The spirit of hockey is apparent from one end of St. Albert to the other, and the Hometown Hockey event drove that point home.
Thousands of hockey fans young and old packed St. Anne Street for the two-day event to take part in a host of activities – and to meet some of the legends who have helped put St. Albert on the map.
And while hockey for many might mean long hours at the rink on the weekends, it also means picking up a stick whenever and wherever and just playing the game.
“Every summer, on Sunday afternoon, we just get all our buddies together and have a big game,” explained Oscar Williams, 11. “It’s a lot of fun.”
He and his brother Jasper, 13, and with the help of their dad Richard, convert their garage and driveway into a makeshift arena for everyone in the neighbourhood to play at. They don’t even need all the fancy gear, with goaltenders often rigging up pads out of old newspapers.
While the two are fans of the Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators, they said they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to come meet some hockey stars, get some autographs, and see what Hometown Hockey had to offer.
“The best part was the Situation Room, where you got to put on the virtual reality goggles and watch the Winter Classic,” Jasper said.
“I think it’s cool how they can get Mark Messier and all them to do this, but the best part is probably the broadcast room, where you get to be the broadcaster,” Oscar added.
While neither of them play on an organized team and may not be breaking any records, their love of the game is demonstrated every summer.
Abigael Johnson, 12, and her sister Maia, 11, were both decked out in Edmonton Oilers gear and clearly having a good time with their dad.
“It just sounded really fun,” Abigael said. “It’s been really good so far.”
“I didn’t expect it to be so big,” Maia added.
The highlight for them, on top of seeing the NHL stars, was the table-hockey set up in one of the tents.
Kinadra Kuntz, 11, came downtown with the goal of meeting and getting an autograph from Mark Messier.
“I thought it would be interesting to meet a hockey player who played for the Oilers,” she said. “We got to see a guy juggle on-fire hockey sticks, which was pretty cool.”
Elijah Schoenberger, 14, was visibly excited to be in line to get an autograph from Messier, one of his favourite players.
“Ever since I was a little boy I’ve loved hockey,” he said. “It’s a great experience, and I love hockey so much.”
His favourite part of the event, other than meeting the players, was the hardest shot competition where he got to test his slapshot. He doesn’t play in an organized league, but heads down to the rink for shinny when he can and also plays street hockey in the summer.
“When you get to play hockey it feels like no one’s judging you, it’s just for the love of the game,” he said.
Mark Messier himself expressed that same attitude on the main stage on Sunday afternoon, recalled his own experiences playing hockey in St. Albert growing up – and emphasized he was by no means an all-star right out of the gate.
“I was a below-average hockey player through most of my youth hockey,” he said. “I was playing because I love it, but I certainly wasn’t excelling at it at any level, but just having fun.”
He recalled seasons where his bantam or midget teams would notch only a single win in an entire season.
Of course his game straightened out, and he was playing junior hockey at age 15 before going on to play in the NHL, where he earned the distinction of being the only player to captain two separate teams to Stanley Cup victories.
Messier said he stopped by the arena in Servus Place that now bears his name, and it was a humbling experience for him.
“Seeing all the kids on the ice, and the people helping out to volunteer their time coaching, helping these kids to realize their dreams, was very inspiring for me,” he said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse, who has spent a lot of time at arenas both on and behind the bench, said hockey in St. Albert isn’t just about the 50 or so players who have made names for themselves in the big leagues, but also the tens of thousands of players of all skill levels who have played in this community.
Roy Toomey, an education programmer at the MusĂ©e Heritage Museum, said the photos in the museum going back to the 1800s show how long hockey has been a part of St. Albert’s history.
“You see these young guys in the 1920s out playing pond hockey, and playing on the Sturgeon River,” he said. “As long as there have been people in St. Albert, they’ve been playing hockey here.”
One reason hockey became so popular is likely twofold: first, St. Albert is a winter city, but also because the strong French-Canadian character of the city meant many residents cheered for the Montreal Canadiens.
The first St. Albert player to make it to the NHL, Joe Benoit, played for the Habs in the 1940s, his career broken into two parts as he fought for Canada in the Second World War.
Sharon Morin, the museum’s education program manager, said St. Albert hockey history continued to be written after Benoit, and is clearly still going strong.
“There’s a real sense of community, and it seems to get everybody involved,” she said. “It’s amazing the amount of guys who came through here who have played, and still play today.”
