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Stayner native pens love poem about hockey lifers

Tale of the Wednesday Niters is an ode to the game that captures young and old and all those in between
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Brian Dickey with his book Tale of the Wednesday Niters, which is an poem in verse telling the story of his life-long love for the game of hockey. Erika Engel/CollingwoodToday

The good ole’ hockey game is the best game Brian Dickey can name, and it’s also the best time he can rhyme.

The Stayner native turned Collingwood resident has just self-published a book called Tale of the Wednesday Niters, which is a rhyming verse poem about his life-long love of hockey, including his NHL dreams and the old-timers league he played with on Wednesday nights.

The poem is brought to life by illustrations by Steve Nease, an Oakville-based editorial cartoonist and comic strip artist.

“I love the game of hockey, And so do all my chums. There’s nothing we would rather play When Old Man Winter comes,” reads the start of the book.

Dickey has loved the game since he was a child, learning to skate and walk at the same time. He grew up in Stayner where he skated on frozen ponds and at the legion.

He played, coached, and refereed games from childhood to adulthood.

“I don’t remember a time I didn’t have skates on,” he said. “It’s a big part of my life.”

The book was a few decades in the making. It started as a poem he wrote when he was asked to be the master of ceremonies for a hockey fundraising event. Someone suggested he turn it into a book, and the idea stayed on a shelf in Dickey’s mind for nearly 30 years.

It is his first book, but not his first sports-themed poem. Dickey used to submit sports columns for the local weekly newspaper and those ended up being in rhyming verse.

“I like to see the fun in things,” he said. “This (book) just made sense to me in rhyme and it just started to come to me.”

Dickey’s story is told from the point of view of him as a child and eventually as a member of the Wednesday Niters, a group of adults playing hockey at 11 p.m. at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena -– affectionately called “The Barn.”

In fact, all the guys also have nicknames, some have replaced first names altogether.

“Only my wife calls me Brian,” said Dickey.

Everyone else knows him as 'Bub'.

Although Dickey has been off the ice for a few years due to a knee injury, the book takes him back to the ice and the changeroom on Wednesday nights.

“It’s all about the friendships and how our love of the game comes from our childhood,” said Dickey. “It still means a lot to guys who are 80 to 85 years old. Hockey is what they look forward to.”

Hockey has history, he said, and it's packed full of memories.

“It means so much to so many different age groups for so many different reasons,” said Dickey.

He met his first wife on the rink. She wore figure skates and twirled around at one end of the rink, while he and his friends passed a puck at the other end.

“Sometimes a puck would end-up on the other side if I wanted to look at the pretty girl in figure skates,” he said.

Today, he watches his grandchildren play hockey.

The book – a hardcover – came out in November 2019. Dickey decided to self-publish it to keep his poem in its entirety and he worked with Nease to come up with illustrations to complement the verses.

Profits from the sale of the book will be donated to the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. Dickey’s step-daughter was diagnosed with Dystonia, which is a neurological condition affecting motor skills.

The book is $20 and is available for sale at Blue Mountain Chrysler, Chatterson’s Home Furniture, Collingwood Real Food Market, Mary’s Pharmacy, and Play it Again Sports in Collingwood. There are also copies for sale in Stayner at Lafreniere Motors, Stayner Home Hardware, and Stayner Rental.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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