So, I definitely understand that w/o the Gens’ having LOST (multiple times) in Allan Cup Finals, as well as a few KO’s prior to the Finals...the legend would actually NOT be as good as it is with setbacks & heartache stumping their toes a few times. I mean...if I was sitting here

Tweeting about a hockey team that won every game & every championship for 20 straight years...your reading & rolling your eyes questioning the credibility of the opposition, right? It would just be the Harlem Globetrotters against a bunch of different Washington Generals...

And that’s not how it happened. The Gens all-time rivalry with Fort St John was one-sided up until 2010. The Flyers had lost 3 straight McKenzie Cups to the Gens’ and they were hosting the 2010 Allan Cup and If anyone associated with the Flyers wanted to avoid spending the

Rest of their days crawling around FSJ in shame, they HAD TO beat Bentley. Even if they only ever won one more game for the rest of their lives...trade it all in for one big win over Bentley. And that was the level of hunger I detected when the opening game of the 2010 Allan Cup

Between the Generals & the Fort St John Flyers went wheels up. I was fall-down-drunk that nite. Ohhhh...gawd. I’d spent all day, from noon - 7PM sitting at the Condill pounding vodka-crans’ chatting with the weekly talent between shows. Good times. I loved that dark, clanky old

Peeler joint where guys had knives on their belts and the girls had stepped on cocaine in their purses. Judge away if you want. But I’m a 25 year rig hand, by trade. You kids from town enjoy your draft beer in the Boston Pizza Sports Lounge. I like what I like & Im not BSing you.

Most folks don’t set foot in those places. I walk in slow & quiet and set the tone for the kind of day drinking that only a Roughneck can get away with. Happy to say I’m alive & sober nowadays...but back then? Fuck no. Bad ideas with bad travelling girls. Haha

I got used to kinda having to sneak around some of these rinks, because of the shit I was stirring up online. I typically moved around the outside circles of The Army group of fans, because any rival fans who wanted to take issue with me would dive into the middle of our fans

And start asking them to identify me and it was kinda fun to keep them on a scavenger hunt of sorts...”Oh? Wade? He was just talking to that guy in the Stetson 5 mins ago...prolly in the beer gardens now...” on and on...”No, I’m not Wade but this is his chair, he’s out back rn...

They all want to tell me I’m an arrogant prick and if I don’t watch my mouth I’m gonna be in trouble. But what the REALLY want...even more...is to see “MY” Generals get beat! And leading up to the 2010 Allan Cup...I DID pick Fort St John Flyers as the favourite. In fact, I always

Picked the Tournament HOST as the favourite. And for good reason. Since the Allan Cup went to a tournament format...The HOST team had won about half of all 20-ish tournaments. They’re guaranteed to be in the tournament...so...when they’re recruiting players they have a leg up and

The 2010 Flyers had used that leverage perfectly. They straight up BOUGHT Ryan Manitowich out from under the Gens. As legends go...they’d approached him in a washroom in Steinbach after 2009 AC & offered him $5000 cash to jump ship. How true is it? Idunno...but that’s the story.

They had Kip Noble, healthy. And they had Kimbi Daniels, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick who was working in the NWT at the time, I think. They’d brought back a lot of their hometown guys...like the Alexander boys’ & a bunch of JR grads’ from the North Peace league. And they had

Clayton Pool who was a standout tendy’ with UofA Golden Bears along with Andrew Derton...a very slick D-Man who I’m sure signed with them for prolly one of the biggest price tags anyone got that winter. But most importantly...they had hunger.

Like I said earlier...just starving for dignity. Each time we’d beat them in 3 straight McKenzie Cups...I had been asked to predict the series & each time...I predicted The Army was gonna win it and when they did...ohhh I waved their scalped skull skins in the cyber air for all

To read about. So, when I stumbled into 3000 people, already standing & screaming, before the start of the opening game of the 2010 AC, I sensed the ambush was underway. The Army had a helluva run up to that point but we weren’t ready for what the Flyers had cooked up.

