CANORA - As part of Hockey Day in Saskatchewan, the Canora Cobras Alumni Game was held at the Civic Centre on Jan. 16, also known for the week as “Senior Night,” and by all accounts, everyone had a good time and was entertained.
In the end, Team White made a late comeback and eventually defeated Team Black 8-7 in a shootout. Perhaps more importantly, the 2004/05 Canora Cobras Fishing Lake Hockey League championship team was saluted. There were some team members that were reunited after not having seen each other since the championship-clinching game almost 20 years ago, according to Cal Homeniuk, who was the team’s coach and general manager.
For the alumni game, current Cobras players and alumni, many from the 04/05 team, were divided into Team White and Team Black.
Team White players were: Rylan Palchewich, Cole Denesowych, Tanner Denesowych, Casey Mydonick, Austin Severson, Kody Rock and Carter Dereniwsky (current Cobras); Darcy Sliva and Skylar Hladun (Cobra alumni); Jason Baptist, Kelly Longley, Ian Yaholnitsky, and Sean Raison (04/05 alumni); and Darren Schwartz, (04/05 alumni and current Cobra coach)
Coaches of Team White were Matt Hrynkiw, current Cobra; and Cal Homeniuk, Graham Lamb, and Nicol Martinuik, (04/05 alumni).
The lineup of Team Black players included: Matt Wilgosh, Carson Dennis, Vaughn Wilgosh, Tyler Ostoforoff, Troy Zulyniak and Ryley Stefanyshyn (current Cobras); Sean Kolodziejski and Curtis Wilgosh (Cobra alumni); and Dwayne Boddy, Kevin McGonigal, Scott Marchinko, Ryan Kitchen, Dana Keshane, Dale Spelchen, and Charlie Keshane (04/05 alumni).
Team Black coaches were: Terry Dennis and Kevin Ludba (Cobra alumni) and Rollie Wilcox (Cobras alumni and 04/05 FLHL President).
When asked about his memories of that 2004/05 championship team, Cal Homeniuk said that group could play any style that was necessary to win.
“It was a very skilled, gritty, tough, in-your-face kind of team,” recalled Homeniuk. “We had all aspects of a championship team; good goaltending, strong defence, scoring punch, and we weren’t scared of anyone, we all stuck up for each other.
For the Alumni Game, the teams decided to play three periods, 15 minutes each.
As Darren Schwartz put it, “The game was perfect. It was close, we had overtime, then a shootout, you couldn’t ask for anything better. The young guys played well and the old guys had lots of fun.”
“We couldn’t have scripted it any better,’ added Homeniuk.
Since it was an exhibition game, the two teams decided to add some excitement by taking penalty shots whenever a penalty was called, which resulted in two goals for Team White.
With a 1-1 tie after the first period, it looked like it might be a low scoring evening. But that all changed in the second, and Team Black jumped out to a 5-3 lead, stretching it to 6-3 early in the third.
As the game went on, the pace picked up noticeably.
“Nobody wanted to lose,” said Schwartz. “There was pride on the line and it was a very good quality of hockey.”
Team White players really found their legs late in the third period, and scored three times to force overtime.
With no goals in overtime, the game would be decided in a shootout, which received shouts of approval from the large crowd.
In the shootout, goals by Dale Spelchen of Team Black and Kelly Longley of Team White cancelled each other out.
With the opportunity to end the game, Jason Baptist of Team White made a pretty deke and scored to clinch bragging rights for Team White.
Goal scorers in regulation time for Team White were: Sean Raison with a pair, and singles from Longley, Skylar Hladun, Darcy Sliva and Casey Mydonick.
Lighting the lamp for team black were: Ryley Stefanyshyn, Sean Kolodziejski, Ryan Kitchen, Scott Marchinko, Troy Zulyniak and Curtis Wilgosh.
Homeniuk said it was “quite the thrill to see the alumni again. Some of them are in their forties, two of the goalies are in their sixties.”
According to Homeniuk, Ryan Kitchen, a member of Team Black and the 04/05 championship team, was one of the driving forces behind putting the Alumni Game together.
“His employer, Baker Tilley, sponsored the jerseys, and the players got to keep them.”
In closing, Homeniuk added, “It would be great if we could win a championship again this season, exactly 20 years after our last one.”
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