St. Jacobs’ Sittler legacy lives on with anniversary of 10-point game

There are few records in sport we all believe will never be broken.

Cal Ripken’s Ironman streak. The Boston Celtics’ eight consecutive titles. Wayne Gretzky’s 92-goal season, and of course, Darryl Sittler’s ten-point game against the Boston Bruins, 40-years-ago today.

Sittler grew up in St. Jacobs and fondly remembers lacing up his skates and taping the wooden stick for a Sunday game of shinny on a farm with multiple Mennonite families.

“Home Hardware was just one little hardware store. I remember getting my hockey tape and my sticks there and playing on an outdoor rink,” says Sittler. “A lot of Mennonites, because of their religion, weren’t allowed to play organized outdoor hockey. If you wanted something, you had to go work for it. You had to shovel off the rink, you had to flood it, and you had to do all those sorts of things.”

Those things were always just part of the process for Sittler and friends. If you wanted to skate, you had to do the work, and Sittler wanted to skate. A lot.

“I can always remember just having a passion for it. I just loved to get out there, and couldn’t get enough of it. Your feet would be freezing, it would be snowing and cold, and you’d come in, warm up and then go back out again. It was a dream right from a young age,” he says.

They say write down your dreams and goals. Sittler had that chance when in Grade 8, the Principal at St. Jacobs Public School asked each student to write down their top three career choices. Number one was an easy choice for Sittler – an NHL player. Number two, he wrote down a crane operator, like his father.

“Number three, I left blank, because I didn’t know anything else,” Sittler reflects. “I remember him saying to me, ‘Darryl, you know the chances of you making the National Hockey League are pretty slim, you better concentrate on being a crane operator and staying in school.’ He was right, but I’ll always remember that meeting.”

“We all know somebody from your community that had a long shot to make it. No different than Darryl Sittler in St. Jacobs, somebody from Kitchener, somebody from Guelph or London, so people connect with that sort of thing and are proud of those hometown heroes that fulfill their dream.”

He had his mind made up. Sittler was going to fulfil his dream. He would play for the Elmira Sugar Kings and was drafted third overall to the OHL’s London Nationals at the time.

Sittler remembers playing for the Sugar Kings, which were a Junior C club at the time, and being a young teenager, playing against 19-year-olds that were much bigger than him.

“The reason I was drafted to the OHL is because I was successful in doing it, but at the same time, most games I was pretty nervous. I was a scrawny little kid playing against guys that were almost men,” says Sittler. “For me as a person, I never changed my approach to it or attitude. You were never satisfied just to get to that level; you always wanted to get to the next level, and then when you make the NHL, it’s not, ‘Okay, I made it here, now I can back off’, you want to be the best every night, every game, every practice. That’s always been my philosophy, and it still is.”

There’s a saying – “Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard.” Sittler had the talent, and he worked hard. His parents were big on discipline and taught Sittler and his seven siblings structure and the importance of being a part of a community.

“I’ve always been one to never lose sight of where I came from, and where I grew up. I think people still see Darryl Sittler not just as a hockey player, but as a guy that’s maybe given back; those sorts of things are nice. Those things, in the end, are more meaningful than the goals and the assists, and the money you make; it’s how you make a difference in people’s lives,” says Sittler.

“I’ll give my mom and dad a lot of credit for that. My dad was always in the Lions Club, minor hockey, doing things to help other people in the community so my brothers and sisters learned that, and we get a lot of satisfaction out of being a part of that.”

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