Solicitor General Hockey Tournament -Olds AB

Well, here's the post you wanted. The church gave me the weekend off for our annual Solicitor General Hockey Tournament in Olds where all the Alberta Correctional Centre teams, sherriffs team, etc meet to settle who rules the Province and take home the cup. Led by our Captain Ryan Trempner off we were to Olds for the big Show.

We have not done that well as a team this last two years in either league play or at the SG. We did, however, bring home the cup in the years 2000, 2001 and 2004. So this year we were not sure how we would do even though we felt we had a fairly strong line-up.

We came out strong in the first game and beat Edmonton Remand Centre 5-2. Friday night we played Calgary Correctional Centre and beat them 5-2. So far so good, and the confidence was building. Our rivalry and nemesis team, Calgary Remand Centre, was the Saturday morning game and we had them 4-1 at the first half (2 -30 minute periods). Here's where optimism and good old Lethbridge pride set in and we came out in the second a little confident and flat. They caught up to us, and we exchanged a goal and they pulled ahead and beat us 8-5. Bruce played well in net but we weren't able to hold CRC down.

So, off to BP's to eat and of course the annual stop at the Olds liquor store (Correctional Officers you know) followed by plenty of Red Bull and energy bars. Saturday night we played the Sherriffs team, and although we felt very much in the driver's seat they proved to be a tough team indeed. the best part is that they had two gals playing for them and most of our boys were lulled into a hypnotic mesmerized state of altered consciousness by the one playing defence. Of course they did not admit this at first and instead talked big about how if on the rush they would take the left side because it would be easier to 'beat the girl'. So after she put one of our guys on his ass, took the puck and was gone before he knew what happened, the young guys decided to change their strategy with her. Then they argued over who had the best chance to check her into the boards and get her phone number. That didn't work since she was far too good in the corners (where girl hockey players aren't supposed to be good you know) and so they were left to only dream about what would never be a reality. Our young coolest gun 'Cook' was the most starstruck but I think she told him something like she wouldn't even look at a guy who wears yellow socks which of course simply gave the rest of us cannon fodder to fire at Cookie all weekend. He took it hard and gave us the salute . Anyway, we beat the sheriffs and moved on to the the last round robin game Sunday morning against Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre at an ungodly 8:15 a.m.

O.K. at this point you need to know something about this tournament and it's 32 year tradition. Hmmm... let's get 150 Correctional, sherriff, and police officers together in small town Olds Alberta with no wives and girlfriends and time off work. I wonder what they will do in their free time?

8:15 came real early Sunday. Some of our guys who went out to the famous Olds Blue Yak bar and the Country Hay City Saloon looked real green when they woke up. The funniest part of this is the story we have to tell from the festivities. Most of us stayed back at the hotel including Derek Dixon. Dixon's mistake in being smart like the rest of us is that he was rooming with the guys who went out. And so at 2:30 a.m. the boys returning decided to do a "Cell Extraction" on Dixon for being the princess who stayed home and got his beauty sleep. Cell extractions are just what they sound like ...physical removal of a non-compliant individual from his bed or cell complete with loud commands and adrenaline pumped jail guards. Word has it that Chris, Troy, and I were on the extraction list but Chris had the smarts to close the adjoining hotel room door to Dixon's room and so we were spared. But we heard it happen, as did the rest of the hotel. Here's Troy the Sherriff, also a Fort Macleod guy.

We beat the Fort Sunday morning and it had to go to a shootout. I don't think some of their guys even went to bed and if they did it might have been for an hour or so. When I lined up for the face-off against one of their centremen he complained to the ref for dropping the puck so loud.

For the semifinals we played Calgary Correctional Centre who we beat Friday and beat them in overtime to go to the finals for the cup. Here's where age and shape become the key issues of life. Waiting for the finals was a lot like cement hardening in it's forms. We consumed Red Bull, energy bars and layed around the dressing room getting stiff and sore. There was a brief moment where the fear of playing on dead legs scared Shane Kissinger into repenting and so the team asked that I become the old fashioned soap box preacher and climb aboard the cooler to convert our team sinner. It's become a yearly tradition too that I bribe Shane into paying me big money not to tell lovely Amber his wife back in Lethbridge who works at the jail how much Shane misbehaves on the weekend. This has given me the guarantee that if he ever pulls me over for speeding that's one ticket I'll never get!

For those of you wondering what a pastor is doing with a bunch of guys like this on a weekend like that let me explain. First of all it's for the fun, sports competition, and simple enjoyment of hockey. Secondly, it's the group of guys I enjoy hanging around with and have become friends with through work and work functions. Also, it's the place I believe God has planted me to grow with them as a pastor and as a friend. It's out of that that I get called when they have spiritual needs or for their weddings, or for when they need to simply vent in a confidential way some of the stuff they go through in law enforcement. In reality, most of this weekend is a lot of big talk followed by phone calls home to the family and droopy eyes by 11:00 p.m.

Back to speaking of cops, we are allowed two on our team. Shane is now a cop but was at the jail so he is grandfathered in so we still get two additional cops on the team. Colin Catonio has been with our team for years (he's a mucky-muck with the Lethbridge police) and almost our oldest guy.... sorry Colin. But, for a guy approaching 50 in a few years he has been flying on the ice. What's really cool here is that Colin and his wife Lori are expecting their first child this summer. He's been playing hockey like a 20 year old and so we're thinking he's found the strength and energy he'll need this summer!

The other police guy was my linemate Saska. Of course, what would Canadian hockey be without token representation from Finland? Saska's getting married this summer and the 'Finish fury' seemed to get faster as the tournament went on. This annoyed Shane who got slower as the games went on so Shane resurrected his nickname for Saska, "Eurotrash". The three of us made a great line together even getting our share of the goals for the team. I'm the guy with the red helmet here hoping for a pass in front of the net.

So the final game arrived 3:00 Sunday. Calgary Remand Centre had a new secret weapon this year in a new guy who could skate faster than anything we'd seen. He got 3 or 4 goals that game. We lost 6-2 and so took second place and lined up to congratulate CRC for the 2nd year in a row cup win. The rivalry continues.

My Dad and Aunt Mary came to watch Friday as Sundre is only 20 minutes away. Dad came back Sunday and visited with us in the dressing room. One of our guys, Mike Beste (good Fort Macleod stock) lived with my Dad many years ago in Rainbow Lake when Mike was getting his pipe-fitting journeyman ticket so Dad fit in with the guys having a famous Lorne story or two to tell.

It was a good weekend and we did well as a team overall. It is a weekend well worth the next day ritual for each one of us. That ritual is the Monday morning bucket of Advil followed by the boarding procedures to climb into our wheelchairs and take on the day.

Thanks for the weekend off, and next year CRC better come ready for a refreshed Lethbridge team made up of men of steel.

Darrin