THE TATTLE OF HASTINGS: Sons of Rusty

Soon enough, she was a billet mother for the Merritt Centennials.

The 80-year-old hockey matriarch has been volunteering for the Cents for 30 years and reckons she has been billet mom to, fittingly, about 100 Centennials.

CFJC Today was invited over to chat with Rusty inside the room in her home dedicated to hockey sons who hold a special place in her heart.

RUSTY’S ROOM

The door is covered in signatures, goodbyes from graduating Centennials who lived under Rusty’s roof.

“I come in here and I sit on the floor and I read those probably once a week,” said Rusty, who pointed out the note written by 15-year-old Bill Muckalt, who went on to play in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks, among other teams.

“It’s heartwrenching for me when they leave at the end of the season and I know they’re not coming back.”

Rusty has a background in psychiatric nursing, with education and training that contribute to a soft spot for junior-age hockey players.

“I have a thing about young guys being away from home and not having somebody to talk to when things don’t go well. It’s a huge transition,” Rusty said, noting raising two kids alone likely contributed to her motherly tendencies. “Some of them actually go home because they can’t deal with it. That became my thing and I can’t tell you how many I’m still in touch with.”

Game-worn masks, gloves and helmets are souvenirs and reminders of young men who passed through her doors, many of whom confided in Rusty, offering information that could not be shared with teammates and coaches.

“I know when I go to bed at night and I’ve had lots of interaction with the players during the day, it’s a good day for me,” Rusty said. “I’m really close to my family, but my family also understands this is also my family, the hockey players.”

Pennants, plaques (including some honouring Rusty for service to the B.C. Hockey League), pins, jerseys, bobbleheads, tuques, Teddys and all sorts of trinkets bring the room to life.

“To, Rusty. You are a blessing,” reads a note on one of many signed, framed photos from billet sons.

Rusty is a great grandmother now, but remembers well having her own children sleep in bunk beds so there was room for hockey players in her home.

“It was kind of mentorship for them, with them not having a dad,” Rusty said. “So they gained quite a bit from that experience, as well.”

Rusty can be found on game days at the front door of the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, helping to organize tickets and programs, facilitating autograph sessions, working with the cashier and game-day co-ordinator and chattering with fans and friends.

She held up four fingers to indicate how many games she has missed in 30 years.

“I’ve got to be sick – really sick — before I miss a hockey game,” Rusty said.

SKA-LU-LA WORKSHOP

Rusty manages a day program for adults with special needs at Ska-Lu-La Workshop, which provides wood products to mines and mills in the area.

Centennials have worked in the shop in Merritt since 1988, when Rusty started a program in concert with the club.

“It gives them an opportunity to see another side of the world,” Rusty said. “They work one-on-one with the handicap people. It’s a life-changing experience for them. All our people just love the hockey players. It’s a win-win.”

Rusty no longer billets players, but hopes the partnership with Ska-Lu-La and her relationship with the Centennials will remain intact.

NEW OWNERSHIP

News rocked Rusty’s world on March 31.

The Centennials ceased operation after 51 years and withdrew from the Junior A BCHL after the 2023-2024 campaign.

“The first day, and I’m getting emotional already, I sat in here and I cried because it’s 30 years of attachments that I’ve made,” Rusty said. “Not that they’ll go away, but it will be interesting if I’m able to make new attachments.

“We’re going to be keeping the name [Centennials], but I don’t know whether we’re going to have a different colour and a different logo. That hurts.”

A new Centennials’ franchise has formed and will make its debut next season in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.

Rusty was asked if the emotion comes from worry over the transition to new ownership and how it may impact her affiliation with the club.

“Yes,” she said. “It’s really hard for me right now to even sit in this room. You look around the room and see stuff that I’ve collected. They’re personal mementos for me they’ve left for me to cherish.”

Rusty said her phone was remarkably active in the days following the news of the BCHL franchise folding.

One player let her know he was experiencing mental-health struggles during his time with the club and her support was of immeasurable importance.

On the day she was interviewed by CFJC Today, she received a text from a former player.

“Even though I was only there for a short time, I very quickly realized that you were the backbone of the Cents, and truly made my time there worth it,” read part of the message.

“Your hard work, dedication, kindness and compassion didn’t go unnoticed and will always be appreciated not only by me, but by many others, as well.”

Rusty said she understands the move away from community ownership and is focusing on the positives of a new era.

She just can’t stand the thought of being left behind.

“I can’t see myself not being involved,” Rusty said. “Every year, I say I’m not going to get attached, but I do anyway. It’s a passion.

“They all have their own place on my wall. They all have their own place in my heart.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

She utters her given name reluctantly.

“Phyllis,” Rusty said while grimacing.

Phyllis grew up in Kamloops.

Her Grade 7 math teacher Harry Lidster – father of former Vancouver Canucks’ defenceman Doug Lidster – was fed up with his talkative student.

“I yap a lot,” Rusty said with a laugh. “He threw a piece of chalk at me and said, ‘Hey you, Rusty! Turn around!’

“I had red hair – really, really red hair. It just stuck.”