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Parade for Bentley Generals in front of Town Office
May, 2009
Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

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Jason Lenz - The Bentley Generals

Hello, my name is Jason Lenz, a local here from Bentley and I have been asked to come and tell a story about our team, the Bentley Generals. This team - there was an earlier version of the General's- from the one I'm currently involved with. The earlier version started in the 1970's. Some fellows that ran it, some people such as my father Brian Lenz, Martin Schneider, Don Freeman, & Joe Berze, and those were the men that ran the team back from early 70's up to the 1982-83 season when that team folded. From 83-99 there was a bit of a void for senior hockey in Bentley. There were really no teams involved other than just some no-hit teams. From that no-hit team in the spring of 99 is where this newest version of the Bentley Generals came about. There was a group that included myself, Wes Gyori, Wendell Gyori, Travis Stephenson, Scott Fraser, and Brent Northcott were kind of the founding crew that resurrected the Bentley General's team and decided to enter a team in the Chinook Hockey League here in Alberta.
For the first three years our team competed at the single A level in the Alberta Provincials - ended up winning our first Single A Provincial Championship in the spring of 2002 in Fort McLeod, Alberta, which ended up being a huge stepping stone for our team and our organization.
Some of the local players we had on that team were a huge part of our success and they included players such as Travis Stephenson, Colin Bergen from Lacombe, Jeff McGinnis from Red Deer, as well as Craig Hilman from Sylvan Lake and Brian Gerrits from here in Bentley were all huge contributors on the ice for our team that year.
In the spring of 2003 our team had grown to a large enough size with players and management that it was necessary for us to build our own dressing room on the back side of the Bentley Memorial Arena. That dressing room was built and funded primarily by our team - by our group of management people. Within our team we had electricians, plumbers, framers and carpenters. Building that dressing room ended up being a huge bonus for any of the players that ended up coming to play for us.
In 2003, in the fall, we decided to enter the AAA Seniors Provincial, which was a huge step both financially and competitive wise. We were fortunate enough in the spring of 2004 to compete in the Alberta semi-final against the Stony Plain Eagles and ended up beating them in the semi-finals, here in Bentley, in four games straight, and moved on to Provincial finals and played Innisfail Eagles and ended up winning the Alberta Senior Championship for the AAA in the spring of 2004.
After we won Alberta we had to move on to play Trail, B.C. for the McKenzie Cup Championship which is for the Pacific region rep at the Allan Cup Tournament. Our team went out to Trail and managed to beat them in four games in a best of five series to move on to our first Allan Cup which was being played in St. Georges, Quebec. Once we got down to Quebec it was a bit of an eye-opener for us. The host team was a very strong team. They played in a semi pro league in Quebec that season so they were quite polished and a very good team. We ended up losing to them in the semi-final of that tournament and they went on to win the 2004 Allan Cup.
2005 came along and once again we competed at the AAA level here in Alberta. That spring we came up against a team from Horse Lake. Horse Lake is an Indian reservation, half an hour west of Grand Prairie. This team was funded very well through their reservation. The chief had brought in many ex-former N.H.L. players, including Theo Fleury, Gena Wozak among others.
Our team hosted the first two games of that provincial series here in Red Deer at the Centrium and managed to fill it up with 6000 people. I think probably the whole town of Bentley was out there including quite a few from Horse Lake as well. It made for a very intense atmosphere for those first two games with that many people involved. We ended up losing to Horse Lake that year as we went up there and lost both games up there and Horse Lake moved on to go to the Allan Cup final in Lloydminster that year. They lost to a team from Thunder Bay for the 2005 Allan Cup.
In the fall of 2007 our team got a real boost with the addition of Brian Sutter to come and coach our team. Brian is from Sylvan Lake, just ten minutes away and he was very interested in coming and helping us and dug his heels in and ended up being a huge boost to our team not only in helping our team on the ice but off the ice as well. With his experience from playing in the N.H.L. and winning the coach of the year trophy in the N.H.L. it really added to the credibility of our team that year. That year we made it once again to the Allan Cup tournament which was being played in Stony Plain. We made it right to the semi-final of that tournament and lost in overtime to a team from Whitby, Ontario, which was a huge heart-breaking loss to our team. But at the same time with some lessons that we learned from it we felt we could be stronger the following year.
2008 came along and once again we competed in the Chinook Hockey League during the regular season and the AAA level for provincials. We won the Alberta provincials in 2008 and moved on to play Fort. St. John Flyers, for the McKenzie Cup. Fort St. John hosted that tournament that year.We managed to beat them in four games in Fort St. John in front of a very - I guess you'd say a rambunctious crowd. They were strong supporters of their own team and not such strong supporters of our team that year. We managed to get through it and moved on to the Allan Cup tournament in Brantford, Ontario in the spring of 2008. Brantford, as many people know is the home of Wayne Gretzky, so it was very hockey oriented. Once we got down there everyone knew what the Allan Cup was and all about the history of it. That 2008 year in Brantford was also the 100th anniversary of the Allan Cup competition, which was special. Unfortunately in 2008, we had a very strong team that year but ended up losing to the host Brantford team in the final of the Allan Cup 3-1. Once again we felt lots of heartbreak and discouragement but also felt we were on the right track and we were one step closer to getting our goal of winning the Allan Cup.
2009 came along and once again Brian Sutter was back to lead us after a year of absence. We made it to the Allan Cup final after beating Fort Saskatchewan and Stoney Plain in the best of seven series, to win Alberta. And once again we hosted Fort St. John that year for the McKenzie Cup championship and beat them in four games.
The 2009 Allan Cup Tournament was hosted in Steinbach, Manitoba, just a perfect town - very friendly people in Manitoba. We felt very much at home once we got down there and had a very successful tournament. We ended up playing in the final against a team from southeast Manitoba and managed to beat them in double overtime 4-3. We finally got what we started for in 1994 to win the Allan Cup. It was a great sense of pride and accomplishment for our team to win that trophy that year.
Once we got back to Alberta we felt it immediately after we got home - just the pride - not just the people of Bentley, but central Alberta was behind us - and how they had supported us over the years.
In May of that year the Town of Bentley graciously hosted a parade and celebration in our honor for winning that Allan Cup. We had the streets of Bentley - I think pretty well the whole town of Bentley was lined up. It was a beautiful day. People from Bentley and Lacombe and all over central Alberta came to help us celebrate that day. Once again it was a pretty special day for our team, our organization and in general the town of Bentley- just a small town - or a small town to win the Allan Cup. It had been the first time a town of our size was able to have a team that won the Allan Cup Championship. Like I said it was a huge accomplishment for many of us.
At the same time our organization's strength has always been kind of strength in numbers. We have had a tremendous crew of volunteers that have helped us along the way right from day one and many are still with us from day one. We wouldn't have had the success we have had without the volunteers we had. People like Martin Schneider, Willie Pogadl, those two guys have been our goal judges right from day one. Derek Dickau, Laverne Anderson, Pam Hansen, Tracy Gyori, Jodi Bosgra those three ladies helped sell 50/50's for us in the early days to help keep our team afloat financially, which was a big help. Some of the guys directly involved with the team - Lorne Fraser, Red Metro, Wally Josephison. Those three guys have basically been the babysitters of the players and their equipment, looking after sweaters and helmets and all that sort of thing- a huge contribution.
People that help us right at the rink during our game days - Wes Lowry and Jeff Holden - those two guys have been working in the penalty box and I don't think either of them have hardly missed a game over the last ten years.
There are countless others who have helped our team over the years. Through them we were able to accomplish our goal, from day one, which was to win the Allan Cup, and hopefully we can win another Allan Cup in 2010.