Jim Bottomley has an impressive athletic record. He played with the 1978-79 Atlantic University championship hockey team at Dalhousie University. He was team captain the next year. He is in Dal’s Sport Hall of Fame with the championship team. His number 8 is one of only two ever retired by the Dal Tigers.

As a builder, Bottomley, a Halifax native, has coached more than 1,000 games, led teams to 10 first-place finishes (eight league championships and two Fred Page Cups) and, in 2002, a Royal Bank Cup as coach of the best Junior A team in Canada.

For the past three decades, Bottomley has been instrumental in keeping interest in Junior A hockey alive in the province’s major city, and, many will say, in the entire Maritime Junior League. He is the winningest coach in Maritime Junior A hockey history with 771 wins in 1,315 games.

His fiery nature behind the bench has drawn crowds to rinks across the region. “What will Bottomley do next?” people wondered. He worked with other coaches in the league to sell rivalries by making outrageous comments in local media to drum up interest to fill road arenas when his teams came to town. Bottomley was always willing to go the extra mile to fill the stands, especially for away games in Amherst, where he is remembered for such antics as wearing wild sweaters and fur coats and renting limousines.

Mike Fougere played for Bottomley for three seasons. He knows the hockey fire in Bottomley’s belly. “He went over the line many times and I never understood how he got away with it, how he was able to manipulate some refs. On reflection, I know why. Respect. No matter what anyone says about Jimbo, he was beyond passionate about the game of hockey, but most importantly he was respected.”

Hall of Fame builder Al Hollingsworth had Bottomley as an assistant coach with Halifax Lions, then dealt with him when Al was president of the junior hockey league.

Jim was so dedicated and determined to make junior hockey survive in Halifax, he invested his own money in his teams to ensure the kids had the opportunity to play. He even mortgaged his home to find his team,” recalls Al.

In his 30-plus years, Bottomley coached hundreds of young men to success on the ice and to later success in their careers and communities.

“He trusted his players and allowed them to enjoy life, have fun, but expected that it not affect what happened on the ice,” says Matt Quinn, now Bottomley’s son-in-law, who played in the Royal Bank Cup championship season.

“Jim knew strong team chemistry was crucial for team success. The Bottomleys always offered holiday meals should any player not have a place to go. He wanted everyone to feel like they belonged and were welcomed.”

He’s coached in Halifax, Bridgewater, Amherst, and Yarmouth. Today, he owns, but does not coach, a Junior B team in Liverpool because he sees potential in an under-served area.

He admits he’d rant and rave in the dressing room in his early coaching years “and guys would be in awe, with their jaws dropped,” Bottomley says. “They’d never seen that before. You had to do that. If you weren’t ready to play against coaches like (Bill) Riley, (Danny) Berry and (Forbes) Kennedy, you were beaten before you got on the ice.  Today, it’s very different. The players laugh at you. You have to be calmer but forceful and get the message across.

Coaching with emotion often got Bottomley into hot water. Hollingsworth loves to relate this story.

“When I was president of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, I had to suspend him as coach of the Dartmouth Oland Exports. The first night at the rink following the suspension, a perky young 10-year-old girl came up to me and chewed me out for suspending Bottomley. It was a very uncomfortable moment, a 60-year-old man being berated by a child in front of a few hundred people.

“Turns out it was his daughter. It indicated the Bottomley apples do not fall far from the tree.”

Bottomley has coached at elite levels including with Team Atlantic Under 17s in 1984-85 as an assistant coach, as head coach a year later against a team of touring Russians, and as coach of Nova Scotia’s 1991 Canada Games hockey team in Charlottetown. He worked one year as an assistant with the Mooseheads (2003-04) but the long road trips brought him back to Junior A with its fewer long periods away.

Bottomley’s biggest thrill was winning the Royal Bank Cup, at home, in 2002. “lt was such a great climax to putting in all those years. Winning the Junior A title is probably the hardest thing in hockey. There are over 100 teams in Canada fighting to get it. My teams had been to nationals five times, lost in the final once in 1988, so it was rewarding to get it.”

He admits he surrounded himself with good people — assistant coaches, trainers, plus great community and corporate support, people who cared about Junior A hockey.

“Fortunately I had Cheryl [his wife] to keep it together while I enjoyed what I did,” he says.

“Sure, there were ups and downs but it’s been a great ride.”

His team, the Oland Exports, had to beat out over 100 other Canadian teams for the national Junior A title. He had coached teams to the finals on five previous occasions.

Bio Courtesy of Joel Jacobson