Had a fantastic time today at Dallas Drake's Stanley Cup celebrations in Rossland. I'll expand on this update later, but I just wanted to post a couple of clips from the event. Thanks to Kim Drake, the city of Rossland, the Chamber of Commerce and the Rossland Trail Minor Hockey Association for all the work they did putting the day together. I thought it went off without a hitch. Hundreds of loud, enthusiastic fans made for a great atmosphere. I was really glad to be a part of it.Also quickly wanted to mention Castlegar's Shawn Horcoff (a former Smoke Eater!) getting a 6 year $33 million dollar contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. Congrats to Horcoff on a well earned deal.
More later!
He talks about his beginnings in Rossland, winning the Cup in Detroit, what to expect at the big event this morning, his retirement, and more. Today is now not only an opportunity to celebrate Drake's Cup victory, but also his career. Hopefully many of you can come up to Rossland for a couple of hours. The parade starts at 11am down Columbia Ave. There will be a ceremony at Pioneer Park, and the Rossland Trail Minor Hockey Association will be putting on a BBQ to raise a little cash. Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: Drake and the Red Wings made it official this afternoon.DETROIT – After 15 grinding NHL seasons, Dallas Drake has heard the message that his aging 39-year-old body was telling him.
“I love the game as much as I ever have,” Drake said. “Mentally, I think I
really want to play, but my body has just gotten to the point where I just don’t
recover very well anymore and I don’t play up to a level that you become used to
playing, a physical level that I was used to playing. I think the years kind of
wore me out a little bit. You keep telling yourself to play as long as you can,
and I think I’ve done that.”
"I'm pretty sure. There's probably going to be an announcement in
the next couple of days what I'm going to do. I'm just going to let the
Red Wings handle that though, I've talked to them. I've played a long time
now... 16 years. Being away from my family last year was hard, and I
won a Stanley Cup. That was something I always wanted to do. If I do
leave, which most likely that's going to be the case, then there's no better
way to end. I'd hate to come back and just not win again. It's so
hard to repeat. If you ask me Detroit's the favourite to win it again
next year. But I think it's time for me to sail off into the
sunset." - Dallas Drake
A lot of people will call Anaheim GM Brian Burke a lot of things. As a guy who has grown up an Edmonton Oilers fan I know there have been a few times when I disagreed with something he said. However, Burke showed how much of a loyal and generous person he is. He once made a promise to Norm Lenardon that if he ever needed him for a charity, Burke would be there. Norm made the call this year, and true to his word Burke flew in to Trail on the one night he was able to make available. The outspoken Anaheim GM donated his time, money and several auction items to bring in cash to the two local charities. It was something to watch him during the auction. At one point Burke didn't like the bid on the Scott Niedermayer jersey so he threw in four tickets to a Ducks/Canucks game, a pre-game meal, a chance to meet the Ducks and the opportunity to hang out in his private box. He also gave the room hell when they wouldn't put up a good enough price. That's how you work an auction. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but you don't hear enough about that charitable side of Burke in all the media coverage.
He also commented a little bit on the war of words with Kevin Lowe. No, he didn't add anything that might get him in trouble with the NHL. Burke merely stated that he wouldn't take back a single thing he said. Not a word, not a verb, not a noun, not an adverb, etc.
An interesting part of our conversation was about the Stanley Cup hangover. If you look back at most of the recent winners and finalists in the NHL, they usually end up missing the playoffs or losing in the first round. Burke believes it's just hard to get back into gear after working that extra two months and spending the summer partying. We'll see if Detroit and Pittsburgh suffer the same fate.
Another local name that you can always count on for Smokies fundraisers is New York Rangers Coach Tom Renney. I know at the very least he was also in town for last year's dinner. Renney is one of the friendliest, well spoken men I've met in hockey circles. He clearly still appreciates the years he had coaching and working in Trail. That's where he met his wife and became connected to the Gare family. You often hear Renney got his start in the WHL, but he truly got his start behind the Smoke Eaters bench. He definitely doesn't forget that.
As for his Rangers, Renney likes the moves they've made. He says you can't hope to replace Jagr with one player, but the additions they've made should help turn them into a faster paced, puck possession team. The Rangers have had two good runs to the second round in a row. Now it's time for them to take the next step. With their young players developing and some new veteran additions in Naslund and Redden things could be interesting in New York this year. If they do make it to the big dance, it'd be great to see Renney holding the Cup.
Talking to Nelson's Danny Gare you could tell how important the connection to the ALS Society was to him as well. Gare's father Ernie died of ALS in the 80s and he's done a lot of work raising money for the cause. He's one of the greatest players in this region's history. Gare now works as a colour commentator for the Columbus Blue Jackets. He told me they made some strong moves and should be a fun team to watch. Hard not to like seeing Rick Nash 82 times a year!
Ceasare Maniago was also there. He made the point that you never lose your connection to Trail. Even living in Vancouver he says he's always getting together with gangs of people from home. Ceasare never turns down a chance to help out the Smokies. He owes them after taking the Allan Cup from them back in '61! Ceasare's jersey was also the highest selling item at the auction. There may have been prizes with more actual worth, but the sentimental value was enough to bring in $5000 for Maniago's duds. The jersey will proudly hang at the Terra Nova in Trail for years to come.
That's just the beginning of all the guys who were there. Harold Snepsts, Ron Delorme, Pat Price, etc. The Lenardon name and the Smoke Eaters name lured some big fish to town and raised some big money.
I also want to give some props to former Smoke Eater Kevin Koopman. The other guys left him all by himself displaying the auction items. You're a trooper, Kevin. Good luck at Brown next year! If the NHL and being a doctor doesn't pan out, maybe you could go work on the Price is Right. I should also mention that Koop won a closest to the pin at Birchbank on Saturday. I still think he rigged it.
At the golf tournament I got the chance to play with Ray St. Jean and the former voice of the Smokies Ian Douglas. They both put me to shame. Ray especially is an unbelievably good golfer. Sadly the best we were able to do as a team was match his handicap with a round of even par. I'm not sure if any of my drives landed in the fairway on Saturday. Ian's actually a pretty darn good golfer himself. Especially given the fact that he hadn't played all year before the Travis Green and Smokies events. It says something about the connection people can feel to this community that Ian keeps coming back. We saw him at the World Junior A Challenge in the fall and he's back again a few months later. Hopefully I'll be able to retain that connection if I ever move on. I'd like to think I would.
Congrats and thanks to all the Smokies volunteers who made this event possible again this year. Word from Tom is that they've done great business this year. The community again proved that when worth causes come calling, you can always count on the Kootenays.
This year we had three big hockey nights back to back to back. Obviously the Smoke Eaters Alumni events on Friday and Saturday, but it all started with the Travis Green charity golf tournament in Castlegar on Thursday. Green has been heading this event up for a decade now. The future of the tournament is a little bit cloudy now that he's no longer playing in the NHL. Travis told me while it might be time to change the name on the marquee, he will work to make sure there at least some form of the tournament next year. I also found out that he isn't necessarily set on retiring. Check out my interview with Travis:
Just a quick update on something that happened while I was on holidays. Smokies defenceman Tyler Johns decided to quit hockey and become a police officer. Johns told Mountain FM's Jeff Sargeant that if he had continued to play he would've loved to play in Trail. The former Merritt player says he just wasn't as happy playing in the BCHL as he expected. Johns was part of the five player deal that brought Chad Gehon and Shane Oatway to the Smokies for Cam Brodie and Brad Davis. Johns says he hadn't informed Merritt of his decision before the trade was made. Jeff did interviews with Johns and Ingram on the issue. Just follow the links:
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