Blasts from the past: Oldtimers hold 34th annual hockey tournament

Camfield Drillers vs Castaways
J. Davis and C. Davis photos, J. Davis video

Josh Davis with Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

The 34th Annual Oldtimers Hockey Tournament was hosted at the MCC Arena on the weekend of January the 25, 26, and 27. Twelve teams participated in three different divisions for the love of the sport in a total of 18 games.

Teams arrived from all over southern Alberta, including four teams from Pincher Creek, two teams from Lethbridge, and teams and players from Elk Valley, Coaldale, Calgary, Sparwood, and Claresholm.

Games were played over the course of two periods, with many teams holding five person shootouts following the official game, including the occasional goalie-on-goalie shootout just for fun. A Texas mickey was awarded to the team winning the shootout.

A portion of the MCC arena lobby was sectioned off so players could have a private club to hang out in between games.

On Saturday evening everyone retired (even those who were already retired) to the Pincher Creek Community Hall for the traditional mid-tournament party, featuring a whole roast pig with all the fixings and the slick stylings of variety band "Fast Times", the same high energy outfit that entertained at last year's party, with an additional vocalist this year.

Fast Times

“We’re the Oldtimers," said "Creaky" Dan Crawford, explaining the guiding philosophy of the event and the league.  "We’re not ever gonna be paid to play hockey, so we’ve got to have fun. I’m having fun. Every time we go on the ice we have fun. And as long as we keep that in mind, we get to win every day.”

Creakers vs Old Thunder

“We’ve got probably the oldest team in the tournament (the Creakers). We’ve got got several guys in their 60s, and lots of 50s, and lots of late 40s. We maybe aren’t the most skilled guys anymore, but we have the most fun. We’ve got a great group of guys, who love to work together and play together and have lots of fun on the ice and off the ice. It’s a great weekend to get together with everybody.”

When asked how often they got together to practice Crawford looked confused for a moment.  "To what?" he asked.  “We just play. We get together and play once or twice a week. It's just games. We’re as good as we’re ever going to get right now.”

Chad Kuzyk of the Chiefs (“Like the Charleston Chiefs from Slap Shot”) responded enthusiastically when asked what he thought of the tournament experience. “Fantastic," he said.  "You know what, it’s a really good time. We have a bunch of our guys who don’t play, so once a year we come here. Some of the guys play, but most of us, the only time we get together is to play this tournament. We lost every game, and had the time of our lives.  That’s what it’s about, it’s just about camaraderie with the guys. We’re just out there to have a good time like everyone else. We’re having a blast."

Creakers vs Chiefs

After the Chiefs' last game Kuzyk was asked what was next. “I’m gonna go sleep," he said.  "This old man needs his sleep, that’s why they call it Oldtimers."

Camfield Drillers vs Castaways

Games:

The Camfield Drillers played Pincher Creek's Castaways for the first game of the tournament on Friday evening.  The score was 4 – 0 in the Castaways favor at the end of the first period. The second period was uneventful, with no goals scored halfway through it. The Castaways scored one more goal in the second half of the last period, and the game ended with the Castaways victorious 5 – 0. The Castaways were one of the more serious teams of the event.

Creakers vs Old Thunder

Pincher's Creakers played Old Thunder in the second game of the tournament. Old Thunder scored the first three goals of the game in the first period. The Creakers scored their two goals of the game this period, which ended with Old Thunder in the lead 3 – 2, and both teams looking evenly matched. This all changed in the second period when Old Thunder made a whopping seven goals, ultimately winning the game 10 – 2.

The next game of the night was the Sugar Daddies vs the Rusty Blades. The Rusty Blades won this game 4 – 0.

Cowtown vs Rats

The last of Friday night’s games saw the Rats play Cowtown. The Rats won this game 7 – 2.

Some of the oldtimers were up bright and early on Saturday morning.  Well, early anyway. The day started with an 8:00 am game between the Nighthawks and the Bonecrushers. The Bonecrushers were another of the more competitive teams of the event, winning the game 6 – 4.

 Next up was the Chiefs vs Old Thunder. Old Thunder won 6 – 1.

  The third game of the morning had the Creakers against the Withdrawls. The Withdrawls won 7 – 2.

Around noon on Saturday the Rusty Blades played Cowtown. The Rusty Blades scored first, closely followed by Cowtown. The score at the end of the first was 3 – 2 in the Rusty Blades favor. The game was very close, but the Rusty Blades kept their lead, eventually winning 4 – 3.



The Elk Valley Nighthawks took to the ice against the Castaways next. The Castaways came up strong in this game, skating hard and taking lots of shots at the net. They scored their first five goals over the course of the first period, leading 5 – 0 by the end of it. The Nighthawks scored their only goal of the game at the start of the second period, but couldn’t deny the aggressive Castaways five more points. The Castaways ultimately left the ice with a comfortable 10 – 1 victory.

The next game, between the Bonecrushers and the Camfield Drillers, was one of the more aggressive games of the tournament. The Bonecrushers earned an early lead, only to have it whittled away slowly by the Drillers. With four minutes remaining in the game, the score stood at 4 – 3 in the Bonecrushers favor and three of the Drillers were sitting in the penalty box. A tripping penalty saw one of the Bonecrushers in the box himself, resulting in a short lived 4 on 3 power play. The Drillers made their last goal with 1:37 left on the clock, but the Bonecrushers were not content to call the game a draw, making the winning goal with 37 seconds left on the clock, winning it 5 – 4.

The second to last game of Saturday featured the Withdrawls vs the Chiefs. The Withrawls took an early lead, coming out of the first period 4 – 0. Withdrawls scored 2 more points in the second period. The Chiefs made their single goal towards the end of the game but were ultimately defeated 6 – 1 by the Withdrawls.

The final game on Saturday was between the Sugar Daddies and the Rats. The Sugar Daddies won it handily by a score of 7 – 2.

Hangover Hockey

Sunday’s first game started at 8:15, with the Withdrawls defeating Old Thunder 8 - 2.  Next up, the Camfield Drillers played the Nighthawks to a 3 – 3 draw.

Rats vs Rusty Blades

The third game of day saw the Rats take on the Rusty Blades. The beginning of the game was quite close, with the first period ending 3 – 3. The Rats had a strong second period, winning 6 – 3.

Then the Creakers played the Chiefs.  The Creakers were up 3 - 1 at the end of the first period. The score stood at 5 - 2 in their favor in the second, but with 11 seconds left in the game the Chiefs managed a consolation goal.  5 - 3 Creakers.

Sugar Daddies vs Cowtown

Next up, the Sugar Daddies took on Cowtown, scoring 5 unanswered goals in the first period.  Cowtown rallied in the second, scoring 4 goals before the Sugar Daddies answered with one.  Cowtown played hard to the bitter end. Final score was Sugar Daddies 6, Cowtown 5.

The final game of the day was between the Castaways and the Bonecrushers.  Worst sportsmanship of the whole tournament.  It is suspected that the hangovers were starting to kick in.  The score was tied 2 - 2 at the end of the first period.  The Castaways ultimately won it 5 - 3.

Final Standings

A Division First Place: Castaways
B Division First Place: Rusty Blades
C Division First Place: Withdrawls

Roll the tape...