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Sadlon Arena entrance road officially named Dale Hawerchuk Way

City staff to work with the Barrie Colts organization to determine unveiling date coinciding with other events planned to honour late coach who passed away in August 2020
2020-08-17 Hawerchuk 2
Barrie Colts head coach Dale Hawerchuk talks to his players in this file photo from the 2012-13 OHL season. Hawerchuk died in August 2020 following a battle with cancer. The city is now naming a street in his honour. Terry Wilson/OHL Images

The entrance to Barrie’s Sadlon Arena is now named Dale Hawerchuk Way.

City council gave final approval Monday night to name it after the Barrie Colts coach and National Hockey League star.

Mayor Jeff Lehman said there has been some confusion about what’s being named.

“It’s not the section of Bayview Drive right in front of (Sadlon Arena),” he said. “It’s the entrance road into (Sadlon Arena) on the (Sadlon Arena) property.

“It’s to name the entrance road and the signage will go there," the mayor added. 

Hawerchuk died last August after a year-long battle with stomach cancer. The naming is in his memory, to recognize Hawerchuk’s nine seasons as head coach of the local Ontario Hockey League team and his support of hockey in Barrie.

City staff will work with the Barrie Colts organization to determine an unveiling date to coincide with other events being planned to honour Hawerchuk.

During his NHL career, which spanned from 1981 to 1997, Hawerchuk was one of the greatest players of his area, scoring 518 goals and adding 891 assists for 1,409 points during the regular season.

Hawerchuk starred for nine seasons with Winnipeg Jets before playing with Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.

He also played for Team Canada in the 1987 Canada Cup, winning a key face-off in his own end that led to Mario Lemieux’s game-winning goal, on a pass from Wayne Gretzky, giving Canada a 6-5 victory in the deciding third game of the tournament final against the Soviet Union.