The best year of Bob Sicinski’s hockey career may have been 1967-’68 – and he wasn’t even playing in the major leagues at the time. He was with the Greensboro Generals, a farm team of the Chicago Blackhawks and he practically owned that town.

     Sicinski – or “Sinker” to his friends and fans – led the American League in scoring, was voted most popular player and chosen to the All-Star team. Not bad for a 21-year-old.

     The swift-skating centre should have been a Chicago Blackhawk. Several young Mississauga hockey players ended up in the NHL with Chicago because the ’Hawks owned Mississauga’s Junior B team, the Dixie Beehives. Sicinski played his junior B hockey with the Beehives after his minor hockey education with Cooksville of the Mississauga Hockey League. From the Dixie Beehives the ice trail wound its traditional route to the St. Catharines Blackhawks of the Junior A loop. “I spent three years with St. Catharines before moving on to the (Greensboro) Generals. After that I was with Dallas Blackhawks of the Central Pro League,” he said.

     The1969-’70 season became the turning point in Sinker’s career. He was fifth in the Central Pro League in scoring and was promised to have a shot at the NHL team the next year. But 1970-’71 was also the year the Chicago Cougars of the rival pro league were born and they approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

     “For me, it came down to a choice between the Blackhawks, who offered me a job, and the Cougars, who offered me a job and a two-year contract. The choice wasn’t hard to make,” he said.

     Sicinski chose the Cougars. After finishing 10^th in the World Hockey Association in scoring in his first year he signed a four-year extension to his contract. Sinker spent two years in Chicago and in the second year the team reached the finals of the Avco Cup. Sicinski was then grabbed in the expansion draft by the Indianapolis Racers where he spent four years. He just missed out on playing with “The Great One” as 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky got his big league career started with the Racers the year after Sicinski left. He finished out his career with the San Diego Mariners of the Pacific Hockey League. Despite all the success he enjoyed playing hockey, Sinker’s first love was always lacrosse. He spent three years with Mississauga P.C.O’s of the Ontario Junior A loop and also played with Peterborough Lakers and Toronto Maple Leafs of a regional professional league. “If I could have made the same money playing lacrosse as I did in hockey, there would have been no question, I definitely would have played lacrosse,” he said.

     Sicinski stayed active in recreational hockey as well as with the local Junior A lacrosse team, the Mississauga Tomahawks.