Almost 50 years of community hockey in Tavistock through Arnie Schwartzentruber’s eyes
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
By Julia Paul
When Arnie Schwartzentruber first stepped onto the ice as a volunteer during the 1976–1977 season, he never imagined it would become nearly five decades of service to Tavistock Minor Hockey.
“I never planned on being involved this long,” he said. “The coach needed help on the ice, and once you start, one thing just leads to another.”
What began as coaching soon grew into decades of volunteer leadership, including years on the board, time as president and later representing Tavistock at league and regional levels.
“I did it because I wanted kids to have the chance to play hockey,” he said. “I never got that chance when I was young. We grew up on a small farm, and there just wasn’t money for organized sports.”
Hockey in Tavistock has been played in several buildings over the years – long before today’s modern recreation complex existed.
“The really old arena was right near where the current one is now,” Schwartzentruber said. “Then there was one across the tracks, and later the arena I remember most growing up. That one closed in 1996, and the new one opened that fall.”
That new facility – the Tavistock and District Recreation Centre – was built after a major community fundraising effort.
“We needed to raise about $800,000, and the community ended up raising over $1.1 million,” he said. “That’s what let them add the curling club shell right away instead of later.”
For Schwartzentruber, the upgrade changed everything.
“The old rink was packed every night – you couldn’t get ice before 11 p.m.,” he said. “The new arena opened things up and made it easier for programs to grow.”
Coaching with purpose
When he coached young players, Schwartzentruber said the focus was never just about winning.
“I always believed kids should get equal ice time,” he said. “They need to be allowed to make mistakes. If they’re scared to make a mistake, they won’t improve.”
Some players stood out for their skill, others for their attitude.
“I had one kid who would get really down when things weren’t going well,” he said. “Then I had another kid who was always upbeat – ‘Come on guys, we’ll get it back.’
“If I’m coaching, I’ll take a whole team of upbeat kids over the most skilled players who give up when things go wrong.”
The moments that stayed with him weren’t trophies, but connection.
“It meant a lot when someone would introduce me years later and say, ‘That was my coach,’ ” he said. “You realize you made some kind of impression on their life.”
Over the decades, Schwartzentruber watched the sport modernize – from handwritten schedules and paper game sheets to digital systems and stricter safety policies.
“When electronic game sheets first came in, I wasn’t sure about it,” he said. “Now I think it’s one of the best things they ever did.”
He also saw a shift in how behaviour is handled around the rink.
“There was a time when yelling at referees was pretty common,” he said. “Now, there’s a big push for respect – even things like the green armbands for young officials so people remember they’re kids too.
“That’s a change for the better. We need referees, and we need to protect them.”
In recent years, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) has introduced several structural changes, including replacing traditional playoff series with centralized, tournament-style playdowns hosted at select arenas across the province – often in larger centres.
“When we had OMHA playoffs, the arena would be full,” Schwartzentruber said. “The community came out to watch. That support meant everything – financially and for the kids.”
Another major shift came with the removal of representative hockey boundaries.
“Now with open boundaries, kids can go wherever they want,” he said. “A lot of the stronger players end up leaving to play for bigger centres and bigger rep teams. That’s made it harder for smaller associations like Tavistock to stay as competitive as we used to be.”
Because of that, he said the focus has increasingly turned to player development at the youngest levels.
“We really have to build our own players — especially when they’re young,” he said.
Participation hasn’t always been steady.
“At one point, we were around 450 kids,” Schwartzentruber said. “Then we went down to about 280. This year we’re back around 350.”
He said that directing attention to the strong, early-development programs is the key to success for Tavistock Minor Hockey.
“We’ve run the First Shift program for about 15 years now, and it’s been huge for us. It brings in kids who have never played before and gives them a real start in hockey,” he said. “The younger groups are the most important ones. If you don’t build there, you don’t have players later on.”
Built on volunteers
If there’s one thing Schwartzentruber returns to again and again, it’s the importance of community help.
“It just wouldn’t run without volunteers. There’s no way,” he said. “We’ve never paid our coaches. We pay for their certification and thank them with a volunteer appreciation night, but everything runs on people giving their time.”
On what makes a good volunteer, Schwartzentruber has this to say.
“You’ve got to be unselfish. You can’t be there just for your own kids. If you’re only thinking about your child, there’s 300 other kids that suffer,” he said. “You’ve got to do it for the whole organization.”
After nearly five decades of involvement, Schwartzentruber said he plans to step back gradually once his current term ends – though he has no intention of disappearing completely.
“I’ll always be around if they want advice,” he said, “but I’m looking forward to just watching hockey.”
What he enjoys most now is seeing progress.
“You watch the little kids in September, and then you see them again in March – some of them you barely recognize with how much they’ve improved,” he said. “That’s always amazed me.”
For Schwartzentruber, seeing the organization continue to thrive makes the years of volunteer work worthwhile.
“It makes me proud,” he said. “I feel like I gave my time for a good cause and it’s still going strong.”
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