While it is never as much fun as having a truly local team moving on to the next tier of playoffs, It will be easy for a lot of us to pull for the Kimberley Dynamiters as they play through the Cyclone Taylor Cup series this weekend.
Kimberley has a long history in Kootenay hockey, and other sports like curling, and many people here have friends or family, or both, created through the interactions between athletes and fans over the years. The, “Dynamiter,” name goes back about as far the, “Smoke Eaters,” does, and Kimberley actually won the Allan Cup and World Championship trophies (1936/37) before a Trail team did.
Add to the memories of that old fierce but friendly rivalry the fact that, with half the current junior B team hailing from the Kootenays, there is likely to be a blood relationship or two between the old rivals from the West Kootenay Hockey League/Western International Hockey League - you know, back when senior hockey ruled around here - and the current crop of KIJHL champs.
The Dynamiters face the Outlaws, Storm and Wolf Pack, one of the toughest sounding groups ever assembled outside of American football, in consecutive round robin days before the top teams will face off in Monday’s medal round. It can all, including live play, be followed on line. Or, if you happen to be in the lower mainland over the weekend, you could drop in to the Mission Leisure Centre to catch the action.
Go, Dynamiters!
• Last thing about Donnie Mcleod.
I would have been frankly shocked if his name was not on the big rock at KSCU, and, of course, it has been there since 2003. I do not always agree with the keepers of the plaques, but to them, as to anyone else aware of Donnie’s serious accomplishments, it was a no-brainer to put his name up in the sunlight of his home town’s downtown core.