The legendary Glen Sather presents a shocked Dennis Beyak with the Ace Award during the WCPHSF induction dinner in Okotoks.

Garth Malarchuk (right), the chairman of the WCPHS Foundation board, honours Gregg Drinnan with the Ace Award in the Falkland, B.C., Hotel. Yes, there was a dartboard to the left and a pool table in front of them.

There was a definite northern Manitoba flavour to the inaugural presentation of its Ace Award by the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation. The award, in honour of the late Garnet (Ace) Bailey, is presented annually by the Foundation to a member of the scouting fraternity or someone involved with the scouting community for contributions above and beyond what may have been expected. The Foundation announced during its inaugural Wall of Honour induction dinner in Okotoks on July 30 that the first Ace Award was going to Dennis Beyak and Gregg Drinnan, neither of whom has done a lot of scouting but both of whom have been around hockey for a long time.

 Beyak, a native of Winnipegosis, Man., retired in the spring of 2024, ending a lengthy play-by-play career that began with the Flin Flon Bombers in 1970. He later dabbled in team management with a couple of WHL teams and twice chaired Memorial Cup tournament host committees. Drinnan, who was born in Sherridon, Man., and raised in Lynn Lake, had his sports reporting career come to an abrupt end in January 2014 with the closure of the Kamloops Daily News. A career that began in 1971 also included stints with the Brandon Sun, Winnipeg Tribune and Regina Leader-Post.

“Both Dennis and Gregg have been tremendous assets, not only to our foundation but to the scouting community as a whole,” Erin Ginnell, the foundation’s president, said. “The Ace Award is dedicated to people who are affiliated with NHL scouting and go above and beyond to assist scouts with their roles, and both of these gentlemen have done that for many years. They have been invaluable to the scouting foundation and to the entire scouting fraternity.”

Bailey was the Los Angeles Kings’ director of pro scouting. He was en route to training camp on United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He was extremely popular and beloved among his scouting brethren, which is why the foundation’s board of directors chose to strike an award in his honour. As it reads on Bailey’s Wall of Honour bio: His “untimely passing left a profound void throughout the scouting fraternity, but his legacy as a dedicated and committed scout lives on through the Ace Award that serves as a testament to his remarkable contributions towards the game of hockey.”

Glen Sather, a legendary NHL coach and executive and a Hockey Hall of Famer who had a lengthy association with Bailey, presented Beyak with his award at the dinner in Okotoks. Drinnan was unable to attend, so Garth Malarchuk, the chairman of the board, gave him his award in the bar at the Falkland Hotel, a watering hole not unfamiliar to the scouting fraternity in B.C.  A video with a message from Ace’s widow, Katherine, also was part of the presentation in Okotoks. She expressed her thanks to the Foundation for honouring her late husband, and pointed out his love for helping children and giving back to the community.  Sather also made reference to that, saying that Bailey was a great teammate and a tremendous person with a huge heart and a special spot for sick children.

The presentation was part of an emotional part of evening’s program, coming as it did immediately after the playing of an In Memorial video that drew tears and a standing ovation from those in attendance. “A huge thank you to the Foundation,” Beyak said. “To be recognized for contributions to the NHL scouting profession is truly an honour. And sharing the initial Ace Award with Gregg Drinnan makes it extra special. Gregg and I go back a long way. We have both chatted with and interviewed many NHL scouts. For me, these were the people who were giving of their time and willing to come on the radio and talk hockey between periods of Western Hockey League games. “And a little about Garnet ‘Ace’ Bailey . . . always a smile and a friendly hello. Loved what he did and loved the people he was around. A terrific individual for the Foundation to name an award after.” Beyak, one of the Foundation’s associate directors, emceed the startup banquet on Sept. 30 and the Wall of Honour induction dinner on July 30. In both instances, he was instrumental in putting together the evening’s agenda and, as the emcee, was key in keeping things on time.

