"HEART & GRIT"
Heart and Grit characterizes my old hockey team; the 1972/73 Jr. A Penticton Broncos of the BCHL, and thirty four years later that was the headline in the Penticton Herald newspaper.
This past weekend the Penticton Broncos were priviledged to be honored, by the current Penticton Vees Jr. "A" team, as one of the most successful junior teams in Penticton's history. The players who were present at the celebration were Bob Nicholson, Grant Mulvey, Chad Campbell, Tim Struch, Mike Holmes, Dan Ashman, Doug Lawton, Ed Dempsey, myself, coach Don Slater and director Hoss Cartwright. Many others were not able to make it to the reunion.
I love these guys!
1972/73 was a very special year. We won the B.C.H.L. Championship, the B.C./ Alberta Championship and then lost in the 7th game to Portage La Prairie in the Western Canadian Championships.
After playing 60 league games, we played another 32 playoff games in 39 days, including all the travelling. Every playoff game was a battle, fighting tooth and nail with Kelowna, Kamloops, Chilliwack, Calgary and then Portage La Prairie (who went on to win the National title in 4 straight games after our series).
Mark Patterson played every playoff game with cracked ribs that needed freezing, by a needle in the ribs, before each game; and Bob Nicholson played with a broken thumb; and every player played with an assortment of hurts, bruises and fatigue.
Our team had heart, we would go through the wall for each other (and I believe we still would).
We loved & cared for each other and were committed to a common goal. We are still close today because we went into battle together and came out the other side as winners.
Isn't it interesting that each of us, to a man, still lament about how we were up 3 games to 1 against Portage and let them come back to beat us. We were, oh so, close to winning the Centennial Cup as National Champs.
I finally tried to deal with the disappointment of the lost opportunity a few years ago.
While driving across Canada we spent a night in Portage where I visited the old rink where we had lost that final game of the series. Shafe, my wife, left me to myself "at the scene of the crime" saying "do what you need to do".
Not sure how successful I was but I felt bit better.
Glen Bueckert
Heart and Grit characterizes my old hockey team; the 1972/73 Jr. A Penticton Broncos of the BCHL, and thirty four years later that was the headline in the Penticton Herald newspaper.
This past weekend the Penticton Broncos were priviledged to be honored, by the current Penticton Vees Jr. "A" team, as one of the most successful junior teams in Penticton's history. The players who were present at the celebration were Bob Nicholson, Grant Mulvey, Chad Campbell, Tim Struch, Mike Holmes, Dan Ashman, Doug Lawton, Ed Dempsey, myself, coach Don Slater and director Hoss Cartwright. Many others were not able to make it to the reunion.
I love these guys!
1972/73 was a very special year. We won the B.C.H.L. Championship, the B.C./ Alberta Championship and then lost in the 7th game to Portage La Prairie in the Western Canadian Championships.
After playing 60 league games, we played another 32 playoff games in 39 days, including all the travelling. Every playoff game was a battle, fighting tooth and nail with Kelowna, Kamloops, Chilliwack, Calgary and then Portage La Prairie (who went on to win the National title in 4 straight games after our series).
Mark Patterson played every playoff game with cracked ribs that needed freezing, by a needle in the ribs, before each game; and Bob Nicholson played with a broken thumb; and every player played with an assortment of hurts, bruises and fatigue.
Our team had heart, we would go through the wall for each other (and I believe we still would).
We loved & cared for each other and were committed to a common goal. We are still close today because we went into battle together and came out the other side as winners.
Isn't it interesting that each of us, to a man, still lament about how we were up 3 games to 1 against Portage and let them come back to beat us. We were, oh so, close to winning the Centennial Cup as National Champs.
I finally tried to deal with the disappointment of the lost opportunity a few years ago.
While driving across Canada we spent a night in Portage where I visited the old rink where we had lost that final game of the series. Shafe, my wife, left me to myself "at the scene of the crime" saying "do what you need to do".
Not sure how successful I was but I felt bit better.
Glen Bueckert
2 comments:
Glen, loved the recap of history!! Such great memories. It was great seeing you guys this weekend...you are looking great.
Hi Glenn,
A nice reminder of when I used to play team sports- although not as successfully as you! Those were the days. Sometimes I miss them alot. And it was nice to see how you've aged so little. Hope you are forever young - at heart anyway!
Post a Comment