Date Range

1976-2007

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

2 cm. textual material. 3 colour photographic prints.

History Biographical

Since the early 1970’s, persons from a variety of professions organized recreational hockey teams and competed in an informal schedule on a weekly basis. It was common for a group of lawyers to assemble on Sunday mornings and take on a group of doctors in friendly but spirited contests. Sprinkled throughout each team were persons who’s skating abilities ranged from awkward beginners to skilled experienced athletes but the unspoken rule was to treat each player with respect and recognize each player’s ability prior to engaging in on-ice performance. Everyone had to go to work the next morning. These teams had no names. Ice time was secured from the city by some volunteer from each group on a pay as you go basis. On or about the time of the Canada Winter Games in 1975, the second Canadian Oldtimers’ Hockey Association (COHA) tournament was held in Lethbridge and a number of Lethbridge teams were entered. Because each of the teams required a team name, other Lethbridge teams reached back in history and adopted past names; the Maple Leafs and Native Sons. One of the doctors’ group, Dr. Tim Myers, an orthopedic surgeon and past quarterback of the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (LCI) football team also reached back into history and remembered that prior to the arrival in Lethbridge of J.A. (Jim) Whitelaw who guided the sports programs for the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (LCI) in the early 1950’s, the high school football team was called the Bonecrushers. Jim Whitelaw had the name changed to the Rams and the Bonecrusher name remained in mothballs. Dr. Myers suggested Bonecrushers as the name for the largely medical group entering the COHA tournament in Lethbridge. So successful was that tournament that a core group met in the home of Dr. Jim MacNeil shortly thereafter to reminisce and toast the accomplishment in an appropriate and enthusiastic manner. It was during this time that the outrageous idea of entering the COHA tournament the following year in St. John New Brunswick, was proposed and accepted. A variety of fund raising projects included a car raffle and each weekend for the next several months a booth at one of the local malls featured a new vehicle on display with volunteers from the team selling tickets. That first year of Bonecrusher hockey was the cornerstone for several years to come with regular participation in Lethbridge Oldtimers’ Hockey Association tournaments as well as Canadian and provincial tournaments. Each year, we regularly attended tournaments in Medicine Hat, Maple Creek, Taber, Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek, Crowsnest Pass, Great Falls Montana and Sparwood B.C., as well as at least two memorable tournaments in Edmonton and Regina. In addition , we often formed the basis of teams entering the Playmakers Tournament in Victoria, B.C. A critical component of the team membership was the enthusiastic support of our wives who were full members of our organization, selling tickets, cheering for us from the stands and often driving us home from tournaments and social functions. We are also grateful to Packard Medical, a former medical supply company who donated uniforms and, during a brewery labour dispute and subsequent strike, had beer trucked in from another province under the guise of medical supplies for one of our annual tournaments at Adam’s Rink. In any gathering of two or more members throughout the years, anecdotes are shared, repeated and often reshaped according to the recollection of the member. Most of those anecdotes are like “Vegas” anecdotes and remain with the team and their partners. Roster lists have changed over the years and today in 2017 none of the originals are actively attached to the team. However, the opportunity and experience of Bonecrusher hockey allowed several early members to continue to actively participate in hockey with one early member, John Lorencz, regularly attending tournaments in his late eighties. By Maurice Simpson

Scope and Content

Team photographs and rosters of the Bonecrushers. A scrapbook of memories related to the Bonecrushers and to Doug Rewicki, a member of the team.

Accession No.

20171121

Collection

Archive

Less detail