SPORTS FLASHBACK 2005: All roads led back to Randolph for Andy Stoesz

Randolph’s Andy Stoesz enjoyed the travel that was part of being the best, and often the busiest, goaltender in the Southeast for close to two decades, but this Hall of Famer is more than happy to be right back where it all started.

In fact, Stoesz, his wife Debbie and daughter Jillian still live on the family farm, where Andy and his five brothers learned to skate on a backyard rink.

Stoesz first strapped on the pads when he was in grade five at Moray School and didn’t hang up those pads for good until more than 20 years later. Along the way, he played a huge role in winning national championships at both the junior and senior levels.

On his way to induction to Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba Hockey Halls of Fame, Stoesz backstopped teams to victories in junior hockey’s Centennial Cup, the Hardy Cup of intermediate hockey and senior hockey’s Allan Cup. Wherever he has played, Stoesz has been the main difference between winning and losing.

Old Selkirk Steelers teammates were quick to say they could not have won the 1974 Centennial Cup without Stoesz. Without Stoesz, a 1976 Manitoba Eastern Hockey League all-star team would not have beaten the stronger Central Amateur Senior Hockey League all-stars for the right to host the West German national team for an exhibition game. Without Stoesz the Steinbach Huskies would certainly never have upset the Trail Smoke Eaters and made it to the 1979 Allan Cup finals.

Even though pre-season training never was Andy’s long suit, one of his fondest memories is the 1974 Maple Leafs training camp, where he got to run the stairs with Eddie Shack. Dry land training was just coming into vogue and the training camp exercise was probably just as new for Shack as it was for Stoesz.

Stoesz earned that tryout with the Leafs for his play in the 1974 national junior championships, where he was named MVP and became a 10th round draft pick of the Maple Leafs.

As a kid, Stoesz had been a huge Leafs fan and was thrilled to get the chance to practice with the NHL team in Maple Leaf Gardens.

Although Stoesz never made it to the NHL, he finished his career very much at the top of his game in senior hockey. After one season in Germany, following the Huskies 1979 Allan Cup run, Stoesz returned home for good. He played a couple more years with the Huskies before stints with Morden and Thunder Bay, and a trip to the Hardy Cup with Cal Marvin’s Warroad Lakers.

During the 1985-86 season, Thunder Bay flew Andy out for weekend games and he was their starting goaltender whenever he was at the rink.

And throughout his playing days, that had always been the way for Stoesz.

In fact, Andy remembers playing two playoff games in one day and winning them both. His Steinbach juvenile team won the 1971-72 provincial title in the afternoon and that evening Stoesz suited up for the Huskies in the first game of the Manitoba Eastern Hockey League finals against Ste Anne.

Stoesz put on the pads for 70 games during that 1971-72 season,

“I never practiced, I just played.”