Arguably the greatest moment in North Bay hockey history was honoured last night at Memorial Gardens.
The echoes of Dave Saad’s overtime radio call, “Campeau! Campeau! Campeau!” were made a reality once again as the 1994 North Bay Centennials OHL championship banner was hoisted to the rafters once again last night prior to the Battalion Centennials night game against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Brad Brown played more than 300 NHL games after being selected in the first round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens.
Brown took the shot that was re-directed by Jason Campeau for the clinching goal (although he was not credited with an assist on the OT winner).
To this day, that moment 25 years ago, is still his hockey career highlight.
“From that night I think the OT winner, being down 4-3 in the game and getting it tied up by Lee Jinman to make it 4-4 and then the overtime winner, that was a huge, huge win for us and it was my first ever championship and my last championship so it is special,” said Brown, who was last in Memorial Gardens as a member of the Ottawa 67’s coaching staff three seasons ago.
The team was honoured during a pre-game ceremony and teammates Damian Bloye, Mike Burman, Brian Stagg, Steve McLaren, Scott Roche, and Sandy Allan were part of the ceremony.
While Brown was excited to reunite with his former championship teammates, his highlight was seeing Sandi Templeton, wife of Centennials coach Bert Templeton.
“Tonight is a special night with all the old players from 1994 and to see Sandi Templeton here, that made my day so far, because she was a rock back in the day. Bert was our leader and she was a tough wife and kept all the boys in line back in the day,” said Brown.
