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Some hockey players still playing in their octogenarian years are becoming hall of famers this weekend alongside retired NHL players.
The Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League is hosting a Canadian 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday to recognize active players and alumni who advocate for adult recreation hockey in Canada. The Saskatoon league previously hosted the event in 2018 and 2022.
Thirty-six hockey players aged 80 years and older will be inducted. Most of them play in the Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League, while the rest are from other parts of Western Canada.
Wilmer Ostapowich will be inducted posthumously in the builders category.
The inductees include three retired NHLers, including Terry Harper, who won five Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1960s and early ’70s. Garry Peters, who won a Cup with Montreal in 1965, and Bill Orban, who played 114 games with Chicago and Minnesota from 1967 to 1970, are also being inducted.
Players motivated to keep it up
Herb Brennen, president of the Canadian 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame and a hall inductee, said the program began in 2011 and they are now up to three induction ceremonies a year to keep the numbers manageable so that family members can be there.
“It’s important for most of us because our kids, our grandchildren, have never seen us play hockey and so it’s a family event,” he said. “I have been amazed at the reaction of people.
“You see the look on the family faces and the excitement that they have about Grandpa getting inducted into the hall.”
Brennen said he sees 70-year-olds who say they want to keep playing until they can be inducted.
He gets emotional when he talks about one inductee who managed to play into his 80s. He had a stroke and lost the ability to speak, but made sure he got to his induction ceremony.
Brennen said the criteria for entry into the hall includes being an active player at the age of 80. If someone created the opportunity for 80+ players to play, they can enter as a builder.
He said the inductees in Saskatoon this weekend will bring the total number in the hall to over 500.
“The main reason for us to have it is to encourage people to stay active,” he said. “The more active you are, the longer you’re going to hang around.”
Ken Crump is one of the Saskatoon area players being inducted this weekend. Crump has been in the Saskatoon 60+ league for 20 years and the league president for the last 13 years.
Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League president Ken Crump is a 2026 inductee into the Canadian 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame. (Don Somers/CBC)
Crump said the inductees are looking forward to Saturday’s ceremony.
“You wouldn’t believe how much they’re excited about this,” he said.
“It’s been on my bucket list to make sure I get inducted and play into my 80s. And now we have guys playing in their 90s. So I might have to play longer.”
He said many have played since they were five, six or seven years old and nobody wants to quit.
“They’re playing into their 80s. That is absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “And then we have four guys in the league playing in their 90s.”
‘Keep moving’
Stan Halliwell, 91, who was previously inducted in 2018, is one of the co-founders of the Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League. He still plays regularly.
Halliwell said he’s met hundreds of people through the league that he would never have known otherwise.
As for advice on how to keep playing hockey in your 90s? Halliwell credited his genes, rather than diet or exercise, saying he was just lucky.
“But I just say keep moving,” he said. “Don’t quit. Don’t go sitting in the hotel or at the A&W drinking coffee. Come out here and keep active.”
Saskatoon 60+ Hockey League co-founder Stan Halliwell stands in the league’s dressing room at Saskatoon’s Schroh Arena. (Don Somers/CBC)
Saturday’s festivities start at 1 p.m. CST at Merlis Belsher Place with a 75+ team playing an Under-15 girls hockey team from the Saskatoon Minor Hockey League.
Crump said it’s always a fun game that draws a big crowd.
“We’ve never beat the girls,” he said. “We’re going to beat them (Saturday).”
The Canadian 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame game follows at 2:30 p.m., showcasing hall of fame inductees from 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Inductees to be ‘knighted’
On Saturday evening, the formal hall of fame induction ceremony takes place at the Western Development Museum. The event is expected to draw about 750 people.
Brennen, the hall of fame’s president, said the event includes a “knighting” of the inductees. It used to be done with a hockey stick from the 1930s, but now they use a stick that’s been signed by inductees.
The list of inductees to enter the Canadian 80+ Hockey Hall of Fame on Saturday:
Peter RolstonGerry SimmondsBill OrbanJohn GrismerDennis KlathFred WilsonPeter KrysakMarvin MountneyEd HobdayAllan HaubrichSteve TerleskyRobert JuléArmond MeagherArvid NillsonDonald BuchkoRichard ZurburgBarry HeathVictor FortoskyGarry PetersJohn GarbuttBruce MeilickeLarry RachinskyKenneth McKnightKen CrumpJack MohrRay GossGordon PierceTerry GrindleJames SteeleHarvey BirnsTerry HarperEd HausseckerKaz PacholikGarry DetersAllan IrvineWilmer Ostapowich (posthumously)