Meteors ask Fort Erie to help recover 70 years of hockey history

The Fort Erie Meteors are asking former players and residents to lend the club old jerseys, photographs and keepsakes as the team opens a 70th-anniversary season built around recovering seven decades of scattered hockey history.

Head coach and general manager Nik Passero told Fort Erie Radio the club will catalogue every borrowed item, display the pieces at games and on social media and return everything to its owners. The club wants the anniversary to belong to the generations of players, volunteers and supporters who built the team.

“I just think there’s lots of people in the past 70 years that have put their blood, sweat and tears into this program, and I think it’s important for us to celebrate those people,” said Passero.

Recently, staff discovered an old photograph of the original 1957 team and are having it digitized for publication.

The franchise began in 1957 as the Fort Erie Frontiers in the Niagara District Junior B Hockey League. It played as the Fort Erie Autos from 1964 before taking the Meteors name in 1971. The club now plays in the Golden Horseshoe Division of the Greater Ontario Hockey League.

“This team’s been around my family for a long time, so it’s exciting to get everybody involved,” said Passero.

Much of that history currently sits in private hands. The club is looking for newspaper clippings, programs, pennants, ticket stubs and team clothing from any era, and it plans to feature the material through arena displays and anniversary events during the season. All donated material will be returned to its owner.

“Every story, every memory has gotten us to this point,” said Passero. “I think it’s really important to recognize everybody.”

The club has planned a series of anniversary events at the Fort Erie Leisureplex. The Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament takes place August 24 and has sold out each of the past five years, according to Passero.

The club will also host an Ontario Hockey League exhibition game between the Erie Otters and Niagara IceDogs on September 11. The Meteors open their home schedule September 12 against an opponent still to be determined.

The Meteors’ last season ended in April with a Game 7 overtime loss to the St. Catharines Falcons.

An alumni game will be scheduled once the league releases its calendar, and Passero said the club will announce the date when it is set.

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