SPORTS FLASHBACK 1980: American teams no match for Steinbach Millers in Utah

The Steinbach U18 Millers had been scoring one-sided victories in the first two months of the 1979-80 season and their trip to Salt Lake City, Utah in December proved to be no different.

With the exception of the first game against the host team, which Steinbach won by a single goal, teams from Salt Lake, Phoenix, Arizona and Aspen, Colorado provided little opposition for the Millers on their way to a six-game winning streak. The Millers completed the tournament undefeated, outscoring the opposition 59-10 in six games.

The only disappointment for the trip was that teams expected from Calgary and Sweden were unable to attend the Salt Lake City tournament.

Millers coach Randy Penner said he was disappointed his team had not faced stronger opposition at the tournament, but thought the trip had been a worthwhile experience for the boys.

James Loewen, a member of that regional U18 team, certainly agreed with his coach and in his As I See It column in The Carillon a decade later described the trip to Salt Lake City as “the most exciting Christmas gift any of us had ever received.”

“My dad, Bob Loewen, was the manager that year and he had the idea that it would be a marvelous way to end our minor hockey careers, with a big bang.”

On December 24, 1979, around 20 members of the Steinbach U18 Millers were getting ready to leave for an international hockey tournament in Salt Lake City Utah, Loewen writes.

Many of the players who had been playing together since Atom hockey would be going their separate ways after U18 hockey.

Bob Loewen and coach Randy Penner assembled a team that was truly representative of southeastern Manitoba, with players from St Pierre, La Broquerie, Blumenort, Niverville, Morris, Dominion City and Steinbach.

Loewen says you can just imagine what an experience flying to a tournament would be for a bunch of 15-and-16-year-olds. As every other kid who laces up a pair of skates, Loewen and his teammates all dreamed of one day playing professional hockey, and when the team arrived at the airport, loaded their equipment, and boarded the plane, it seemed to them that their dream was coming true.

“When we arrived in Salt Lake, we found that our hotel was across the street from the Mormon Tabernacle Square, lit up with 100,000 lights, providing a beautiful Christmas back drop.”

The arena where most of the tournament games were played was the Salt Palace, a beautiful building that was a convention centre as well as being the home of Utah Jazz of the NBA and the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the American Hockey League.

“While we didn’t exactly play in front of a full house, none of us had ever played in such a beautiful facility.”

Loewen goes on to say that U18 season was a momentous year in all their lives. The Millers ended up winning the tournament in Salt Lake and later in the year lost in the finals of another tournament in Calgary to a guy named Brett Hull.

The Millers’ quest to win the provincial U18 title that year was foiled by a guy by the name of Ron Hextall, who played for the Brandon Wheat Kings U18 AAA team.

“Nevertheless, success should never be counted solely in terms of wins over losses, and in that respect, our season was a huge success, for it is something none of us will ever forget.”