Tag Archives: OHA HOF
Peter Brill in HOF
Brill goes to HOF Courtesy of Bill Doucet Brill goes to HOF. Winter Hawks celebrate winning the Sutherland Cup.FILE PHOTO When it came to Sutherland Cup rings, Peter Brill almost ran out of fingers. Known in Waterloo for winning two Junior B championships as a player and four as a general manager, Brill is worshipped in Cambridge for bringing the only three provincial titles to the city in 2000, 2006 and 2007. With that resume, Brill was an easy choice to be inducted into the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame. The ceremony is on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Waterloo Region Museum. “It caught me by surprise. I was ecstatic when I found out,” Brill said. “You get pretty excited about this stuff, especially when you’re going into the hall with 400 other recipients and inductees. I haven’t really followed it that close over the years, but I probably know a lot of them.” Though Brill resigned as general manager in Cambridge after the 2008 season – admitting he came back to the Winter Hawks to try and do something no other team had done, win three consecutive Sutherland Cups – he was considered royalty within the organization. Then owner John Hamilton said both he and head coach Greg Bignell had jobs with the organization as long as they wished. Brill, who is quick to deflect accolades, said Hamilton, as well as Cambridge executive members Lloyd Harding, Bill Millsap, Bill Hammer and Murray Ewing, who brought him to Cambridge, should be right there with him. Besides Gerry Harrigan and Greg Beaupre, who were with him during his run in Waterloo. “The one thing that kind of bothers me I guess is that it would be really be nice if everyone I was associated with could share in it,” he said. “You almost feel geez, shouldn’t they be playing a part in this somehow. That was the only thing I feel a little sheepish about. “You really want to share it with everybody.” Besides his work with the Siskins and Winter Hawks, Brill was director of scouting for London and Sudbury in the Ontario Hockey League, and was a scout for the Los Angeles Kings from 1995-97. In addition, he was director of hockey operations for gold medal-winning Team Ontario in 1995 in the under-17 world championship. Still, he cites his first Sutherland Cup in Waterloo in 1984 and first in Cambridge in 2000 – besides his two as a player – as career highlights. “I went out on a limb in Cambridge and I said within three years we’re going to win a Sutherland Cup and it happened that way. That was just luck, obviously,” Brill said. “That was a thrill because of the two Bills, Lloyd Harding and Murray Ewing, they had never really accomplished anything, I guess, from what they told me. All of a sudden, bam, we win the Sutherland Cup. “I was just so happy for everybody in both organizations when we won.” Brill said the support the Winter Hawks received from the community was something he’ll always remember. He was glad to bring back those crowds that he remembered from when he went to Galt Terriers games as a young adult. That place was jammed and it was loud in the old building then, before the renovation, and I thought, wouldn’t it be great if Cambridge could get back to those days. Little did I know think that I would be managing or anything.” That feeling was also felt in the back-to-back Sutherland Cups won in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, Brill admits the fan support was so great in 2006, that he received letters from the fire marshal and from the city after packed crowds Game 7 against Listowel and Game 5 against Brantford, threatening to take away their practice time if they didn’t stop breaking fire codes for attendance. One game had 2,400 fans. The final series against Niagara Falls, especially the Cup clincher, was no different though, with people sitting on the stairs and four-deep in standing room. “That was wild because they were such a bunch of animals,” Brill said. On regret though, was not winning that third Sutherland Cup. “If we wouldn’t have had those four players bolt to tier II, well, I’m sure we would have beat Elmira.” Nothing can take the glean off this year’s induction, though. “Holy cats, what an honour,” he said. See the full article at Cambridge Times.
