Guelph Storm co-owner and president Scott Walker is an inductee of the Syracuse Hockey Hall of Fame.
He was inducted with four other players as the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame late last month. On Nov. 23, Walker joined Howard Dolgon, Alan Taylor, Ed Kochian and Brian Elwell in a ceremony to honour their accomplishments on the American Hockey League team.
Jim Sarosy, the chief operating officer (COO) of the Hall of Fame, has fond memories as a teammate of Walker’s.
Sarosy said he was a rookie on Syracuse at the time as Walker came down from the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, which was the Crunch’s affiliate team then.
Sarosy said Walker was impressive as a player.
“You don’t always remember what people say in a conversation, but boy, do you always remember how people make you feel. And when I think of Scott, I think of inclusiveness. The way he brought us all together and boy, that work ethic was so inspirational to watch on a day in, day out basis,” Sarosy said.
Sarosy said they started talking about getting the players together on the team’s 25th anniversary in 2018, and Walker was a part of every conversation. He said they wanted to focus on the founders of the five-member class, four of which weren’t players on the Crunch, and the fifth and final spot was left open for an athlete.
He said it was a no brainer for Walker to represent the team.
Sarosy said it’s long overdue, and the ceremony was an emotional day.
“I found myself tearing up. I looked at a number of our staff and a lot of the people in the audience, you could tell how much it meant to the inductees and their families, and then from a staffing point of view and representative of the organization, it was pretty powerful to see and such a feel-good event,” he said.
He said there could not have been a better first five players to be inducted. The Cambridge-born Walker played two seasons with the AHL club prior to his NHL career. He earned the nickname “Wild Thing” as a member of the Crunch, recording 67 points in 89 career games.
Walker carved out a lengthy NHL career that spanned over 800 games. Since then, Walker has gone on to coach the Storm and work for the Canucks organization working as a player development consultant. He also was an assistant coach of the Canadian men’s national hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea.
Sarosy said he loves seeing Walker in his current role as co-owner and president in Guelph.
“To go from an athlete to such a big role in a front office, being an owner and partner and in charge of hockey operations is a lot. I know he has been handling it, and he can handle it and I’ve enjoyed those conversations about some the things that come across our desks on a day-to-day basis with him,” he said.
Sarosy said Daniel Walcott and Gabriel Dumont are the two of players on the AHL team’s current roster that resemble Walker’s playing style.
He said the impact of the inaugural class is still felt several years later.
“I think we nailed it in terms of the five individuals that are going to be the face of the Hall of Fame,” he said.
“We’ve been so blessed with so many people that have come through here, both our management from the George McPhees and Julien BriseBois’ to the athletes. The Andrei Vasilevskiy’s, Nikita Kucherov’s and the Brayden Point’s and some of the current players here.”
The Crunch is now an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is in its 31st season.