On June 11th in Calgary, the two coaches who made the most appearances in the CCAA National Hockey Championship gold medal game will enter the CCAA Hall of Fame.  Allan Ferchuk will be inducted in the builder category while Perry Pearn will be inducted in the coach category. Both are in the ACAC Hall of Fame and the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame.

From 1976 through 1988, Pearn and Ferchuk were behind the benches of the NAIT Ooks and the Red Deer College Kings respectively. During the span, the two teams collected a total of six gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal at nationals.

Although the two coaches did not face one another at the national level, they locked horns on eight occasions in the post season as opposing head coaches at the conference level including four times in the championship final series.  The Ooks won three of four best of three semi final series and three of four best of three championship final series.

The pair pushed themselves and their teams to higher levels.  The caliber of play improved at both the conference level and the national level. Not only did the college teams become competitive with their university counterparts, they triumphed despite the greater turnover due in large part to shorter academic programs. During the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons, the NAIT Ooks defeated the eventual CIAU (now U Sports) national champion in exhibition play en route to winning back-to-back CCAA titles.

Perry Pearn joined the NAIT Ooks in 1976 as an assistant coach to a former teammate with the Centennial Cup champion 1971 Red Deer Rustlers, Dale Henwood. Two seasons later, he succeeded Henwood as head coach for the first of 14 campaigns behind the NAIT bench. He would step down after guiding the Ooks to five gold medals and one bronze medal in seven national championship appearances as well as a gold medal at the 1992 CCAA Challenge Cup in his stints as head coach from 1978 through 1990 and 1991 through 1993.

Allan Ferchuk became the Red Deer College Kings head coach in 1973 and guided the team for 14 seasons.  Ferchuk coached the Kings on three occasions from 1973 through 1985, from 1986 through 1988 and from 1994 through 1995. During his tenure, the Kings brought home three gold medals and two silver medals in five national championship appearances.

More Articles