Love of hockey keeps Tixie Hannigan coming to the rink

A young hockey participant, dryland training previous to on-ice practice, stops at Hannigan’s Sports in the McIntyre Arena. Like hundreds of gamers earlier than him, he asks to get his skates sharpened. “How might you want them done?” requested Dan “Trixie” Hannigan. “Three quarters,” is the response. “Ah, you need to be a goalie,” Hannigan said with a large smile.

Hannigan has been a fixture at the rink for more than 20 years. It was 1979 when the person nearby hockey gamers recognized as Trixie began polishing skates. “It became only a part-time activity when I commenced because I used to get laid off in construction,” he said. “Then I took this up for the iciness, and it grew right into a complete-time business.” It turned out to be the best job for a person who loves hockey. “I played a touch bit,” Hannigan stated. “Everybody played hockey in the vintage days.

“I like looking at the children play, and I like hockey. You have a look at the kids, and you try and improve their recreation. So, when they come in to get their skates sharpened, I try to restore them so that you can perform a little bit better.” At age seventy-seven, Hannigan nonetheless enjoys coming to the rink. He loves being around the game. While the little shop sells gadgets like hockey tape and laces, skate polishing is his calling. “I don’t do as many as I used to because, in the old days, there weren’t that many locations. Now there are quite a few places and several oppositions,” he stated. “I additionally repair hockey devices… but infrequently everybody fixes stuff anymore, they simply buy new stuff.”

Hannigan is proudly from Schumacher. The Mac has continually been the center of his hockey universe. His eyes mild up when he talks nearby hockey. “When the Schumacher Bears have been playing within the all-Ontario juvenile championships, that changed into possibly my preferred time to look at hockey,” he stated. “That changed into 1968, ‘69, ’70. “I used to teach the more youthful children, the midgets, then we’d circulate them as much as a juvenile. For three years, the little metropolis of Schumacher went for the all-Ontario championships. They played throughout all of Ontario and had some pretty suitable hockey gamers come from out of here.

“In one’s days, they allowed you 4 pickups. So, whoever gained, they have been capable of positioning 4 extra players on their group to compete with the larger centers.” Back then, a neighborhood team taking part in a championship run was an occasion now not to be missed. “This region was once packed at 5 o’clock, and the sport didn’t start ‘til 7,” Hannigan recalled. “It was huge and accurate hockey. This changed into junior hockey then. It would be equal grade as what The Rock is now.” The area is packed with hockey recollections for Hannigan. He recalls them like they just happened yesterday.

“When the Timmins North Stars had their run, that changed into appropriate hockey, too,” he stated. “Then, in the early days, once I turned into a young person, the senior hockey became right here. The Mines League, which became almost like a pro league, had excellent hockey. “They might carry in guys to work (to play on the crew). There became the T&S Flyers, the Abitibi Eskimos, the Kap GMs, Rouyn was in for multiple years, and the South Porcupine Porkies.”

Hannigan’s Sports wasn’t usually positioned within the area. “I moved in right here approximately twenty years in the past,” he stated. “I had a store on Father Costello Drive and used to make up hockey sweaters — I did all the team uniforms. “When they constructed the skip, I downsized and was given out. I started this. This (skate sharpening) was my number one, anyway, when I started. Mass manufacturing got herein (for uniforms), in which I used to do the entirety hand-cut.”

Hannigan, not the handiest, loves hockey but also cares about the network. He has been amassing finances to help out local groups. “I raised my skate polishing to present a dollar to the poor,” he explained. “I put out a jar, and whilst The Rock is playing, humans will walk by way of and put cash in. “Last 12 months, we gave $5,500 to the needy, through distinctive agencies that want the cash. This year, we’re aiming a little bit higher.”

He has a hand-written list preserving the tune of donations, dates, and companies. “Instead of raising the fee, I made them pay the greenback,” he stated. “Soon, because it pays up, I get the meal vouchers for them, and they move and buy the meals. “There are a few agencies I supply quite a piece to, and they respect it.” Hannigan expertly finishes sharpening the skates for the younger goaltender. He has no plans to retire from his publication. His love for the sport is too robust to keep Trixie away from the rink.