He may have spent his final days in Arizona, but Michael Savage
is still in the hearts and minds of many people in his hometown
of Sudbury.
Savage, a former Sudbury Wolves player and assistant coach,
passed away Dec. 19 after a battle with cancer. He was 42 years
old.
Savage played for the Wolves from 1980 to 1984, and compiled 25
points and 111 penalty minutes in 98 games. Savage also served
as an assistant coach for the Wolves during the 1996-97 season.
More recently, he and his brother Brian owned a local sporting
goods store, Savage's Play It Again Sports.
Joe Drago, the Wolves' general manager in 1980, brought Savage
into the Ontario Hockey League and signed him to his first
amateur contract. He said Savage's death is a great loss.
"When I heard he was so seriously sick, I was very upset. I've
known Michael for a long time, even before he played for the
Wolves," Drago said. John Savage, Michael's father, was Drago's
assistant coach when he taught at Lasalle Secondary School.
"When he came to the Wolves, those were the days when people
started to be demanding and difficult to deal with because they
thought junior hockey should be paying these kids all kinds of
money. At that time, Michael was a breath of fresh air. He
wanted to do nothing more than play hockey," Drago said. "He
signed his contract and he came every night to play hockey. He
was a good, solid, hard worker and was always very positive and
always had a nice smile on his face. A real good kid to work
with."
Even though he hadn't seen Savage in awhile, the man was still
in Drago's thoughts.
"Anyone that I've talked to over the past couple of days who
was associated with Mike, either as a hockey player or as a
student . . . there's been a lot of positive talk about good
times and memories with Michael and I'm sure his loss is
something we're all going to be very sad about," Drago
said.
Another man from Savage's past, Dave Courtemanche, said he
hasn't seen much of Savage lately but the pair spent a lot of
time together, especially at the rink, as youths.
"He was a really good guy," said the former mayor. "I'm
thinking back to those days when he was a star athlete in a lot
of sports, but a real modest guy and liked by everyone. It was
really sad news to hear he passed away."
Courtemanche and Savage played a lot of minor hockey together
from the time they were 12 years old. They also competed at
city track and field events, Courtemanche as a student at
Lasalle Secondary School, versus Savage, who attended Lo-Ellen
Park Secondary School.
After hearing of Savage's death, Courtemanche said he pulled
out an old under-exposed photograph of the pair taken before
their first game in the OHL.
"We were playing for the Nickel Centre Native Sons, which at
the time was the farm team for the Sudbury Wolves,"
Courtemanche recalls.
"Joe Drago was with the Wolves at the time and he asked Mike
and I if we would want to come up and play a game with the
Sudbury Wolves. We were about 16 years old at the time and we
jumped at the opportunity. The photo was taken of he and I
together in my parents' living room just before we headed off
to the Sudbury Arena.
"And it was Dec. 19 that we played that game, which was the
same day Mike passed away (26 years later)," he said.
Savage was eventually drafted by the Sudbury Wolves, while
Courtemanche was a Kingston Frontenacs pick.
Drago said a friend and business associate of Brian Savage flew
the family down to Arizona in a private plane a couple of weeks
ago to be with Michael but that the family would be back in
town for the memorial service, which was held Dec. 23.
A moment's silence will be held in Mike Savage's memory at the
Wolves next home game on Friday, Dec. 29 versus the Owen Sound
Attack at 7:30 pm.
