Inductee Murray Dowey led the Royal Canadian Air Force flyers hockey team to the gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics, setting a standard for goaltending excellence yet to be matched.

Dowey racked up a phenomenal goals-against average of only 0.62 in the eight games the RCAF Flyers played on their way to the Gold in St Moritz, Switzerland. It’s a record for Olympic hockey goaltending which still stands.

Yet, Dowey wasn’t originally slated to be a member of the Olympic team. He was working at his Toronto Transit Commission job on a January morning in 1948 when he received a call from the manager of the RCAF Flyers, inviting him to be their starting goalie in the upcoming Olympics.

Dowey had to scramble to make his way to Europe, leaving the day he received the call to board the Queen Elizabeth for a trip across the ocean with other members of the team. Holding the rank of Aircraftsman 2, Dowey took leave from his TTC jobs to play in the Olympics.

Born in east end Toronto, Dowey played with the Birchcliff Midget teams in the Toronto Hockey League. He was recruited by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who wanted him to play for their junior team, the Toronto Marlboroughs, but he couldn’t come to terms with then Marlie owner Harold Ballard.

Dowey said playing in the Olympics on outdoor rinks was a huge adjustment after normally skating indoors at rinks such as Varsity Arena and Maple Leaf Gardens. “At one of the games both teams had to shovel snow off the ice and the fans were throwing snowballs” he recalled of the Olympic experience.

Dowey has lived in the Scarlett Road and Eglinton area of Etobicoke since 1976.