Hockey memories and friendships were celebrated as members of the 1960-61 Juvenile Miners B Provincial champions gathered at a reunion last Wednesday, August 11.
Dale and Suzanne Sands hosted the event. The Mail brought readers the story of the Miners’ championship season. While a few were missing, the reunion brought old friends together united by that one season that included bus trips, sometimes without a heater all over Alberta, receiving a police escort from one arena after a particularly passionate game, and eventually a championship. The Mail ran a photo of the team celebrating their win in the locker room.
The team brought together a ragtag group, with three players from Rosedale, two from East Coulee, two from Newcastle, one from Morrin, one from Carbon, one from Rumsey, and seven from Drumheller. Coach of the ‘61 Miners Bob Rawlusyk said they never missed a practice.
Within the event, there was an air of gratitude for the men that helped these boys achieve their goals.
“I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a couple of special people, that would be Mark Sands and Joe Bowman, the manager and general manager of our hockey team that did so much for us and so many things, and spent money out of their own pocket and bought meals for some of the guys who couldn’t afford it,” said Rawlusyk.
Mark Sands was Dale’s father and showed great support for many teams over the years, even getting a bus together so the team could travel. Bowman was the rink manager in Drumheller and is in many hockey and baseball team photos, doing whatever he could to support. He had a crew of “rink rats” who would help prep the ice and spend countless hours playing. Cliff Dobson was also instrumental to valley sports.
Ed Halverson, whose brother Larry Halverson was on the 1961 Miners, recalls for five years putting in his time helping Bowman, sweeping the ice.
“After we would finish flooding the ice, Joe would take me to the Diana Café, and I came from a family, we were loaded… with no money. He’d buy me a piece of Boston cream pie and a hot chocolate and I thought I was the richest kid in the province of Alberta,” he said.
Max Mestinsek, who was captain of the team, and helped organize the reunion, felt it was important to honour the founders in the valley such as Bowman, Sands, and Dobson.
“There is nothing when you go to city hall or the arena, and there is a lot of stuff in there, but the people that made it happen, there’s nothing about them. I would like to honour those guys because they were the gold mine of what made not only hockey happen in the valley but also baseball,” said Mestinsek.
He is looking for ideas from residents on how to create a lasting legacy for these founders.
To learn more or share ideas, contact Max Mestinsek at loni_max@shaw.ca
