Telus Cup a chance to see future NHLers in action

Jack MacKeigan and his Cape Breton Colonels teammates made history when they became the first Atlantic Canadian team to medal at the national midget hockey championship in 1982, but things got off to a rocky start.

In the opening game of what was then called the Air Canada Cup, the local squad was pounded 10-0 by the powerhouse Gouverneurs de Ste-Foy team from Quebec. Posting the shutout at the other end of the rink was a lanky teen who went on to become an NHL superstar and Hall of Famer.

“The goaltender they had was Patrick Roy,” recalled MacKeigan, 53, who shared the ice with a host of future NHLers at that tournament in Victoria, B.C.

In the playoff round, the Colonels scored a huge upset when they beat a talent-laden team out of Wilcox, Sask.

“In the quarterfinals we knocked of the Notre Dame Hounds and they had Russ Courtnall, Gary Leeman, Wendel Clark. They had three or four players that ended up being NHLers. They had a real good team. Actually, our goaltender that night was Philip David and he stood on his head and we ended up beating them 2-1. Then we lost in the semifinals to Burnaby, B.C., and they had Cliff Ronning who had a great career in the NHL, too. We lost in double-overtime to them.”

Cape Breton wound up leaving with a bronze medal after their game with the South Ottawa Warriors ended in 5-5 tie that couldn’t be resolved because they ran out of time before the televised gold-medal game was scheduled to start.

MacKeigan said with Sydney set host what is now known as the Telus Cup in 2021, local fans will undoubtedly get a chance to see some future NHL players as teenagers.

“It’s the up-and-coming guys that you’re going to see in the major junior level after that and stars in the NHL actually because even Sidney Crosby played in the Telus Cup,” said MacKeigan, who expects see many of his former Colonels teammates in the stands at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre when the Sydney Mitsubishi Rush host five of the top midget teams in Canada.

He said several players still get together each summer, including Fabian Joseph, Chuck Barrington, Alan Pendergast, Derek Chiasson, Peter McCarron and Dave Bennett

“We had a real good team, we had a real good group of guys. Even today we spend usually one weekend together in the summer, at least half of us anyways, get to play a game of golf and stuff like that,” said MacKeigan, who along with Joseph returned to B.C. the next year to play for the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League. He also played two seasons for the OHL’s Toronto Marlboros and had a brief stint with the Cape Breton Oilers of the AHL.

The tournament, which the Cape Breton West Islanders won in 2017, would be a great time for members of another local team that played for the Air Canada Cup to have a reunion.

This year marks 20 years since the Cape Breton Jeans Experts won the Atlantic title and the right to represent the region at the national tournament in Prince Albert, Sask.

“My players are all married, parents, professionals, they’re spread around the country. For them just the thought of the tournament coming here is pretty exciting, too,” said Paul Coleman, who was head coach of that 1999 team. “It’s been 20 years. I know the guys they like getting together and that may be an opportunity where they’re hosting here. It would be pretty special.”

Scott Clarke was one of Coleman’s players. He said many of his teammates will likely travel home to watch the tournament.

“I would like to — I do follow the tournament each year on television and on the Internet,” said Clarke, who said playing on the national stage helped him develop as a player. He went on to play prep school hockey in the U.S. and also suited up for the Antigonish Bulldogs of the former Maritime Junior A Hockey League.