Four guys from four decades ago: Now they’re Hawk Hall of Famers

From left, Jack Neely, Paulina Neely, Cam Neely and Eva Neely pose by Cam’s No. 21 jersey, which was retired by the Winterhawks during a pregame ceremony Saturday night at Memorial Coliseum (courtesy Pat Kempany/Winterhawks)

For a weekend, for one glorious weekend back in Portland, the gang was back together again.

A dinner on Friday night. A special ceremony before Saturday’s game at Memorial Coliseum before the Winterhawks took on the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Four decades went by quickly, didn’t it, fellas?

“I can’t believe it has been 40 years since I played here,” Cam Neely said before his No. 21 went up into the rafters and his name was added to the list of past greats in the Winterhawks Hall of Fame.

Neely, who became the first player to have his number retired in the Winterhawks’ 47-year history, joined teammates Ken Yaremchuk, Randy Heath and Grant Sasser in the 2023 class for the team’s Hall of Fame.

Ex-Winterhawks winger Grant Sasser (center, talking with former teammate Ken Yaremchuk) ranks second behind Paul Gaustad on the list of hometown kids make good with the Hawks (courtesy Winterhawks)

Nine other players — along with coach Ken Hodge, director of hockey operations Wayne Meier and trainer Innes Mackey — from the Portland team that won the 1983 Memorial Cup participated in the weekend festivities.

“It was so nice to see all those guys,” said Yaremchuk, the high-flying gunner who centered the Hawks’ No. 1 line that season, flanked by Neely and Heath. “It’s like a brotherhood. You don’t keep in contact with everybody, but when you get together, it’s like you never were apart.”

Former Winterhawks center Ken Yaremchuk, recently inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame, "had great fan appeal and did things most players can’t do,” ex-coach Ken Hodge said. “He was dynamic.” (courtesy Winterhawks)

Eleven members of the 1982-83 Hawks made it to the NHL: Neely, Yaremchuk, Heath, Sasser, Rich Kromm, Ray Ferraro, Alfie Turcotte, GordieWalker, Jim Playfair, Brian Curran and John Kordic.

“They did a great job building that roster,” said Neely, a rookie on that team who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career in the NHL.

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From left, Winterhawks GM/coach Mike Johnston, Hawks alternate captain Robbie Fromm-Delorme, Jack Neely, Eva Neely, Cam Neely, Paulina Neely, Hawks owner Michael Kramer and captain Gabe Klassen during special ceremony at Memorial Coliseum (courtesy Pat Kempany/Winterhawks)

Key to the 1982-83 roster was Neely, a Maple Ridge, B.C., native who would prove to be a rollicking 6-1, 215-pound wing for one season and 19 games in Portland. Neely scored 56 goals and 120 points through 72 regular-season games, then contributed nine goals and 20 points in 14 playoff games, notching a hat trick in an 8-3 win over Oshawa in the deciding game of the ’83 Memorial Cup.

“I got asked a lot about the experience from teammates I played with in the NHL,” said Neely, who has been president of the Boston Bruins since 2010. “To be a Memorial Cup champion is pretty special.”

The Hawks were special the year before, too, going 46-24-2 and claiming the Western Hockey League championship to advance to the 1982 Memorial Cup in Hull, Quebec. Rookie Heath (52 goals, 99 points in the regular season), Yaremchuk (58 goals, 157 points) and Brian “Bunny” Shaw (56 goals, 132 points) formed the best first line in the league that season.

The second line, incidentally, featured Sasser, Fromm and Turcotte. Ferraro centered Portland’s third line. There was offensive talent galore up front.

At Hull, Portland got drilled 9-2 by Kitchener, came back to beat Sherbrooke 6-5 and Kitchener 4-2, then fell 7-4 in the rubber match with Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League for the Cup.

“The next year, we lost Bunny, and we were thinking, ‘Who are we going to get to fill in with our line?’ ” Heath said. “This young kid Cam Neely came along. It was like, ‘Is this guy going to be any good?’

“Within a couple of weeks, we knew. It was magic. We just clicked. It wasn’t like we talked to each other. We knew where and when to pass the puck. We could score when we wanted. The whole team was tough.”

Added Yaremchuk: “Bunny aged out and we got this young buck. We liked him because he was big and tough, so we said, ‘We’ll try him out.’ The rest is history.”

