Interview with Mike Schram

Partial Transcript: Yeah, born actually Niagara Falls, 56, uh, but moved to St. Catherine's relatively early. We spent, I think, 18 months in Thorold and then moved to St. Catherine's probably when I was about two uh, always wanted to get on skates, which I did by three or four, and then started playing hockey at four and five…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about his childhood and how he got into Hockey as a young kid. He also mentions his early relationship with the Garden City Arena and the different teams and areas he played in. 

Keywords: Brock; Garden City Arena; Ken Campbell; Niagara Falls; Peewee; St. Catharines; Summer hockey school; Vic Teal; childhood; family; hockey; minor hockey

Subjects: Growing up in the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Uh, probably four years old, five, five years old, I guess it would be the, the hockey school where the rink was. I'm not sure what the length of the rink is. I think it's about 190 or 1 95. I know it's shorter than regulation, but they used to have these small wooden…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses childhood memories within the arena. 

Keywords: Childhood; Garden City Arena dimensions; games; hockey school

Subjects: Growing up in the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Okay. Um, branch 24 Legion, which is, I think was where this was from. We didn't have novice all star teams. At that time. I started with a Pee-wee team. There were three of us that were really underage peewees. I think the age groups were 8, 9, 10. I am not quite clear…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses his experiences as a young Peewee player. He also mentions the different arenas within St. Catharines and their affects on his childhood. He also goes into his experiences as an older hockey player in the late 70’s and early 80s, playing in different leagues in St. Catharines and outside St. Catharines.

Keywords: AAA hockey teams; Banham; Bill Burgoyne Arena; Brock; Garden City Arena; Haig Bowl; Junior A; Merritton; Peewee, childhood; Rex Stimers Arena; hockey school

Subjects: Growing up and hockey in St. Catharines

Partial Transcript: Brock Badger's team was funny. I, uh, I get a lead on that cause I came to Brock in 77. I think there was a first year that I came back to Brock. I didn't play 77 and 78 and I should...

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses his experiences as a Brock student and a Brock Badger.

Keywords: Badgers; Brock; OUAA; administration; family

Subjects: Being a Brock Badger

Partial Transcript: There were some wrestling shows back in the day. Again, my dad who I, I can bring up later, cause he's got a chapter that was dedicated to him by Dennis Hull in this book, but we can get to that later. Uh, he was friends with, uh, the original Sheikh…

Segment Synopsis: Mike mentions the relationship between his father and different influential figures. He also discusses the different events he knew took place in the Garden City arena, including wresting, car club shows, craft shows.

Keywords: Dennis Hull; Rex Stimers; Wrestling; art shows; car club shows; craft shows; family; junior hockey; summer hockey school; teaching

Subjects: Different events that took place in the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Ice Skating shows. No, I never went, oh, concerts never went to ice skating shows, but did see a couple of concerts. Uh, one was the rush. Does something rush does the garden city or something...

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about the Rush concerts that he saw in the arena.

Keywords: Bull Rush; Concerts; Dundas Arena.; Frank Moreno; Garden City Arena; John Kersey; Mahogany Rush; Rush

Subjects: Concerts in the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Oh yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of them that I've gotten to meet, gotten to know, and that my dad was very involved in hockey in the city. Uh, and we knew the junior players that went through because, a lot of them would hit us up for ice time…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about the different hockey legends he got to meet due to his father’s connections and involvement with hockey. 

Keywords: Bobby Hall; Brock; Dennis Hull; Don Schram; Doug Favelle; Elmer Vasco; Pierre Pilotte; Rick Dudley; connections; family; friendship; hockey legends; hockey school; junior players, Rex Stimers

Subjects: Hockey legends that have passed through the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Yeah, he, uh, he's been in, he was in the city for a long time He passed in 91. I was involved in sports and hockey sometimes too much for my own good. Um, but he, um, he and Vic Teal and Ken Campbell, Ken Campbell was, uh, had something to do with the Chicago Blackhawks At that time there was scouting department…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses his father’s involvement with hockey, and how the hokey summer school started. Mike also talks about how due to his father, he grew up surrounded by hockey.

Keywords: Chicago Blackhawks; childhood; family; hockey; hockey summer school; minor hockey; scouting

Subjects: Getting into hockey; Hockey and family

Partial Transcript: Uh they're all because my mum was such a pack rat. She kept everything for, you know, from pictures to articles. I still got things from when I was at prince Phillips school and you'd be track and field, she kept the thing of all my ribbons and still have them and my old report cards and stuff. She would keep them in envelopes...

