DARREN STEINKE
dsteinke@medicinehatnews.com
Brian Varga has lots of experience playing in alumni games, but he thinks this match will be a little more low key than one other one he has participated in.
The former left-winger for the Medicine Hat Tigers will suit up with a Tigers alumni team for the Telus Medicine Hat Tigers Alumni game to be held on Feb. 13, 2010 at 2 p.m. at The Arena. The Tigers alumni will take on the Medicine Hat Firefighters in a game where all the net proceeds will be donated to the Medicine Hat Burn Unit Society and the Medicine Hat Tigers Education Fund Society. The game is also spawned from the Tigers 40th anniversary celebrations with the current campaign.
In February of 2008 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Varga suited up for a Regina Pats alumni team as they took on a Moose Jaw Warriors alumni squad in an annual old-timers match that is dubbed the Trans-Canada Clash. As the players in those games between the Pats and Warriors were part of arguably the most heated rivalry in major junior hockey, the players in those alumni games played like they were still in their junior days.
“I don’t think the competition is going to be like that here,” said Varga, who played for the Pats from 1978 to 1981 and the Tigers from 1981 to1982. “It is more or less a fun game, where we enjoy ourselves for the hour and a half that we are out there and make some money doing it for the community.
“It will be a fun game and not like the one in Regina, where it is pretty serious. The guys, some of them are still playing at the senior levels and stuff like that. There is some huge competition.”
The Tigers current tentative roster for the game contains 19 former players, who cover various generations from the team’s 40-year history. Besides Varga, the roster will contain former WHA and NHL standout Morris Lukowich, Mike Lay, Kevin Riehl, Bryan Maxwell, Paxton Schafer and Brett Scheffelmaier.
Lay is the Tigers’ second all-time leader in points with 426, Riehl the career leader in goals with 199 and Scheffelmaier is the career leader in penalty minutes with 1,061. Maxwell played defence for the Tigers first league championship team in 1973, and he later coached the Tigers to their first Memorial Cup title in 1987.
The roster also includes two player that took the ice for the Tigers in their inaugural campaign in 1970-71 in rearguard Doug Fritz and left-winger Dave Simons.
“It is going to be enjoyable,” said Simons, who is friends with Tigers from various generations. “I haven’t seen Kevin (Riehl) in three or five years.
“Dougie Fritz, it will be good to play with him again. Him and I haven’t played together since that first season.
“I’ve seen Jason (Prosofsky) around a few times. It is just going to be good to be with the guys, reminisce a little bit and play some pretty decent hockey I think.”
One of the firefighters that will be likely facing off against the Tigers is long time WHL referee Chris Savage. Savage played against the NHL old-timers in 2008, and he expects to have a good time with the Tigers match.
“It is obviously just a fun thing,” said Savage. “We don’t expect to win the hockey game that is for sure.
“We just want to go out and have some fun and obviously raise some funding for a couple of good causes.”
With the firefighters having played annual matches against the NHL oldtimers, Tigers director of marketing Dave Andjelic said getting them involved was a perfect fit.
“One of the things that we like to do with our fundraising is trying to keep as much of the money locally as we can,” said Andjelic. “We feel that is important.
“It was a terrific fit with the firefighters already having their team and having some experience in playing in these types of games.”
NOTES – Tickets for the alumni game are $12 each or an early bird bundle package is available where a minimum of four tickets can be purchased for $10 each up to Jan. 15. Tickets are available at the Esplanade, the Medicine Hat Mall Customer Service kiosk and in the main lobby of all Tigers games.