The Guelph Sports Hall of Fame will induct two hockey, a horseman, a dedicated sports reporter and a national champion ringette team in May.
Entering the hall at the annual Kiwanis Sports Celebrity DInner on May 20 will be hockey players Paul Brydges and Brad Pirie in the athlete category, longtime local sports reporter Rob Massey and horse trainer Ben Wallace in the builder’s category, and the national champion 2014 Guelph Sodrox Predators in the team category.
The inductees were announced by the city on Thursday.
Tickets for the are on sale now through eventbrite and cost $100 per adult, $70 for past inductees, and $35 for students 17 years of age and younger.
Brydges played in the Guelph Minor Hockey system before being drafted by the Guelph Platers in 1982. He played 243 games for the Platers and was captain of the last Guelph junior team to win the Memorial Cup in 1986.
After a professional career that included being on the AHL champion Rochester Americans in 1987, he played 15 games in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres. Brydges went on to be an assistant coach with the Guelph Storm and the Guelph Gryphons.
Pirie played four years in the OHL with the Peterborough Petes from 1972–1976 and was a member of the 1974 World Junior team.
He played one game of pro for the Central Hockey League’s Dallas Black Hawks then made the decision to play with the University of Guelph for three seasons, where he was a three-time All-Canadian. He capped his playing career by being a member of the Canadian Olympic team in 1980.
Massey has covered local sports for 33 years, 30 of those as the sports editor of the former Guelph Mercury newspaper and most recently through his Guelph Sports Journal web site, where he continues to cover local high school, university and amateur sports.
In 2019 Massey was the recipient of the prestigious Fred Sgambati Media Award by U SPORTS, presented annually to a member of the media in recognition of major contributions to the development and growth of Canadian university sport.
Wallace is approaching 50 years as an accomplished standardbred horse trainer in Ontario. From 1996 through 2013, he recorded a remarkable string of 18 consecutive $1 million plus purse earnings per season. In 1996, Wallace was honoured as the Ontario Jockey Club trainer of the year.
In 2002 he won $4.5 million in purse money.
Wallace’s horses have totalled almost 2,000 career wins in his career.
The 2014 U16AA Guelph Sodrox Predators won the U16 provincial and national titles.
Emma Eccles and Samantha Gorgi were named to the tournament First All-Star Team at the Canadian National Ringette Championships and Nicole Shaw and Mariah Coverdale were named to the Second All-Star Team.
Over the course of the season the team had a stunning 64-0-1 record, scoring 492 goals and allowing 171.
The team had a perfect record at the provincial and national championships, defeating Central Alberta 6-5 in the championship game.
