The 40th reunion of the 1978 Allan Cup winning Kimberley Dynamiters is this weekend, mainly at the Kimberley Elks Lodge on Howard Street.
A large number of players from the team will be in town this weekend, and one of them, Aurel Beaudin, has been instrumental in organizing the events.
He is hoping a lot of fans of the team will stop by and visit at the open events during the weekend.
“We are inviting all past friends and fans to attend this 40th reunion of the Allan Cup,” Beaudin said. “Many of the players want to see and say hello to past good fans of the 70s. In those years, 2500 people filled the Kimberley Civic Centre for games. Fans took bus trips to Trail, Nelson, Spokane and into Drumheller and Edmonton to see the Dynamiters win the Allan Cup.”
Beaudin says that after getting the word out about the reunion,it’s kind of embarrassing that so many people don’t know what the Allan Cup is.
“Some people think it was just a bunch of hickey guys that hung around the local bars in Kimberley.”
Beaudin explains that the Allan Cup was named after Sir Montague Allan, and is historically the most important trophy in Canada after the Stanley Cup. The original trophy sits in the Hockey Hall of Fame and a replica is still handed out each year.
The trophy began as a perpetual challenge trophy in honour of hockey players who served overseas in the First World War. The trophy was made to be given annually to the best amateur team in Canada.
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association took ownership and presents the Senior AAA trophy to the winningest team in Canada each year.
The first winners were the Ottawa Cliffsides in 1909. Up through the 1950s, the Allan Cup was every bit as important and popular as the Stanley Cup with Canadian hockey fans, Beaudin says.
“In its day, the Allan Cup was as proud a win as the Stanley Cup. The large measure, this was because international hockey was competed at the amateur level.”
From 1920 to 1977, only amateur players could compete in the Olympics and World Championships. For much of that time, the Allan Cup winners would represent Canada internationally.
“The prestige of winning gold was unparalleled,” Beaudin said. “the Kimberley Dynamiters won the god in 1935-36 and also the Allan Cup. In the 60s, the Trail Smoke Eaters won.”
Today, senior hockey does not enjoy the same prestige it once did. The Allan Cup has been fought for for over 100 years and is still going strong. There are leagues in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.
During the heyday of senior hockey in Kimberley, the Dynamiters’ recruited though scouting and word of mouth, Beaudin says.
“Players had been coming to Kimberley since the early 1900s because of work with Cominco and as a chance to play soccer, ball and hockey. Jobs and apprenticeships, a chance for a higher education and fun playing hockey were a strong attraction.
“The whole Western International Hockey League was doing the same, from Trail, Nelson, Spokane, Rossland and Kimberley. You could play in the WIHL and make more money than the NHL players.”
To win and go on to the Allan Cup, you would play close to 100 games in a season.
“That’s why a lot of players look like greyhounds,” Beaudin said.