CONQUEST - There were a whole lot of stories told and trips down Memory Lane in the Conquest rink on Thursday night, March 28.
That's because on this particular evening in the community once known as the Caragana Capital of Canada, it was a time of celebration and remembrance of the senior hockey team known as the Merchants, who helped lift this small village up and set it apart from many others in the area during what many have called the proverbial 'golden years'.
With scores of generations present, the 2024 Shrimp Feed marked 50 years of the iconic event, which routinely brought hockey players and fans together to drink and eat shrimp, oysters, deer meat, dry ribs, toast, and cold plate fixings, prepared in the kitchen by Lynne Jones and Lloyd Tyler with additional help. With the Merchants team having folded a number of years ago, these days the event is centered more on remembrance of those legendary days.
Those legendary days are also being recognized in the form of merchandise that's available for purchase, with a portion of proceeds going toward the Conquest rink. Those interested can check out what's available by going to the Athlete's Haven website at the following link: http://athleteshaven.ca/collections/conquest-merchants
Such history was remembered with a number of staff and player panels at the front of the rink as supper was being served and people were grabbing drinks.
Serving as MC was Doug Ball, who introduced players and went over some of the classic hockey moments and memories that many in the Conquest area still remember today, and if they didn't, perhaps it stoked the flames of those memories.
"This history can't be lost, or it's gone forever," said Doug.
Joining Ball were Terry Fletcher, Pat McAdam, Terry McAdam, Grant Richards, and Doug Lemon, who represented the 1970's era of the Conquest Merchants team and discussed key games that they remembered, as well as moments that stood out to them as far as fan and community involvement were concerned.
More panels, held with such alumni and key figureheads such as Billy Jones, Dan Kennedy, Dennis Larocque, Elgin Amy, Neil Joyes, Terry Joyes, Jeff McAdam, Kevin Lockwood, Kim DeCorby, Ray Amy, and Barry Barton, touched on other moments in Conquest's history that reverberated within the team and the village's residents, including the infamous fire that took the original Conquest rink in 1980. As well, players talked both their favorite game moments and fellow players out on the ice, and reinforced the belief that it was the people of Conquest and area that really drove the team.
"When you played for Conquest, you played for the community as well as the team," said Ball.
"The philosophy of the Merchants was simple - play hard and kick ass!" said Terry Joyes, to the applause of those watching.
The power of small town support was especially noted, with Conquest setting itself apart from other communities, which was noticed by other teams and towns over the years. In addition, some of the team's most memorable supporters were remembered, including Stan McAdam, Gert Clark, and Darren Stephenson.
The panels helped attendees remember the good old days of the Merchants team, and perhaps filled in the blanks on a number of stories and age-old legends that had been revisited over the course of generations.
After the stories were told and the memories were revisited, a large number of former players and alumni stood at the front of the stage for a big group photo before they were asked to sign a banner that had been made for the event.
With that, Harris rock group Seven Mile Sun took to the stage to perform for the cabaret portion of the night, the drinks kept on flowing, and the 2024 Shrimp Feed played out like it normally does in this small town, making some attendees glad that the next day was in fact a holiday.