Drinnan, the foundation’s editor and historian, was recruited by Malarchuk in the summer of 2023. “To be one of the first recipients of the Ace Award is a real thrill,” Drinnan said, “and to share it with Dennis, who I have known for a long time, makes it that much more special. “Also, it really is special to be involved with the Foundation in honouring so many scouts who have given so much of their lives to the game and their profession. To be part of the only organization in Canada that is remembering and honouring scouts — don’t forget that there isn’t anyone in the Hockey Hall of Fame strictly for scouting — really means a lot to me. “To be an Ace Award recipient really is humbling.”

There is a story involving wives — Bev Beyak and Dorothy Drinnan — behind each of the recipients, too. Beyak said his story could be titled “Mr. Oblivious.” “One day in February,” he recounted, “as Bev and I enjoyed a beautiful Arizona afternoon by the pool, her cell phone rang. She was in the pool, so I answered. It was Garth Malarchuk calling to tell Bev about the award to make sure she would be attending the banquet. Quick-thinking Garth said the reason for the call was to make sure Bev knew that she was more than welcome to join me at the July banquet. “Instead of wondering how he got her cell number and why he was calling so far in advance of the event, I thought ‘well, that’s nice of him’ and went back to the beverage I was enjoying and the book I was reading. “Shortly after that Bev and Garth did talk about the Ace Award, but she kept that information to herself. In June, Bev and I were at Garth and Donna’s for coffee and to discuss my emcee role and the banquet in general. Garth gave me a sample program. It had Ace Bailey’s picture, bio and information on the award on the left side of the page, pictures and bios of Gregg and me on the right side of the page. Of course, how obvious. Never registered.

“So at some point Garth realized that I hadn’t put two and two together. And it remained a secret. He did tell me one day there were co-winners and that Gregg was one of them. He was telling me only because Gregg wouldn’t be able to make the event. My thinking was that Garth and the board wanted to keep it quiet therefore would keep the other winner a secret. Which I was fine with. I didn’t need to know.  “At the same time, I was happy for Gregg who has done so much for the foundation. His writing brilliance has been such a benefit . . . his work on all the scout bios, foundation information that gets sent out to NHL teams, sponsors, inductees, etc. “It’s now four or five days prior to the Wall of Honour inaugural banquet, and I pass on this advice to Garth: ‘I don’t need to know who the co-winner is, but make sure the camera people know what table he is at, so they can capture that initial reaction.’ Garth even tells me how the box the award was in was damaged by security when he brought it back from the draft in Vegas . . . and luckily the award wasn’t damaged.”

And then it was the evening of the banquet and it was time for Sather to make the presentation. Yes, Beyak was beyond surprised and, he admitted, speechless to find out that the other recipient was him. “I can be surprised, but speechless — not a chance. Ask me what time it is and I will tell you how to make a watch,” he said. “And, yes, the camera people captured the ‘initial reaction.’ Even as Craig Button was talking about the winner, I was thinking how great the night had been. How special the In Memoriam video that Billy Melville put together was, and how nice it was to have a message from Katherine Bailey. And then to have Glen Sather and Craig Button on stage for the presentation, boy, the recipient couldn’t ask for much more. And I couldn’t.”

You can bet that Beyak’s reaction was a topic of conversation later as that night turned into the following morning. “We had some laughs about the entire ordeal later that night at the bar at the Calgary Sheraton Cavalier,” Beyak said. “Garth and a few guys started connecting ‘the obvious dots,’ this after Bev and I had a chuckle about it at the banquet. “The award sits on our mantel above the fireplace, nicely displayed, just waiting for guests to ask about the award . . . a story I am proud and very willing to tell.  “Again, to the Foundation, THANK YOU!!!”

As for Drinnan, he and Dorothy, who live just east of Kamloops, didn’t get a phone call by a pool. But it never struck him as strange that Malarchuk frequently would call on Foundation business and spend a few minutes speaking with Dorothy.

“I just assumed they were making small talk . . . you know, talking about the weather and getting to know each other a bit,” Drinnan said. “Never in a million years would I have thought it was about the Ace Award.” Malarchuk even got Dorothy to help him put together a bio of her husband that will be on the Foundation’s website and the Wall of Honour. “Garth finally had to tell me in order to get us to Falkland for the presentation,” Drinnan said. “And let me tell you . . . that few minutes in Falkland is the absolute highlight of my 50-plus years around the game of hockey.”