Don Berry, a graduate of Burnaby South Senior Secondary, was extremely active in minor hockey in Burnaby. He coached the Burnaby Winter Club to the B.C. Peewee title in 1972-73 and the Midget AAA team to the provincial title in 1973-74, a team that won the bronze medal at the prestigious Air Canada Championship that year.

With Berry behind the bench, the Abbotsford Flyers dominated the BC Junior Hockey League in 1982-83 going 46-9-1 in the regular season and then going on to win the league playoffs before defeating the Alberta champion Calgary Canucks and Manitoba’s Dauphin Kings en route to the Centennial Cup national final where they fell to the North York (Ont.) Rangers.

For that accomplishment, Berry was awarded the Ernie Gare Memorial Trophy as the 1982-83 BC Amateur Hockey Association coach of the year. He also coached in the BCJHL for the Bellingham Blazers (1977 to 1980) and the Abbotsford Falcons (1985 to 1987), a team that included two players who went on to play in the NHL, goaltender Olaf Kolzig and notorious enforcer Link Gaetz,

 and also returned to assist with the coaching program at the Burnaby Winter Club.

Prior to his coaching years, Berry was a member of the Penticton Vees which won the 1954 Allan Cup, the Canadian championship for senior men’s hockey. That team then went on to win the 1955 World championship in Germany winning all eight of their games including defeating the Soviet Union 5-0 in the final. That team was inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.

He passed away in August 2011. He was 82.