{"id":33662,"date":"2023-10-05T18:25:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33662"},"modified":"2023-10-05T18:25:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:25:29","slug":"chambers-celebrity-sports-dinner-featuring-bourque-clark-and-reid-a-big-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/chambers-celebrity-sports-dinner-featuring-bourque-clark-and-reid-a-big-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber\u2019s Celebrity Sports Dinner featuring Bourque, Clark, and Reid a big hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NHL legends Ray Bourque and Wendel Clark brought the house down as they recounted colorful events from their professional careers on Thursday night at the Royal Venetian Mansion at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Celebrity Sports Dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emcee Ken Reid prodded and grilled the NHL legends with great questions during the post-dinner Hot Stove Session\u2014the highlight of the evening for the 185 guests. Reid transitioned seamlessly from Sportsnet TV anchor to engaging host whose wit, stage presence, and comic timing moved the evening along at a leisurely and enjoyable pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the fun and great dining experienced and supported by the patrons went to a great cause\u2014two annual $5,000 Manufacturing and Skilled Trades Scholarships sponsored by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inaugural scholarships were awarded in the spring to Maximilian Kolbe CHS students Daniel Rolinsky, who is studying megatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo, and Alexander Moll, who has commenced his electrician apprenticeship training this Fall.  Both of the St. Max grads were celebrated at the Celebrity Sports Dinner and their choice to enter the skilled trades was championed by two guest speakers:  Joe Bentolia, President of the Aurora Minor Hockey Association and Co-Owner of AJ Printing; and Marco Di Girolamo, Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, Former Captain of the Canadian Men\u2019s Rugby 7\u2019s, and Vice President of DeVille Electric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra Ferri, President of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, and Mayor Tom Mrakas delivered engaging and concise opening remarks to those assembled prior to the Venetian\u2019s delicious three-course meal. But the attraction of the night was the nostalgic trip down memory lane with Hall of Famer Ray Bourque\u2014the all-time top-scoring NHL defenceman, and bonding with the gritty Leafs legend Wendel Clark who was selected by Toronto as the #1 pick in the 1985 draft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bourque and Clark were brilliant on-stage\u2014a pair of performers that regaled the audience as comfortably as the customized Muskoka chairs in which they sat. The charming raconteurs delivered vivid memories of their lives primarily as members of the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his 22-years with the Bruins, Bourque noted the highlight of years in the NHL was winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche during the final game of his illustrious career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Bourque and Clark spoke glowingly about winning gold medals for Team Canada in the 1980s at the Canada Cup and World Juniors, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark\u2019s tales about Harold Ballard elicited a high degree of hilarity, especially some slapstick dressing room moments involving the cantankerous owner \u201cwho was victimized by a practical joke intended for teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had loaded talcum powder in all the hairdryers and loaded the towels with Vaseline.  Unfortunately, Harold used the hairdryers after showering in our dressing room and interrupted a team meeting in a terrible mess. He laughed it off, however, because Harold just wanted to be one of the boys most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also referred to Ballard as a man ahead of his time \u201cwho was all about stirring it up and who installed luxury boxes to replace his cheapest seats, but he also took whizzes on the tires of the Leafs planes during layovers and had to be rescued from dressing room hot tubs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark told tales of his inaugural pro training camp in 1985 where his first three fights in the NHL \u201cwere against his own teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bourque offered similar insights into his early days with the Big Bad Bruins: \u201cI just listened and watched and learned from great players like Cheevers, Park, Ratelle, Cashman, and O\u2019Reilly\u201d and he spoke about \u201cthe magic of playing games in the Original Six arenas where you felt it right away when you stepped on the ice\u2014the Olympia, Chicago Stadium, Madison Square Garden, the Forum, the Gardens\u2014hockey really mattered in those buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark echoed Bourque\u2019s remarks about the mystique of the Original Six buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigh energy players like me thrived in the old buildings when it\u2019s the main thing in town. Every night was a big night at those rinks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark also contrasted the reality of his weak Leafs teams of the mid-80s to Bourque\u2019s powerhouse Bruins teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of a natural rah-rah speech by our coach, he\u2019d say to us, \u2018Let\u2019s keep it close out there tonight\u2019 \u2014not exactly inspirational words from the top,\u201d the Leafs legend deadpanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the laughter and applause subsided, Bourque looked at Clark and told him: \u201cYou were made for Boston. Imagine you playing for Boston.\u201d Another round of applause swept the Venetian as Bourque wended his way into the hearts of the Leafs fans assembled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bourque not only noted the toughness of Clark, but offered high words of praise for his mentor Terry O\u2019Reilly: \u201cHe was the hardest-working guy and the toughest guy I ever played with. He was nuts, but also smart and intellectual.  He as a great coach, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to O\u2019Reilly, Bourque lavished praise on Bruins great Rick Middleton: \u201cHe should be in the Hall of Fame. Rick was an amazing player and guy.  He helped me with my leadership with the Bruins when they asked me to be captain of the team at 25.  He shared the captaincy with me and it was a blessing to play with Rick in Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked to contrast today\u2019s training camps with the camps he experienced in the 80s, Clark remembered \u201cMcDonald\u2019s wrappers all across Al Iafrate\u2019s car. Now, the Leafs have two full-time chefs and those eating decisions are taken out of their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bourque, Clark, and emcee Reid entertained the guests, renowned GTA artist Danny Granger was busy off-stage painting two brilliant, black and white multi-imaged portraits of the NHL stars.  Both paintings were presented to Bourque and Clark and auctioned to support the Chamber\u2019s scholarship fund as were all the terrific items of sports memorabilia that graced the back tables of the Royal Venetian Mansion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An enjoyable evening was had by all participants at the first annual Aurora Chamber of Commerce Celebrity Sports Dinner in partnership with Jackson Events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHL legends Ray Bourque and Wendel Clark brought the house down as they recounted colorful events from their professional careers on Thursday night at the Royal Venetian Mansion at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Celebrity Sports Dinner. Emcee Ken Reid prodded and grilled the NHL legends with great questions during the post-dinner Hot Stove Session\u2014the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2023-10-05-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8KW","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 20:57:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}