The Flyers and Gens ended up with almost 200 PIMs in that game. The Refs were put-of-Province and they wanted to discourage murder on ice but the only time those guys stopped chopping at each other was when the Zamboni chased me off. I’d turn around for a re-fill on my drink &

Miss a fight or a cross check. And meanwhile...in the stands...Flyers fans had organized a mob to assault & steal our team mascots’ fucking snare drum! Not that he had much to drum about...it was like...4-0 Flyers after 20 mins...heading to a 7-1 final score!

Now...not to sound like a know-it-all...but...I knew that nite...even though we were gonna get back to the Final Game later that week...our chances of winning back to back Allan Cups had been smashed to pieces in 60 mins of round robin play. We. We’re. Fucked. For sure.

We ended up with a few key guys badly injured that game. Daryl Laplante, a career centre man who’d played for the Detroit Red Wings got the special task of converting to a D-Man for the rest of the week. And I gotta tell you...for me...that was the first sign of a breach in my

Walls of trust Id built around Brian Sutter. We had Eric Lodge healthy & available to play D that week but Suttsy didn’t love Lodgies’ style. He was a dangler. And a damn fine one, whom Ginner had put a lotta time into recruiting but Suttsy left him out and Lappy struggled as a D

But more importantly we didn’t have Lappy as a centre man. And personally...I didn’t think that was the right call. A lot of people didn’t. But fuck...it’s Brian Sutter. He had transformed this team into a winning machine. You can second guess one or two decisions but overall...

A few questionable line up decisions aren’t gonna be the downfall of The Army. Not yet. The Flyers were the hungrier team. I knew it from nite one of that week and no amount of Condill vodka was gonna change that. But fuck if I didn’t try.

Actually, I spent most of that week becoming really good buddies with one of the gals’ who was working the Condill that week. She was paying for her U of A Masters Degree dancing the circuit...she was a track star in high school and had come from Sudan originally. I think she

Figured I was gonna get beer-bottled if she didn’t watch my back for me in that old brawl-bunker but I remember making her laugh so loud the whole bar could hear it & when you can sit down, day-drunk beside some girl in a fluorescent pink thong, glitter lip stick and topless...

As a Jeep?! I mean...fuck...And over the years, her and I crossed paths many times again. She’d be in Edson or GP or Rocky and I’d come in outta the bush on my way home from a rig I’d either walked off or taken leave and prolly my detours were always 2 or 3 days and a 1000 nites

I guess those kinda girls have been the downfall of many a good man but to be honest...I don’t ever recall a good man being much of a Roughneck.

After the Gens’ lost that opening game...they absolutely dismantled Clarenville Caribous 24 hrs later. That was Clarenvilles’ first Allan Cup game. And holy fuck did they get an eye opener. They’d be back next year in Kenora but their first year was rough. They had Jason

Churchill in net. He was a SJ Sharks 5th rd pick. Newfie born & raised. He might’ve been the best goalie in SR AAA at the time but the team in front of him was clueless at the time. Nothing can prepare a first year Allan Cup team for the level of play. Sometimes they think they

Think they’re better than they are. Other times they just have no clue how good the other teams actually are. And unbeknownst to me...they had 6 healthy scratches standing right beside me in the beer gardens & when we went up 5-2...I almost got jumped & swarmed but my lil

Sudanese peeler happened to be standing beside me & I think her accent confused those Newfie boys cuz within 10 mins they were buying rounds & the next day I was back in the Condill with half the Caribou’s roster in tow’ haha. I don’t think they have bars like this back home by’.

