Hockey seems to course through the veins of the Franson family thanks, at least in part, to patriarch Cal Franson.
While Cal is something of a fixture in Sicamous after many years of driving the zamboni and coaching young players at the hockey rink there, his hockey roots travel much deeper.
Cal is a former member of the Shuswap Totems, Salmon Arm’s first Junior A franchise.
The Totems were recently recognized in Salmon Arm on Hockey Day, Feb. 1, where all things hockey were celebrated. Prior to Shaw Centre’s Saturday night puck drop between the Salmon Arm SilverBacks and the Penticton Vees, those Totems who were able to attend were honoured on centre ice by appreciative fans.
Cal remembers his time with the Totems fondly.
Prior to joining the Junior A team in 1982, he played with the Enderby Juvenile Reps, after having spent most of his minor hockey years in Salmon Arm.
“A bunch of us got invites. It was probably one of the best experiences in my life,” he says of being a Totem.
Cal explains that the bantam draft for 14 year olds didn’t exist then.
“If you could play for a junior club at 17 or 18 years old, you’d hope you could get a WHL invite or even the NHL.”
For him, playing for the Totems and being able to stay close to home seemed like an added bonus.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to crack the lineup. It was a great experience – I learned an awful lot.”
The program booklet for the Totems that year describes Cal this way: “One of the hardest working players on the club, Cal has seen action at left wing, centre and even taken a few shifts on the point. His never-ending hustle is an example to his teammates, a fact noted last season when he captained the Enderby Juvenile Club. A serious mature type of individual, Cal has worn the ‘A’ on occasion for the Totems, a measure of the confidence the coaching staff has in his heart and ability.”
Cal recounts how his time with the Totems led to an invitation from the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League.
“We played against the (Penticton) Knights that night – that’s when Brett Hull was playing,” he says, recalling that his coach Terry Shykora told him a scout wanted to talk to him on the bus.
However, Cal decided not to go to the Tigers’ camp, because he was already 19.
“I felt I wouldn’t really get an honest shot at that age,” he says, pausing. “Not that it was a regret, but I was ‘thinking young’ at that age.
“If I was younger, I would have been out of here in a shot. It was a door that opened for me because of how well the team did. We made the playoffs that year.”
He says he was fortunate there were a lot of good players on the Totems team – “It makes a person’s game better all around,” and he terms the coaching staff “super.”
“I probably learned more from that coaching staff than I ever had in my life.”
Cal describes the style of Totems hockey as “more of a run-and-gun style, very physical,” he says, noting that when he has watched his son Cody practise in Toronto, “it’s now more about positioning, sticks in lanes – it’s opposite than what it was before, that’s for sure.”
Cal’s sons, Cody, 26, and Cain, 20, have kept the passion alive, with Cody a defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Cain a forward with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.
When Cal was with the Totems, he wore #11 in appreciation of Salmon Arm’s Ron Flockhart, who Cal looked up to and who wore #11 with the Philadelphia Flyers.
“He’s always been a good guy with our family,” says Cal.
Just like their dad, when Cody and Cain were growing up, both used to wear #11.
Cal watches his boys play whenever he can, and recently returned from a ‘fathers’ trip’ with the Maple Leafs to Florida.
“I’m thanking my lucky stars – I’m getting to do things I never thought I’d see happening in my lifetime.”
Understandably, his passion for playing the game hasn’t diminished. He currently plays with the Salmon Arm Aces as well as the Sicamous Old-Timers.
“I still have as much love for the game as I did then. It’s pretty hard to quit.”