Watch the video above: Delisle honours the Bentley brothers with sign
DELISLE, Sask. – The memory of Doug and Max Bentley was honoured on Saturday in their hometown of Delisle, Sask. with the unveiling of a hockey hall of fame sign along Highway 7.
More than six decades later, they remain two of the most famous NHL hockey players to have ever emerged from Saskatchewan.
The Bentley family and the community couldn’t be prouder.
“Whenever anyone asked him where he was from, he never said New York or Los Angeles, or any other town. He said ‘I’m from Delisle, Saskatchewan,” said Patricia Bentley-Noel, Doug Bentley’s daughter.
Patricia presented a photo of herself to Global News with her dad in it. She was only five-years-old, sitting in a fancy car beside him.
“That’s the car that fans awarded dad in Chicago,” she said proudly.
The brothers grew up together and became star NHL players. Both are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Max’s granddaughter Julie Vandenameele said she couldn’t be more thrilled.
“It’s an honour to look up there and see that because he was a very humble man and a great hockey player,” said Vandenameele.
Dubbed the “Dipsy Doodle Dandy from Delisle”, Max split his first 11 seasons between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“He was one of the biggest trades in the NHL. He won many awards and three Stanley Cups,” said Vandenameele.
In 1954, the two brothers were reunited on the ice to play for the New York Rangers.
“It’s hard to imagine what it was like back then when they played and travelled those distances,” said Delisle Mayor Dave Anderchek.
“But they always remembered Delisle as their hometown,” he said.
The sign will be a permanent reminder of the Saskatchewan brothers’ inspiring legacy in the place they always considered home sweet home.
Delisle is approximately 35 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.
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