reddeer hosting 2015 esso cup

The host with the most

With the 2015 Esso Cup, Red Deer once again welcomes the hockey world to Central Alberta

Wendy Graves
|
April 24, 2015
|

It seemed like only a matter of time before Red Deer hosted the Esso Cup.

After all this is a city that not only loves its hockey, but loves to host the hockey world.

Over the past two decades the Central Alberta city has hosted the IIHF World Junior Championship (1995), World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (1997), TELUS Cup (2007) and Allan Cup (2013). And in the coming years it will welcome the Memorial Cup (2016) and Canada Winter Games (2019).

Why has this city of just under 100,000 been so successful at showcasing high-level hockey?

“People throw their hearts into it,” says Brent Sutter, who played his junior hockey in the city and now owns the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels. “They take a lot of pride in wanting to do it the right way and making sure when it leaves it’s left a strong lasting memory here.”

Red Deer has a history of unbelievable volunteerism, says Todd Thiessen, chair of the Esso Cup host organizing committee and president of the Red Deer Minor Hockey Commission. “People just love to step up and help. So when somebody says let’s do this there’s a mass of people behind them.” That volunteer experience leaves a mental legacy and makes people want to be part of the next big event that comes around, says Thiessen, who volunteered in the penalty box lounge at the 1995 World Juniors.

Central Alberta has also been able to rely on strong corporate involvement, says Donna Hateley, managing director of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. Major sporting events not only bring the community together as a group, she says, but they also benefit business. “There’s a good corporate base here, and even though people are going through tough times right now they’re still there supporting the community.” Local businesses stepped up to provide the Esso Cup organizing committee with five times the amount in grants it needed to secure the event.

Sutter says a passion for hockey is just a way of life here. “It’s not just the city; it’s the whole surrounding area,” he says. “You always think in our country it’s our culture, but in this area it is.”

Sutter experienced that passion firsthand. “When I played at the old Red Deer Arena it was rocking. The year we won the Centennial Cup with the Rustlers [1980] there were actually people sitting in the rafters to watch the games.”

Not much has changed more than three decades later. The Red Deer Chiefs Midget AAA boys’ team is a perennial contender in Alberta and has advanced to the TELUS Cup 10 times in 40 years, winning it in 2012 and 2013. When the Chiefs host the British Columbia champions for the Pacific Regional, it is standing room only.

“There’s close to 2,000 people in that barn watching a Midget hockey game,” says Thiessen.

That same crowd showed when Canada’s National Women’s Team came to town as part of its Midget Series ahead of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Before the end of the evening, Bob Nicholson, then Hockey Canada’s president and chief executive officer, commended Thiessen on the atmosphere in the rink. “[He said] this was one of the best Midget AAA games [he’d] ever seen,” says Thiessen.

It’s a passion that’s obvious throughout the community. There are 66 outdoor rinks in the city, many filled with kids of all ages playing shinny. This past season Red Deer Pond Hockey had 48 teams playing in four divisions.

A passion to play and to participate in large events can be attributed, at least in part, to the city’s long line of success stories, as well as to the families – such as the Sutters and Mollers – who came through the local system and stayed to help develop the game at home.

“People want to see teams be successful,” says Sutter, “but they want to see the program grow here. The people are very passionate, driven and supportive, doing whatever it takes for the game to continue to grow in the area.”

Having already welcomed some of the best hockey Canada has to offer, now is the perfect time for Red Deer to host Canada’s National Female Midget Championship. Over the past eight years female hockey has been the No. 1 growth driver for the Red Deer Minor Hockey Commission. There are now enough girls playing hockey in the city for at least one team at every level in the association.

A meeting between Thiessen, Dallas Gaume, general manager of Red Deer Minor Hockey, and Melody Davidson, general manager of national women’s team programs with Hockey Canada, set the ball in motion.

“One of the things she said to us is you guys did a great job hosting the 2007 TELUS Cup,” says Thiessen. “You should think about hosting the Esso Cup. Think about what it will do for the girls in Central Alberta.”

A couple days later Thiessen and Gaume told their Board of Directors they wanted to put in a bid.

“Everybody said, why wouldn’t we,” says Thiessen. “We had 15 directors and it was unanimous. It created a buzz.”

And the buzz has only increased. The event logo was painted on the ice at Red Deer Arena weeks before puck drop. Volunteer spots were filled shortly after the call went out.

“There’s a lot of pride here in how we carry these things out, but at the same time can we compete there?” says Thiessen. “Yeah, we want to compete there. We want to do well and the city and community wants that.”

Red Deer has a history of being a good luck charm for the home team. Canada’s National Junior Team won gold at the 1995 World Juniors. A Canadian team – Ontario – won the 1997 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Just two years ago the host Bentley Generals raised the Allan Cup. Even the Red Deer Rebels won a medal in their own barn, a silver at the 2007 TELUS Cup.

Esso Cup organizers would love to see the trend continue, but the event’s success, says Thiessen, will be measured in other ways.

“It’ll be that the girls had fun, they were treated well, that the community supported it and that it goes on without any major issues,” he says. “I mean I’d like our team to win, too. That would be the big bonus.”

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

Recent News
Most Popular
Videos
Photos
HCC: One For All in Yellowknife
One For All celebrated women’s hockey with more than 300 participants.
2024 NWT Rivalry Series: CAN 6 – USA 1 (Game 7)
Spooner and Maltais scored twice to lead Canada to win the series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 3 – USA 0 (Game 6)
Maschmeyer made 27 saves for the shutout to tie the Rivalry Series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 4 – USA 2 (Game 5)
Bell, Fast and Stacey scored late to help Canada stay alive.
Schedule