So, The Army knocked out Powell River Regals in the quarter finals and then beat a very good Dundas Real Mcoys team in the semi-finals. Dundas’ team is operated by an old oracle, Donny Robertson. Donny is one of the last great SR hockey gentlemen. He’s a savvy, slick hockey mind

Who put together the 1987 Brantford Motts Clamatos. They had Stan Jonathan, Don Edwards in net, Todd Stark, Stan Weir and John Held...who was also a legendary lacrosse player. Donny has been up & down the Allan Cup trail long before I was old enough to skate and I make sure to

Point these oracles out because to me...they’ve helped cradle this dying brand in their hands while a few of us had a chance to be in its heartbeat since then. That Dundas team had Mark Jooris...a former Canadian Olympic team member whose son, Josh, is a helluva little player now

But ya...we beat Dundas and got a DOOMED re-match with Fort St John Flyers in the Final. Jordan Alford had a solid game in net but mid way thru...a jumpy pass went past Donny Morrison and Todd Alexander went tearing down the rink on a breakaway. When he buried...that roof went

10 feet in the air. Geez. What a war cry. Those are tough goals to recover from. The goal itself is big. In a tight game. Your squeezing. Not a lot going your way. And. Boom. Just a Fucking Jolt. Hits ya right in your ear hole. I see it in the whites of the eyes on some of em...

Are looking in the stands...all the sudden realizing now it’s no longer 18 skaters on 18 skaters. Now? The whole gawd damned town is coming for you. It’s 3000 against 18!!! Over the years...some of The Army’s’ most impressive wins were those kinda match-ups. But not this one.

As soon as Todd Alexander popped that goal...The Army was Dead Men Walking. Late in the 3rd Scotty Hood got us in it for a bit...he made it 2-1 but that was as close as she come...FSJ had the 2010 Allan Cup banner and I had this Sudanese girls’ phone number & a BAD hangover.

After that LOSS...The Army shook hands with the Flyers...except for Suttsy. Apparently, he had some kind of beef with Mike Vandekemp. Mike is a well respected Coach. The Flyers brought him over from the GP STORM, to give them the kinda leadership a Championship Team needs...

But somewhere along the line...Suttsy claimed Mike Vandekemp had done him wrong. Fuck if I can remember the back story but really, as the years went on we come to realize...it ACTUALLY comes down to Suttsy’ just CANT loSe with dignity or class. Hate to say it, folks. But he

Pulled similar stunts a few more times. It’s a bad look. Behind the scenes, spending time with him while he processes those losses...you see and FEEL how broken and hurt he takes it. Prolly even harder than I did. He’s some kind of Viking-Warrior-Reincarnation.
Seriously! I think

He has time travelled off a big wooden vessel outta the wild North Sea...and his modern spirit is just manifested as a hockey player. Yes. He is crazy. I watched him crush straight whiskey and eat a 24 oz steak with his bare hands that nite. I shit you not. He declined cutlery

He was too Fucking Mad to hold a fork or a knife. Do you know how awkward it is to sit beside someone who wants to chew his own arms off during a steak dinner?! His face was crimson red with anger and bloodlust. Terrifying. But it’s no show. I just sat there and glimpsed it

And I realized it prolly wasn’t easy dealing with that kind of intensity onna nightly basis for some of our players. Most of em? They’d bleed for Suttsy. But some of em had to be scared sometimes, too. Suttsy would continue to be a big part of the Gens’ bite next season but...

Watching that steak get mauled by those Viking-Hands...it was a first glimpse into the darkest side of Suttsy. A time & a place for it. Sure. But an end point,
Too.

So, the Bentley Generals had now sandwiched their 2009 Allan Cup Title with Finals’ losses in 2008 & 2010. The Flyers...our all time biggest inter-provincial rival had their greatest win, at our expense. It hurt like hell...but...nowadays...I’m kinda happy for those crazyfuckers.

In the 100,000 miles I travelled on the Allan Cup warpath...the only hometown that came consistently close to what The Army had, in terms of passion, excitement and pride...was the those hey-day Flyers teams. You bet your Fucking Ass they earned that Allan Cup. End Thread, folks!