And Sasser: “Cam was a natural. He wasn’t fast and flashy, but he was one of the first power forwards, a new position then in the NHL. He was one of the originals — big, tough and talented.”

Hodge, now retired and living in Portland, was the first coach in Portland when the franchise moved there from Edmonton in 1976 and served 17 seasons. His 742 career victories rank second on the WHL list, behind only Don Hay, who ironically served four seasons as an assistant to current coach Mike Johnston in Portland. Hodge lists Neely as the greatest player he ever coached.

Ken Hodge, who coached the Winterhawks from 1976-93, considers Cam Neely the greatest player he coached. (Courtesy Winterhawks)

“Cam was the complete player,” Hodge said. “In those days, grit and toughness were a major factor, and he had lots of that, along with speed, skill and determination. He came to play hockey every night. He worked hard in practice. He was special, and we were fortunate enough to surround him with a lot of good players.”

Neely readily concurs.

“I stepped into a really good lineup,” he said. “A lot of guys who had played in the (WHL) before took me under their wing and showed me the way. We had a lot of fun, too, along the way.”

In June of ’83, Neely was chosen by the Vancouver Canucks with the ninth pick in the NHL draft. Cam didn’t attend the draft. He sat with his family around the radio at home.

“I was thrilled,” he said. “My family was thrilled, being from Maple Ridge, just outside of Vancouver. That was special.”

Neely, then 18, started the 1983-84 season with the Hawks. After 19 games, he was done.

Said Hodge: “The Canucks’ scout came down to Portland and said, ‘Ken, you’re not going to like this much. (Neely) is coming back to Vancouver with me.’ ”

Neely played a regular shift as a rookie, scoring 15 goals in 56 games. By the third season with Vancouver, though, his ice time was down. In one of the biggest heists in NHL history, Boston traded center Barry Peterson along with a first-round draft pick — which would turn out to be the No. 3 pick in 1987 — to Vancouver for Neely.

“Cam wasn’t appreciated by the coaching staff in Vancouver,” Hodge said. “(The Canucks) traded him for a pretty good player, but it worked out very nicely for Boston.”

Besides Neely’s par excellence contributions, the Bruins used the pick to snare Winterhawks defenseman Glen Wesley. Wesley would score 307 points over seven seasons in Boston and was a key cog along with Neely on clubs that advanced to the Stanley Cup finals in 1988 and ’90.

Neely played 10 seasons with Boston, where he achieved legendary status before retiring at age 31 in 1996 due to injuries, perhaps a byproduct of his rugged style.

“I would love to have played longer, but I couldn’t have played any other way to be successful,” Neely said. “I was not a finesse player. If I didn’t play physical, I wouldn’t have the same impact in the game.”

Neely, who scored 395 goals in 726 regular-season games and 57 goals in 93 postseason games, was a five-time NHL All-Star and was four times named to the All-NHL second team. His No. 8 is retired by the Bruins; he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. Only 10 players in NHL history have a better goals-per-game average for a career.

The Bruins offered Neely a role as vice president of the organization in 2007. He said he would commit to just one year.

“I got involved in all the hockey ops conversations on the business side and learned a lot about what happens off the ice,” Neely said. “And I really enjoyed it. After the first year, they asked if I wanted to stay on and I said, ‘Yes, I’m enjoying this process.’ ”

Two years later, Neely became president of the Bruins, a position he still holds.

Portland’s Neely Cup, an annual event in which the team’s players and prospects participate in fitness testing, on-ice sessions and intrasquad games, is named in his honor. The Winterhawks had talked with him about retiring his No. 21 for a couple of years, but it had to fit into Neely’s busy schedule.

“That’s part of it,” Neely said. “Also, I played only a year (and change) here.”

But when the occasion coincided with a 40th anniversary celebration of the Memorial Cup team, Neely was in. He brought wife Paulina and children Jack and Eva to a city they had never visited. Also in Portland for the weekend were Neely’s sisters and their families, who live in British Columbia, and nephew Michael Lisowski, who lives in Happy Valley.

“Living in Boston, my family had an idea what my career was like there, but they didn’t know Portland,” Neely said. “To come here and share this with my teammates and their families and kids and have my family see a little about my life 40 years ago? It’s kind of cool.”

