Outdoor rink Generations

Three Generations of Turcotte's - Butch Turcotte on the ice at the Labreche Forum with Grandson's Gordie (middle) and Devan (right) with his son and former NHLer Darren Turcottes's skates in the foreground. Photo by Chris Dawson.

When winter starts taking its claim over the region chances are Butch Turcotte is already outside preparing for another year of hockey on the Labreche Forum.

For more than 30 years the now the retired school teacher and former Junior Trappers coach has been maintaining his outdoor rink nestled near the shoreline of the Parks creek in West Ferris.

This year some of the neighbourhood kids claim the Labreche Forum had good nice about a month before any other rink in town.

“Once I got the rink going years ago I had no problem up keeping it but now you get a warm day and it gets a little tougher but I baby this thing and I spend a lot of time on it,” said Turcotte.

“ Just a couple of weeks ago I flooded it four times just after that warm spell just to bring it back up.”

Originally made with railway ties as boards, the Labreche Forum has become one of the most historical rinks in North Bay. It’s the place where his son Darren Turcotte forged his 12-year NHL career – and a place other NHL players like Kevin and Derian Hatcher skated on back when they were Darren’s teammates with the North Bay Centennials.

“I think the biggest thing it was somewhere we could go after school and go out and have fun with my friends,” said Turcotte reflecting back on the rink that he learned to play hockey on.

“Back then this was our form of entertainment in the winter and we looked forward to it getting out here as soon as school was out.”

When working on the rink, Butch even wears an old pair of Graf skates that Darren used to wear when he played for the Hartford Whalers. He jokingly tells Darren the old skates won’t allow him to go into the corners when he wears them.

The Next Generation

Now the next generation of Turcotte’s is enjoying the outdoor rink. Devan Turcotte now laces up the blades to enjoy the outdoor rink just like his Dad did back in the 1980’s.

Devan appreciates the work his Grandfather does to keep this rink going because he never had a chance to play on outdoor rinks while growing up in cities like San Jose, California and Nashville, Tennessee when his Dad was still playing in the National Hockey League.

“I used to come up for Christmas and I always used to look forward to coming to this rink,” said the forward with the St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears High School Hockey team who now brings his teammates to the rink.

“In Nashville you are lucky if they get 3 or 4 inches of snow all year but coming here on the ice is fun because you can go on the ice whenever you want – stay on forever and you go in when it’s cold and you have Grandma making you hot chocolate so it’s good.”

Butch is also helping his other grandson Gordie learn to play hockey on the rink. Recently he painted a big “Gordie 4” at centre ice at the Labreche Forum in celebration of Gordie’s fourth birthday.

But Butch doesn’t maintain this backyard rink only for the family. He also enjoys seeing kids around the neighbourhood enjoying the game the way it’s supposed to be played – for fun.

“I do this for the kids in the neighborhood they are awesome,” admits Butch.

“They respect that I have a rink here and they are like sons to me and just to see them have fun out makes me feel good and makes me feel younger.”