NHL, CFL stars come to Zenon Park gala

The first NHL goalie to score a goal and the holder of the winning field goal for the Roughriders in the 1989 Grey Cup came to Zenon Park to talk about their careers

Billy Smith ranks as one of the top 100 NHL players of all time. He played from 1970 to 1989, with four Stanley Cups under his belt. Glen Suitor, who played with the Roughriders from 1984 to 1994, ranks among the CFL all-time leaders in interceptions, with 51.

Moderating the conversation at the Zenon Park Sports Gala, held  April 1, was Dave Thomas, a broadcaster with CJWW out of Saskatoon.

Benoit Lalonde, who’s part of the eight-person organizing committee for the event, said it’s the major fundraiser for the Zenon Park Community Partners, which operates the local rink and community hall, as well as organizes recreational activities for youth.

“It’s a good time that everyone has a good time at and it gives people something to do and something to look forward to.”

The Community Partners work with an agent each year to secure high-caliber sport celebrities, which results in about half of the audience coming from outside Zenon Park, mostly from Tisdale, Carrot River and Nipawin.

Much of the conversation of the evening focused on how emotion affects how Suitor and Smith played their games.

Suitor said back in the days he was playing, he would have willingly died the next day if his team won the Grey Cup. Twenty-eight years later, as a 54-year-old broadcaster with TSN, he looks back and called that attitude stupid.

For Smith, playing with emotion was an important part of the game – unless he ended up losing it, in which case he’d fight whoever was annoying him in front of his net.

“You don’t have have to get mad to entertain and if you’re losing by five points, you might as well beat up someone.”

The discussion with the two players wasn’t the only thing that happened that evening. There was also a sport memorabilia auction and a show by comedian Leland Klassen.

Lalonde said putting the evening together requires a lot of work from a lot of people.

“It makes it worthwhile, after we see how much the community benefits from it. Financially, it certainly pays a lot of bills.”