost ended right there. If I
hadn’t got the call, I’d probably
have just gone on and been a
house league forward.”
Instead, he went back, earned
the league’s rookie of the year
award and started making a
name for himself as a great young
goalie.
“The next year, I went to Red
Deer and it was an eye-opener,”
he said. “There were 22 goalies
in camp for a midget team. The
coach was Dave Manning, a guy
who taught me so much and
brought me to the next level of the
game. The next year I was playing
junior in New Westminster. In
two years, I went from almost
ending my career to playing in the
best junior hockey league in the
world.”
After New West, it was off to the
Boston Bruins and the rest, as
they say, is history. He played 15
seasons in the National Hockey
League, most with the Edmonton
Oilers, and won two Stanley Cups.
The second with Edmonton, in
1990 was the most memorable
moment of his career.
“Yeah, usually when you win
your first Cup, you remember it as
your greatest moment,” he said.
“But I was a backup in 1988, just a
spectator, when we won the first
Cup. Winning the Cup in 1990 and
having an impact on the outcome