Caldwell was an assistant coach with Western Michigan University and coached Poland’s U18 team. He mentored coaches in Russia and Romania and worked as a skills instructor with the IIHF. He was a skills instructor with Hockey Canada’s national program. He held leadership positions with Sport Manitoba and Hockey Canada and won Hockey MB’s Volunteer of the Year in 2012 and Gordon Juckes Award in 2015.

Locally, he founded the Deloraine Breakfast Club in 2004. Caldwell was inducted into the Builders category.

Ivan Strain’s hockey fame came over the airwaves. A part of CJRB Radio in Boissevain since its beginning in 1973, he added broadcasting to his portfolio, spending decades as the voice of local hockey.

Over more than 30 years, Strain visited more rinks than nearly anyone else, becoming known by generations of hockey fans for his play by play of hundreds of games, including the now defunct South West Hockey League and the Tiger Hills Hockey League. His deep and booming voice connected fans to their teams like a latter day Foster Hewitt, bringing the Boissevain Border Kings, Deloraine Royals, Souris Elks and others to life over the radio waves. He was the voice of winter in this area of the province for generations of local hockey enthusiasts.

Strain was also well known for his work with many Boissevain groups like the Lions Club and initiatives like the Canadian Turtle Derby to make his community better. He was inducted in the Grassroots category.

There were a number of other worthy inductees in 2026, including former NHL players Larry Brown, Bryce Salvador, Arron Asham and Ken Baumgartner, journalist Patti Dawn Swansson and the 1968/69 Flin Flon Bombers.

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff