Hopper’s tourney much more than just wins, losses

Apparently losing the Mark Hopkins Memorial Tournament final isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a team.
The host Hopper’s Bruins lost 5-3 at the ’52 Canadians Arena to the Thunder Bay Lumber Kings on Saturday night, headed to their locker-room, and took as much time as possible to get out of their hockey gear in the hot, moist room.
“I think just getting out, playing with the guys, playing hockey again, you feel a little bit younger,” said Sean Taggart, one of the Bruins’ forwards and an organizer of the men’s tournament.
“It’s enjoyable to sit around after and swap stories. . . .
“We hurt a little more after each game, but the passion’s still there and we love it,” he added.
Taggart and his teammates host the tournament—held for the seventh year this past weekend—in honour of Mark Hopkins, who drowned in 2001.
“He loved stuff like this, and we started it in his memory,” Taggart noted, adding proceeds of the tournament go to sponsor children to allow them to play minor hockey.
“To him, that’d be very special,” Taggart remarked.
Of course, beyond paying tribute to an old friend and helping out for a good cause, the Bruins do enjoy hitting the ice year after year.
“It’s just getting out, being with the guys, meeting new guys who come down with good guys. It’s just a fun weekend,” defenceman Bob Crowe said.
“It’s always a good weekend, for a good cause . . . I still play just because it’s for Hopper,” he added.
Anyone surprised it’s all smiles and laughs after losing the final—despite a pair of late goals that closed the gap to within two—should understand it’s more than who wins and loses on the ice, Crowe stressed.
“It’s not a big thing to us anymore, no. We just love to get out,” he laughed. “We have fun. We just razz each other the whole weekend.
“Guys have a good sense of humour, they get razzed pretty badly.”
“It’s not the hockey that’s the best part of the tournament. It’s this part of it right here,” echoed goalie Neil Cooper, twirling his finger around the dressing room.
“Camaraderie of the fellas.”
That’s not to say the Bruins didn’t want to win, Taggart noted.
“It still gets competitive, you know? It’s still there when you get into the heat of the moment in the game,” he said. “I don’t think you ever lose that if you played competitive hockey.”
Teams came from nearby Emo and Kenora, not to mention the champion Lumber Kings from Thunder Bay, and new rivals quickly can become old friends at the tournament.
“It’s a good time of year for all the guys to get together, see some guys from across the country,” Cooper said. “Northwestern Ontario’s a tight-knit community, so you see guys you’ve played against.”
As far as the level of hockey displayed on the ice, what the senior players lack in speed and strength they make up for in creative play.
Smart passing, and the use of feet and elbows to keep control of the puck, turned routine possessions into exciting breaks throughout the weekend.
“It’s pretty good hockey. Not the fastest, but guys are relatively smart,” Taggart said.
Many players come to the tournament having played semi-pro and college hockey in their younger years, but “there’s a lot of good players who never played at a high level, creative hockey players,” Taggart added.
Players whose youngest days are behind them also can become stars at the tournament. Greg Madill (“Hog” to his teammates) is the elder statesman of the team at 50 years of age—and one of the oldest in the tournament.
“I’m the oldest one here and it’s just the love of the game, I guess,” he reasoned. “You just wanna get out and have a few games, have a few beers afterward, and just talk to the boys about hockey and about life.
“We go out and do the best we can with the tools we have left.”
Madill is one of the coaches in the locker-room, and figures the appeal of playing hockey at his age is just about staying young.
“We’ve played since we were kids,” he noted. “It’s just the Canadian way, I guess. It’s what we love to do.”
And once the hockey is over, it’s time to have a few drinks and to laugh over old hockey stories. And as for what those stories are, well, you’d have to be there to hear them.
“What happens at the rink, stays at the rink, how about that?” Cooper laughed.