Blades To Induct Four Into Hall of Fame

Four new names will be added to the Blenheim Blades Hall of Fame this fall.  

The team will hold its annual Blades Alumni Night on November 26 at the Blenheim Memorial Arena.

Once again there will be three alumni games – 3, 4 and 5 p.m. – followed by the Blades playing the Wallaceburg Lakers in Provincial Junior Hockey League Stobbs Division action at 6:15.

Prior to the Blades-Lakers game the organization will induct four people into the team’s Hall of Fame with almost all that they did for the team was done as volunteers.

The four – Dr. Tim Sanford, Mitch Pickering, Craig Smolders and Ray Bernicky – all played significant roles with the club over the last 17 years.

Sanford, a Blenheim native, played with the Blades and captained the team before moving to a role as head trainer in 1999. He continued with the club in that role, and joined the executive before becoming an assistant coach for the 2005-06 season.

Smolders, also of Blenheim, worked with the team from 1996 through 2008 beginning in the scorer’s booth before moving on to being equipment manager. He then joined the executive and was the team’s president from 2001 to 2003 2003.

Pickering, from Ridgetown, came on board with the Blades at the request of then head coach Bob McNear in the fall of 2000 and looked after equipment before becoming the team’s trainer. He was later named General Manager and joined the executive, and continues to scout for the Blades.

Bernicky, originally from Chatham and now St. Thomas, joined the Blades for the 2006-07 season as equipment manager before moving up to trainer and then joining the executive until he moved in 2010. He was also a major part of the Blades volunteers who worked bingos and other fund raising events.