Segment Synopsis: Mike describes the different images he had within his collection that his mom kept throughout the years.

Keywords: Banham; Chicago Blackhawks; Garden City Arena; Peewees; childhood; family; junior hockey; memories

Subjects: Mike’s childhood memories

Partial Transcript: There's a few of us. Yeah. There's a few of us and mostly it's holdovers from the Teepee years. So, it's all older people, you know? The Teepees were really big here when I was just baby at that time. Cause they were winning the championships…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about the Chicago Blackhawks and the connection between the Hawks and St. Catharines. 

Keywords: Blackhawks; Dennis Hull; Doug Jarrett; Fincups; Freddy Stanfield; Marcel Dionne; Teepees; Toronto Leafs; junior Blackhawks; summer hockey school

Subjects: The connection between St. Catharines and the Chicago Blackhawks

Partial Transcript: It's funny when you're a kid, because the Hawks played on it because the Blackhawks would play maybe an exhibition game. Like the Chicago, the big team would play an exhibition on it. As kids we were mesmerized by it. We thought, oh, just play a garden city arena, every time…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about the Garden City Arena and how it differed from other arenas. He also talks about how he saw the arena as a child and how it shifted as he got older. 

Keywords: Blackhawks; Brock; Chicago Blackhawks; Chicago Stadium; Garden City Arena; Junior A; Maple Leaf Gardens; Meridian; Rankin; Redwings; Zambonis; childhood; renovations

Subjects: The Garden City arena and other arenas

Partial Transcript: The Chicago Blackhawks? Yeah, the Chicago Blackhawks used to come in for about a week. I think just for quick training camp and stuff generally as prospects, I guess that would come in, but they'd always have one day or two where, you know, the big guys, like Bobby Hall come in, they'd do autograph sessions, things like that…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses the Chicago Blackhawks, the games the played, and the different players he saw.

Keywords: AHL; Bobby Hall; Chicago Blackhawks; NHL; Toronto Maple Leafs; training

Subjects: The Garden City Arena and the Chicago Blackhawks

Partial Transcript: Yeah, no, they're not very popular now, but back in the day, that was a big trip for the terror state. The kids. Remember going with the neighbors and his dad and stuff. My dad dragged us off to the circus and they had everything, there elephants and whatever…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses the circus that he saw in the Garden City Arena.

Keywords: Garden City Arena; animals; childhood; circus; community; family

Subjects: The Garden City Arena and the circus

Partial Transcript: Yeah, try to remember the last time I went to something, well, I think the last time that I was in the arena was when the ice dogs were still playing until they get over to the new Meridian center. So, we still go up and watch the Ice Dogs games…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about how different the Garden City Arena is now, especially the players and the teams and their evolution throughout the years.

Keywords: Brock; Garden City Arena; Ice Dogs; hockey; hockey equipment; saints

Subjects: The evolution of the Garden City Arena and its teams

Partial Transcript: It's funny. Like I, back to when we had the junior A teams back, when I remember being in those blue seats at the one end and it was standing on. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if fire marshals. I don't really think they cared. It was just like they'd have 4,000 packed into that old barn and they'd be three deep in the standing room sections…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses the different teams that have passed through the Garden City Arena. 

Keywords: Fincups; Garden City Arena; Hamilton; Ice Dogs; Junior A; Junior Hawks; NHL; Petro Angel; Rex Stimers; equipment; hockey

Subjects: The teams of the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: Wow. That's a tough one. Cause there's a lot of them. I remember like St. Catherine's summer hockey school days as a kid. I remember like with the pictures they've got with Bobby Hall and, that was like, he was my idol for crying out loud and, uh, meeting players like Bobby or who came in, who was friends with Freddy Stanfield…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about his favourite memories in the Garden City Arena, particularly the different players he saw that passed through St. Catharines and his childhood in the arena.

Keywords: Blackhawks; Bobby Hall; Freddy Stanfield; NHL; childhood; hockey; junior games; summer hockey school

Subjects: growing up with hockey and the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: I went to a couple of junior B games. I never played junior B in St. Catharines of all things because I went to the year after I played the midget, I ended up going over to Buffalo, to play for a year, uh, that had more to do with just the home situation with my parents and stuff splitting up…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about his experiences with Junior B teams despite never playing with any.

