HIGH ACHIEVERS: Rebranded Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame inducts Erica Wiebe, Matt Bradley, Jack Fan, Justin Phillips

By Martin Cleary

Twenty-one years ago, Erica Wiebe confidently walked into the Sacred Heart High School gym as a Grade 9 student to try yet another new sport – amateur wrestling.

A highly motivated and competitive Stittsville athlete who had already attached herself to soccer, alpine skiing, basketball, and more, she quickly fell in love with the physicality and strategy of freestyle wrestling.

Her introduction to the sport at the co-ed, high school level would be the start of an unimaginable journey that would take her around the world, see her win gold medals at the highest platforms of competition and feel supported by a remarkable team of family, friends and coaches.

Eight months ago, Wiebe, 35, officially announced her retirement from wrestling, which triggered a domino effect that not only kept her in wrestling, but also allowed her to expand her sports horizon.

The Canadian Olympic Committee manager of athlete relations, safe sport and diversity, equity and inclusion, Wiebe coaches once a week at a club in Montreal, which is her new home city, has been a broadcast commentator for the 2024 world championships and the 2023 senior Asian championships, and conducts regular clinics.

As Wiebe moved around the world as an athlete, whether active or retired, she has never been forgotten by her hometown of Stittsville. On Thursday night, Wiebe was one of four athletes inducted into the rebranded Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame in a ceremony which also opened the new venue to honour the top sports figures of Goulbourn Township.

About a year ago, Stittsville resident Allan Ryan was upset with the condition of the Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame, which was located at the Johnny Leroux Arena in Stittsville and the Richmond Memorial Community Centre. The wall of fame had honoured 19 athletes, builders and teams from the early 1990s until it amalgamated with the City of Ottawa in 2001.

For the past 23 years, the sports wall of fame was dormant and decaying until Ryan took the lead and worked with city officials to revitalize the home for honoured athletes, coaches and builders. His idea came to fruition Thursday night with the opening of the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame at the CardelRec Recreation Complex.

Read More: HIGH ACHIEVERS: Revitalized Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame transforms into Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame

The transformation to a hall of fame from a wall of fame also was celebrated with the first induction ceremony since 2001.

Wiebe was inducted along with former NHL forward Matt Bradley, Special Olympics figure skater Jack Fan and past CFL defensive end Justin Phillips.

Bob Bent, the owner of the Stittsville Home Hardware Building Centre, also was inducted as a community builder. He covered the cost of updating all the old plaques as well as the new plaques for the hall of fame.

The induction ceremony also welcomed back past inductees, including figure skater Micheline Rioux, football player Brad Tierney, hockey player Steve Hull and track and field’s Barclay Frost.

“It’s so cool,” Wiebe said in an interview on Thursday about being named to the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame. “I got involved in high school and it now has one of the largest wrestling programs in Ottawa. I feel I have come full circle. It’s the place that has made me.”

Wiebe, whose hall-of-fame plaque will hang only steps from the gymnasium named in her honour, trained hard, competed harder and produced stunning results that fill her career circle.

While she wasn’t able to achieve her high-school goal of an OFSAA championship gold medal and had to settle for a lesser community spirit award, she was even more motivated to become a top wrestler when she attended the University of Calgary.

Achieving at the next level with the Calgary Dinos Wrestling Club also took time, but she was named to her first national team in 2013, which led to three significant achievements – 2013 World University Summer Games, bronze medal; 2014 Commonwealth Games, gold; and 2015 World University Summer Games, gold. In 2014, she also posted a 36-match win streak.

At her first of two Olympics in 2016, she won all four matches to claim the women’s 75-kilogram gold medal and become Canada’s third Summer Games champion in wrestling and the second woman to achieve that title.

Designated a training partner for the 2012 Olympics, Wiebe had a totally opposite result at the 2020 Games, which were staged a year later in Tokyo because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wiebe lost her first-round match and was eliminated.

Wiebe, who also won 10 national titles at the women’s, junior and cadet levels, also looks well beyond the competitions when remembering her wrestling career. Many of her best memories are about her wrestling community, the friends she has made and the role models who have motivated her.

She cherished the training camps, the challenging workouts, her day-to-day dealings with her teammates and coffee talks with coach Paul Ragusa.

