Mare's Hockey World

This page is pretty much about how I came to love hockey and some info about some of my favorite teams as I saw it through the years. Hockey's become a rather large part of my life, catching anywhere from 1 to 3 live games a week,, more if I could :),, and so I thought that I would just share some memories (the G-rated ones of course! *l*),,,

I was born in Europe, in a great country where hockey, unfortunately, just wasn't a big thing, but then we moved to Alberta where such a thing can not be said :) If you are to be a true Canadian, you must love two things: Beer and Hockey. And thank gawd for me, I do! I grew up watching the   Edmonton Oilers  and the then Minnesota North Stars on TV and fell in love with the sport. My heroes back then were Mike Modano and Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe and Billy Ranford. My parents weren't huge hockey fans, Dad was all for watching it on the tube, but not live. So we only ever went to one live game, and of course, it had to be the Oilers against the Stars. I kept that ticket stub for 7 years, finally throwing it out when I moved to the city. Sometimes I wish I'd kept it, and put it in my shoe box of 'things that make me smile'. We lived in a little farming town, and our Midget hockey teams weren't even AA so it wasn't all that fun to go watch them play. But I did go watch a few of the games over the years. As much as I loved hockey, it just wasn't all that much fun to watch it on TV as it was live, and my interest in the NHL had dimmed considerably by the time I graduated.

I moved away to college in Red Deer, AB, where I discovered Major Junior hockey! (Amongst other things that were to be associated with hockey, like Subway, Life Saver Suckers, Trimming Trees, U-Turns, Koosh Balls, Road Trips, Little White Towels, Popcorn Vendors, Renegades,,, and a few more, but that's an entire other story *l*) I saw my first  Western Hockey League game about a week into the  Red Deer Rebels' 94/95 season. My then best friend (and now roommate *smile*) and I must have missed only about 5 games that season. Those of you who follow WHL hockey or U of A hockey will know who I'm talking about here,,, that was back when Jarome Iginla played with the  Kamlopps Blazers, Chad Gans played with the  Lethbridge Hurricanes, Ryan Smyth was with the  Moose Jaw Warriors, Jeff Friesen and Dion Zukiwsky played for the  Regina Pats, Mike O'Grady was with the  Saskatoon Blades, Daymond Langkow played for the  Tri-City Americans, and the  Prince Albert Raiders had on their roster the likes of Brad Church and Kaleb Toth. So there was a bit of talent floating around *smile*

Being a Western Division team, we only got to see the Tri-City Americans once that year, but I liked what I saw of that team. And they quickly became a favourite of mine,,, after my Rebels, of course. The Kamloops Blazers were pretty hot that year too, but I've never been one to jump on an already full bandwagon and I thought the boys in red, white and blue were a much cooler team. Daymond Langkow had grown up with people I knew, so it was fun to watch him. The Hurley brothers were also fun to see play together. As it turns out, a lot of that team is now playing with the U of A Bears, and it's been fun watching them play in Tri throughout the years,,, it makes the Bears games that much better now!

As for the  Red Deer Rebels, this was the franchise's third season, and they were still struggling to find their groove in the league. Ok, I'll admit it, we sucked: the boyz managed to win all of 17 games that year. But they were such fun to go watch, because even if we didn't win the games, we won the fights. We even had a semi-famous fight line that year: Captain Pete Leboutillier and assistant captains Peter Vandermeer and Terry Lindgren. I've never seen anyone fight anywhere near as good as those boyz, they were something else. Mike McBain (Tampa Bay), Byron Briske, Chris Maillet, Chris Kibermanis, rookies Scott Lega and Jesse Wallin were our blue line that season (or rather, they were supposed to be *smiles*). While our forwards included Neil Johnston :), Chris Johnston, Greg Schmidt, Sean Slemser (this one's just for Chelle's benefit! *wink*), Dean Tiltgen, Jonathan Zukiwsky, and rookies Aaron Asham & Jay Henderson. While we had Chris Wickenheiser and Mike Whitney in goal. It was a fun season, and it just didn't seem to matter that we ended up dead last in the division. The boyz provided us with some rather entretaining hockey, I saw my first and only bench clearing brawl that year, where even the goalies got into it. This, however, was to be Peter Anholt's last year as head coach of the Rebels :(

The 95-96 season saw the re-location of the Tacoma  Rockets  to Kelowna,BC and the establishment of a new franchise in Calgary, AB: the  Calgary Hitmen. And a serious rivalry was likely to develop between my Rebels and their Calgarian counterpart, the Hitmen. Every encounter between the two teams brought out a very physical game. The best, however, was the fact that the Rebels did NOT end up last in their division that year, Calgray graciously (or maybe not so) took that title. The Hitmen roster carried players like Brad Moran, Ryan Shannon and future Rebel Kevin Marsh; while Brad Leeb, Brent McDonald, Lance Ward, and BJ Young were some of the most known names that joined the Rebels' organization that year. Briske got shipped off to Tri-City and althought I was sad to see him leave, it was pretty cool that he got traded to the Ams.

