FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2024

The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation announced today that it will hold its inaugural Wall of Honour induction dinner on Monday, July 29, in Okotoks, Alta. The dinner is to be held in the Foothills Centennial Centre, which is attached to the Okotoks Centennial Arena. The foyer of the arena will be the home of the Wall of Honour, a display that, with its three video screens, will be unveiled that afternoon.

The evening will be highlighted by the induction of 45 past and present scouts into the Wall of Honour. Inductees will include five pioneers (1940-63), 17 from scouting’s early era (1963-79), 20 from the modern era and two from junior hockey. Also being inducted will be Garnet (Ace) Bailey, who was the Los Angeles Kings’ director of pro scouting when he died aboard the plane that crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Also on tap will be the inaugural presentation of the Ace Award, which the Foundation has struck in Bailey’s honour. Glen Sather, a Hockey Hall of Famer who had a lengthy relationship with Bailey, will make the presentation to someone who is deemed to have gone above and beyond the expected in helping the scouting community.

The gala will get started in mid-afternoon with a meet-and-greet for inductees and family members in the arena foyer. Later, they will be piped into the banquet hall for the dinner.

Live and silent auctions involving hockey memorabilia, including autographed NHL player jerseys, will also be part of the evening, as will Hot Stove sessions involving the likes of Ken Holland, the Edmonton Oilers’ president and general manager, and Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser, a practising physician who also is an assistant GM with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ticket information, including the cost of individual tickets and tables of eight, will be announced in the near future on the Foundation’s website: hockeyscoutsfoundation.com.

————

The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation is a non-profit organization comprising NHL scouts from Western Canada and a group of committed individuals from the hockey community. It feels a strong obligation to honour scouts, past and present, and a commitment.

————

Erin Ginnell, WCPHSF president
[email protected]

Garth Malarchuk, WCPHSF chairman of the board
[email protected]

Gregg Drinnan, WCPHSF editor and historian
[email protected]