In celebration of 45 years of men’s hockey at The University of Western Ontario, the Mustangs men’s hockey team held the inaugural Western Mustangs Walk of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Greek Canadian Club.
The newly established Walk of Fame enshrines inductees at the Thompson Recreation and Athletic Centre.
INAUGURAL INDUCTEES:
Builder
Ron Watson
Western’s first varsity men’s hockey coach (1965-85) During his 20 years at the helm of the program, UWO posted a 200-93-32 overall record and made five trips to the OUA Queen’s Cup – losing to York by a hair in 1984-85. In 1972-73, Watson was runner-up for CIAU Coach of the Year honors and, off the ice, was a founding member of the Canadian Hockey Coaches Association (CHCA) in 1969. In 1973, he took over the CHCA as it was floundering and re-established it as the Canadian University Hockey Coaches Association (CUHCA). He was elected CUHCA President in 1976. Watson took on several administrative roles for the Mustang program including serving as Coordinator of Intercollegiate Athletics (1986-88), Acting Chair of Intercollegiate Athletics (1988-89), Associate Dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology (1989-97) and Director of the School of Kinesiology.
Players
Pete Fraser: First Western men’s hockey All-Canadian in team history and all-time goal scoring leader
Billy Smith: Second Western men’s hockey All-Canadian in team history
Mike Tomlak: Second all-time points leader, former NHLer
Teams
1964-65 Western Mustangs: first varsity men’s hockey team in Western Mustangs history
1994-95 Western Mustangs: first Western Mustangs men’s hockey championship team