I moved to Edmonton in Sept. '96, the same year that a new WHL franchise was setting up here, the Edmonton Ice. Rebels forward Jay Henderson was drafted to the Ice in the expansion draft. Other players from the expansion draft included Jason Norrie :), Jordan Landry, Scott Burt, and captain John Kachur. As well, rookies like Graham Belak and Andy Penny were to form the new franchise. As for the Rebels, they let go a lot of their original players that year, and made up for it with rookies like Stephen Peat, Devin Francon, Chris Ovington and Kyle Kos. Goalie Chris Wickenheiser left his legacy to veteran Mike Whitney that season. The team was finally coming into itself and finished in second place in the central division  that year with a 43-26-3 record!!! Tri took a nose dive that year, but they added a lot of rookies that have become a huge part of their success, namely Ken McKay, Darrell Hay, Jody Lapeyre, KC Timmons and Jarrett Thompson, who would later become another Rebel!

The 97/98 Season was sort of a hockey revival for me and I became the devoted fan that I was back that first year in Red Deer. An intense rivalry had sprung up between the Ice and the Rebels, as the Ice had experienced a 1-7-0 record against Red Deer the prior season, which made the games rather interesting to watch. There was no denying the physical aspect of those games, fights and cheap shots were a common occurence, with my Rebels having the slight advantage over the Ice with respect to the fights. Red Deer may have had lost it's fighting line, but replacements like Stephen Peat and Devin Francon made up for it in a heartbeat. Aaron Asham had also become quite a physical player, willing and able to drop his gloves as needed, a drastic change from his first attempts in his rookie year *smiles* As for the stats, the two teams actually tied each other for wins and losses against each other, both finishing the season with a 3-3-0. The Ice struggled to find their place in the division, managing to win only 17 games that season, 3 more than the prior year. Edmonton expanded its roster to include ex-Warrior Rob Hegberg and rookies like Steve McCarthy, Dion Lassu, Kyle Wanvig and Brad Tutschek. These players actually proved to be just what the Ice needed, as the team is ranked second only to the Hitmen in the 98/99 season. As for the Rebels? This was to be the last season for veterans like captain Jesse Wallin, Aaron Asham, Jon Zukiwsky, and Mike Whitney. And that felt really weird, because I'd seen these guys play for 4 seasons, since they were 16, and this would be the last time. The franchise, however, was looking ahead, by sending tough forward Mike Brown to Kamloops in exchange for one of the best playmaker I've ever had the pleasure to watch, Shawn McNeil. The Rebels also added import Frank Mrazek to the lineup,,, and that boy can sure score some beautiful goals,, when his slapshots hit the net :) The Rebels added some much needed strenght to their blue line through rookies Scott D. McQueen (Senior) and Scott C. McQueen. Rookie forwards like Andrew Bergen, Justin Mapeltoft also started with the organization that year. Before the January trade deadline, the club acquired goalie Dustin Shwartz, forward Kevin Marsh, and on defense rookies Jimmy Vandermeer and ex-Blazer Drew Kehler. I never got to see the Ams play last year,,, which sucked,,, but then again, the Ams had such a bad season that year. The Rebs and the Ams have been invovled in a lot of trades over the years that's made it a lot of fun for fans like me to cheer for both teams. Regan Darby and Scott Gomez both joined the lineup that season, and they've been favorites in Tri since then,,,

