Bison great Fleming honoured by Canada West
Longtime NHL assistant got his coaching start at Manitoba
EDMONTON – The late Wayne Fleming arrived at the University of Manitoba as a young student-athlete in 1970 and left with a legacy as an influential coach.
Fleming was inducted into the Canada West Hall of Fame Monday, as the conference's celebration of 100 years of university sport continued.
A native of Snow Lake, Man., Fleming played for the Bisons men’s hockey team for four year during the early 1970s before joining the program as an assistant coach in 1976, and eventually taking over as head coach in 1980.
Over nine seasons with Fleming behind the bench, Manitoba posted a .634 win percentage and won the back-to-back conference titles in 1984 and 1985. Fleming was named the CIAU Men’s Hockey Coach of the Year in 1985.
Following his time at the U of M, Fleming went on to find success at the professional and international levels. Fleming spent over a dozen seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL, and worked frequently with Hockey Canada, including at the 1992 and 2002 Olympics.
After a courageous battle with brain cancer, Fleming passed away in March 2013 at the age of 62. On October 4, 2013, the University of Manitoba honoured him by re-naming its campus rink Wayne Fleming Arena.
To read more about Fleming's career, click here.
ABOUT THE CANADA WEST HALL OF FAME
For the last century, organized university sport has been a central part of the student experience at institutions across Western Canada. Beginning with the University of Manitoba capturing the first Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) men's hockey banner in 1919-20, student-athletes have been competing to reach their full potential in sport and the classroom, while enriching campus life.
To commemorate 100 years of university sport across Western Canada, the Canada West Hall of Fame was created in the spring of 2019, with the first induction class set to be unveiled throughout the 2019-20 season.
VISIT: CanadaWestHallofFame.org