Noteworthy: Hatters are everywhere, and some are a real treat

By Bruce Penton on March 26, 2025.

It’s not hard to bump into somebody with Medicine Hat connections no matter where you go in the world.

This past Sunday in the press box of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas – the trip was planned months ago, by another family member and yes, I feel a little guilty about doing anything to support the U.S. of A. – I was introduced to Tim Speltz.

He’s a Hatter, of course. Speltz, 66, is general manager of the Henderson Silver Knights, the American Hockey League farm club of the National Hockey League’s Golden Knights, and he had a pre-game meeting with Golden Knights’ general manager Kelly McCrimmon before settling into his seat next to me in the press box for the Vegas-Tampa game.

What a gentleman! And what an interesting guy. Speltz, who could be described as a hockey lifer, was born in Eston, Sask. before moving with his family to Medicine Hat when he was a four-year-old. He attended Monsignor McCoy High School and before he got into hockey as a career, he and a buddy operated a service station on Gershaw for a couple of years. “I think they’ve turned it into a restaurant,” said Speltz. Indeed, his former garage on Gershaw is now The Garage Pub and Eatery, a popular spot for a burger and beer, and more.

Before he turned 30, he was GM of the Medicine Hat Tigers, but after a couple of bad years, was fired. He eventually ended up running the show in Spokane, where he guided the Chiefs to two Memorial Cup victories – 1991 and 2008 – during a 26-year stint in the Washington city. It is where he and his wife Lynn will live after his hockey career is over, but he’s not planning to quit anytime soon.

“If I wake up one morning and feel like it’s work, then it’ll be time,” he said. “People say to me, ‘Why don’t you retire?’ I say, ‘What would I do? I’d probably watch hockey, which is what I’m doing now and getting paid for it.”

Prior to joining the Silver Knights in 2021, Speltz was head of amateur scouting for the Toronto Maple Leafs for three years.

Part-way through the Golden Knights-/Tampa game that we were watching Sunday, Speltz fired up his phone and accessed the Western Hockey League website to show me the scores from the final WHL weekend and the final standings. “The Tigers are the No. 1 seed,” he said, with a definite prideful tone in his voice. He might not be a Hatter any longer, but he’s still got some Gas City blood flowing through his veins.

â€¢ Nominations are open for the municipal election scheduled for Oct. 20, and if this year is similar to the last one, 2021, we could be facing a lengthy ballot. In 2021, six people ran for mayor, and 33 were on the ballot for the eight councillor seats.

Nominations will be accepted until Sept. 22 and already, there has been action on the nomination filing front. Kelly Allard, who finished 14th in 2021, has already filed her nomination papers.

Councillors, by the way, are compensated to the tune of $45,476, while the mayor – unless councillors decide to trim the salary by 50 per cent – earns $136,639.

â€¢ A warm, or hot shower first thing in the morning gets the day off right for most people, but some say a cold shower is better for the body. “Cold showers saved me from chronic back pain, and I’ll never stop taking them,” said one cold-shower advocate, quoted on Yahoo.com.

The only time I would take a cold shower first thing in the morning is if the hot-water heater suddenly went on the fritz.

â€¢ Short snappers: It’s true that music festival committee chair Cathie Catalano presented the Rose Bowl trophy to talented pianist Miriam Monet on March 16 but it’s not true that she then sold her a house before leaving the St. Barnabas venue. … Well, duh! Canadians aren’t as happy anymore, and who can blame us, with all the political turmoil going on. Canada dropped to 18th from No. 15 on the 2025 World Happiness Report. Those laughing, giggling, happy-go-lucky Finns are No. 1 – again. Denmark, Iceland and Sweden round out the top four. … March came in like a lamb and if you believe The Weather Network, it will be going out like a lamb, too. Climate change or dumb luck? … Are you walking around with your elbows up? … Is there a more toxic word in our country these days than Tesla? … Oh, and there’s a federal election on April 28. Aren’t we lucky to have an election campaign lasting perhaps five weeks as opposed to the ones in the U.S. which go for at least 18 months?