Neely hadn’t visited the City of Roses since “sometime in the ‘90s.” The Neelys arrived in Portland late Thursday.

Winterhawks co-owner Michael Kramer (Right, in red sweater) applauds as Cam Neely’s No. 21 jersey is hoisted to the rafters (courtesy Matthew Wolfe/Winterhawks)

“On Friday, the family and I went out to lunch and cruised around,” Neely said. “I don’t recognize anything except the bridges and the one neon (Portland) sign. It’s hard to know my way around here.”

Boston won a Stanley Cup during Neely’s first season as president (2010-11) and made it to the Finals in ’13 and ’19. This year’s Bruins, 53-11-5 and with the NHL’s best record by far after Sunday’s 7-0 pulverizing of Buffalo, are the favorite to claim the Cup again this postseason.

“It has been a treat to watch our team play,” Neely said. “It’s such a great group of guys. They play for each other. No a-holes on the team. We have a couple of center men who are older and are not sure if they’re playing next year. Our guys are really pulling for them to win it all.”

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Yaremchuk (5-11, 175), Heath (5-9, 160) and Sasser (5-10, 180) were smaller and much different players than Neely with the Winterhawks, but also very effective. In 1982-83, Heath scored 82 goals (with 69 assists) in 72 games, which remains tied with Dennis Holland for the franchise single-season goals record. Yaremchuk, meanwhile, had 51 goals with 109 assists for 160 points and stands second on the single-season list for both assists and points.

Yaremchuk is third on the Hawks career scoring list with 424 points; Heath is eighth at 341. Heath (1980-84) is second on the franchise goals list with 178; Yaremchuck (1980-83) is tied for eighth at 144.

There was a trade that will live in infamy with the Hawks in August 1983. Portland sent five players, including Ferraro and veteran defenseman Brad Duggan, to Brandon for 17-year-old center Blaine Chrest. Chrest scored 62 goals with 103 assists in 156 games with the Hawks over four seasons. Ferraro, meanwhile, scored an eye-popping 108 goals in 72 regular-season games in 1983-84, which still holds as the WHL single-season record. Portland, minus much of its offensive firepower, finished the season 33-39.

“Our management group, myself included, felt it was a good deal for us,” Hodge said. “We thought we did what was best for the club, and unfortunately Chrest didn’t live up to our expectations. We regretted making that trade.”

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Yaremchuk, 59, came to Portland as a 16-year-old center in 1980 and played a season with older brother Gary, who scored 56 goals and totaled 135 points on a team that went 56-15 in 1980-81. Gary would go on to play 34 NHL games, all with Toronto. Ken added 35 goals and 107 points for the Hawks, who were swept 4-0 by Victoria in the division finals that season.

Ken’s best season was the Memorial Cup year, and he went on to play six NHL seasons and 235 games with Chicago and Toronto, scoring 36 goals with 92 points. He then embarked on a 10-year European career in Italy and Switzerland, retiring at age 35 in 1999.

“I never did win anything else, so (the Memorial Cup) was the ultimate for me,” Yaremchuk said. “I still talk about it. I’m so proud of all the guys I played with. They’re all good, quality people. That’s what I got out of hockey — to be a good citizen. The experience with camaraderie helped me with my business. I pass it on to my kids and my kids play sports.”

Hodge considers Yaremchuk one of the most exciting players he ever coached

“Kenny had great fan appeal and did things most players can’t do,” the former Hawks mentor said. “He had great speed at this level. He was dynamic. When he grabbed the puck in our end zone, people would leap up in their seats and know he was going to get to the other end of the ice. He was called ‘The Weasel,’ and he played like a weasel.”

Yaremchuk lives in his native Edmonton and ran a business owning and servicing vending machines for “10 to 15 years.” He brought his wife and two sons, along with sisters-in-law and a cousin, to Portland.

“First thing we did was walk to (Memorial Coliseum),” he said. “Still the same rink. They couldn’t believe it, 40 years later. Hasn’t changed. When I walked in, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s amazing.’ It’s a mini Madison Square Garden. It’s open. The ‘Glass Palace.’ The kids today are so privileged to play here in Portland. My kids said, ‘Holy cow, Dad, you were sure lucky to play in a rink like this 40 years ago.’ I agree.”

