WHILE the time has passed, the memories still linger.
Back up in the Fort William Gardens press box last week, to assist on the media side of things for the All-Ontario under-13 AAA championship, the return can’t help but bring back recollections of past visits to the venue over the years where local sides competed admirably on the ice.
Here are some of those past contests, where I was fortunate enough to attend in person, that left lasting impressions on the local hockey psyche:
May 10, 1975: A throng of 5,000-plus boisterous spectators were jammed into the Gardens to watch the Thunder Bay Twins clip the Barrie Flyers 8-4 to win the Allan Cup and bring the national senior championship to the Lakehead for the first time since 1939.
Tom Deacon paced the Twins attack that night with a hat trick, while Dave Bragnalo tallied twice and saw Dave Vaillant and Jack Byerley supply singles.
They also rode the stalwart goaltending of rookie netminder Rocky Menard to victory, who just a year previously dashed the hometown hopes after backstopping the Smiths Falls Bears, in defeating the Thunder Bay Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Centennial Cup Eastern Jr. A final here.
April 22, 1988: Just 40 seconds away from playing for gold, a heart-breaking 4-3 double overtime loss at the hands of the eventual Air Canada Cup national midget champion Regina Pat Canadians in the semifinals, the Thunder Bay Bearcats fell just short of their objective.
Greg Johnson, Jason Bortolussi and Troy Armstrong had staked the Bearcats to a late 3-2 lead, only to see Regina pull their netminder in the final minute and tie it with the extra attacker before eventually prevailing in the second extra session.
Rebounding from the disappointment the following day, the Bearcats came back with three third period tallies to defeat the Oshawa Kiwanis 5-4 and capture the bronze medal.
April 5, 1992: Diminutive David Hoogsteen dashed down the left wing and blasted a slap shot through the legs of the Winnipeg Hawks goalkeeper, 9:04 into OT, to give the Thunder Bay Kings a dramatic 3-2 victory in the title game of the midget AAA west regional.
With their first-ever west crown, the Kings moved on to the Air Canada Cup in Dartmouth, N.S., where Hoogsteen played hero once more and notched extra time game-winner in the semifinal to help Thunder Bay to their initial silver-medal finish at the nationals.
Hoogsteen later went on to star with the Thunder Bay Flyers (USHL) and at the University of North Dakota (NCAA).
March 28, 1992: On this date there were more overtime dramatics, as the Gardens faithful erupted en masse, after Everton Blackwin struck 16 minutes into OT to give the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks the initial Colonial Cup title, in beating the St. Thomas Wildcats 5-4 in Game 7, to claim the first Colonial Hockey League championship.
With an ensemble cast of both local and out of town talent, formulated by the fabled Gary Cook, the club’s general manager, and the equally legendary Bill McDonald, the team’s head coach, the Thunder Hawks kept getting better as the season progressed and hit all the right notes in the playoffs to hoist the trophy on home ice.
April 29, 1995: With a Saturday afternoon matinee, Larry Wintoneak’s Thunder Bay Flyers defeated the Brampton Capitals 6-4 to claim a recording-setting fourth Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canadian Jr. A title and punch their ticket to the Centennial Cup in Gloucester, Ont., where they fell in the semifinals to the eventual winners, the Calgary Canucks.
Later that evening in front of a capacity crowd stuffed into the Gardens, the Thunder Bay Senators swamped the Muskegon Fury 8-4 as chants of ‘Start the Bus,’ echoed through the Miles Street Shrine to remind the Fury they would be making the long journey home, without the Colonial Cup, which would remain in the Lakehead for a third time in four seasons, to complete the rare same-day double title celebration.
The names and teams will have differed over the years, but the fond reminiscences remain the same.