By MARK MALONE, THE DAILY NEWS

Bruce Rendall was pointing out the championship banners at Memorial Arena when the teasing began.

His fellow coaches and parents on the London Jr. Knights wanted to know when he played for the Chatham Maroons.

"Not those years," he said, pointing to the banners.

The former Maroons winger returned to Chatham on the weekend as the head coach for the Jr. Knights minor peewee 'AA' team.

The homecoming ended with Rendall winning the title that eluded him when he played in Chatham in 1984-85.

The Jr. Knights beat the Vaughan Panthers 3-2 in their division final at the Dave Gagner Chatham Challenge Cup to qualify for the International Silver Stick tournament next month in Newmarket.

Rendall, 44, enjoyed giving his players a tour of Memorial Arena. He joked the colour scheme at the old barn hasn't changed since he skated there more than a quarter-century ago.

"It's kind of fun to walk into an arena you're used to playing in," he said. "Although we didn't have the success we hoped to, the later championships are good for the city. The one thing I can say is the support was always great."

The fans — especially his billets, Bert and Betty Simmons — made him feel welcome when he arrived from Thunder Bay as a 17-year-old.

Rendall was an OHL first-round draft pick by the London Knights, but Maroons head coach Vern Stenlund lured him to the Maple City.

"I decided to come to Chatham and pursue university," Rendall said. "I was drafted by the Flyers (in the second round in 1985) and played a little bit in their farm system in the minors."

He played just one season with the Maroons before joining the Michigan State Spartans for three seasons.

He turned pro in 1988 with the Flyers' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, and retired in the early '90s.

Rendall then moved back to Thunder Bay to work for a drug company. However, he put on his skates again whenever the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks of the Colonial Hockey League ran short of players.

He did the same for the Port Huron Border Cats of the United Hockey League after moving to London.

Rendall now works for Pfizer. He runs into a lot of familiar faces from his playing days, including former Hershey teammate Brian Dobbin.

His son, Jake, plays soccer with Dobbin's son while the fathers reminisce.

"We're always joking about the golden years," Rendall said.

sports@chathamdailynews.ca