Forty years ago this spring, a 20 year old from Edmonton received the Roland Mercier Trophy as the most valuable player of the Centennial Cup. As captain of the 1983-84 Weyburn Red Wings, Ron Amyotte led the team to the national championship.

In the fall of 1984, the Edmonton native returned to his hometown to attend the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology where he donned an Ooks jersey for three seasons and captained the team to a pair of provincial championships and a national championship.

In each campaign, Amyotte averaged more than a goal per game in the regular season leading the conference with 30 in 1984-85 and with 31 in 1986-87. He also set a conference record in 1986-87 with six shorthanded goals in the regular season. When he unlaced the skates in the spring of 1987, he was the ACAC's career leader in regular season goals scored with 85 and regular season points accumulated with 151.

The captain of the 1985-86 and 1986-87 Ooks established the career records in only 65 regular season contests averaging 1.31 goals per game and 2.32 points per game. Since then, no one has surpassed the 80 goal mark even though a number of players have participated in more than 130 regular season games. The points mark was surpassed seven seasons later.

In each of Amyotte's three seasons with the Ooks, the team won a conference championship and the ACAC honoured him with an ACAC First Team All Conference selection. The 1986-87 NAIT Male Intercollegiate Athlete of the Year is the lone player in ACAC hockey history to compete in more than two seasons to be a first team all star and a conference champion in each one of them. He was also selected as a CCAA All-Canadian in 1984-85 and a CCAA Tournament All Star in 1986-87.

NAIT Athletics honoured Ron with a number of team awards including Best Playoff Performer (1986-87), Most Valuable Player (1986-87), Top Scorer (1986-87), and Greatest Contribution to Overall Success (1985-86, 1986-87).

In addition to individual honours, Ron entered the NAIT Athletics Wall of Fame, the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame with the 1984-85 ACAC, CCAA and Altjahres Cup champion NAIT Ooks. He is also a member of the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame with the 1983-84 Centennial Cup champion Weyburn Red Wings.

On September 6th, 2007, Amyotte entered the NAIT Athletics Wall of Fame along with teammates from the 1984-85 NAIT Ooks. On May 10th, 2024 in Red Deer, Ron will enter the ACAC Hockey Hall of Fame along with teammates from the 1984-85, 1985-86 and 1986-87 NAIT Ooks.

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