Festive atmosphere at arena as three Flyers teams make provincial finals

Craig Bakay | Mar 21, 2018

It was a very festive atmosphere at the Frontenac Community Arena this past weekend, and it wasn’t just because St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Saturday.

While there was a bit of green, the dominant colour was orange as the Frontenac Flyers minor hockey organization had three teams (Atoms, Peewees and Bantams) in the Ontario CC Championship finals. (The Novices narrowly missed the finals, losing out in the semis and the Midgets made the playoffs but bowed out in the first round.)

It’s been a long time since there’s been this much excitement at the old arena (which turned 52 this year).

If you look around the arena, most of the boys’ banners are from the early ’90s, when a strong core of players advanced through the ranks piling up championship after championship.

“That was the (Coach Jack) Deline Dynasty,” said former South Frontenac Mayor Phil Leonard. “There was some great hockey played here in those days.”

Leonard conceded that it’s tough for rural organizations to hold on to their talented players as the best ones often get recruited to higher level organizations such as Napanee and Kingston.

“And you can’t blame them for wanting to move up,” said Leonard.

But for this year at least, the arena was rocking and that was music to Leonard’s ears.

“This is why we worked so hard to raise the matching funds for Wintario grants back then,” he said. “So our kids would have a place to play and achieve the results we knew they could.”

And when Leonard says “our kids,” he means the entire area, not just those he might be related to.

“I do have some cousins participating,” he said. “But that’s not really why I’m here.

“I love watching this — I’m really enjoying it.”

And Leonard wasn’t the only mayor at the arena with a big smile on his face. Current South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal was in the middle of the crowd, complete with a Flyers jersey.

Vandewal said he didn’t get to play hockey as a kid (although he’s currently an in-demand defenceman in the over-60 circuit), but he’s having a blast watching these kids.

“I don’t have a relative playing but I’m on the edge of my seat every game,” Vandewal said. “I’m in on every play.”

And he was too. Don’t sit next to the mayor unless you’re prepared for twitching shoulders, elbows and legs when the action intensifies.

And just for the record, the crowds on both days were standing room around the boards and if you were late getting there (or even in time but not real early), you were parking somewhere along Boundary Road.