Honouring the Overagers

The abrupt end of the 2019-2020 Western Hockey League season was undoubtedly needed, given the ever-evolving situation around the world with the coronavirus.

However, we will now have a lot of unanswered questions on the hockey front. From a Lethbridge Hurricanes perspective, they had five games left in the regular season. Could they have caught the Medicine Hat Tigers to get home-ice advantage in what seemed to be a destined first-round battle with their Highway 3 rivals? Could they have emerged from that wild Eastern Conference to challenge for the league championship? And who would have represented the Dub in the Memorial Cup in Kelowna?



Also lost at the end of the season was a chance for fans to salute the overagers. They didn't get to do their final wave during the usual Three Stars at the end of the last game. In this season finale of "Joe's Blog", I've created some awards for the three players who will be moving on.

First up is the "Least Likely To Get ID'd At The Bar" award and I'm giving it to Ty Prefontaine. The 20-year-old blueliner's beard was top-notch every time I saw it. He had a five o'clock shadow by eleven in the morning. He had a career season for the Hurricanes, notching 28 points and was a +43.

My second award is for "Chirpiest Chirper Who Ever Chirped" and this is based solely on the games that I saw, especially when the 'Canes were in Calgary. The other 20-year-old defenseman, Koletrane Wilson, gets bragging rights for this one. He and Hitmen captain Mark Kastelic had an ongoing feud for the ages and after every period, it felt like those two were yapping at each other right through the tunnels. Wilson also had a great season, picking up 33 points and was a +28.

And my final award is entitled the "Never Unpacked His Bags" Award. Brett Davis was constantly on the move during his career, starting Lethbridge before heading to Kootenay, Red Deer and back to Lethbridge to finish out his junior hockey career. Davis' return was a welcome addition to the team, as he registered 25 points in 20 games.

All the fun and games aside, a tip of the cap to all of the 20-year-olds across the WHL for their contributions to their teams and communities.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Groggy Froggy for being the blog's sponsor. Thanks to all of you for listening and reading. And last but certainly not least, thanks to Jordan for bringing back "Canes This Week" and putting together a stellar product every week with great guests and segments. I'm honoured to have been a small part of the production.

Until next season, WHL fans.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS: Thomas Scantlebury

He spent the better part of four seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes between 1997 and 2001.

Defenseman Thomas Scantlebury went on to register 14 goals, 49 assists and 484 penalty minutes in his time with the Hurricanes after being traded from Kamloops for Shane Belter.

We recently saw him comment on a Facebook post and reached out to see if he would be game for an installment of "Where In The World Is" and he happily obliged.

#1. Where in the world is Thomas Scantlebury?

Thomas Scantlebury is up north. My parents moved from Manitoba my last year in Lethbridge and I’ve been hanging around the Stony Plain region ever since. I’m working out of Edmonton, still live in Stony Plain. My brother and sister are up here and left only one sibling out in Manitoba.

#2. What are you up to nowadays?

I’m a firefighter. I’ve been here for 14 years. Once my career ended, I bounced around a bit, trying to figure it out. I just so happened to meet someone who pushed me in the right direction and it’s been good to go since then.

#3. What’s your favourite memory of Lethbridge?

I came there from a situation where things could only get better. There’s so many things. I had great billets. Great organization. Friends that I still talk to. Actually, friends that I played with I still work with, surprisingly enough. To pick one thing out, like, coaches, staff, everybody was so good. I still tell stories to people about it to this day.

#4. What was your first impression of Lethbridge when you arrived in town?

Well, I was a prairie guy so I was just happy. I had been exhausted playing. Randy Maxwell picked me up at the airport and we chatted. He said I’m going to a good billet and we’re happy to have you. I was hunky-dorey with that hahaha! I just couldn’t take the smile off my face after leaving Kamloops.

#5. Do you have a favourite teammate from your days with the ‘Canes?

I have a few. I probably converse with three of them the most. Well, Luc Theoret is still here in Edmonton at the fire department so we still talk. Even though we live about 45 minutes away from each other, we don’t see each other as much as we should. Jason Hegberg is another guy, down the road in Stettler, I still talk to him lots. And Scotty Borders, he’s down in the States still but he has family in Stony. So those are probably the three guys that I talk to a bunch. Oh, and Jordon Flodell was there for a little bit and our wives are good friends and Jordan and I are still good friends and they’re out in Spruce Grove.

#6. You talked about your billets earlier so what was your favourite meal they made for you?

I don’t think Bonnie could make a bad meal. I have a job where a lot of it is getting along with the guys and making meals and stuff. Coming from a farm where mom took care of a lot of that, I maybe didn’t learn as much as I should have. Even though my mom is an excellent cook, a lot of my skills came from Bonnie Moench. There was never a bad meal with Bonnie hahaha!