Keywords: Brock; Junior B; hockey; midget

Subjects: Junior B hockey games

Partial Transcript: Yeah. They, they used to play against RCM, whatever the Royal military college was. And they had a bunch of different schools, Brock played with against, uh, the years before that a lot exhibition group games. And they were in some sort of league. I'm not sure what it was cause I didn't play with them. But the year that we, that I played with them or started it started played one year. Yeah. Oh, OUAA division one. So, we played U of T uh, York, uh, generally, home and away games. Uh, we were a budget team…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about being a Badger and his experiences on the team during a unique time period in their history.

Keywords: Badgers; Brock; OUAA; RCM; costs; hockey; teamwork

Subjects: Being a Brock Badger

Partial Transcript: It was fun, you know, like we didn't fill the stands by any stretch, but the people that came out and used to have a good time, I think some of them are at that time were getting in a few, uh, power puffs or their own. Things like that. And this was back before marijuana was a lot more acceptable, but you could smell it going through the rink in that…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about his experiences with being a Badger and his experiences during the games.

Keywords: Badgers; brock; hockey; home games

Subjects: Playing as a Brock Badger

Partial Transcript: Again that depended, I went to Ryerson, they didn't have hardly any fans at all. They had a building. They played out of had just, it looked like a couple of bleachers on the side. Then you played U of T at the varsity arena. They'd have a few for, and for us, of course, they'd have more people in if they were playing against one of the rivals like York or Guelf or that, but they'd have more fans than we would…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses the different schools he played against and the different fans each of these teams had. 

Keywords: Badgers; Brock; Garden City Arena; OUAA; games; hockey

Subjects: Hockey and its fans

Partial Transcript: You would think because it'd be smaller. And if we had a competitive team, it might've been, cause I know the junior teams and the guys would say it was an advantage because they know how the bounces went. Uh, factor of playing a smaller rink. Some of the plays that teams would use on a bigger rank wouldn't work with us. It didn't matter. We weren't that good…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about how playing in the Garden City Arena affected him as a Brock Badger. 

Keywords: Badgers; Brock; Garden City Arena; hockey

Subjects: Playing in the Garden City Arena as a Brock Badger

Partial Transcript: Uh, gee, I don't know. It was a good time. I mean, we, we knew what we were, we weren't going to destroy anybody, but we'd go on different trips playing in different places and it was fine. You know, we have laughs and kibitz on the bus and whatever, and have a good time. We all had each other's backs as best we could. Uh, I don't remember anybody getting…

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about his time as a Badger and the teamwork that went into it. 

Keywords: Dennis Hull; Ridley; Team Canada; badgers; brock; hockey; memories; teamwork

Subjects: Playing hockey with the Brock Badgers

Partial Transcript: It'd be interesting. Cause, uh, the, the. The good OUAA teams now would, would beat the junior B teams for, without a doubt. Hold on. We play, would've been a good game as against the Falcons because we weren't, we had some guys that had played some B and that, but it would have…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses the differences between being a Badger and the Junior B team. 

Keywords: Falcons; Junior B; NCAA; OUAA; badgers; brock; midgets

Subjects: Junior B teams and University teams

Partial Transcript: I think that the Falcons have always had a strong following, they, because they're always in the playoffs and they've always won championships, golden horseshoe championships. So, I know they'd play on Friday nights and especially around that place where there's no parking, like it would be just cars everywhere. So I think they drew better than a lot of the A games of the Fincups, at least back in that time…

Segment Synopsis: Mike discusses how much more popular the St. Catharines Falcons were in comparison to the Fincups.

Keywords: Falcons; Fincups; Garden City Arena; games; golden horseshoe championships; hockey

Subjects: St. Catharines Falcons and their popularity

Partial Transcript: Well, considering the team that we had, I'm probably happier, we played in the, the old barn because some of those fast teams would have just really destroyed us on that bigger surface. Yeah, I think, I think we just adapted the garden city arena was our home. I guess it felt like that for Brock when they moved up to the Thorold rink, but I don't know how they, they drew and stuff up there if they were any better or worse….

Segment Synopsis: Mike talks about how it was better for his team that they played in the Garden City Arena. 

Keywords: Badgers; Brock; Garden City Arena; Thorold; hockey; minor league

Subjects: Playing in the Garden City Arena

Partial Transcript: No, I was just going to say on this, there's a good story. I won't read it, but, um, it's how my dad and there was there it's very short, but it starts in the, but it just talks about where he met, but how the, the. Yeah. This little piece in here, and I'll just, you know, a quick precis on it was, was back in the day for the Hawks games. Of course…

Segment Synopsis: Mike tells a story regarding his dad and the Queensway Hotel that was a popular establishment back then. 

Keywords: Blackhawks; Dennis Hull; Dionne; Garden City Arena; Queensway Hotel; family