Steve Hawrysh

Steve "Boomer" Hawrysh

Steve was born at Venlaw, Manitoba on March 11, 1918 to Annie and William Hawrysh and was the eldest of five children. In 1929 the family moved from the farm to Dauphin where Steve completed his education.

During World War II he served with the both the Canadian Army and the R.C.A.F. at home and overseas.

Steve and his father William operated the Watson Dray and Ice Company until 1950 when he opened the Blue Belle Lunch. The restaurant was in operation for 20 years and remained open until 1970.

Steve was appointed as the executive assistant to the Honourable Peter Burtniak, the Manitoba Minister of Highways in January 1973 and held that position until the government changed in 1977.

He was then employed by the C. N. R. on a seasonal basis until his retirement.

If you had to refer to someone as "Mr. Hockey" in Dauphin, Manitoba, there was nobody with more qualifications than "Boomer".

In 1992, Steve reached a milestone - 60 consecutive years of total hockey involvement in Manitoba (apart from the war years) when he was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame along side Bobby (the Golden Jet) Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Neilson. "Boomer" signed his first M.A.H.A. card in 1931-32 as a midget player.

As a player, Steve was on three Manitoba Championship Winners with the Dauphin Intermediate Kings. In 1952, he retired from playing and began coaching in the Dauphin minor hockey system. Since that time, Steve has coached Manitoba Champions in Bantam "A", Midget, Juvenile, Junior "B", Junior "A" and Intermediate. If there is anyone else in the Province of Manitoba with a track record like that, please stand up and take a bow.

An article in the January 25, 1961 edition of the Dauphin Herald and Press described him as follows: "One of the most controversial hockey figures past, present and possibly future, is Steve Hawrysh. One of our native sons who enjoyed a considerable amount of success as coach of last year's provincial championship team. Steve is a member of our athletic council and his tremendous enthusiasm for hockey is motivated by a desire to provide the organized game for as many youngsters as possible regardless of their ability. Active in connection with minor hockey since the beginning of 1950, Steve has played no small part in guiding the minor hockey program to the successful status it now enjoys."

How does a man begin to establish a list of hockey accomplishments like the ones listed above? Easy - All you have to do is think, eat, sleep and breath hockey 24 hours a day, every day for over 50 years and you would have it half beaten. The other half, according to Steve, is made up of a combination of many other factors but the most important is hard work. "Hockey is like any other endeavor - the more you put into it - the better the returns."

What formula has Steve used to get the most out of his players? "I have always felt that if you have faith and show faith in the boys that 99% of the time, they will come through for you. Some people thought I was too lenient with my players but I thought that you had to lean a little at certain times - after all they were all young men and had to be treated as such. Sure, I got mad at them on occasion and I let them know about it in no uncertain terms. They all knew that I could lean the other way as well."

Steve has distinguished himself as one of the best hockey people around and there wouldn't be very many dissenters. Throughout the years he has been a coach, general manager, trainer, psychologist, father, baby sitter and much more to a lot of youngsters who have played hockey in Manitoba.

Boomer was no youngster but commanded a respect from those who played for him and against him over the years that nobody has been able to equal. His phone was always ringing or the postman delivers a letter, or someone was at his door and you can be sure that it was someone that has been associated with hockey, paying their respects to a man that has always had a close association with those he has tutored over the years. If you ask Boomer if he had accomplished everything he has wanted to do, he would probably say no. The one thing he would have cherished more than anything, would have been a National Championship in Junior Hockey.

If you ask him who was the best player to play in Dauphin over the years, he would mention names like Ron Low, Butch Goring, Ron Chipperfield, Mike Korney, Blaine Stoughton, Ed Tkachuk, Brad Carefoot, Jim Misener and a whole host of others. But he will readily admit that the one individual that thrilled him more than any other player would be Brent Sapergia. Nothing irks Boomer more than not seeing Brent playing in the National Hockey League. Like Boomer would say about the N.H.L.'s hierarchy, "Those dummies wouldn't recognize a hockey player if one skated right by them."

In 1971-72, Steve established a modern day MJHL coaching record when his Dauphin Kings completed the year with 40 regular season victories (0.833%) in a 48 game schedule, scoring 304 goals while allowing 171 goals against and amassing 1341 minutes in penalties, and then following that with 12 straight Provincial playoff victories (1,000%) to claim the Turnbull Trophy which is emblematic of Junior "A" Hockey supremacy in Manitoba.

Boomer was known in hockey circles far and wide for his ability as a scout; that is, the ability to spot youngsters who develop into good players, a skill he used as a representative for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia Blazers and Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association.

Steve was also one of the original architects of the modern era Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Boomer, along with representatives from the Selkirk Steelers, Portage Terriers and Fort Garry Frontiersmen (which became the Kenora Muskies in 1968) formed the Central Manitoba Junior Hockey League in the fall of 1967 and the following year, the CMJHL merged with the four teams from Winnipeg to form the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

On October 7, 2017, Steve was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame for a second time as a member of the 1950 - 1954 Dauphin Kings Intermediate Hockey Club. The Dauphin Kings dominated the Big Six Hockey league which ran from 1949 -1957 and over the league's eight year existence, the Kings would claim 5 consecutive league titles, 4 Manitoba Championships and 2 Western Canada Intermediate Championships.

As Barry Trotz, National Hockey League coach and who at the time was the coach of the Dauphin Kings Hockey Club, said: "I have been associated with great hockey people throughout my career but Boomer is the best. He is the Godfather of the MJHL and has forgotten more about the sport than most people will ever know."

1957-58 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Bantam A Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1958-59 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Midget Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1959-60 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Juvenile Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1961-62 - Coach - Dauphin Kings - Riding Mountain Intermediate Hockey League; 1964-65 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. B Red Wings; 1965-66 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. B Red Wings; 1966-67 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. B Red Wings - MB SK Provincial Champions; 1968-69 - Chief Scout & Director of Player Personnel - Dauphin Jr. A Kings - MB Provincial Champions; Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. B Kings; 1969-70 - General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1970-71 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1971-72 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1974-75 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1975-76 - Co-Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1976-77 - General Manager & Director of Player Personnel - Dauphin Jr. A Kings - MB Provincial Champions; 1978-79 - Coach & General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1979-80 - Coach - Ste. Rose Royals Intermediate Hockey Club - South West Hockey League Champions; 1985-86 - Director of Player Development & Scouting - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1986-87 - General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings; 1987-88 - General Manager - Dauphin Jr. A Kings