Four athletes and two builders are the newest inductees to the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
Olympic hockey gold medalist Haley Irwin, Paralympic gold medal winner Robbi Weldon, former NHLer Marc Chorney and boxer-kickboxer Frank Tropea have been selected in the athletes category.
Long-time multi-sport volunteers Lee Batstone and Karen Saarimaki of Geraldton will enter the hall as builders.
The induction ceremony will take place on September 28th in Thunder Bay.
Irwin, who grew up in Terrace Bay, won gold medals while playing for Canada’s women’s hockey team in 2010 and 2014, earning silver at the 2012 Olympics in PyeongChang.
She was also part of Canada’s World Hockey teams, which won gold in 2012 and four silver medals.
Thunder Bay’s Robbi Weldon participated in para-nordic skiing and para-cycling during her career, capturing podium finishes at the national and international levels in both sports.
She won four gold medals at the 2011 Parapan American Games in tandem cycling with pilot Lyne Bessette.
They also reached the top of the podium in the women’s road race at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Chorney was a 6th-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1979.
He would play in four seasons with the Penguins and Kings over 210 games before returning home to skate with the Thunder Bay Twins that won the Allan Cup in 1988 and ’89.
Tropea won provincial and national titles in boxing in the 1990s before switching to kickboxing where he won the WKA Canadian Amateur Welterweight kickboxing title in 1996 as an amateur.
He would turn professional that same year and retired from the sport with a record of 23 wins, 10 by knockout and one loss.
Lee Bastone complimented a three-decade-long teaching career by guiding high school football, basketball and track and field teams and helping form the Northwestern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (NWOSSAA).
The Thunder Bay-native was also involved in amateur swimming that included organizing meets and officiating at national championships and Olympic swimming trials.
Saarimaki has been an active participant, instructor, organizer and official in high school sports, curling and golf in northwestern Ontario.
Her contributions to youth athletics earned her the 2012 Pete Beach Award from the Ontario Federation of Secondary Athletic Associations, along with awards from Golf Manitoba and the Northern Ontario Curling Association.
