By Harry Ballsonue, Retired Tomcat Blog Writer
“Please stop teaching my children that everyone gets a trophy just for participating. What is this, the Nobel Prize? Not everybody gets a trophy.”
There are many trophies in the world. There are many trophy wives and I suppose trophy husbands. The Tomcats have the coveted Stanley’s Cup and the MVP trophy (Thank you Skippy for making that one) and the Finner Award, won this year by May Day. But where do old trophies go to finish their lives?
Stanely’s Cup
The original Stanley’s Cup was designed and made by our very own Turk, (pictured below) The Trophy, not Turk. He had an idea and it flourished. Now the new cup is sought after ever year on the last Saturday of February, because what else are you doing in the dead of winter? For those that did not know there was an original Stanely’s cup, now you do. The new cup, has a number 35 on it, to give credit to the Turk for his innovative thinking. It also has the initials KKP. What do you think that stands for?
Commissioner’s Cup
The Commissioners Cup,(pictured below) WHAT ?” What is the Commissioner Cup you speak of Harry?” Well, let me tell you, a long time ago, there were two specialty games, Canada Vs. Ukraine and Detroit Red Wing Fans, vs. Toronto Maple Leaf fans. They would play off on a Tuesday night. These were called, ’Specialty Games’.
For the Ukrainian team there were a number of Ukrainians in those days, the Legend, The Turk, The Bundura, May Day, Hollywood and Stevo, to name a few and to get more Ukrainians, they would come up with Ukrainian sounding names, so the Rake and the Sealion along with others were given Ukrainian names, example Rake-Beregernko and or Sealionchuck…I think you get the drift. Those games were not too bad as far as play was concerned. There was not trophy awarded for this game, you just had pride and some welts on your shins….if you won.
The Toronto-Detroit games, They were played on the last two nights of hockey for the year, well those gems were another story. In these games you would think that if the team that won, the next stop would actually be getting on a bus and be driven to the Joe Lewis Arena…to play for the Detroit Red Wings or to get picked up by Pat Quinn. I shit you not! These games became very very intense. So these games got stopped and the trophy put away, to be displayed in the Ball Hockey Hall of Fame, which could one day be located on Paul Martin Drive in Windsor Ontario. (Nudge Nudge, Wink, Wink)
Essex 99’rs Vs. Belle River Buckos
One other specialty game, was the Essex 99’rs vs. The Belle River Bucko’s, this game was basically the Belle River Buckos, lead by, at that time, franchise player Crispy. They had the likes of Uwe, May Day, Ditty, Bucko, Finner, Mez, Doob, and they would play anyone who lived in the county, thus the name Essex. (Not the town of Essex, but anyone living in the Essex region). SIDE BAR, many years ago, there was a four man baseball squad, they would travel around and they would play a full team, the four man team was called the California Beauties. They had a pitcher, a catcher, an infielder and a outfielder. The pitcher would cover first base if there was a hit. The out fielder would go into the field that he thought the ball would go to. The pitcher of course was a phenom, so not many hits were made, well, in ball hockey, these would have been the Belle River Buckos. They were all gifted ball hockey players and the Essex 99’rs would lose to them every year except for one year when a rookie goalie by the name of Razor came out. It was his first night of hockey and he was assigned to the Essex 99’rs and he stoned the Belle River Buckos. That is the night of the famous quote of Finners, when the Belle River Buckos were on board their van heading back to the river of Bell, Finner, said, ’Tonight, we got beat by a bunch of Pig Farmers from Tilbury.”
From what I can recall, the Essex 99’rs sat on the stage drinking beer a bit longer that night soaking the moment in. Razor was the hero that night and the Essex 99’rs were in their glory.
I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS
While you are looking to see if there are more red tags ( for Red Wing wins) over, blue tags for Leaf wins, on the Commissioners Cup, do you think I could put my Harry Ballsonue.