In spring 1998, we heard nasty rumors that the Edmonton Ice were to be re-located to Cranbrook, BC to become the  Kootenay Ice. That rumor, unfortunately, proved to be true. So much for season tickets!! I had rather high hopes for the Rebels at the start of this season. With new coaching staff (Terry Simpson as head coach, and good ol' Peter Anholt as assistant coach) and with the talent that the Rebels had accumulated on their roster, I thought that this year, we'd at least have a shot to end up near the top of the central division. And it was a rough start at 0-5. The guys would pull back up to .500 again, but pretty much the entire season was spent falling back and trying desperatly to reach a split. It was frustrating. But I still loved to go watch the boyz play. I looked at the team we had this season and saw so much talent. There's been games this year when I've seen those guys play with such passion, such cohesiveness, they just get out on that ice and everything flows, everything connects. And I've seen them play at their worst, there were times when no one showed up for the game. The stretch before x-mas was a praticularly rough one, but the drastic manpower changes in January made a huge difference. It broke my heart when they traded my favourite all time Rebel, Stephen Peat, to Tri-City,,, Brent McDonald went to Prince George,,, I'll never forget January 4th, 1999. My only consolation was that Kos was now gone and that at least Peat had gone to the Ams. So after about a week of moping I made it to a game and took a look at what Terry had traded away our boyz for,,, And I must say, I was intrigued. It seemed as though ex-Americans Regan Darby and Jarrett Thompson, ex-Cougar Jordan Walker and ex-Blazer Adam Dombrowski were making an impact on the playing level of the club. Kent Beagle was also brought up from the AJHL, as a result of a number of injuries on the roster, and has been fitting in really well and getting quite the bit of ice time. It pretty much came down to chemistry on the ice,,, too many of our players had been with the club since day 1 and the chemistry had faded. This shakeup did the trick. Adding Ryan Bonni at the trade deadline proved to be another smart move by Terry as he's done wonders on our blue line. I had total faith in those boyz, I've seen them play some incredible hockey, and with promising players like McNeil, Leeb, Mrazek, Vandermeer, Mapletoft, Marsh and Bergen I knew the team could produce some really good results. I remeber saying that I honestly thought that Red Deer will be the biggest surprise to everyone come playoff times,,, we were. No one gave us the first round. Well, the guys took it in style. Then they ran into the wall that is the Calgary Hitmen. Gawd that was some good hockey. Aside from game 1, it was a great battle by both teams, but my Rebs came up just a couple of goals short. Drew Kelher was named 'most under-rated player' this year, a well deserved award, as he was solid on the bluline for his team, and consistant at that. You knew what to expect from Drew,,, a great effort every nite, and a couple of well-faught scraps. Dusty was named Playoff MVP and boy, was that ever deserved! As much as he scares me sometimes, I think he's an excellent goalie,, solid and consistand. Mind you, Kevin Marsh made a hell of a save in that first game against Calgary in the playoffs too *l* Too bad we lost it in OT anyway! However, I think the honourable mention should go to Jordan Watt and Jarrett Thompson -- our team's unofficial cheerleaders. It didn't seem to matter to either of them how good the guys were playing, or how badly they were being beatten -- they were on that bench, encouraging everyone, keeping the mood energetic, and just cheering their teammates on. I definitely tip my hat to Watt -- having to sit every single playoff game, knowing he wouldn't be playing, and still being on that bench, excited for his teammates and throwing words of encouragement left and right. It takes a lot of effort and guts for that! Way to be, Jordan! Like every season, it was hard saying goodbye to ones that won't be back,,, they gave us a nice run at it in the second half of the season and as fans, we're so greatful and proud of them for that. Off the ice, the guys were great too and that makes it a little rougher to watch it all end.

The Americans didn't mak e it as far as I thought they would this year, getting swept by Kamloops in the Western Conference Final,,, and the one they call Exner. 'Wow' is all I can say about the quality of his goaltending. It's a good thing we don't see the Blazers more often out here, b/c I spend entirely too much time watching how he plays and not paying attention to the rest of the game *l* He's just so good. It was too bad that none of the games were broadcasted on TV (gawd damn SportsNet!) -- real audio just ain't the same :) I don't get to see them nearly enough during the regular season, and I so wished that the Yams would beat Kamloops to make it to the WHL finals so that I may go and watch them play once more,,, They didn't have that much pure talent on the roster this year, but they played with so much passion and such great work ethics and a hell of a coach! I think they just deserved to win it! *l* Of course, I think that of the Rebs too. I guess it's back to the drawing board for Don Hay and his boys,,, can't wait until next season to see what he's got in mind and who will be back. Newly acquired overage goalie Jason McLean from the 'Canes should provide a consistant force in the net that the Yams *he he* haven't really had in the 98/99 season. And I'm counting the days until I care 'hear' about Stephen Peat playing hockey again,,, hope you're healing nicely, Stephen!