"The Rink" by Keith Dyon

In the early days of the 30's and even earlier, I have special memories of the rink and the local cafe.  They were two places where both young and old could 'hang out'.  In the winter months the rink was a very popular place.  In the 30's everyone went to the rink on winter nights;  the kids' either to skate or play hockey; the men and women to curl; and of course there were always a lot of 'behind-the-glass' curlers too.  The best shots were always made behind-the-glass.  The annual bonspiel which usually took place in February or March, was a real big event.  Today, curling is much more serious, but in those days the bonspiel was more of a 'big drunk'.   There was always a lot of booze around during that week and we kids looked upon it as a sort of circus event.  There were two or three bootleggers in town and the drinkers always made sure they had a good supply, which in those days came in by train from the Liquor Board store in Weyburn.  The old C.P.R. truck at the station would be heaped up with cartons of liquor, wine, and beer.  This resulted in a lot of heavy drinking which very often culminated in fisticuffs and we kids were always in the front lines watching.  The Robertsons from south of town were usually in the thick of things and they gained quite a reputation.  I don't think they won many encounters but they certainly promoted many a row.  I remember one time when a fight started in the little old waiting room and the antagonists reeling around the room managed to kick over the little old wood and coal heater, which created quite a smoke.  The caretaker tried to dampen the fire danger by throwing shovels of snow on the smoldering heap and the resulting steam along with the smoke created such a fog that the pugilists were forced to stop or choke.  Such events occurred pretty near every 'spiel and usually the players were the same bunch. 
Hockey was a very vibrant sport as well despite the hard times of the 30's.  For a number of years we had two good teams in Antler and both teams had their own uniforms.  There was a senior and a junior team all made up of local boys.  The junior team could hold it's own with the seniors and on one occasion the annual hockey tournament wound up with the two teams playing one another in the final with the junior's coming out on top.  The rink on these occasions was jammed full of spectators with numerous fans hanging in the rafters.
The team I most remember were composted of the following players: (Junior's)  Don White in goal, or sometimes Paul George; Defensive players chiefly were big Don (Tub) McMillan and 'Bear Hugger' (my cousin) J.D. Carnduff - the latter being the terror or the opposing team.  Forwards were the first line of Harvey Brown and Ken Hawkins; then the two Cale brothers Ed and Clare; thirdly there was Buck Harris, Carl Sporing and sometimes Carl's brother.  All were pretty damn good hockey players!  The Seniors were not short of players either.  In goal most of this period was Lorne Veale;  Defense was Ford Dermody and Reg Brown, Jack Down, and Alf Early.  Forwards were Gord Leverton (another cousin), Art Gervais, Art Early, and the two Mitchell's - Mait and Glen.  Mait was an outstanding player with a shot that scared the hell out of many an opposing net tender.  I mustn't forget to mention another outstanding player who played defense - Norm White, who would rather play ball or hockey than eat.  Other notables were Sam Mitchell (defense), Steve Shelton ( outstanding forward), Doug and Murray Duncan who shone on the Juniors,  Doug Brown who, though quite young, played good goal for the team.  For most of those years the Juniors had a pretty good coach and manager in the person of Art Merrill who himself, in his day, had been a pretty good player and an excellent ball player as well.
Yes, the rink was the place to be in those days - lots of curling, skating, hockey and carnivals.  It was the winter centre of activity.