A New Westminster man is helping residents take a trip down memory lane as part of the Rogers Hometown Hockey tour.
With thousands of folks expected to flock to Queen’s Park Arena for the Feb. 13 and 14 event, Vince Kreiser thought it was an ideal time to redo a New Westminster Bruins’ display he set up in the arena’s foyer several years ago. Along with a bit of history about the team once based out of Queen’s Park Arena, the display he and son Mathew created includes assorted memorabilia.
“It will be a reminder to people coming through the building that day that there was some oldtime hockey there,” he said. “I used to drive in from Abbotsford every Sunday. I was managing two rinks out there, but every Sunday I’d come in to watch.”
Those were the days when players like Cliff Ronning suited up and hit the ice for the New Westminster Bruins. In earlier years, Stan Smyl, Barry Beck and coach Ernie “Punch” McLean were part of the storied hockey franchise.
“You don’t get the feel for it because there’s only a couple of displays up,” he said of the Bruins’ history in Queen’s Park Arena. “I’ve got lots of colourful stuff that I’m putting up – pennants, calendars, a lot of pictures, some of the old programs. I used to go around at the end of the night, when nobody was looking, and pick them out of the stands because no one wanted them.”
With the Rogers Hometown Hockey tour coming to Queen’s Park on Feb. 13 and 14, Kreiser made arrangements to resurrect the display. He’d love to have Ron MacLean interview someone in front of the display, but knows that’s unlikely to occur.
“When people are coming down for hockey day they will realize it was a pretty unique team in there,” he said. “There were actually three reiterations of the Bruins.”
The Rogers Hometown Hockey tour features a jam-packed weekend of free fun in Queen’s Park on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the Be a Broadcaster booth, the Rogers NHL game centre and other interactive activities, the event includes an outdoor viewing party of an NHL broadcast hosted by MacLean from the Sportsnet mobile studio on Sunday afternoon.
The New Westminster Minor Hockey Association will kick off the weekend with a hockey pep rally at Queen’s Park Arena featuring a performance by The Hockey Circus Show on Friday, Feb. 12 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. That will be followed by activities from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., including an open skate for minor hockey players and coaches, prize giveaways, a barbecue, a hockey challenge and a bantam game.
