Mention hockey and Muskoka in the same sentence, and it’s usually a reference to millionaire sportsmen enjoying their summer homes. But there’s another side to the Muskoka hockey story, one that involves past and present stars, Canada’s best sportswriter and the greatest defenceman the game has ever seen.

Every year towns across Canada vie for the title of Hockeyville, the community that best embodies the spirit of hockey and hometown pride. Huntsville almost made it this year, but it’s not the only town in the region that could compete.

The list of NHL players from Muskoka and Parry Sound is extensive: Roger Crozier from Bracebridge; Mike McGuire, Wayne Rutledge, Kris King and Irving Ungerman from Gravenhurst; Jack Bionda and Ethan Moreau from Huntsville; and half a dozen NHLers from Parry Sound. But at the head of the list, of course, there’s Bobby Orr.

Searching For Bobby Orr by Stephen Brunt places a lot of emphasis on Orr’s early years in Parry Sound, a town that proudly claims him as its native son. But Brunt fails to mention that from the time he played squirt hockey for the Parry Sound Shamrocks until he left to play Junior A, Orr had a good decade of hockey in Muskoka, playing against teams from Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Huntsville.

Many who played minor hockey in Muskoka in those days recall struggling to contain the young superstar. Among them is Roy MacGregor. The Huntsville native is one of Canada’s best sports writers and an acclaimed novelist — his series of 20 bestselling Screech Owls novels for young readers revolves around the lives of a local hockey team in the fictional town of Tamarack, based on Huntsville.

“I played against Bobby for several years simply because we’re the same age and Huntsville and Parry Sound were in the same hockey district,” said MacGregor. “He was amazing, even as an eight-year-old squirt. He could hoist the puck all the way from the blue-line and score goals right over the head of our goaltenders. He could skate through our entire team, get a shot, and still be first man back on defence.”

“In the years that I covered the NHL, I would sometimes run into Bobby in Boston and we would chat about those wonderful years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when it was Huntsville up against Parry Hoot and no matter what we did, Bobby Orr and the Shamrocks always managed to whip our butts.”

The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame, part of the $12.4-million Charles W. Stockey Centre, opened in Parry Sound a few years ago. It honours Orr and other former NHLers from Parry Sound.

Last year, Bobby Orr welcomed Doug Orr, his father, who was scouted by Boston and later scouted for the Bruins, into the Hall of Fame.

Bobby Orr may be the greatest player from the region to make it in the big leagues but he was not the only one. From the 1920s, when Mickey McGuire from Gravenhurst played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Bracebridge’s Ace Bailey was the leading scorer with the Toronto Maple Leafs, through Conn Smythe-winner Roger Crozier to more contemporary players like Kris King and Terry Crisp, Muskoka and Parry Sound have produced a string of top players.

Yes, there are hockey players here in the summer, when Eric Lindros, Steve Yzerman and just about every member of the Maple Leafs seem to have a cottage here. But it’s in winter, when the arenas of the region are alive with activity, that Muskoka shows why the entire district deserves to be called Hockeyville.

Ten NHL players from Muskoka and Parry Sound
• Ace Bailey, Bracebridge, Toronto Maple Leafs, 1926 to 1933
• Roger Crozier, Bracebridge, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, 1963 to 1977
• Frank Mickey McGuire, Gravenhurst, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1920s
• Wayne Rutledge, Gravenhurst, Los Angeles Kings, 1967 to 1970 and Houston Aeros (WHA) 1972 to 1978
• Kris King, Gravenhurst, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks, 1987 to 2001
• Jack Bionda, Huntsville, Toronto Maple Leafs, 1955
• Ethan Moreau, Hunts ville, Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers, 1995 to present
• Bobby Orr, Parry Sound, Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks, 1967 to 1979
• Terry Crisp, Parry Sound, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, 1966 to 1976
• Frank Carson, Parry Sound, Montreal Maroons, 1925-26, New York Americans and Detroit Red Wings, 1930 to 1934