Click here to view a photo gallery from the Storm's tribute to Rita in 2008

One of the lasting memories from my many trips back in the late 1970s to Acton Sabres junior B hockey games involved a local lad named Guy Payne.

Known as Moo Goo Guy Payne—say it fast, you’ll get it—he was a born and bred Actonite who resembled an anorexic lumberjack. Dressed like one too.

Tall and thin and all bushy beard and thick eyebrows when you got to the top end, Moo Goo showed up to a playoff game one year dressed as the Grim Reaper. Apparently, finding a scythe to finish off the costume proved difficult, so he substituted a large axe. A real one.

This being Acton in the late 1970s, an inebriated, 20-something carrying a real axe into a jam-packed arena for a hotly contested playoff game was not considered a security threat. Merely supporting your team.

So there was Moo Goo in the third period, standing on the edge of the boards, hanging over the glass during a stoppage in play, hooded cloak over his bearded head, menacingly waving his axe back and forth.

I’m not sure what the Oakville Blades or Burlington Cougars—I forget who was in town that night—thought, but he sure scared the crap out of a 13-year-old Saxon.

I think a policeman eventually confiscated the axe, for everyone’s safety.

Point is, I remember Moo Goo. I also remember the guy that collected tickets, the arena manager and where certain people liked to sit. I can name at least three of the girls who poured the awful hot chocolate.

Players, coaches and teams come and go. You remember the odd one, but by and large they blend together.

It is the personalities that make the rink. The fixtures. The people that are as much part of the building as the event. The Rita Campbells.

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Click here to view a photo gallery from the Storm's tribute to Rita in 2008