SUNOHARA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-12 published
A trailblazer in women's hockey
As a coach, he saw people first, athletes second and so took
Canadian women's hockey to the pinnacle of the sport
By Ron CSILLAG
Special to The Globe and Mail Wednesday, March
12, 2003 - Page R7
Toronto -- Think "hockey coach, " and you may be forgiven for
conjuring images of a bug-eyed, borderline rage-oholic working
a small wad of gum while berating his bench and screaming instructions
to the ice.
That wasn't Dave
McMASTER.
A fixture in Canadian women's hockey for 35 years, Mr.
McMASTER
was the polar opposite: A calm and calming influence who taught
his players respect for their abilities and those of their opponents
who saw people first and athletes second; who radiated a sheer
love of the game; who hugged his players and meant it.
A trailblazer who boosted woman's hockey in this country before
it was popular, or even seemly, Mr.
McMASTER guided the Canadian
women's team to a gold medal at the first women's world hockey
championship in 1990 in Ottawa. Over one-million television viewers
watched as Canada beat the U.S. 5-2 in the final. He also coached
Team Canada at the first unofficial women's world tournament
in 1987.
Through 22 seasons coaching the University of Toronto's Varsity
(Lady)
Blues,
Mr.
McMASTER won 12 Ontario university titles and
compiled a record of 212-38-22.
"Everywhere there was hockey, Dave was there, said Fran
RIDER,
executive director of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association.
"He was the lifeblood of women's hockey, very dedicated, not
only to the game but to life skills. He cared about every player
on every team. His enthusiasm and love of the game was catching."
At the time of his unexpected death of a heart attack this month
in Toronto at the age of 62, he was still coaching three girls'
teams, despite being officially retired as a schoolteacher and
coach. One of them, the squad at Bishop Strachan School, had
to leave for a tournament in Newfoundland just days after Mr.
McMASTER died. Their coach's influence obviously sunk in: Despite
being distraught at the news of his death, which sent shock waves
through the world of women's hockey, the team won all seven of
its games. That was after Bishop Strachan captured the Foster
Hewitt Memorial Cup for the fifth consecutive year at the Air
Canada
Centre just three weeks before Mr.
McMASTER's death.
"He gave players a sense of responsibility for their actions.
He taught us to respect ourselves and others, but most important,
he let us have fun, recalled Team Canada head coach Karen
HUGHES,
who also took over from Mr.
McMASTER as coach at U of T, where
she had played for him. "With Dave, it wasn't about winning and
losing, but a love of the game and sharing and Friends. He encouraged
players to go beyond their limits."
Some 800 Friends, loved ones and jersey-clad players crowded
Grace Church-on-the-Hill in Toronto on Valentine's Day to celebrate
a life that touched so many others.
David Carson
McMASTER was born in Toronto to a homemaker and
a lawyer who wanted a legal career for his son. At St. Andrew's
College, the young Mr.
McMASTER played football, cricket and
hockey, and later, at Dalhousie University, "he was a born goaltender,
remembered his lifelong best friend, Douglas
ROWAN. "
Mix,
as he came to be called (as in Mixmaster), was not known as a
particularly graceful player, as his many stitches and at least
seven broken noses attested. He was an early proponent of face
masks for goalies and after donning one, he ducked out of the
way of a puck, only to be hit in the head. More stitches followed.
It was at Dalhousie that he coached his first women's team, in
1965. "He acquired a girlfriend he could yell at on the ice,
Mr. ROWAN quipped. "It didn't last." But the coaching bug did.
Armed with a history degree, Mr.
McMASTER returned to Toronto
to study law. That lasted less than a year, and he graduated
from the University of Toronto's teachers' college instead. He
joined the small staff of Toronto's Royal St. George's College
in 1969 and spent nearly 30 years teaching geography, history
and guidance.
Mr. McMASTER began coaching the women's hockey team at University
of Toronto while still a student there. In 22 seasons (1967-69
and 1975-93), he won an enviable 82 per cent of games. There,
as with Team Canada, he would don his trademark track suit and
black bike helmet to preside over practices, with cries of "Regroup!"
"Shoot your passes!" and "Two laps." Coughing up the puck in
the neutral zone was "a never."
In 1972, he married Norma
McCLURE, who'd been his waitress at
the Muskoka Golf and Country Club. The couple had a son, Scott,
and a daughter, Anne, before divorcing in 1991. Mr.
McMASTER
never remarried.
He was a focused, demanding coach, but not obsessive, said his
daughter. "I don't even have any idea how to skate. But Dad never
pushed me. That was testament to his patience and love. He never
raised his voice." At Toronto Maple Leaf games, "he was always
coaching. He would cheer a good play by the other team."
He displayed his gold medal, said Anne, but not as prominently
as a letter from a young girl saying Mr.
McMASTER had changed
her perspective on life.
He wasn't without a mischievous sense of humour. Vicki
SUNOHARA,
who played for Mr.
McMASTER for two years, recalled how Team
Canada once thrashed Japan 13-0. Ms.
SUNOHARA, who is of Japanese
extraction, scored several goals and was named player of the
game. She recalled how Mr.
McMASTER told her after the game,
in mock horror, "These Japanese girls love you and look up to
you. How could you do this to them?"
Mr. McMASTER went on to Bishop Strachan School in 1998 to coach
hockey and teach geography and history. He was inducted into
the University of Toronto's Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He retired
in 2001, but couldn't stop a simple desire to expose young people
to Canada's game.
Asked whether it was the passion, cleaner play or some other
mysterious quality that drew Mr.
McMASTER to women's hockey as
opposed to men's, his daughter smiled. "He used to say girls
asked a lot more questions. I think he liked that."
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