Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers

By James Peters

Blazers Legend

Blazers to honour former longtime equipment manager ‘Spike’ Wallace

Dec 13, 2022 | 2:26 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Blazers will honour their former longtime athletic trainer and equipment manager at a game early in the new year.

Greg “Spike” Wallace will be inducted as a Blazers Legend before at Sandman Centre on Jan. 4, 2023 against the Everett Silvertips. A commemorative puck giveaway will be included in the induction evening.

Wallace served in those roles with the club from 1984 to 2005. From 2005 to 2012, he served as a Community Liaison before his retirement from the team.

Throughout his career as equipment manager, Wallace believes he conducted about 35,000 skate-sharpenings, went through 575 pairs of skates, and provided the club with more than 2,300 dozen sticks and 18,000 pucks.

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The Blazers released this statement from Wallace:

This is a great day for the Kamloops Blazers organization and for hockey in general as recognition of an Athletic Trainer/Equipment Technician is absolutely unique, and I am very proud and grateful to the Blazers Ownership Group, the Alumni, and the 2022 Blazers staff to be receiving this great honour. I would like to give a special thank you to Trainer Colin Robinson for his support, and to my family who have supported me throughout my entire journey.

To be “inducted” is very special, but to join the ‘retired numbers’, the ‘Legends’, the WHL red ‘Champion Team’ banners, and the Memorial Cup banners hanging in the rafters is very humbling. Also, many volunteers have contributed to this organization’s success, so a heartfelt thank you must go out to the medical teams, my faithful assistant Pete Friedel, the Scouts, stick boys, and of course to the Booster Club and the many other Blazer fans.

I believe that before individual praise can be bestowed, success as a team is uppermost. To this end the Blazers have developed many excellent players, and just as importantly, role models for the communities they have returned to.

Transferring into the Community Service Liaison position allowed me to work closely with the Booster Club and fans – both adults and children- with some of our strongest programs being Special Olympians, Blue Liner Breakfasts, school visits, Seniors, and ‘Tim Bits’

(In the beginning, my career may not have ever taken place if it were not for my school buddy Ken Ciancone and fellow Valleyview Jr. high school football players who convinced their coach, the late Jack Buckham, and Rick Nykorak at Kamloops Sr. high that I would be a good fit for their football programs as their ‘waterboy’!)

I am looking forward to the celebration on January 4^th!

Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers