Greater Trail Minor Hockey took a page out of its memorable past and will ice five retro-jerseys for its Senior Novice teams that pay hommage to the area’s rich hockey tradition.
GTMHA equipment managers Russ Green, Rob Stroud, and Chris Elwood were tasked with arriving at a solution to outfitting five teams in Orange and Black, but instead of making it a variation of Smoke Eater colours, they drew on their hockey history to create a striking and sensible fit.
“We went with the regular Smoke Eaters ones, and then we thought what other three can we get,” said Green. “So we thought that we would apply that to some of our heritage, that got us to where we are right now.”
The jerseys include replicas of the ‘61 World Champion Trail Smoke Eaters, the Rossland Warriors, Beaver Valley Nitehawks, and home-and-away Smoke Eaters jerseys.
“It’s a nice throwback to the teams and players that made our history.”
Minor hockey facts: Youth hockey was first organized in Trail in 1934, with five clubs in bantam, four in midget and two in juvenile.
In 1939, the Trail Boys Booster Hockey Club replaced the owriginal group of teams; 130 boys participated. This club was under the direction of the Trail Welfare Society, with financial support from the Trail Athletic Association.
The first President was 15-year old Jake MacLeod with Howard Edmunds as Vice President and Lloyd “Doc” Murdoch as Secretary.
The first provincial title was won by Gerry Thompson’s Trail Midgets in 1939-40.
In January 1957, Trail director Charlie Maclean organized Canada’s first Minor Hockey Week at Cominco Arena in Trail, promoting it with the slogan: “Don’t SEND your boy to play hockey - TAKE him!”
In 1958, Minor Hockey Week was adopted by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to be celebrated across Canada.
Greater Trail Minor Hockey is currently accepting registration for its upcoming season, go to gtmha.com for more info or to register.