The Wade Hamer Challenge Cup was one for the record books as it celebrated its 40th anniversary, in case you drove past the Multiplex and wondered why the parking lot at the Multiplex was so full during a work day.
For Sir John Franklin High School, it would be an anniversary to remember.
The Falcons were far and away the better of the two teams at the Multiplex on Wednesday afternoon as the girls emerged 7-1 winners over the St. Pat's Irish, while the boys game also ended in the same deficit amount, only the Falcons were on the right end of a 9-3 decision. The wins mean the Falcons retain both cups for the next 12 months. It's back-to-back wins for the Falcon girls, while the Falcon boys extended their winning streak to four.
In the girls game, the Falcons struck early with Adrena McDonald scoring the opening goal on a coast-to-coast rush. From there, Sir John was all over the Irish in their own end, but were held back by some good defence on the part of St. Pat's.
Sir John coach Mark Kilbride said there was no worry at all about the puck not going in the net courtesy of that sustained pressure.
"We were always in control during that first part of the game," he said. "They came out pretty hard to start the second period and we expected they would, but we played well in our own end."
Getting out to a big lead early meant Kilbride was able to roll all five of his lines to ensure all of his players saw a decent amount of ice time,
"We try to get everyone involved, so (running out of) gas wasn't too much of a concern," he said. "We rolled all five and that was good to see."
The boys game, meanwhile, started out a lot closer than the girls game as both teams traded goals in the fist two minutes. But after that, it seemed Sir John got almost every bounce go their way as they exerted their authority by the midway point of the first period.
"We got the first goal pretty quickly and they got one back, but we played our positioning pretty solid and just got it going from there after that," said Sir John captain Hayden Murray.
Murray is in Grade 12 and it was his final time suiting up in the game.
He said it was a nice run for him and the one thing he'll miss most is the atmosphere.
"Lots of hype, lots of support from the school," he said. "It's great."
The day began with Ter and Julaine Hamer, Wade Hamer's parents, performing the ceremonial opening face-off before the start of the girls game. The Hamers came back to town to help celebrate the anniversary of the game and attended the pep rallies at each school to lend support and talk about their late son, who died in 1987.
Hamer was the impetus behind getting the game going in 1985 with the original title being the Colonel's Challenge Cup thanks to sponsorship from the Jason family, who owned the original KFC franchise. Following Hamer's death, it was renamed in his honour.
