NEWS FILE PHOTO
Bob Ridley calls the final game at The Arena in March 2014. Ridley and the 1886-88 Medicine Hat Tigers were inducted to the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame at a gala on Sunday, July 21, 2019.
Medicine Hat contributions were front and centre during the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame gala Sunday.
At Canmore, broadcaster Bob Ridley was inducted to the Hall, along with the 1986-88 Medicine Hat Tigers.
Ridley, long-known for being the Tigers’ first and still only play-by-play man, hasn’t driven the team bus the past few years but is still going strong in the booth with his name on it at Canalta Centre, closing in on 4,000 games.
“Thanks for always getting us home Bob,” said Scott McCrady, representing the to Memorial Cup-winning Tigers teams, during his speech according to Hockey Alberta.
Those two Tigers teams remain the only ones to win Canada’s top major-junior hockey prize, led by Mark Pederson, a young Trevor Linden and many others who have gone on to make their mark on the game.
McCrady, the team’s top-scoring defenceman those years, talked about general manger Russ Farwell, coaches Bryan Maxwell and Barry Melrose and a great team culture that led to the titles.
“Team first, individual second, and no one is bigger than the sum of the parts,” he said according to Hockey Alberta.
Both Ridley (in 2000) and the Tigers teams (in 2007) were already inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. Ridley was also added to the Western Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in June.
That wasn’t all the Gas City representation at the gala Sunday, either. Jordan Mortlock, a member of Alberta’s under-18 girls team that won gold at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer in March, was on hand to receive a championship ring along with her teammates.
Mortlock is going to play at Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania this fall.
