ATHLETE LEGEND
Malo, Joe
1934 – 2021
SPORT | Hockey
POSITION | Forward
YEAR OF INDUCTION | 2015
Joe was born in Fort William, Ontario, now part of Thunder Bay in 1934, moved to Chatham in 1959 to play for the Senior Maroons and has lived here ever since. Along the way, he played Major Junior “A” hockey, competed professionally in the QHL, AHL, and WHL, and starred in Senior “A” when it was the top amateur competition in the country.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1950 - 1959
1950 – 1953 – played Major Junior “A” for the Fort William Hurricane-Rangers – in 1951-52 season, the team reached Memorial Cup semi-finals, losing to Regina – he attended Detroit Red Wings training camps for five years
1953 – 1956 – played professionally for Sherbrooke Saints in the QHL, Springfield Indians in the AHL, and Edmonton Flyers in the WHL
1955 – 1956 – started season with Edmonton but was reinstated as an amateur to play for Penticton Vees who had won the World Championship the previous year
1956 – 1957 – started season with Troy (Ohio) Bruins in the IHL and then moved to Sault Ste, Marie (Michigan) in the NOHA
1957 – 1959 – for two seasons played senior amateur hockey with the Sudbury Wolves – was chosen to play on an all-star team against a touring Russian team
1950 - 1962
1959 – 1964 – played for the Chatham Senior Maroons
1959 – 1960 – moved to Chatham to play hockey and work for Chatham Hydro and then Union Gas where he worked for 35.5 years – in first season, Maroons won the Allan Cup, emblematic of the best senior hockey team in Canada, beating Trail (BC) Smoke Eaters for the title – Joe was a key member of that team scoring 14 points in 14 playoff games
1960 – 1961 – Maroons chose not to represent Canada at World Championship because of expenses involved – Trail went in their place and won the Championship – instead, Maroons went on all-expenses paid trip to Sweden and Russia making them one of the first Canadian hockey team to play in Russia – after Maroons were eliminated from league playoffs, Joe was picked up by Galt Terriers along with Fred Pletsch and George Aitken for the Allan Cup playdowns which they ultimately won – Joe played 12 games scored 5 goals and 8 points
1961 – 1962 – after playing for the Maroons, Joe was picked up again by Galt, along with Jack Douglas, for the World Championships – scored 8 goals in 7 games as Canada won the silver medal, losing only to Sweden – Joe was third in team scoring (14 points) and goals scored (8)
Accomplishments
In thirteen years of senior hockey, Joe was known as a skilled player who stayed out of the penalty box. He scored close to a point a game and averaged only 8 penalty minutes per season. The most served in any one year was 14 minutes.