After almost 50 years, the Drumheller Memorial Arena will now have a banner to celebrate the valley’s greatest hockey legacy.
The Allan Cup returned to the valley, the first time since 1966. The Chinook Credit Union hosted a reception Friday afternoon, inviting many members of the Drumheller hockey community and beyond to see the cup. The trophy was won by the Legendary Drumheller Miners, and former players Tony Kollman and Ron Laughlin, as well as manager Jim Fisher and Stan Solberg, who was one of the founders of the modern Miners team, attended.
A few other notables hoped to attend, but were not able to make it because of the flooding in Calgary and the flooding which caused the blockage of the Trans Canada Highway coming from British Columbia.
Voice of the Drumheller Dragons hosted the event and traced the linage of valley hockey history; from the Miners to the Dragons.
Jack Samuel was a member of the Miners and he went on to be one of the founders of the Drumheller Falcons. Cam Christianson played for the Falcons and just over 10 years ago founded the Drumheller Dragons.
The reception was a chance for comrades to share old stories and memories of hockey.
The Chinook Credit Union offered a gesture that will allow future generations to look up at the Drumheller Memorial Arena and remember their proud hockey heritage.
Banner were not commonplace in the sixties, Jim Fisher told the Mail. Instead, the players only received medallions.
The Chinook Credit had a championship banner for the Drumheller Miners made which will have a place in the rafters of the Drumheller Memorial Arena.
This is fitting as the Miners played out the 1965-66 season at the Hanna Arena because the Drumheller Barn had burned.
For Laughlin, the event brought back some great memories. He was in his late 20s when he played for the Miners. Before he was a Miner, he played for the Colorado College on a hockey scholarship, and the won a NCAA national championship.
He said Coach Roy Kelly, who currently lives in Radium, but was not able to attend due to the flooding, should be given credit for the Miners’ success.
“He used the Philadelphia system, a defensive man to man style. He was just one heck of coach,” said Laughlin.
He played for the Miners from 1962 until the season following their championship win.
“Drumheller dropped out of the league the year after. One of the hardships of the Allan Cup trail was you are just about devastatingly broke when you are done because you had to give several thousand dollars in cash the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association before you dropped the puck,” he said.
ImageCrafter made the banner and the Dragons are planning it to raise it during one of their home games. Coach of the Dragons Brian Curran quipped the Dragons are “hoping to hang one beside it.”
