Book on Neepawa’s hockey history set to launch

Details

Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2016

By Tony Eu

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The book, Amateur Hockey in Neepawa: A Scrapbook, was written by Rick Sparling. It contains 732 pages filled with articles, photographs, stories and anecdotes from 95 years of amateur hockey in Neepawa, starting in 1894 and continuing all the way to 1989.

Sparling estimates that he’s put approximately 600 hours into writing the book, including “over 20 trips into the Winnipeg Archives and about as many trips to the publishers.”

“I’m fairly happy with [the book]. There were a few articles and photos that I would have liked to include, but the copy wasn’t legible,” Sparling said. His favourite part of the book is between the years 1948 and 1962. “My brother Wayne and all his friends were in many of those championship teams in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s,” Sparling explained. “Many of my friends who were just a year older than me were featured in the late ‘50s and ones who were a year or so younger were featured in the early ‘60s. I was there at the rink to watch a lot of these games, so it was interesting doing the research on it.”

Sparling’s favourite part of the writing experience was talking to the people who were going to be in the book, getting photos and stories directly from those involved.

Comparing the writing experience of this book to his first, The History of Public School Hockey in Neepawa, Sparling said, “My first book had much more manual labour involved, as I made up a prototype with printed copies and I had notes on everything… This book was more electronic, as everything was scanned and I have the files on a store ‘n go flashcard.” He added, “I used many of the contacts who I made contact with in the first book. It seems like the majority of those players who played amateur hockey also played in the public school system.”

“I would love to see someone take on the last 25 years of hockey in Neepawa,” Sparling said. “That would include the Neepawa Natives Junior team from 1989 to 2016 and all of the teams in that era,” Sparling added. He continued, saying, “Think about the quality of all the team photos from those years. I’m offering that challenge to someone who might get involved.”

The book is being launched on Thursday, Aug. 11 from noon to 3 pm in the Neepawa Public Library. Books will cost $40, with $9.58 of the $40 being donated to the Beautiful Plains Museum in honour of Allan Drysdale. Anyone interested in purchasing a book at the launch is asked to contact the library or the Neepawa Banner to ensure that there are enough books available. After the launch, books will be available for purchase through McNally Robinson (1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg).