Mitch Calvert
Ever wondered where those kids from the Borderland Thunder ended up?
Well, if Dean Bruyere has his way, you may be seeing plenty of familiar faces from those days coming back to an arena near you.
Just with a little bit more facial hair, perhaps.
Bruyere is spearheading a plan to bring a senior men’s hockey team to the area.
“It’s probably a go right now unless something major happens,” Bruyere said.
“I’ve approached some possible sponsors, but there are some intangibles to work out when it comes to ice costs, what kind of schedule we are going to have, and that sort of thing which aren’t quite ironed out.,” he added.
Bruyere met with some potential players last week and said 18-20 have expressed genuine interest—though he didn’t want to release any names until things officially are off the ground.
“We have a core group of mostly local kids who have committed, and quite a few of them had played for the Borderland Thunder,” Bruyere noted.
“There’s also some ex-Muskies, some former college players, and a few from International Falls who have also verbally committed,” he added.
“They are keyed up about this. A lot of guys are looking forward to some competitive hockey,” he enthused.
Bruyere stressed he didn’t want to put the cart before the horse, so to speak, but feels a team largely made up of local residents sounds like something people would be willing to rally behind.
“The core group of players are from Emo, Devlin, [and] Fort Frances, so it’s a great cross-section of the surrounding area and will be a real community kind of team,” he remarked.
Bruyere said he’s waiting to hear back from Wayne Allan of Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) on what sort of criteria or regulations they need to adhere to before getting the go-ahead.
“I don’t want to say too much until I get all of the info from him, and get my ducks in a row first,” Bruyere stressed. “We do have quality guys who know hockey who have said they are willing to volunteer their time to coach.
“We also have strong commitment from some volunteers who are going to come on board once the fundraising aspect kicks in,” he noted.
In order to realistically run the team, Bruyere said they’ll need to secure some funding up front. He was planning to approach the aboriginal community to cover some of that.
“Right now I’m trying to put everything together in a neat little package for all the potential funders to see, and give them an idea of what it’s going to take to break even with ice costs and that,” Bruyere explained.
“We don’t want egg on our face, and people will be skeptical, but we believe it can work.
“Because of the current economic times, it would not likely allow us to be very successful at securing funding solely from the local merchants [in town],” Bruyere reasoned.
The senior team would play a greatly-reduced schedule from the 50-some games junior ‘A’ hockey brought to the area, but match-ups subsequently would have added importance—especially later in the year when teams are playing off for the right to qualify for the Allan Cup.
“I have to contact some of the other [senior men’s] teams [in the area] and try to arrange some exhibition games over the fall and winter,” Bruyere said.
“Thunder Bay has a team, Kenora has a team, Steinbach and Grunthal [Man.] have teams, so I’m looking to set up a home-and-away series with each team, maybe two [series], with a total of eight home games [16 total].”
The Bentley Generals from B.C. won last year’s Allan Cup in Steinbach with a 4-3 double-overtime win over the Southeast Prairie Thunder (Grunthal).
Next year’s national championship will be held in Fort St. John, B.C.
The Fort Frances-based team would have to beat out squads from Kenora and Thunder Bay for a spot in that tournament as the Northern Ontario qualifier.
“Come playdown time [March/April], it will get much more serious, which is when you vie for the spot to represent our particular area at the Allan Cup,” Bruyere noted.
Senior men’s hockey covers a broad spectrum of ages, anywhere from 20 and up.
The team subsequently would hold tryouts in the fall, with a fee of $50 per player.
“Our tryout will probably charge $50 a head and the money will go strictly to ice time,” Bruyere said. “No one is going to try to line their pockets here, of course.”
As for a team name, well, that will be determined by a few factors—namely who sponsors the squad.
However, Bruyere said they potentially might look to get the public involved in that respect, if possible.
“I’m hoping to have some sort of competition to design the crest and a name for the team,” he said. “We’ll probably leave that up to the general population to decide.”
The Allan Cup, which was won by the former Fort Frances Canadians back in 1952, has a 101-year history in Canada, with the next five hosts already secured until 2015.
The 2011 championship will be in Kenora, meaning two representatives from this area will compete in it.
“Hopefully, if we can keep this going, I would consider looking into securing the Allan Cup tournament here in Fort Frances [in five years], but that’s obviously a long ways away,” Bruyere conceded.
