EDITOR’S NOTE: On Saturday, April 27, the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame will welcome its newest inductees. The class of 2019 includes athlete Stuart Burnie and builders William (Bill) McGill and Donald Stoutt. Over the next three days, we will feature the inductees.
As a kid growing up in Orillia, Stu Burnie did what many kids did: he played lacrosse in the summer and hockey in the winter.
The twin passions fueled the ambitious young lad and the Orillia Community Centre became his home away from home.
He was one of the most talented lacrosse players to ever play in Orillia. In 1983, he led the Ontario Jr. B League in scoring – one of just four Orillia players to do so in the league’s long and storied history.
He once scored 12 goals in a game.
And while some would argue he was a better lacrosse player than hockey player, it was hockey, at that time, that presented the greater opportunities.
The fork in the road that led him, ultimately, into the history books, came during the 1980-81 hockey season when a relatively unknown local businessman named Bill Smith purchased the Orillia Travelways. He elevated the hockey team from Jr. B to a Tier II Jr. A squad; it was like going from a Toyota to a Ferrari.
Burnie did what he always did - he filled the net, scoring 55 goals in 46 games and won the Doc McKinnon trophy as the most valuable player at the junior level.
However, that was a few years before Smith turned the team into a national champion and a perennial powerhouse. But he knew Burnie was a star, so he talked the teen into leaving Orillia to play for Brampton, a team with a chance to win it all.
“I think Bill recognized the potential in me even more than I did myself,” Burnie told The Packet & Times in 2012.
That move helped Burnie get attention from NCAA scouts and he eventually chose to go to Western Michigan on a full scholarship. In 159 games, he scored 102 goals and added 72 assists and helped turn a non-playoff team into one of the best in the country.
That led to an invite to play for the Canadian Olympic team. During the pre-Olympics tournament, he scored three goals in a dramatic win over Russia and was named player of the game. For his fine play, he was presented a silver stein emblazoned with the Hockey Canada logo - it remains one of his most prized possessions.
“Over long periods of time, you forget things, but the day I was asked to play for Team Canada I remember well,” Burnie recalled recently.
“That is a special memory,” said Burnie. “Wearing that flag on your chest … it’s an incredible experience that is hard to duplicate.”
While he wasn’t drafted into the NHL, the New York Islanders signed the sniper to a two-year deal. Even though he scored a goal in an exhibition game and set up Brent Sutter’s OT winner in that contest, he was then sent down to the club’s farm team, the Springfield Indians.
It was as close as he would ever get to the NHL.
But as a pro, he netted 82 goals and added 88 assists in 170 AHL games, went on to play in Finland for a year and then capped his career playing with Bruce Boudreau in Fort Wayne, ending his playing career with a championship in the 1990-91 season.
Those accomplishments led Burnie to be selected as one of Orillia’s Top 10 Hockey Players of all time as part of the city’s sesquicentennial last year.
And now, the long-time local school teacher is taking his rightful place in the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame.
“I’m humbled,” Burnie said of his selection to the shrine. “It’s a great honour. I didn’t expect this.”
While he starred in rinks around the globe, it was in Orillia, he stressed, where he learned to play - and love - the game.
“I do appreciate all the support I’ve been given and all the great coaches I had along the way,” said Burnie. “It was a community of support.”
Burnie is part of the fifth class of inductees into the Orillia Sports Hall of Fame. He joins, in the athlete category, Cam Devine, Jake Gaudaur Jr., Walter Henry, Walter Knox, Brian Orser, Rick Ley, Jake Gaudaur Sr., Harry Gill, Terry Bullen, Rob Town, Jerry Udell, Brittney Fess and Jayme Davis.
There are a limited number of tickets still available for this year’s Orillia Sports Hall of Fame Gala at Casino Rama April 27. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the website.
