Date of Birth: 1962
Place of Birth: St. John’s, NL
Inducted: 2009 (Player Category)

Ed Oates owns a hockey career that features exceptional achievement as a player and an extremely impressive record as a coach. Overflowing with successes, his career is a model that can be used for anybody in hockey and he earned everything it contains.

He started his great career with St. John’s minor and continued winning in high school play with Brother Rice. He was a major factor in the Celtics team that won the Junior Atlantic, provincial, St. John’s and Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games championships prior to moving into senior competition.

Ed Oates displayed his valuable talent at a young age and he added greatly to any club of which he was a member. He was a leader with a succession of teams that won titles and provided excellent example for his teammates and opponents of how the game should be played.

He was a member of the St. John’s Capitals who won the Herder Trophy as provincial champions in 1987 and 1990. He moved to the Flatrock Flyers when the provincial senior hockey format changed and led the Flyers to Herder titles in 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2003.

His outstanding ability to produce as an offensive player is shown in his 14-year career in the Avalon East Senior Hockey League. He is the second highest all-time league scorer with 129 goals, 225 assist for 364 points in 206 games.

As a player, Ed Oates was a determined, talented and productive performer who refused to back down from any obstacle and demonstrated a great ability in all areas of the ice. He was simply a tremendous player.

And he continued this level of performance when he moved into the coaching ranks. His record of coaching equals the great record he compiled as a player. The in-depth knowledge that he acquired while playing was very evident in teams that he coached. They displayed the Ed Oates approach to the game with remarkable success.

The Conception Bay CeeBees Stars that he began to coach in 2004 compiled an impressive record of 128 wins, 26 losses and three ties in the 155 games they played under his control during five seasons. This record came while the CeeBees faced the best senior teams of the period.

The overall record of the CeeBees from 2004 to 2008 under the leadership of Ed Oates works out to be a phenomenal winning percentage of 83%. This is certainly a clear indication of the manner in which he achieved five AESHL titles and three consecutive Herder Trophy championships. He was simply a tremendous coach.