Dwayne Roloson Inducted into the Merchants Hall of Fame

Tuesday, 12 October 2021 11:42

Former NHL star Dwayne Roloson was back in Norwich on Friday night and was inducted into the Merchants Hall of Fame.

NORWICH - Friday night was a special night in Norwich as the Merchants were able to welcome back a former NHL veteran.

Dwayne Roloson played over 600 games in the NHL in a career that spanned 12 years from 1996 to 2012. He was the starting goalie on several playoff teams and made it to two NHL finals. During his career Roloson played goal for Calgary Flames, the Buffalo Sabres, the Minnesota Wild, the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning throughout this career.

He was also a key member of the Team Canada IIHF World Hockey Championship team that won gold in 2007.

Roloson is from Norfolk County and played minor hockey in Simcoe. He also played goalie for the Merchants during the 1986-87 season, before moving on to the OHL. Treasurer Secretary for the Merchants Colin Percy says Roloson was a big part of that team.

"We had won the Ontario Championships the season before, so we had a veteran goalie come back Wayne Kowalski, so him and Wayne became a tandem. We ended up making the Ontario finals once again, falling to Lakefield in the finals. I wasn't born yet but from what I have been told it was really exciting to make it back to the finals and Dwayne was a big part of that."

Percy says it was really cool for the fans, especially the young ones to see someone from our area make it.

"The atmosphere inside the building on Friday was awesome. It gives all the kids in our community the chance to dream as well and knowing that someone of Dwayne's calibre who did what he did in the NHL and made a couple of Stanley Cup finals, it gives the kids in our community a chance to say hey, you can play junior hockey and you can make it as well. It was humbling, it was an honour to have him there and it was definitely exciting."

On Friday night he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was a special night and the Merchants players were inspired to a 6-5 win over the Hespeler Shamrocks.