Small town arenas are often the focal point of the community and that was the case Tuesday night in Belmont.
It seemed the entire population and then some were on hand to welcome hometown hockey hero Brian Willsie and the Stanley Cup.
Willsie is now Director of Player Development with the Avalanche and he says the visit was a great way to repay loyal family and friends.
An alumni of the Belmont Minor Hockey Association, Brian Willsie’s next stop in his winding hockey career was the Jr. B St. Thomas Stars.
In 1995, Willsie was on the same line as St. Thomas native Joe Thornton to help the Stars capture the Western Jr. B. championship.
myFM asked Willsie if he ever thought he would bring Lord Stanley’s cup to Belmont before Thornton accompanied the silverware to St. Thomas.
Willsie appeared in 381 NHL games over 10 seasons with three teams.
And he hopes to bring the Stanley Cup back some time in the near future as Director of Player Development with the Avalanche. A team with which he spent part of four seasons.
The next stop for Willsie and the cup is Guelph where he played in two Memorial Cup tournaments with the OHL’s Guelph Storm.
Written by Ian McCallum
