THUNDER BAY – Chris Pronger has a Hart Trophy, Stanley Cup title, two Olympic gold medals and a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame to his name.
Now the Dryden native will be among the newest additions to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
The former NHL blueliner, along with racecar driver John Jones, NHLer Bob “Battleship” Kelly, and wrestler Lou Kok were the four athlete 2017 inductees into the hall. They will be joined by Ab Cava, a longtime hockey coach and president and governor of the Thunder Bay Senators and Thunder Cats, and Irene MacLeay, a fixture in the local swimming community, as builders.
Pronger was drafted second overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft by the Hartford Whalers and went on to play 1,167 career regular season games. His best individual season came in 1999-2000, when he captured both the Hart and Norris trophies as the league’s most valuable player and best defenceman. Pronger had his name etched onto the Stanley Cup as a member of the Anaheim Ducks championship run in 2007, and captured Olympic gold in 2002 and 2010. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
Jones, the 1983 and 1984 Canadian Formula Ford 2000 champion, ascended to the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) circuit in 1988 where he captured the series’ rookie year of the year award. His best finish at the Brickyard came the next year when Jones finished 11th in the 1989 Indianapolis 500.
Kelly, a left winger drafted 16th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, skated in more than 400 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. Over six seasons, Kelly netted 87 goals and appeared in the playoffs on five occasions.
Kok was an OFSAA champion wrestler at Lakeview High School and national junior medalist. During the 1980s he was a fixture on the Canadian national team, winning silver medals in free style and Greco-Roman at the 1987 Pan-Am Games in Indianapolis.
Cava spent more than 50 years around the Thunder Bay hockey scene, coaching junior hockey in the 1960s with the Port Arthur North Stars and Marrs and Thunder Bay Vulcans and Case Eagles. Cava spent the 1980s and 1990s as coach and president of the Thunder Bay Twins before holding senior positions with the Senators and Thunder Cats professional teams.
MacLeay has been a volunteer and official in swimming for more than 40 years. In 1974 she was the first woman in Ontario to earn Master Official status and has helped train and mentor officials. As well, she has served as an official at a number of national and international meets, including the 1986 Commonwealth Games.
The 36th annual Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony will be held on Sept. 30 and tickets are on sale at the hall.
