Cole Fonstad and Brayden Pachal brought some hardware with them to the Rafferty Rumble on Saturday in downtown Estevan.
Fonstad and Pachal are Estevan hockey products who were part of the Prince Albert Raiders team that won the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) championship in May.
They brought the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy, which goes to the league’s top team in the regular season, the Eastern Conference championship trophy, and the biggest one of all, the Ed Chynoweth Cup, which is awarded to the playoff champions.
Fans could greet the two players, receive autographs and have their pictures taken with the trophies.
Fonstad said it was a great feeling to bring the trophy home.
“It’s a pretty big deal to win the (league championship) trophy. There’s a lot of big names on it. It was probably the best moment of my life, winning it. You don’t really know what it feels like until it happens, so once you win it, you just want to win it as badly the next year.”
He expects the Raiders will be pretty good again next year. They will lose a few players to graduation, but they have some young players who made big contributions to the team.
“I think everyone’s going to step up and have another big year, so we’re going to have the same goal as last year,” Fonstad said.
Fonstad was selected to join Team Canada at their summer evaluation camp for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships, but had to withdraw due to a nagging injury.
The camp started on the weekend. Fonstad was hoping to get there early this week to have a couple of days to interact with his potential teammates.
“I don’t want to get hurt any worse, and it’s lingering from the season. So I’m recovering from that, and trying to get in as much training as I can.”
Pachal said it was great to share the championship with the city, and have the kids come up and see the trophies.
The accomplishments of the past season have only recently started to settle in for Pachal. The championship was the first for the Raiders since 1985.
While they would have liked to have done better at the Memorial Cup – the Raiders went 0-3 in the round robin – Pachal said it was still great to win a championship for their fans, who were so supportive of the team.
“We were favoured to win the league ever since the start of the regular season when we went on that unbelievable run. There was that pressure to come with it, but I think … it brought the best out of our team.”
The fans packed Prince Albert’s arena each night and were loud, creating a hostile environment for the visiting team.
Shortly after the Memorial Cup, Pachal attended the summer development camp for the Vegas Golden Knights. He believes he played well, and will try to earn a contract with the club when he attends their training camp in the fall.
“I have one more year in PA, so obviously my goal going into Vegas is to earn a contract.”
If he does sign a contract, he could be sent to the Golden Knight’s American Hockey League affiliate in Chicago.
Pachal noted that after the Raiders won the league trophy, the club approached the players’ parents to see if they wanted one or two days with the Chynoweth Cup. One of the Raiders front office people brought the trophies to Estevan.
There is another historical connection for one of the trophies. Munro was the founder of the Estevan Bruins back in 1957 when he moved the Humboldt Indians to Estevan. He also played a key role in the creation of the league that would eventually become the WHL.
