The rather whirlwind sale of the Bruins has left a bad taste in the mouths of Chilliwack hockey fans in general and we,season ticket holders in particular.
We ponied up every spring to support a team we were assured was moving in the right direction and would do much better next year. We sat through countless games that were decided in the first 10 minutes and two playoff game victories in five years.
We watched, as year after year, we iced a team with one competetive line and two or three capable defencemen.
We endured five years of "no movement" at the trade deadline and haphazard trades that left most of the faithful shaking their collective heads.
Don't get me wrong. I think every player who ever put on a Bruins jersey did so with pride and represented us to the best of their abilities on the ice and in the community. And I suppose that as frustrating as things were for the fans most nights it must have been doubly trying for them. And what of the billet families and the countless volunteers who gave of themselves unselfishly because it was "our" team? Kudos to all of you!
I don't even blame Messrs Sather,Burke and Porter. Though they were once hockey men, they are now business men, and to them moving the team from "Chilliwhat?" to Victoria is a dollar and cents decision dictated by some beancounter.
No, I lay the blame for all of this squarely at the feet of the WHL as a league and Mr. Robinson as it's comissioner. In less than a month he went from, "We'd rather see the teams remain in their markets with local ownership than move them" to his now near-perfect Waldo impersonation.
Many of the people I speak to at every game remember watching Barry"Bubba" Beck and the old NewWest Bruins playing out of the old barn on Corbould. They remember the packed houses and thrilling games as the Chiefs made run after run at the RBC cup. We are all proud to see Jeff Tambellini do well even if we are not all Canuck fans because he was one of "ours". We watch the careers of many players who played here and wish them nothing but the best in return for what they have given us.
This IS a hockey town and we deserve better than this!!!!
D.R.Gilbert
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