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Randy Heath was an 82-goal scorer for the Winterhawks during the 1982-83 Memorial Cup campaign (courtesy Winterhawks)

Heath, 58, is a Vancouver, B.C., native who got the most out of his small body. He had a cup of coffee in the bigs, playing 13 NHL games with the New York Rangers from 1984-86, then played four years in Sweden before ending his hockey career in 1989. Three years later, he became a firefighter in West Vancouver. He put in 30 years, serving the last five as fire chief. “I had a great career,” Heath said.

He also had a great career with the Hawks.

“Randy was a great competitor and wonderfully talented,” Hodge said. “He was so gifted with puck-handling and had a wonderful touch around the net. We loved to get the puck to Randy. We knew he was going to finish. The numbers he achieved were outstanding. And he was very fortunate. He played with good people.”

 The left wing said “the best times in my whole hockey career were in Portland.”

“It’s hard to believe all of us could move away from home at 16 years of age, but hockey meant so much to us,” Heath said. “The experience I had in Portland was incredible. I think all of us felt that way. We loved the game. We worked hard. And we got treated so well here by everybody. It’s a professionally run organization, and our experience with the fans here was out of this world.

“I’m humbled and honored to be going into the (Winterhawks) Hall of Fame. I feel so fortunate. The guys I played with were all special.”

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Sasser, 59, was the hometown guy, coming in at the same time as fellow Portlanders Scott Shaw and Doug Saunders. Sasser was by far the most successful, playing three solid seasons with the Hawks, totaling 117 goals and 374 points in 185 regular-season games.

The Hawks arrived in Portland when Sasser was 12.

“I followed them closely,” he said. “I looked up to players like Jim Benning, Perry Turnbull, Larry Playfair, Dale Yakiwchuk, Paul Mulvey, Jim Dobson — all those guys from the first few years. I idolized those guys. Maybe a couple of hundred players came before me, and now thousands have come after me. No doubt, Portland is one of the best junior hockey franchises ever.”

Sasser’s best season with the Hawks was as an 18-year-old wing during the Memorial Cup season, playing with second line mates Turcotte and Fromm. Sasser scored 54 goals with 65 assists during the regular campaign and was a force in 14 playoff games, tallying 12 goals with 15 assists.

A fifth-round draft pick of Pittsburgh, Sasser was called up to the Penguins — while still with the Hawks — in February 1984 on their West Coast swing at age 20. He played in three games, scoring no points. And that was his total NHL experience.

“It was unexpected,” said Sasser, who played 70 games in the AHL and IHL the next season, then retired from pro hockey at age 21. “I didn’t realize what was going on. It was awesome to get a little NHL experience so young. I had a great training camp the next year. I wish I had kept playing a little longer.”

“Grant was a bit of a character who should have had a longer pro career than he did,” Hodge said. “He was a pretty complete player who had a good attitude toward the game. He participated with high energy and had marvelous finish.”

Sasser got married, raised a daughter and began a business career. He went to work for what is now HomeTown Hearth and Grill in Gresham, a small specialty retail business, in 1997. Since 2014, he has been an operating partner. The Sassers live on an acre in Boring. “We have a few horses,” he said.

The native Portlander is modest about becoming a Hawk Hall of Famer.

“Not sure I’m deserving, but I’m going to take the honor with pride,” he said. “I just think there are so many other worthy players. I’m sure there are more to come behind us. Look at all the names even on our (1982-83) roster. I know there are a lot more guys who will be added to the list in the years to come.”

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(A note on the current Winterhawks team: Portland was 39-19-5-3 and in second place in the U.S. Division behind Seattle after Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Vancouver. The Hawks will face Everett in the first round of the playoffs beginning March 31. The record tells only part of the story. Portland started 7-0 and was 25-5-2-1 when the Winnipeg Jets assigned 2021 first-round draft pick Chaz Lucius to the Hawks for the rest of the season. Lucius, a White Bear Lake, Minn., native, spent last season with the University of Minnesota and had played 12 games this season with the Jets’ AHL affiliate in Manitoba. The 6-foot, 170-pound center, a member of the U.S. Junior National team, scored five goals with 10 assists as the Hawks went 4-2 in six games and was named Player of the Week. He sustained a shoulder injury on January 21 and is lost for the remainder of the season. Since Lucius departed, Portland has gone 10-12-2-2.)

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