Members Login

Todd Warriner and the true spirit of the
Pro-Am

By: Dan Berlin, Pro-Am Blogger - 19/02/2014

Every four years, hockey fans turn their attention to the Winter Olympics to watch the very best the game has to offer, featuring the world’s best hockey players.

This year’s setting is Sochi, Russia, where professional players from across the NHL are suiting up for their respective countries with one goal - to bring home the gold. We watch from the edge of our seats, cheering on Team Canada’s captain Sidney Crosby and the rest of the team’s star-studded cast, hoping they once again get to wear gold around their necks and repeat as Olympic champions.

This two-week tournament truly captures the imagination of a proud hockey nation.

Only, it wasn’t that long ago that these professionals didn’t patrol international ice. Before a deal was ever struck to allow NHLers to participate in the Olympics, only amateur hockey players represented Canada in men’s hockey, young men who were given the honour of displaying the maple leaf crest emblazoned across their chests.

The last time amateur players suited up for Canada in the Olympics  was at the 1994 games in Lillehammer, Norway. 

It was there that a 20-year-old named Todd Warriner got the chance to play for his country. A fresh-faced kid from tiny Blenheim, Ont., Warriner and the rest of his Canadian teammates made their country proud, finishing with the silver medal after losing in a shootout to Peter Forsberg and Team Sweden in the gold-medal game.

“I have so many great memories of that team,” said Warriner. “We didn’t really look the part of a medal winner in the early going. To put it all together that late and find a way to get to the final game was really something.

“Looking back on my career, it was one of the highlights for sure.”

Twenty years later, Warriner is returning to the ice, only this time it’s as a participant in the 2014 Scotiabank Baycrest Pro-Am. 

Warriner can relate to the Pro-Am format better than most. As a pro, he spent nine seasons playing in the NHL, including a five-year stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and is best remembered for scoring the first-ever goal at the Air Canada Centre on Feb. 20, 1999. 

But he’s also in tune with the amateur side of the event. Not only can he reflect on his days competing in Lillehammer with players like Todd Hlushko, a fellow Baycrest Pro-Am alumni, but he also shares a great fondness for his fellow “amateurs” who help “stick it to Alzheimer’s.”

“The true heroes are the guys who raise the money to get on these Pro-Am teams that we’re fortunate enough to play with,” said Warriner, who enjoys the opportunity for camaraderie with both the fundraisers and his ex-teammates that the event provides.

“I’m happy to be involved and I look forward to playing in May.”

The 9th annual Scotiabank Baycrest Pro-Am takes place May 1-3, 2014. Register your team or donate to this worthy cause.

Follow Dan on Twitter @Dan_Berlin and stay up on the latest event news @ScotiabankProAm.