Finally, after a winter of such discontent, something to cheer about.
Something that has to do with the longest season, but not the deepest snow that came with it — and nothing whatsoever to do with thousand-dollar bills in plain brown envelopes, with prime ministers suing the opposition, with dreary provincial elections, fumbled NHL trading deadlines, cancelled CBC programs, falling stock markets and the price of gasoline at the corner pump.
Thank you, Jeffrey Buttle.
Thank you for putting a little spring in Canada's step.
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"Was that enough?" the new world champion asked as he skated off the ice in Gothenborg, Sweden.
It was more than enough. Enough to prove something to those who had written off the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist as not being up to the gold standard. Enough to cement his lead over two previous world title holders, Brian Joubert of France and Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland. Enough to soar far beyond the teen sensation, Patrick Chan, who had taken over the Canadian title. Enough to allow Buttle to join the likes of Donald Jackson, Donald McPherson, Brian Orser, Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko as world champion — from Canada.
But also from Smooth Rock Falls.
"The North's Biggest Little Town," as it bills itself, has been shrinking lately.
And this wonderful victory — local boy Jeff Buttle up against a world that didn't really believe in him — could not have come at a better time.
There has not been such excitement in Smooth Rock Falls — halfway between Cochrane and Kapuskasing as Highway 11 arcs high across Northern Ontario — since J.P. Parisé came back from Moscow.
And that was more than 35 years ago.
Parisé had been a bit player on Team Canada during the Summit Series in 1972 — best remembered for his near-assault on referee Josef Kompalla in the eighth game — and had returned such a hero that the town put up a plastic statue in his honour and shut down for a day of celebration.
The plastic statue is gone now, destroyed by time and the elements. And so few people have work these days in Smooth Rock Falls there's not much left to shut down.
The new mayor, however, intends to bring the suggestion of a Jeffrey Buttle Day up in council this week.
"It's a great idea," Mayor Kevin Somer said. "We sure could use the publicity."
For the last long while, the only publicity coming out of Smooth Rock Falls has been bad. In Parisé's day a thriving mill town of 2,800, the town population has dropped to 1,300 today, with a few more numbers lost with each passing month.
Somer's inauguration was held on Dec. 4, 2006.
On Dec. 5, 2006, he was summoned to the Tembec offices, where he was told that the mill, which then had temporarily shut down, was now permanently lost. Nearly 250 forestry workers were now unemployed.
Since then, restaurants and businesses have shut. Even the Anglican church has closed down. And Somer's full-time job these days — when he's not filing taxes for area farmers — is "trying to get the town back on an economic foothold."
A gold medal in Sweden won't do it, but a little attention paid to this friendly little town on the bank of the Mattagami River can't hurt. They are trying to attract new business. They are looking into what might become of the abandoned mill. There are various energy and agricultural projects under way that might create a new economic base — and housing is plenty and affordable.
The mayor's wife, Marion, is the president of the local skating club, where Jeff Buttle got his start before heading off to larger Kapuskasing, then still larger Sudbury.
There is talk of putting up a "wall of fame" in the arena that would include Buttle's picture alongside those of Parisé and other local hockey stars, though the mayor is quick to admit, "There are people in this community who are not all that fond of figure skating."
Still, Buttle's success will certainly bring more registrations to the club, which already has three Somer daughters skating and had also included six-year-old Brandon Somer until he declared this winter "that he wanted to switch over to bowling."
The great thing about the news coming out of Sweden that reached Smooth Rock Falls over the weekend was that, for once, the patrons in the two restaurants still open were talking about something other than the winter.
"It's been absolutely brutal up here," the mayor said. "We got snow the middle of October and it never went away. Last night was minus—32 with the wind chill and it's supposed to go down to minus-39 tonight.
"There's nothing coming in the long-term forecast until the fifth or sixth of April — so we can sure use a heartwarming story."
Both the mayor and the president of the skating club hope that something else can come of it, as well: inspiration.
"We can use this to show our youngsters that greatness can come out of a small community," the mayor said, "that dreams can come true if you follow them with all your heart.
"Jeff Buttle went up against the world and won — and we're up against a lot right here ourselves. We can take inspiration from what he's done.
"We can be champions again right here, too — right here in Smooth Rock Falls."
