SPORTS FLASHBACK 2006: Steinbach fans hang out with Grapes at Stanley Cup final in Carolina

Steinbach friends Mark Reimer and Matt Loewen embarked on a whirlwind cross-continent trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, having landed tickets to the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals between the host Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers.

Along the way, they hobnobbed with some of the biggest names in hockey, including Don Cherry, Ron MacLean and the NHL commissioner himself, Gary Bettman.

Reimer, 32, and Loewen, 24, are NHL junkies. But unfortunately, there is one big problem. There is no longer an NHL team in Winnipeg, as Reimer lamented in an interview with The Carillon, a few days after returning from their trip to North Carolina where they went for their latest ‘NHL fix’.

Reimer explained how the two hatched this idea to try and get to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals.

“We are basically just hockey fans, and since the Jets left, we cheer for either Calgary or Edmonton.” It’s been quite a run the last couple of years. Sandwiched around the NHL strike of 2004-2005, the Flames were finalists in 2004 and the Oilers in 2006, with both those teams losing the Stanley Cup final to southern-based American teams.

Reimer is no stranger to, and certainly is not adverse to, travelling long distances to attend major sporting events. After all, he has been a Minnesota Vikings season ticket holder for the past six years and a Bombers season ticket holder as well.

Reimer is serious about his sports, and so a last gasp trip to North Carolina to take in a monumental hockey game is not that crazy after all.

Over the last number of years, if the Oilers or Flames were playing the Minnesota Wild in the Twin Cities, this duo would frequently make the trip, either in concert with a Vikings trip, or otherwise.

“When the Oilers made it to the finals, Matt and I decided we would try and get tickets to one of the games.”

With Edmonton advancing to the finals a few days before Carolina did, they decided to wait and see who the Oilers would be facing in the finals.

The Hurricanes made it to the Stanley Cup finals, and if the series went to the limit, Game Seven would be played at the RBC Centre in Raleigh, Carolina. When tickets went on sale through Ticketmaster, the two Steinbach fans managed to get a pair of prime tickets for $295 American.

Loewen and Reimer had their tickets, but it was up to Edmonton to fight back from a 3-1 deficit to force a game seven, before flights to Carolina could be booked.

When Edmonton took a 3-0 lead in Game Six, they booked a flight to Carolina from Minneapolis, packed their bags and were on the familiar trek to Minneapolis before the game ended.

Taking in Monday morning’s Hurricanes’ practice before the final game turned out to be the highlight of the trip for Loewen and Reimer.

There were a couple of hundred fans there, but wearing their Oilers jerseys, the Steinbach duo stood out in the crowd.

Don Cherry and Don Maclean were sitting in the stands, with security lurking nearby. Cherry spotted the two Oilers fans and called them over to chat, and security got real excited, chuckled Reimer.

“Don Cherry convinced them it was okay and spent five minutes chatting, asking about Winnipeg, and then having our picture taken.”

Later in the afternoon, they returned to the RBC Centre, five hours before game time, to enjoy a tailgating party with the 200-300 Oilers fans who were at the game.

Their seats at the RBC Centre were so good that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was sitting five rows behind them. Although Bettman is an American and a familiar face to Canadian hockey fans, fans there do not recognize him.

Season ticket holders, who were sitting next to Loewen and Reimer wondered who they were getting their picture taken with.

Despite the Oilers loss, Reimer said it was one of the best experiences of his life.