Frawley reunites with championship trophy after more than four decades

By Sam Laskaris

THORNHILL – After 44 years, Dan Frawley finally saw an old friend.

That ‘friend’ is actually the Memorial Cup, the prestigious trophy Frawley, a member of Nipissing First Nation, had won back in 1981 when he was playing junior hockey with the Cornwall Royals. Frawley was reunited with the trophy on Mar. 12 at this year’s Little NHL tournament.

Officials with the Hockey Hall of Fame brought various trophies, including the Memorial Cup, to display at the Thornhill Community Centre, one of the venues for this year’s tournament.

Frawley, who went on to play 274 games in the National Hockey League, signed autographs, posed for various pictures and gave visitors some details about his championship season with the Royals.

Frawley said he had not seen the Memorial Cup in person since he won it himself. So, what was it like staring at the famed trophy, awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champions?

“It’s interesting,” he said. “I’m trying to remember winning it. It brings back good memories.”

Frawley was one of two Indigenous players on the Royals’ 1981 winning squad. The other is Gerald Peltier, a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory.

Peltier is now the director of hockey operations for the Little NHL executive.

This year’s tournament, primarily held at rinks throughout Markham, ran from Mar. 9-13.

Frawley, who is now 62 and lives in Morrisburg, Ont., believes the fact Hockey Hall of Fame officials brought various trophies to the tourney was uplifting.

He saw that for himself with a young girl and the Walter Cup, the trophy awarded to the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff champions.

“She was hugging it and she was mesmerized by it,” Frawley said. “And I said, ‘You know what? That’s the type of attitude that it takes to win that. So, keep playing.’”

This year’s Little NHL features a record 270 clubs. The event, first held in 1971, has become the largest Indigenous youth hockey tournament in Ontario.

Another record broken at this year’s event is the number of girls’ teams, registering 48 competing squads.

“It’s amazing,” Frawley said. “It means a lot. For years, the whole family would come here and the girls, they weren’t really involved. The odd one was playing. And then now for them to actually be able to play is great. In my family, my grand-nieces have been taking hockey lessons so that they can play in this tournament.”

Frawley isn’t surprised to see how much the event has grown. Just 17 clubs participated in the first Little NHL in 1971, held in the Manitoulin Island town of Little Current.

“People see how much fun the kids have,” he said. “The kids, that may not even play hockey, they want to play, so they start playing hockey just so that they can come here and be a part of it. That is pretty special. It’s amazing.”

Frawley added tournament participants end up feeling special as well.

“It’s almost like their moment in the spotlight,” he said. “They come out and there’s their family and people they don’t see very often there to watch them.”