2007 Inductees
Brian MacAskill
Brian was born in Cowansville, Quebec in 1960. He was introduced to sports at an early age by his Acadia Hockey Hall of Fame father, John. In Quebec Minor Hockey, he represented the Town of Waterloo, Quebec at the prestigious Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament, finishing as silver medalist in his final year.
The family moved to Berwick when Dad accepted a position at West Kings High School. Brian entered the Berwick Minor Hockey Program. It was not long before he became a high scoring mainstay on Berwick’s Bantam and Midget hockey teams. Then it was on to West Kings where he starred as a high-scoring forward on the high school team.
During high school, he was noticed and recruited by the Valley Wildcats Junior A Hockey Team. He was among the team’s top scorers and made the all-star team as a left winger. He then played in the Northumberland Junior B league with Stellarton where he was once again among the league’s leading scorers. In 1983 – 84. Brian joined the Windsor Schooners Senior A Hockey Team, combining with fellow Berwick resident Larry Morse to form one of the most potent duos in senior hockey. In seventeen games in the regular season Brian scored sixteen goals and had six assists while being named playoff MVP. The player next to him in scoring had only six goals.
In 1984 – 85, Brian was third in league scoring with sixty-seven points on twenty-nine goals and thirty-eight assists while winning league MVP honours, at one point running off a twenty-eight point streak of fourteen goals and fourteen assists. Brian played a leading role in Windsor winning the provincial Senior A championship in an exciting seven-game series over Dartmouth Metro Mounties. Coach Brian Redden summed up Brian’s senior career by saying, “He is a coach’s dream, always up for games, never complaining, never missing practice – a real inspiration to his team mates”. After playing senior hockey, Brian played for the tournament team Baltzer’s Selects, winning many tournaments and being named tournament MVP many times.
Winding down his hockey career, he played into his forties, winning the National Corrections Championship in 2005 with the Nova Scotia Youth Facility Team. Also, at age forty-five he scored two goals in his final of over twenty appearances in the annual alumni game against West Kings High School Wolverines.
In tennis, Brian won the Berwick Men’s Singles Club Championship at age eighteen and paired with Robert Woodworth to win the Doubles Championship. Also, teaming with Robert Woodworth, he added two provincial B Doubles Championships.
Brian has now taken up golf and plays with the same enthusiasm and competitiveness that he displayed at hockey and tennis. Brian lives in Berwick with Donna, his son Ben and daughter Lauren and enjoys watching Ben and Lauren compete in local sports.
It is with pride that Brian MacAskill is recognized by the Berwick Sports Hall of Fame.
Inducted June 2007