Fans the ones who make memories at Allan Cup

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This article was published 16/04/2016 (3751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH — Once the final whistle blows on the 108th Allan Cup in Steinbach this weekend, little will be remembered about the latest instalment of one of Canada’s longest-running sporting events.

For the small group of men crowned the 2016 senior hockey national champions, their names will be written in hockey history; and for some of the six teams here, the entire year of blood, sweat and tears will have been worth it.

Down the road, people might talk about the controversy of Day 4, the day the tournament was temporarily turned on its head after it was discovered one of the local teams had iced an illegal roster for two round-robin games. But even that will surely fade with time.

But as another successful tournament comes to an end — and to be sure, this Steinbach effort falls into that category — it will be another group of names, names that will surely be forgotten in the coming days, that truly made it great.

Included will be the organizing committee members, who put their chequebooks and reputations on the line, and the many more volunteers who worked around the clock for six days.

And there’s the fans who filled the arena by the hundreds for nights of competitive hockey unlike any other this country has to offer.

Wade Geisbrecht and Boyd Williams are part of a small contingent — commonly referred to as The Army — who made the 13-hour trek from Alberta to support the Bentley Generals.

Even though one is a rabid fan and the other, Williams, a director for the Generals, they’re both here for the same reason. For them, there’s no better league in the world than senior hockey.

“This is my sixth year at the Allan Cup and these are the best teams I’ve seen,” said Williams.

Giesbrecht, 40, as he often does when with his peers, took his evaluation one step further.

“I say it ever year: there are teams comparable to the American Hockey League level,” he said; a fitting response for the self-proclaimed Don Cherry of senior hockey, a nickname he picked up for his provocative rants on league message boards.

It’s been a successful week for Giesbrecht and his crew. Not only because his Generals were the last men standing, defeating the host South East Prairie Thunder 4-3 in overtime in Saturday’s final, but also because of the company he’s kept all week — that familar breed of hockey lovers the Allan Cup seems to attract each year.

“I stand along the glass to watch the games and inevitably end up chatting with the two or three people beside me,” he said. “That’s the big thing about senior hockey. At an NHL game you might never say a word to the person beside you all night.”

If you do elect to stand at the glass, don’t be surprised if Giesbrecht gives you the skinny on every player from the Generals. After all, it’s the banter he craves. And the kind of crowd he feels comfortable around.

It’s also there you will find Doug Mathieson. When the native of Dundas, Ont. isn’t updating the tournament website — allancup.ca — he can be found pressing his lens up to the glass to find the perfect shot.

“I take about 500 a game and I use 25 of the least crappy ones,” he joked.

Mathieson can’t say how many Cups he’s been to but the number is closing in on 20. He started the website in 2003, and for a while was doing it free of charge as a hobby. He gets his expenses paid now, but the real payoff has always been the chance to be a part of it all.

Chuck O’Neill knows that feeling well.

At 64, he’s made the trip every April for the past 24 years. Well, almost every year. The native of Millet, Alta., still kicks himself for being too ill in 2004 to board the plane to Saint-Georges, Que.

Over the years he has his favourite moments. Funny stories, he has plenty.

He’s been a part of a championship too, as a board member with Stony Plain when they hoisted Canada’s oldest trophy in 1999. Later that night, he would narrowly avoid jail after stopping at a checkstop reeking of booze. Thing was, he never had a drop to drink that night.

“It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’ve had the Allan Cup (contents) dumped on me and I’m trying to explain I don’t drink,” he said. “I was lucky I ran into an RCMP who was a hockey guy.”

Since 1993, the Allan Cup has provided an excuse for O’Neill to travel from one coast to the other. He can name almost every hockey hub from Quesnel, B.C. to Clarenville, N.L. and has friends in each.

“It’s amazing how we’re the same as Canadians and yet how different we are from region to region, province to province,” he said, his attention once more drawn to another familiar face in the arena foyer.

“Once you’re a hockey person, hockey people are beautiful. We all understand each other. All Canadians show so much love for the game and it’s still the strongest piece of our heritage.”

And one not soon to be forgotten.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton