Hockey in Trail has remained an important part of our community for over 100 years and has touched the lives of people in so many different ways. Come on in and sit by the Hot Stove and tell us your hockey story.
My earliest memory of attending a Smoke Eater hockey game was the game between the Smoke Eaters and the Moscow Selects on January 27, 1960. My mom was a big hockey fan and she took me, at age 11, to the game.
When we got there, the arena was full and we had to stand. People were standing at the railings, 4 to 5 deep, and my mom, being short, was offered a spot right on the rail. I was too small to see through the rail, so I stood in front of one of the concrete posts supporting the roof.
I don't remember much about the game itself, except for the crowds, but Trail won 7-6. It was the only defeat for the Russians on that cross-Canada tour.| Jamie Forbes | | Friday, February 17th, 2006, 4:31 pm | Trail, BC |
My earliest memories of hockey madness in Trail was being kicked off our spare lot skating rink when the neighborhood boys arrived in droves after school to play hockey - this was about 1947. My dad would flood that lot and prepare the rink, and us little kids - in fact ALL the girls - would have to defer to the hockey boys. I've had a chip on my shoulder about that until I watched the women's team win the Gold last week. Play like girls, boys!!!| Nola Landucci | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 10:45 am | Trail BC - Nelson Avenue |
I can recall hearing about the Trail Smoke Eaters as a very young adult when I lived in Toronto and used to drive to Galt and Barrie, Ontario to watch OHA Senior Hockey. Years later I moved to Trail and saw the real thing - Smoke Eater Hockey! World renowned, world class, fast, colourful and full of exciting, tough and on occasion humourous characters, like Leroy Huestis and Ken Uzeloc. From the Senior Smoke Eaters, to the Junior Smoke Eaters to all the Smoke Eater minor hockey players, coaches and parents and to our Smoke Eater fans, we have it all - just picture it and ask yourself where else can "Hockeyville" be but Trail.| Douglas Stanley | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 11:22 am | Trail, BC |
When I moved to Ottawa in the early 70's and people asked where I was from, I was always surprised by how many knew of the Trail Smoke Eaters. It was a great way to make fast friends and share a common bond.
I'm back home now and have always appreciated the goodwill generated by this hockey town and its hockey ambassadors. Go Trail! We are Hockeyville.| Rose Calderon | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 12:11 pm | Columbia Heights, Trail, BC |
Speaking of earliest memories of Smoke Eater Hockey games, I return to the early '60's. It doesn't have much to do with the games themselves but as a teenager it was 'the' place to go on a Friday or Saturday nite. The arena was always packed. Myself and the girlfriends would do the rounds on the concourse and check out the action.
All the NHL hockey players from Trail are a testament to the support this community provides for the sport. I was impressed with the pride displayed last Saturday. Can't imagine a town that deserves the "Hockeyville" title more than us.| Patty Siddall | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 1:11 pm | Sunningdale, Trail |
We lived in Trail (Tadanac) with our 7 kids from 1965 to 1968 - long enough to enroll our two oldest boys in hockey. I can remember wondering how on earth they would be able to move around with all that gear on their small frames. Now my oldest son's son plays on a hockey team 50 kms south of Ottawa. Last year his team was the regional champions.
I also remember attending a great hockey game in Trail when the old Soviet team came to Trail to play the Smoke Eaters. It was quite a game, and I can't remember who won!| Catherine Foster | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 2:36 pm | Sooke B.C |
I have a couple of memories of the Trail hockey games. The first one that comes to mind takes place in the early 60's when the action on the ice got surpassed by the action in the stands as several women and men began stripping...that's all their clothes! The police were called and off they went to jail, sure put a smile on alot of faces though.
The other was not so funny...my girlfriend wanted one of the triangular felt banners that were strung quite high around the top of the stands, she being short elected me to pull one down for her. All was well until the arena manager tapped me on the shoulder and marched me into his office. My parents weren't called but I sure sweated about that one for awhile because my dad curled with the manager of the arena, Mr.Stone.| Karen Grace | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 5:55 pm | Williams Lake |
As a young teenager Iwas able to buy reserved seats in the new arena in 1949. The facility seating was full all the time with fans standing all around the perimeter. This was hockey madness.
When they removed the bench seats and installed the individual seating, I was able to buy the whole bench including my original two seats. This is true memorbilia.
The WIHL was equivalent to NHL today. With the 1939 and 1961 Smoke Eater world championships, who else could be Hockeyville? "Go Trail Go"| Don Nutini | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 8:24 pm | Trail, B.C. |
I am a new resident of Trail and have only lived here just over 6 years. In that short time I have come to see that Trail and hockey are synonymous. From the legendary Smoke Eaters franchise right on down to the creation of the first Official Minor Hockey program in Canada.
My favorite hockey story would have to be the game between the Sr. Smoke Eaters vs Jacksonhole Moose. Shawn "Bubba" Brandt scored a top shelf goal to the sound of a local and international gallery of fans chanting "Let's go Bubba, Let's go" in a game just last year (2005).
Brandt, a former Jr. Smoke Eater, and previous Smoke Eater Coach who had been picked up by the team to play just this one game, made his way to the dressing room at the buzzer and was coaxed back out on the ice by the fans for a quick Victory lap. We don't forget our hockey heroes.
Trail is Hockeyville...| Kevin Jolly | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 9:55 pm | Glenmerry,Trail,B.C. |
My memory of hockey in Trail goes back to the many minor hockey teams that won the provincial tournaments in the 1960's. Proudly displayed championship banners are hanging inside the Cominco Arena.
Every Saturday the arena was busy all day on the small and big rink. The league standings were put up each week on a chalk board.
I never did play organized hockey but enjoyed just being at the arena and watching all my friends play. I remember the annual elementary school all-star game between the West and East schools at the Trail Memorial Center when all the elementary students were bussed to watch the game.
Kids played in front of every kid in elementary school in attendance, they were all playing for school pride. I still remember those games. Cheering, yelling, chanting.
Trail was hockeyville then and should be recognized again.
The biggest game I saw in the arena was the Montreal Canadians against the Spokane Comets. The Habs in our arena, it seems like a dream. Jean Beliveau got injuried that night, he hurt his leg.
It was incredible that night. We didn't have tickets, we just got in front of the line and when they opened the doors we were pushed right through. People with standing room tickets rushing in to get the best spots on the railing.
The greatest game I saw in the arena was when the Trail Smoke Eaters played the Russians which obviously meant more because they were the home town team.
It was over 40 years ago and I still remember I sat on the stairs at the entrance where the referrees came out of it. I still remember the teams lining up on the blue lines like it was yesterday.| Fred Romano | | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006, 10:03 pm | Trail |
Where do you begin with stories about Trail hockey?
It could be the time I found out a team in the Netherlands named their club the Smoke Eaters in honour of the famous team from Trail that won two world championships.
It could be the time I got a phone call from a German newspaper confirming that one of the stars of the 1961 Smokies, who had carried on his career in Germany, had passed away recently.
It could be the time I was sitting at a table with NHL scouts and telling them the role Trail minor hockey has played in shaping their current rosters.
It could be seeing the Smoke Eaters’ logo displayed as part of Molson’s national campaign riding the slogan ‘I Am Canadian’.
It could be listening to Hall of Fame players such as Glen Hall, Johnny Bower and Bobby Hull talk about players that carried the pride of Trail into the professional ranks.
It could be seeing little boys and girls with their Smoke Eater sweaters playing street hockey outside my house in the summer.
Or it could simply be walking with my daughter, all bundled up, to Smoke Eater hockey games laughing and talking the whole way there. Then watching her beam with joy when she got a Smokies’ tee shirt for Christmas.
Hockey in Trail has touched people on so many different levels that it’s impossible to have just one memory of something that shapes our lives on a daily basis.
Hockey is the lifeblood the flows through the veins of Trail and breathes life into its citizens. It's an opportunity for our entire community to gather under one roof on a weekly basis. It keeps us in touch with our neighbours and forgotten friends.
Without it, we couldn’t boast that we are the Home of Champions, the originator of Minor Hockey Week and the hometown of the Father of Czech hockey.
Without this sport in our daily lives, Trail would be just another dot on the map.
Trail is Hockeyville in every sense of the word.| Guy Bertrand | | Monday, February 27th, 2006, 4:59 pm | Trail |
Growing up in Trail was a wonderful childhood. We would always look forward to our weekend hockey games at the Trail Cominco Arena. I left town to move to Vancouver in the early 80s, but whenever meeting new people and telling them I was from Trail, it was always linked to a hockey town, and all the great hockey players from here. It made me very proud to be born and raised here. In my opinion, there is nowhere else but Trail B.C. to be Hockeyville. It is great to be home!!!!!!!!| Josie Vecchio | | Thursday, March 2nd, 2006, 4:01 pm | Trail, B.C. |
Hockey in Trail; well, first upon turning six years of age all boys were registered in the Minor Hockey Pee Wee division, usually by their fathers, only then did Moms get to register their sons in grade one.
The neighborhood boys, without doubt, played shinny every waking hour. I never did find out what girls did with their time?? Saturdays found us out on the street picking teams by 8:00 A.M. and Sundays, well, we got a later start, Father Rosia insisted we start the day in St. Anthony's in the Gulch. Games would run right through lunch, supper called us away but we resumed playing under the street light till 8:30.
All that was needed was a tennis ball (stolen from the Tadanac tennis players the previous summer). You see we did plan ahead--- Sunday, well," bless me Father for I have sinned "--- 10 Hail Maries, 5 Our Fathers and one Act of Contrition was the usual penalty. Two piles of snow for goal posts sufficed for nets but added debate to the game. We were very good at judging just where the physical constraints of the net really were. I really don't know how but some shots did hit cross bars??
I think playing on frozen streets helped develop our agility. The sand truck guy never sanded that section of the road; our rink, for he knew what playing shinny was all about. Cars drove around the goal post mounds of snow , those that flattened them got to watch a volley of snow balls heading their way in their rear view mirror.
Sticks, hell, whatever we could get our thieving little hands on ( "bless me Father--"). Sympathetic Senior Smokies would slip one over the boards now and again at the end of their games to pleading bunches of brats. Without question all broken ones were saved by the refs. and given to us. I guess it was their turn to contribute to the game of shinny. And then there was the kid whose father was a Cominco carpenter, he would show-off with some functional thing his dad brought home in pieces in his lunch bucket-- bless him too Father.
Frank Waite, a one time NHLer and a renowned promoter of the game and coach built an outdoor rink with real nets, boards, and all every year. There was an open invitation to use his rink by him but being from outside that area of town stepping on the ice upset the locals and fights would inevitably erupt. They proved to have tougher and meaner boys than ours and didn't fight fair. So we were left to flood my Father's bocce pitch. Laps were all it was ever good for. Then there were those "fancy skaters" who thought they could use it too, fights inevitably errupted----.
Ah, hockey in Trail--a way of life, a great way of building community!!| Gord DeRosa | | Saturday, March 4th, 2006, 12:33 pm | The Home of Champions |
Ah yes.........
I remember well......... The old Smokies.....1954 - 1957
Gord Robertson, Louie Corrado, Ray Hamilton, Bill Margoreeth, Pinoke "PINS" McIntyre, Norm Lenardon,
Gilles "The Flying Frenchman" Desrosiers.
Talk about "Pack The House" !!!!
We were hanging from the rafters !!
They beat the Penticton V's the year after they won the Allan Cup. And back then, that was a feat in itself !!
In 1957 the Rossland Warriors were formed.......
The Owner/ manager was Fini Rossi, and the coach was the father of Czech Hockey, Mikey Buchna.
The "GO TO " Line was Moe Young, Gilles Desrosiers and Bobby Kromm. And don't forget the big Swede, Vic "The Bear" Lofvendahl.
Skip ahead to the era of Gary Ferro, and Ken Uzeloc, who has hip replacements from all those hip checks......
Then Del Iannone, Al Hillier, and of course Leroy Huestis.
Now we have the current Senior Smokies........
Big, fast, strong, smart, and skilled.
Ah YESSSSSS.
Hockeyville !!!!!!!!!| Don Webber | | Tuesday, March 7th, 2006, 12:57 pm | Trail |
Well I've seen so many pictures from back in the day-boy it would have been quite a thing to see how hockey was. But what I do remember is going to the Trail Smoke Eaters hockey games all the time. I rarely missed them. You always had to go early if you would want to sit in a specific seat!
I remember that the areana was just packed with the parents and families of the hockey players. I also remember there were ALWAYS many kids there-the teens were there rooting for their home team.
Most people I knew or saw had children in hockey- I definitely think Trail is Hockeyville- There are many great hockey players out there from here- whom we are always cheering on!
I could not imagine life without Hockey.| Stephanie Hanik | | Tuesday, March 7th, 2006, 4:50 pm | Trail |
Trail's history for hockey achievement speaks for itself and is recalled in the many entries here.
What is also important to remember is that our hockey youth continue to achieve and bring recognition to this community. This month, Trail will be represented at the Provincial level by four Rep teams:
PeeWee Rep
PeeWee Rep (female)
Bantam Rep
Midget Rep
Go Trail go!| Ken Davis | | Wednesday, March 8th, 2006, 11:56 am | Trail, BC |
My greatest hockey memory occured as a young boy while listening to the CBC radio broadcast of the 1961 World Hockey Championship game between Canada, represented by the Trail Smoke Eaters, and the Soviet Union.
Earlier in the tournament, the Smokies had tied Czechoslovakia 1-1, which set the stage for the dramatic showdown with the Soviets. In order to win the gold, Trail had to defeat the Russians by at least 3 goals. The Czechoslovakian team was in the crowd and already had been introduced as the probable world champions before the puck was dropped.
Midway through the third period, with Trail leading 4-0, the Russians scored. The goal differential was now 3. Trail could not allow another Soviet goal. At the 17:50 mark of the final period, right-winger Norm Lenardon stole the puck from Sologubov, the great Soviet playmaker, and fired the puck into the right side of the net.
Pandemonium! - Not only in the arena but also across Canada and particularly in Trail and the Kootenay region. As Normie went down on his knee and crossed himself, he was smothered by Smokies including goal tender Seth Martin who skated the length of the ice to drop on him. The Smokies put on a masterful display of puck handling over the final two minutes to preserve the win with a four-goal cushion.
As the final buzzer sounded, Trail goalie Seth Martin twirled his goal stick overhead like a helicopter blade before hurling the stick into the air as the Trail players piled off the bench to celebrate.
This gold medal clinching goal by Norm Lenardon against the Russians in 1961 stood as the biggest ever for Canada until Paul Henderson's heroics in 1972. As it turned out, Trail had a 33-year run as the home of Canada's last world championship hockey team until 1994 when Luc Robitaille led a group of N.H.Lers to another gold medal.
The Smokies were the last pure amateur club team to win the world championship for Canada. Ten of the players were either born or raised in Trail, a city of only 10,000 people!
What an accomplishment! As long as I live, I will always remember Normie's goal which put Trail on top of the hockey world in the spring of 1961 and how proud I was when the players and Canadian servicemen in the arena bellowed O'Canada. A hockey memory of a lifetime!| John D Arcangelo | | Thursday, March 9th, 2006, 2:23 pm | Trail, BC |
Senior Hockey--- The Trail Smoke Eaters -- A great legacy
Recalling a couple events.... A playoff game, the Saskatoon Quakers playing a tough series with our Smoke Eaters, a few friends and I were sitting only five rows up from the ice, heckling and heckling the Quakers. Then it happened... two Quaker defencemen, Vokin and Gerbinski (sizable gentlemen) came over the boards, sticks in hands. Scatter we did. Then we had to convince the "attendant" not to evict us. But it was a great game.
Second recollection was the day we watched a bus unload players at the Cominco Arena, another playoff game, this time it was the Chatham Maroons.... one at a time each member came off the bus, smartly dressed in matching overcoats and tall fedoras (which made them look another foot taller). Then off stepped Trail's own Caesar Maniago. How sad we were that he was playing against us.
Other mentionables of many years gone by, associated with the Smoke Eaters... Mike Shabaga, Moe Young, the Warwick brothers and " the stick handler" Johnny Ripien.
I hope that fans will continue to support local hockey, the Junior Smoke Eaters. This will keep that "rare and unique" name
.............. SMOKE EATERS...............| Tony Sandrin | | Saturday, March 11th, 2006, 5:11 pm | Castlegar BC |
My first memory is of going with my dad to a hockey game on a Sunday afternoon when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I can still smell the hot dogs and the ice (I swear it had a smell of its own) and those smells even today bring back the very best memories. Of Saturday evenings with everyone in town crunching through the snow on their way to the Cominco Arena for "the game". We picked up friends and neighbours along the way. Old folks, young folks, men, women. We were toqued up and ready to cheer on the Smokies. I remember the Allen Cups, the World Championship and the pride of a little town in the middle of BC being the champions of the whole world. I remember the Moscow Selects coming to our town - and losing to our boys. I remember that the arena was the social hub of the city - everyone who was anyone was there for games, for skating and for hangin' out. I remember Seth Martin going to the NHL and how he came home a hero. They were all heroes and we were in awe when we actually saw them in the shoe shop. Masisco's Shoe Shop was the hotstove of Trail - the games were dissected, strategy was discussed and the players never paid to have their shoes soled.
Trail and district has given the NHL so many hockey players from Seth Martin to Ray Ferraro to Barrett Jackman and Shawn Horkoff and so many more. I don't know how many in total but there are at least 7 or 8 in the league now from this area. There should be no doubt about Trail being Hockeyville. The game may not have been born there but it has developed and grown there and we all feel like it is woven into the fabric of the community.
If Trail isn't Hockeyville, I don't know where it would be. Go Smokies!!!!| Judi Georgetti | | Monday, March 13th, 2006, 1:26 pm | Pender Harbour |
I know 2 of the guys from the 61 smoke eaters team. i was born in Trail in 1986 and i think it will be great if we win the Hockeyville title and we have the canucks and flames in the arena in Trail.| Cody Simmons | | Monday, March 13th, 2006, 9:16 pm | Trail B.C. |
Having grown up in Trail with a hockey dad, a captain of the Smokies (Dad is Frank Turik, a home grown local), as a young kid I can remember sitting with the wives and girlfriends and watching dad and all his friends skate real fast and usually outscore the visitors. I remember the night my dad was given his own night and we received some very lovely things from the City, the team and Cominco. I remember dad always going downtown for a haircut on Saturdays to BS with the boys about the upcoming game. Then dad retired and he was asked to coach the Smokies and that was great too as I got to sit up in the press box while Donny Frier announced the games on CJAT radio. After that, dad was the Smokies rep to the league for several years so we had all the local gossip first and had many of the players over for dinner many times.
The Turik family and Trail and hockey all go together.| frank turik jr | | Wednesday, March 15th, 2006, 7:41 pm | sydney australia |
I grew up in Fernie BC. Back in the early 70's three members of the 1961 Trail Smoke Eaters held a hockey clinic in Fernie - Seth Martin, Addie Tambellini, and Pinoke McIntyre. What I remember most is the speed and finese of Addie Tambellini. Wow the things he could do with the puck at the speed he had were incredible. The only other player that could rival him is Pavel Bure. It made a huge impression on myself. I felt so honored just being on the same ice as these Canadian Heros.
When I was 16, I made the local Fernie Sabres Jr B hockey team. I will always remember my first game in the Cominco Arena, walking in the Arena, looking at all the Championship Banners...knowing all the great players that have been here before me, sent chills down my spine. Probably the same feeling a NHL player gets walking into Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto for the first time, or a Priest visiting the Vatican for the first time.
I've played hockey in cities and towns all over Western Canada. Nothing compares to Trail. Trail is Hockeyville!| James Sinclair | | Saturday, March 18th, 2006, 8:34 am | Lethbridge, Alberta |
Well, Me and my dad went to Salmon Arm on the weekend and he mentioned that Trail had hockey well before Salmon Arm was even a city.
Even though I am just young I fully believe that Trail is Hockeyville.
We have had so many players from Greater Trail make it far in their hockey careers.
By the way, TRAIL IS HOCKEYVILLE!!!!!!!| Danny Crantz | | Monday, March 20th, 2006, 12:42 pm | Trail British Columbia |
Came to Trail in 1961 from Sask. and will never forget the excitement and friendliness of this city. Seeing Jean Beliveau at the beginning of that famous game of Montreal Canadiens vs our Smokies in Sept 1961 was a once in a lifetime experience. Being a sports enthusiast, I thought I died and went to heaven in 1961 and the excitement continues even today.| Dieter Bogs | | Tuesday, March 21st, 2006, 1:11 pm | Trail |
Having grown up in Grand Forks, Trail always set the hockey standard everyone in the area tried to aspire to. Initially viewed Trail as bitter rivals through minor hockey and Jr. B, but quickly grew to admire the marvelous sports culture after playing a couple years of Senior hockey with the Smoke Eaters. It's fitting that Trail may/will gain more national recognition for the sports history they continue to write!
Ron Areshenkoff| Ron Areshenkoff | | Thursday, March 23rd, 2006, 8:49 am | Estevan, SK |
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