At Thursday’s induction ceremony, Wiebe shared the moment with long-time friend and Sacred Heart wrestler Katherine Dobson and her first coach Sil Sanna.

“I had so many big wins, but it’s the people on the journey (who complete the picture),” Wiebe added.

In January, 2023, she asked herself if she was done with wrestling. The answer then was no. She went to a Canadian training camp and won an international competition. But she came to the realization she had lost her interest in wrestling.

“I was healthy and successful, but there were more interesting challenges in other areas of sport,” Wiebe explained. “I was able to retire on my own terms. I was super healthy and had an amazing career. I had no regrets.”

During her successful wrestling career, Wiebe also earned two Bachelor degrees (one in kinesiology and one in sociology) as well as an executive MBA degree through Cornell University and Queen’s University.

MATT BRADLEY, hockey

The Bradley name is well known throughout Stittsville and area. Matt’s contribution was an 11-year career in the National Hockey League with four different teams between 2000 and 2012. He currently is a scout for the Washington Capitals.

Selected in the fourth round and 102nd overall as a left-winger by the San Jose Sharks in the 1996 Entry Draft, Bradley, 46, played three seasons with the West Coast team. He also skated one year with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2003-04), six years with Washington (2005-06 to 2010-11) and one year with the Florida Panthers (2011-12).

He played in 675 NHL games, recording 59 goals and 90 assists for 149 points as well as taking 562 penalty minutes. He experienced the NHL playoffs in five seasons, contributing three goals and eight assists in 47 games.

He represented Canada at the 1998 world junior hockey championships, counting one goal and one assist in seven games. Canada, 2-4, placed eighth in the championship, losing to Russia 2-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals and 6-3 to Kazakhstan in the seventh-place game.

Bradley also played the 1994-95 Central Junior Hockey League season with the Cumberland Grads, registering 13 goals and 19 assists in 19 games. In three seasons with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs (1995-1998), he scored 67 goals and added 88 assists for 155 points in 175 games.

Before becoming a regular NHL player, Bradley refined his game with the Kentucky Thoroughbreds in the American Hockey League. In 181 games over four seasons (1996-97 and 1998-2001), he compiled 50 goals and 47 assists for 97 points.

JACK FAN, figure skating

It’s rather appropriate Jack Fan is inducted into the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame at the CardelRec Recreation Complex, since one of the two ice rinks is named after him and his figure skating partner Katie Xu. (The other is named after Bradley.)

Fan won three medals at the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria, including gold with Xu in Level 2 pairs and Level 4 men’s singles. He also earned a silver medal in ice dance with Xu.

Special Olympics Canada named Fan its male athlete of the year for 2017.

A year later, Goulbourn Skating Club coach Cathy Skinner convinced the City of Ottawa to name one of the two CardelRec rinks after world champions Fan and Xu.

Fan, who also has won numerous medals at Special Olympics national championships, started skating at age nine and has been training and skating for 17 years. He started skating at the Goulbourn club in 2011 and became Xu’s partner in 2013.

JUSTIN PHILLIPS, football

A defensive end, Justin Phillips was a valuable contributor to many championship teams at the professional and university levels.

He made three Grey Cup appearances and lifted the treasured trophy in 2008, after the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 22-14. Drafted by Calgary fifth overall in the first round of the 2007 CFL Entry Draft, Phillips, 39, played seven seasons with the Stampeders (2007-13). In 2012, he experienced his second Grey Cup with Calgary, which was a 35-22 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Coming home for his final CFL season, Phillips played for the Ottawa Redblacks in 2014 and 2015, reaching the Grey Cup in the later year and losing to the Edmonton Eskimos 26-20.

At Wilfrid Laurier University, he played in the OUA final for the Yates Cup four times (2003-06) and was part of the winning team in 2004 and 2005. The Golden Hawks also captured the Uteck Bowl and the Vanier Cup national championship in 2005. The Golden Hawks defeated the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 24-23 in the Vanier Cup final.

In 2006, Phillips was a first-team OUA all-star and a second-team CIS All-Canadian. He also was a second-team OUA all-star in 2004.

Phillips, a Sacred Heart High School graduate, played his minor football for the Bell Warriors and the Myers Riders. He also is a member of the Wilfrid Laurier Sports Hall of Fame and the Bell Warriors Hall of Fame.