Wall of Fame honouring past hockey scouts soon to be unveiled in Okotoks

Recognizing the hard work of hockey scouts An event in Okotoks this weekend will raise money to help build a wall of fame for hockey scouts.

Hockey scouts were out in full force on Wednesday at the Max Bell Centre, taking in day one of the AJHL showcase.

Scouts are some of the hardest working people in hockey.  They’re the ones in the trenches, digging the ditches to feed talent for the teams that employ them.

Erin Ginnell is a scout for the Vegas Golden Knights.  He says scouts do a lot for an organization.

"You know scouts are the guys up in the corner, not really in the limelight for the most part but they are the lifeblood of an organization,” he said.

“They pump the players into the teams and you know as far as prospects go and of course trades, they have a lot to say on that stuff too.”

LITTLE RECOGNITION FOR SCOUTS OUTSIDE OF THEIR ORGANIZATION

Despite all of their hard work, scouts don’t get much recognition outside of their organizations.  There’s no spot for scouts in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Jeff Crisp, who scouts for the Seattle Kraken and some others decided they wanted to do something about it so they started the Western Canadian Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation.

Crisp said it was set up to recognize former scouts.

“There was always some internal feedback or recognition (from the teams) but I think guys wanted to make it a little more outward in the community and outward for the families to see and for people to know how a great of people they were and great scouts," said Crisp.

"Some of those old guys - what started it was they took such good care of us young guys when we were young," Crisp added. "Lorne Davis and Pat (Paddy) Ginnell, those types of guys taught you the ropes back then and we just wanted to pay it back to those guys a little bit and that’s how it started.”

WALL OF HONOUR

The foundation decided to put on a roast of Ron McLean at the Okotoks Centennial Arena on Saturday night to raise money to recognize the past scouts.

Ginnell says it will be a great event

“They’re going to give it to Ron pretty good and Ron is going to give it back I’m sure,” said Ginnell.

“It’s going to be a good fundraiser for our endeavour.  We’re trying to raise money for a wall of honour for scouts past that have really done a lot for the game.”

GREAT LINEUP

The list of roasters is a good one.  Tim Hunter, Kevin Lowe, Peter Maher, John Shannon and Dennis Beyak will all have a chance to give it to McLean.  Crisp says there are still tickets available for the event.

“Anytime you get big names like that you I think there will be lots of laughs and lots of stories told,” he said.

“Even in the tables I think there will be lots of stories told and laughs but I think the roast will be really fun and it should be a super fun night.”

For more information about the event you can go to hockeyscoutsfoundation./com