Cliff Koroll, a former NHL player who always identified Canora as his home town, was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on June 13 in Regina.
Among the many family members and friends at the induction ceremony were Harvey and Stella Malanowich of Canora. Harvey Malanowich and Koroll are cousins who have remained
as “close as brothers,” said Stella. Koroll spent his early years on a neighbouring farm to Malanowich’salong the Donwell Grid.
Though he was only three years old when his family moved to Saskatoon, Koroll always called Canora his hometown, said Stella Malanowich. Koroll’s parents
were John and Irene Koroll.
Koroll’s siblings Ron, Dianne and Mary, all of Saskatoon, and Bill of Edmonton and several of their children were also present for the induction ceremony.
Though his brother Bruce died in 1963, several of Bruce’s relatives from Medicine Hat attended.
As Cliff Koroll was speaking on behalf of all the inductees in Regina, it was noted that the Chicago Blackhawks were playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of Stanley Cup finals. Days later in Game 6, the Blackhawks defeated the Lightning to win their third Stanley Cup in five years.
Playing in the NHL from 1969 to 1980, Koroll had played his entire NHL career with the Blackhawks.
During Koroll’s hockey career, he made it to the fi nals twice, 1971 and 1973, but never won the Stanley Cup. In both series, the Blackhawks lost to the Montreal Canadiens.
Koroll began skating before he was four years old on an ice surface in his backyard in Saskatoon, said his brother Ron. Then he went to a neighbourhood arena to skate but he did not play organized hockey until he was 10 years old.
In the 1961-62 season, he was a member of the provincial Midget A champions and then he played on the provincial juvenile champions team. Attending the University of Denver on a hockey scholarship, he earned many honours in the WCHA in 1968 and then he was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks.
In his rookie year, he had 18 goals and 19 assists and became the first rookie to score a hat trick. In total, he played 814 regular season games with the Blackhawks. He recorded 208 goals and
earned 462 points. He had five 20-goal seasons and reached the 50-point marker four times in his NHL career.
During his career, he played 85 playoff games during which he scored 19 goals and made 29 assists.
After retiring from the ice, he then became as assistant coach for the Blackhawks for six seasons (1980–1984 and 1985– 1987). In the 1984–85 season he served as head coach for the Milwaukee Admirals of the International Hockey League.
He and Keith Magnuson, a former team mate and a former coach, organized the Chicago Blackhawks Alumni Association which continues to award scholarships for young players in the Chicago area. Koroll remains the president of that organization.
In 1987, Koroll moved up to the team’s front office where he worked for two years. His next career was with Cargill, through which he became an avid promoter of the Ronald MacDonald
House. Though he considers himself retired, he still does some work on this promotion.
He and his family continue to live in Chicago.
His induction into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame is just one in a list of similar honours. He was also inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatoon Hall of Fame,
the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame, and University of Denver Hall of Fame, along with several other similar honours.
At 68 years of age, Koroll continues to play recreational hockey and one his cherished memories is playing with Team Koroll in a recreational hockey tournament in Canora in 2004,said Ron. Cliff, his siblings and a number of extended family members, including Clayton Malanowich, were the core of the team which won the tournament.
That tournament provided many fond memories for the whole Koroll family, said Ron.
