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For three straight years, from 1964 through to 1967, the Laurentian Voyageurs men’s hockey team competed at the national university championships, proud representatives of the OIAA (Ontario Intercollegiate Athletic Association), a league they would hold dominion over no less than six times in the twelve year history of the loop (1959-1971).
For as much as many a talented hockey player would don the blue and gold through that era, a singular name emerges over and over again when you talk with those who took the ice proudly adorned with the Voyageurs emblem: Richard “Scratch” Proceviat.
Turns out these lads had something of an eye for talent.
Though his path might be among the more unconventional ones in the brotherhood of professional hockey gents, Proceviat would work his way through a handful of seasons in the minors before the door opened more widely with the advent of the WHA (World Hockey Association) in 1972.
Five years later, he would return home from the Indianapolis Racers with no less than 321 WHA games under his belt, missing out by a couple of years on the arrival in Indianapolis of one Wayne Gretzky.
Not that this would have fazed the now retired police constable, born in Whitemouth (MB) but moving to Sudbury, along with his older brother Gerry and family, while still quite young.
Hockey was never the “at all cost” end goal for Proceviat.
“Growing up in Garson, it was baseball and hockey – that’s all there was, really,” said the 78 year-old who would suit up in one singular NHL game with the St Louis Blues. “I think most of us were better at baseball than we were at hockey.”
Yet it was over on the rink at William Street where Proceviat would hone the skills that gave him the versatility to line up on either defense (his primary position throughout much of his career) or forward, where he stepped in to score 18 goals in 58 games as a member of the Kansas City Blues (CHL) in 1970-1971.
Blessed with a pound for pound toughness but an honesty to his game that was admired by teammates and opponents alike, Proceviat began making a name for himself, just 16 years old as he skated with the Garson-Falconbridge Native Sons and head coach Trevor Boyce in a league replete with 20/21 year olds.
“If you can skate, it was hard for them to catch you,” he said with a smile, recalling a time when it was next to impossible to avoid the fisticuffs – at least if one wanted to stick around. “The older guys looked after you – but I could fight a little bit too. You stood up for yourself once then everyone respected you.”
With links to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, the Native Sons would find scouts at their games with some regularity, the likes of Bob Davidson (a man credited with assembling much of the four Stanley Cup winning teams in the sixties) making the trek to Sudbury from the GTA.
Attending training camp with the Toronto Marlies in the ensuing fall, Proceviat opted instead to focus on a post-secondary degree, running against the grain of what others were doing in the sport. “I was 18 going on 19 when I went to Laurentian,” he said. “I was the youngest guy on the team and when I finished, after three years, according to Jack Porter (head coach), I was still the youngest guy on the team.”
Despite moving on to play ten years in the pros, Proceviat remained ever-lastingly grateful for the learnings of a man who was far ahead of his time.
“Jack Porter was the best coach I ever played for,” said Proceviat, his assertion filled with the conviction that it wasn’t even all that close. “He was so well prepared, practices were so organized – plus he was just like one of the guys.”
In fact, it was one of his more creative drills that allowed Proceviat to stand out from the crowd.
Porter had picked up a drill from Father David Bauer, a workout aimed a really developing the strength of a skater. “You would wrap the stick across the small of your back and then start to stride, really long strides,” recalled L.U. teammate Stu Thomas, in a story penned some four years ago.
“Everybody was kind of getting used to the striding and, all of a sudden, “Scratch” is lapping everyone. He’s lapping guys like Joe Modeste and Edgar Gagne - and they were quick. You could hear his skates digging into the ice, the power in his legs. The best skater on the team showed exactly why he was the best skater on the team.”
It would have been difficult for others not to notice.
After attending a training camp with the Detroit Red Wings, Proceviat was ticketed for the ECHL. Thankfully, coach Porter was still well acquainted with Sudbury icon Moe Bartoli, the man around whom the Columbus Checkers (IHL) revolved in those days.
A very productive season (5G 43A in 78 GPs) would lead the St Louis Blues to add Proceviat their prospects list. And for as much as the northern man would butt heads with then coach/GM Scotty Bowman, his willingness to gladly step away from it all setting him apart from the crowd, his three year run with the Kansas City Blues paved the way to his WHA career.
“The WHA was the best thing to happen to hockey,” said Proceviat. “I really enjoyed my time in the WHA.”
And so he should.
His first two years with the Chicago Cougars would see Proceviat paired on the blueline and rooming with the character that was long-time OHL coach Larry Mavety. In Indianapolis, he would reunite with Garson boy Roger Coté on defense, with future Stanley Cup champion Jacques Demers behind the bench.
By the end of the 1976-1977 WHA season, Proceviat was ready to call it a career, thankful for all that hockey had provided him.
"The people you meet, the people you play with; every town you went to, all you had to do was give an effort and they appreciated you.”
And nowhere was “Scratch” Proceviat likely appreciated more than as the catalyst to a Laurentian Voyageurs hockey dynasty of the mid-sixties – certainly by those at his side.