(X.com/Western Canada Pro Hockey Scouts Foundation)

By rdnewsNOW staff

Legends of the game

Hockey scouts with ties to Red Deer to be added to Wall of Honour in Okotoks

Jul 12, 2025 | 8:00 AM

The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation will add 29 names to its Wall of Honour at the second annual Induction Dinner.

On July 29 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Viking Rentals Centre in Okotoks, a number of scouts from central Alberta will be added.

This includes former Red Deer Rebels director of player personnel and current amateur scout with the St. Louis Blues, Carter Sears, and Red Deer resident Dennis McIvor, who served as a scout for the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, and Tampa Bay Lightning from 1983 to 2000.

Garth Malarchuk, long time Toronto Maple Leafs scout and one of the key founders of the Foundation, said they created the wall of honour to make sure the game’s greatest scouts aren’t forgotten.

“We’re talking about guys who’ve been in the business for a long time and a lot of hard work went into their roles in the scouting profession,” he said. “The bottom line is if you don’t have good scouting, you’re not going to have a good team. Scouts aren’t recognized in the Hockey Hall of Fame so we wanted to make sure we honour them.”

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The Wall of Honour is located in the Viking Rentals Centre and is a rotating digital board that includes a bio of each inductee.

The 2025 class includes three pioneers of scouting, seven from the early era, 17 from the modern era, and two from major junior hockey. In the induction dinner last year, they featured 44 inductees.

The three pioneers to be inducted includes Denis Ball, Jeep George and Jimmy Walker, who are now all deceased. Malarchuk said they were legends of the game with 70 years of experience between all three of them.

The early era inductees feature Dennis McIvor, Tom McVie and Doug Overton Sr., Larry Hornung, Jim Pedersen, Larry Popein and George Wood.

Meantime, the modern era scouts to be inducted are Darwin Bennett, Jim Benning, Shane Churla, the late Glen Cochrane, Milt Fisher, Ernie Gare Jr., Erin Ginnell, Brian Gross, Dennis Holland, Brad Hornung, Tim Lenardon, Stu MacGregor, Ray Payne, Brad Robson, Carter Sears, Marty Stein and Al Tuer.

The major junior scouts to be honoured in 2025 are Keith Wilson and the late Al Macpherson.

In addition, former Red Deer Rebels head coach and current Detroit Red Wings head amateur scout, Jesse Wallin will be one of two veteran scouts presented the Two Glens’ Honourarium award. The honour is named after Glen Cochrane and Glen Dirk, two long-time scouts who passed away from cancer in 2024. The other recipient this year is Vancouver’s Dean Malkoc.

It is to be presented annually to a deserving scout who displays camaraderie, competitiveness, dedication and humour.

The inductees are chosen by the foundation’s selection committee, which comprises Dennis Beyak, Scott Bradley, Ron Delorme, Gregg Drinnan, Erin Ginnell, Ross Mahoney, Garth Malarchuk, Shane Malloy, Mike Penny and Blair Reid.

The theme of the evening is called, “A night with the Sutters” where they’ll be joined by all six brothers including Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich and Ron for a hot stove lounge-style conversation for those in attendance.

The brothers played in the National Hockey League in a combined 4,994 regular-season games and and 603 playoff games. There was a Sutter playing in the NHL every season from 1976-77 through 2000-01.

“The best way to describe the Sutter family is they’re hockey’s first family,” Malarchuk added. “The combination of games played in the NHL and points, and there being six brothers, I doubt if we’re ever going to see that again.”

The Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation is a non-profit organization which gives back to charities, communities and individuals who could benefit from financial assistance.

Tickets are on sale for the event and can be purchased online at hockeyscoutsfoundation.com.