Former Jets captain celebrates 80th birthday

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This article was published 30/08/2016 (3628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Step into Ab McDonald’s den and you might get a sense of the retired athlete’s love of hockey.

The jerseys and memorabilia tell the story of a long and exhilarating career of playing for the Winnipeg Jets, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks and Montreal Canadiens, among others.

McDonald will be celebrating his 80th birthday, which was in February, at the Victoria Inn on Sept. 15. The event is being hosted by the Special Olympics, one of many organizations that McDonald has been involved with throughout his life.

“I got more involved because of Andy,” he said of his neighbour. “He was a Special Olympic athlete and lived right across the street from here. He was a great young fella… I got to meet a lot of the athletes over the years… they’re such great kids, they’re just so happy to be there, so happy to participate and if they ever get the medal, it’s all the better.”

McDonald has acted as honorary chairperson for the Special Olympics, and the September event will be a fundraiser for the organization as well as a celebration of his achievements, both as athlete and community member.

In 1972, 36-year-old McDonald became the first captain of the Winnipeg Jets and managed to score the team’s first goal. He said it was a great memory, but the goal itself doesn’t stand out after playing professionally for the 17 years prior.

“To me, goals were goals,” he said. “I was happy that I got one but it wasn’t like I got my first goal in pro… but it was an exciting setting. You’re in your hometown, it’s a new league, you will be playing in front of your hometown fans.

“It was more exciting to score when you’re playing in the Stanley Cup finals. It’s a different league… it’s more meaningful.”

McDonald won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens each year from 1958 to 1960, and then again with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1961. He said those games are what the players referred to as “game time.” The rest was practice, but McDonald enjoyed every minute.

“I have a grandson that plays… and a granddaughter,” he said. “I say, ‘go out and enjoy yourself and have fun. If you’re not having fun, don’t play the game,’” McDonald said. “There are too many things you can do in life that you can enjoy that you go doing something you don’t enjoy.

“The harder you work, the easier it gets. And if it’s fun doing it, it’s not hard work. It’s a crazy circle.”

He said Winnipeg has been a great place for their kids and grandkids to grow up and take part in sports. McDonald recounts the days he began to play hockey, some 75 years ago, and how far things have come for young athletes.

“Seventy-five years ago, everybody did what they could, there was no organization like they have nowadays,” he said. “The community clubs were run by people who went there and volunteered their time and effort and there were a lot of great people over the years… especially after the war because during the war it was pretty darn tough to do anything.

“Winnipeg has always been a giving community through the community centres so it’s been a great city for us to live in and raise our children.”

And understandably, the game of hockey has changed over time as well.

“Before, all the teams had one or two goons that look after guys that were good players if they got hit,” McDonald remembered. “Now when you go to a game and it starts and five seconds later there are two guys fighting—why is that happening? Those guys should be thrown out of the game, they should be thrown out of five games, that isn’t hockey.

“I’m not against fighting in hockey whatsoever but I am against things like that… in my era, you got a good body check and you went out there and said, ‘OK, you got me good and it was fair, maybe it wasn’t, but I’m going to get you back, I’ll wait my turn, I’ll get you and you’ll know it.’”

He said he also sees a lot more teams shooting and then chasing their pucks, something he didn’t often see in winning teams when he was playing.

“They’ll shoot the puck from their own zone to the far end and they do that 70 times a game and they can win that way,” he said. “But the Canadiens won because they could carry the puck over the line and… they controlled the play.”

Now, McDonald said he still gets to see friends from his early playing days and they’ll reminisce about plays and cities.

“It’s nice to see them all, as many as possible.”

Visit www.specialolympics.mb.ca for tickets and information on McDonald’s birthday celebration.