#7. Aside from Lethbridge, where was your favourite barn to play in?

Probably the one with the most stories that stick out for me was the old Kelowna barn. This was probably more from when I played with Kamloops. They were rough-and-tumble teams that stuck out quite a bit just like any rink you come across on the prairies. Going home to Brandon was always special. Spokane was always rowdy. They had a good atmosphere for the size of the rink, they always filled it. They always had a little theme going on. It was a fun place and you always got up for those games.

#8. Who had the biggest influence on your hockey career?

Well, everyone’s obviously going to say their dad. My dad was instrumental in giving me a frame of mind in playing hockey. Coaching-wise, who taught me the most about defense was definitely Bryan Maxwell. I’ve been coaching now for four years with my sons and I’m teaching them stuff I knew at their age. I’m starting to instill that in kids that are seven and eight years old, as opposed to me when I was learning it at 17. I’m getting them good and young now.

#9. Speaking of advice, any advice for junior hockey players as they’re making their way through their careers?

Learn from my mistakes and work out more hahaha! I was kind of coming through at the infancy of the push to work out and you had to. And those who got it were the ones who made it. So I would say, if you’re committed, you have to be prepared. It’s a 24/7 gig, there’s no time off. If that’s what you want to do, then you better be prepared to put in the time. Because if you think you’re good enough just with skill, we’re in Canada man. There’s a hundred others, unless you’re Connor McDavid who, by his own rights, is probably best known for his training. You gotta put in the time.

#10. Final question now: how grateful are you for the game of hockey and what it gave you?

 
Oh it gave me everything. It gave me my schooling. It gave me the ability to coach. Just the frame of mind to go into things. Team atmosphere, teamwork. I live in a very team-oriented world with the fire department so definitely that. Yeah, it pretty much gav

FOR THE RECORD: Four Goal Flurry

It was the final Friday of the 1979 WHL regular season. Playoffs were just around the corner. The Lethbridge Broncos found themselves on the road facing the Saskatoon Blades.

There wasn’t a whole lot riding on the game, as the standings had already dictated the Broncos would be playing the Calgary Wranglers to open up the round-robin playoff format. But the Broncos didn’t want to fall victim to the Blades, who had won six in a row.

The two teams traded goals in the first period and then the floodgates opened in the second frame. Before they knew it, the Broncos fell behind 4-2. And that’s when they made their run into the record books.

Duane Sutter made it a one-goal hockey game at 8:41 of the second stanza. 21 seconds later, Randy Ruff tied it up. Just 12 seconds later, Ruff put his team on top. And 17 seconds later, Doug Morrison made it 6-4 Broncos. 

Four goals in 52 seconds. 

Both teams would add another goal before the buzzer went to end the period with the visitors up 7-5.

That would spell the end of the night for Blades netminder Tom Muc, who would be replaced by Murray Stephens. That didn’t really stop the bleeding, as both teams would score twice more in the final period as the Broncos beat the Blades 9-7.

All told, Ruff led the way with four goals, while Sutter had a pair. Morrison, Larry Doyle and Kevin Ginnell also tallied for Lethbridge while goaltender Greg Dumba stopped 24 of 31 shots fired his way.

As John Cherneski wrote in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix the next day: “There was a contagious disease spread Friday at the Saskatoon Arena. It was called Indifference. It was unique, because only hockey players came in contact with the bug.”

The win did help set the team record for wins in a season with 37. The coach of the Broncos wasn’t impressed, though.

“It was terrible hockey, just awful,” Pat Ginnell told the Star-Phoenix. “The kids are looking ahead to the playoffs. This game didn’t mean a thing and both teams played like that.”

He would have to rip into the team again after their season finale against Billings that Sunday, a 5-4 loss at the Sportsplex.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘nothing’ game as far as I’m concerned,” Ginnell told the Lethbridge Herald. “Those people out there (2,843 fans) didn’t pay their money to see a ‘nothing’ game.”

And he wasn’t about to let them off the hook.

“The season is over, now come the playoffs,” he continued. “If you don’t win, you pack your bags early. That’s all there is to it. The guys know what they have to do.”

 

As mentioned, back in 1979, the first round of the playoffs were round robin. The Broncos went 5-3 to advance to the division finals against Calgary, who they beat in seven games. The league semi-finals were also a round-robin format with the three division winners doing battle. Brandon and Portland went 3-1 while the Broncos went 0-4. The Wheat Kings would go on to win the WHL championship over the Winterhawks in six games.