Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
Winning a championship creates a bond that lasts a lifetime. Winning back-to-back national titles is something worth celebrating and that is exactly what the Prince Albert Mintos did on Saturday.
Twenty years removed from being the first-ever team to win successive Telus Cup titles in 2006 and ‘07, more than half of the rosters of those two clubs gathered for a day of reminiscing and socializing.
“This is fantastic; second to none,” exclaimed the architect of those championship teams, head coach Tim Leonard when it was his turn to take to the podium and address the crowd that included not just former players, but past board members and parents of the players. “We had a fantastic group of kids for two years. We had the right players for two years.”
“I love you guys; I’ll never forget you guys,” added Leonard.
The Mintos won their first national title in Charlottetown, PEI, when captain Ron Meyers netted the winner midway through the third overtime period to defeat the Jordan Eberle-led Calgary Buffaloes 5-4 in the championship final. One year later in Red Deer, Alta., it was Ryan Fox’s tally early in the second extra session giving Prince Albert a 3-2 triumph over the host Red Deer Optimist Rebels.
During that two-year run the Mintos were a perfect 14-0 during preliminary round-robin and playoff action with Matthew Robertson claiming top forward honours in 2006 and Tyler Fiddler receiving the same award one year later. Lewis Laczko was named top defensive player and Carsen Chubak the top goaltender at the 2007 event.
There were six players who were on both gold-medal-winning teams and they included Laczko, Fox, Curtis Kulchar, Owen Roschuk, Jaydon Potter and Tommy Brown. To have that big of a turnover and duplicate the previous year’s success is not only amazing, but a testament to what the Minto organization had become.
Saturday’s festivities began with a scramble golf tournament which was followed by a banquet that included several presentations.
Former board member Merle Kozun did a masterful job of hosting the celebration and he, along with current board member Mel Kelly, opened the formal portion of the evening by acknowledging the absence of long-time president Zenon Markowsky, who passed away several years ago after a lengthy illness.
“Zenon was committed to the team; he was committed to the community,” stated Kelly. “He’s the reason I got involved with the Mintos.”
Markowsky was integral in getting the league to make a number of changes for the betterment of the game and he also spearheaded a project that saw the Mintos get their own dressing room at the Art Hauser Centre.
The two captains from those championship teams, Meyers in 2006 and Tommy Brown in 2007, each had a chance to say a few words with Brown acknowledging all the support staff who helped make the team a success and Meyers passing on a nugget of information that kind of summed up what the team was all about.
“We never had our nameplates on the back of our jerseys,” noted Meyers. “It said Prince Albert Buslines Mintos. We weren’t a team of individuals. Tim (Leonard) set a great example by saying it was a team game.”
Sprinkled in throughout the speeches were video presentations put together by Barry Mihilewicz of Big Drum Media. Included in the video package were clips from when the two clubs were inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame along with a separate feature of Leonard being inducted into the same shrine this past spring.
A highlight reel of the two national tournaments was also presented with the crowd cheering wildly when the game-winning goals were scored and the on-ice celebrations commencing.
By far the most moving moment of the evening was when Leonard returned to the podium moments after his speech to pass on thanks to a special group of unnamed people who helped make the titles even more special for him.
“In 2006 I had just lost my job when the pulp mill closed down and I told my family as I was leaving for Charlottetown that I don’t know what is going to happen (in the future), but we are going to win a national championship,” began Leonard. “We were on the bus going to the airport when my phone rang and it was my wife Tammy saying, ‘We’re coming.’ I said what are you talking about and she said our trip down there is being paid for.”
“I’m not going to name names; you know who you are,” continued Leonard choking back tears. “I just want to say thank-you from the bottom of my heart. To be able to celebrate the championship with my family was very special.”
Comedian Kelly Taylor brought the evening to a close with a hilarious show, but he proudly mentioned that in 2006 he was down in Halifax, NS, doing a performance and delayed his return trip home so that he could head to Charlottetown for the week to watch the Mintos win their first title.
While the group of players have largely hung up their skates, with the exception of goaltender Dustin Tokarski who is still playing professional hockey in Europe after a number of stops in the NHL where he played in 86 games with several teams- the most recent being the Carolina Hurricanes two seasons ago, it is the memory of what they achieved two decades ago that lives on.
“Tim had always said, ‘Never be satisfied after a game,’” stated Brown during his speech to the crowd. “He always said, ‘You’ll be champs for life; brothers for life.’ Here we are 20 years later.”
