Dinner & Live Auction

When Brian Burke spoke at our annual dinner/auction, he brought with him an impressive resume which included GM stops in Vancouver and Hartford, as well as the Senior VP and director of Hockey operations for the NHL. Since then, he is the GM of the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks. To say that Brian is a dynamic speaker would be an understatement and we were fortunate to have him at our event.

We had the opportunity to have a guest speaker that is a former Stanley Cup Champion, former coach of the year, recognized broadcaster and former resident of Fredericton. How could we possibly pass up on having the great Jacques Demers attend our annual dinner/auction. Jacques did not disappoint and delivered a great speech to our capacity crowd.

When Dale agreed to speak at our annual dinner/auction, we knew the bar had been raised. Only the Stanley Cup eludes Dale’s resume, which includes back to back Memorial Cups and twice rookie of the year awards (Major junior and the NHL). This consummate Canadian always answered the call when it came to representing Canada in International Competition and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of fame in 2001. Dale was very deliberate in explaining that all of his records and accomplishments were a result of having great teammates.

Born October 10, 1972 in Matagami, Quebec, is a former freestyle and medley swimmer, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for Canada, starting with 1992. She won the silver medal in the 200m Individual Medley at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and was Canada’s flag bearer at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.

In New Brunswick, Canada, there is an annual swim meet named after her. This swim meet is to conclude the ending of the short course season (25m pool, rather than 50m).

Fredericton Sports Investment was honoured to have one of the most recognized members of Canadian Broadcasting grace our event and give a memorable speech back in 2002. Because of Ron’s work with the Olympics games, Hockey Night in Canada and of course Coaches Corner with Don Cherry he had all 440 guests at our dinner/auction captivated with his numerous stories.

When Ted spoke at our dinner/auction, he gave us a detailed description of his road to the NHL and the journey it took to get there. When asked about his Accomplishments in life, he did not refer to his Major junior career (3 straight Memorial Cup Appearances, winning once) or his NHL coach Of the Year award (Buffalo 96/97); he spoke of his work with First Nations Causes and teaching hockey to First Nations children. Ted is a class act and we were honoured to have him at our event.

Born and raised in Fredericton, Willie broke the colour barrier in the NHL when he debuted for the Boston Bruins on January 18, 1958. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently described Willie as a “hockey pioneer” and of having “an inner strength that allows nothing to stand in his way. Jarome Iginla, Ray Emery, George Laraque, Mike Greer and Donald Brashear all credit Willie for giving them motivation to pursue their NHL dreams. The City of Fredericton has honoured Willie by re-naming the new Northside hockey complex “Willie O’Ree place”.

After winning the Jack A. Butterfield trophy in the 1985 AHL Playoffs for Sherbrooke, Brian made his NHL Debut in the fall of 1985 for the Montreal Canadiens and never looked back. He played for the Habs for the next 7 years, winning the cup in 1986. With a short stay in Calgary, Brian was moved to the expansion Florida Panthers in the 1993-94 season and was named their inaugural captain. He was instrumental in leading the team to the Stanley Cup finals in 1997 eventually losing to the Colorado Avalanche. Another short stay, this time with the New York Rangers, saw Brian be traded to the Dallas Stars in the 97/98 season and winning his second Stanley Cup. Brian made one more trip to the finals with Dallas (losing to the New Jersey Devils) and called it a career in 2000.

On February 27th, 1968 in Saint John, New Brunswick, a baseball star was born; Matthew Wade Stairs. Matt grew up in the Fredericton area, where he showed his athletic skills, in both baseball and hockey, at a very early age. Although he excelled at hockey, it would be baseball that would be Matt’s future career.

Matt began baseball one year before his age eligibility in the Beaver Local Division. He won many awards while playing baseball in New Brunswick, including Rookie of the Year in 1984 in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League at the age of 16.

Matt attended the National Baseball Institute in Vancouver, BC and played for Canada at the 1987 World Amateur Championships in Italy. It was at that tournament, Matt was named to the “World All-Star” team.

In 1988 Matt graduated from Fredericton High School and soon after joined the Canadian Junior National Team. During the summer of 1988, baseball took Matt to Seoul, South Korea for the Summer Olympics as a member of the Canadian Olympic Team.

In 1992 Matt made his MLB debut and for the next 19 years he would give his all to the sport. There are many highlights in Matt’s baseball career, including: playing for 13 different teams, which is a major league record and holding the career major league record for most pinch-hit runs, with 23.

Matt was the second Canadian-born player to ever hit more than thirty-five home runs in a season, and only the second to hit 25 home runs and drive in more than 100 runs in back-to-back seasons. He ranks either first or second in power hitting categories for Canadian major-leaguers. His ability to pinch hit has made him a valuable asset to many teams and earned him the nickname “Matt Stairs-Professional Hitter”. Stairs joins Larry Walker and Jason Bay as the only Canadian MLB players to hit at least 200 career home runs.

Noted baseball analysts Bill James and Joe Posnanski have offered the theory that Stairs is probably a far more talented hitter than his career stats suggest. James contends, “You put him in the right park, right position early in his career… he’s going to hit a LOT of bombs.” Possibly, Posnanski contends, enough to be worthy of Hall of Fame consideration.

Today Matt lives in Bangor, Maine with his wife, Lisa, and daughters, Nicole, Alicia, and Chandler. Sports are still a big part of Matt’s life, as he is a hockey coach for his daughter’s high school.