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This article was published 14/02/2012 (4133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FOR one audience member at Monday’s night’s première of Champion City, the locally made movie about the 1896 Stanley Cup-winning Winnipeg Victorias, the story was about more than hockey — it was about family.

John Robinson Benson is named after his grandfather, a member of the first team from outside Montreal to capture hockey’s Holy Grail.

“I think it’s great that these guys are being recognized. We’re quite proud of him. We’ve always known about it,” he said.

Benson didn’t know his grandfather well while growing up — he moved west after returning from the First World War — and he wishes he could have heard the stories about making hockey history from his lips.

Watching the movie with 275 other hockey fans at the Tom Hendry Theatre at the MTC Warehouse Monday was the next-best thing.

Two of those fans were Mark Chipman and Kevin Cheveldayoff, co-owner and general manager respectively of the Winnipeg Jets.

Chipman said he was impressed by the tale, which he felt bore a strong resemblance to the hockey story currently unfolding in Winnipeg.

“It’s cool to see the passion that existed 100 years ago and how everybody was taken with this team from Winnipeg. It reminds us of the depth of our hockey pedigree,” he said.

“We’re a small community that probably not a lot is expected from. We’ve taken a very important step forward by having the premier hockey league in the world return here. Now our challenge is to succeed with it.”

Chipman, never one to underestimate the importance of hockey’s past in Winnipeg’s present, said the Jets plan to honour the sport’s history at some point. He’s just not sure when.

“When we do it, clearly the Victorias will be a part of that,” he said.

Chipman said it’s likely the three banners commemorating the Victorias’ three Stanley Cup triumphs — the other two were in 1901 and 1902 — will be raised to the rafters in the MTS Centre, just as they were in the old Winnipeg Arena.

The proceeds from the première, including a silent auction featuring Jets tickets and hockey memorabilia, will be donated to the Winnipeg Jets True North Foundation, the team’s charitable arm.

Chipman said fundraising is on track to exceed $1 million this year, thanks largely to the $35,000 to $40,000 the foundation earns from the 50-50 draws at each game. Applications for financial support have been coming in steadily in advance of this week’s deadline.

The team will hold a press conference in a couple of months to announce the successful applicants but one thing is certain — the Jets’ hockey program for underprivileged kids will grow.

It currently has 150 participants but Chipman hopes to emulate a more developed program in Philadelphia — he visited the city a couple of weeks ago to learn more about it — that links education to hockey for 1,500 kids.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca