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Rainy Creek Wolves

The Rainy Creek Wolves was a hockey team of ex pupils from Carritt School. After leaving school and starting farming most stayed in the community and played fun games against the school kids. Murray Peterson was caption of the Wolves.

Red Deer Chamber of Commerce sponsored an annual tournament . Teams that vied for the cup were the Eastern Division, Hills Down, Pine Lake, Edwell and Penhold. The Western Division consisted of Shady Nook, Woody Nook, Rainy Creek, Burnt Lake and Markerville. No Red Deer team was allowed to enter. Any team that won the cup 5 times got to keep the cup. Rainy Creek won the tournament 4 times. The tournament was always on a weekend. As a result the 2 last teams who hadn’t lost might have to play 3 games a day. In 1936 Burnt Lake got first place and won the cup. The Rainy Creek Wolves got second place.

The main part of Murray’s uniform was duct tape. Sticks were nailed, glued and some even had tin wrapped around them so they would last the whole year.

Two Burnt Lake players played defense together for over 20 years as one of them started playing hockey at the age of 12. His first game was against Rainy Creek. He told me he was skating down the ice as fast as he could and he ran into a wall ( the wall being Mike Peterson). He looked up and saw "Big Mike" standing over him and Mike reached down and lifted him up and said, "give her hell little fellow," and he laughed..

Shady Nook and Rainy Creek had a real rivalry. Mom said one game was a real surprise. She went to see a hockey game and a fight broke out. The Wolves played on an outdoor rink at the Carritt School. The pupils of Carritt School would dig tunnels in the snow banks around the boards of the skating rink. They played in these tunnels at school breaks. Sometimes, in the middle of a hockey game, the opposition spectators would fall into one of these tunnels. Well, the war was on.Some of our local spectators would throw a few snowballs at these sunken observers, and a fight began. The hockey players from both sides would have to stop playing, climb over the boards and stop the fight.

Every picture I have of my dad ( Murray Peterson), he is leaning on his stick. Maybe that is why they only got second in the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce tournament.

In the war years if you could skate and not cry if you got hit, you were probably on the hockey team. It didn’t matter how old you were as there was always a shortage of hockey players.

Glen Nelson tells the story about every fall after harvest, Howey Nelson would take his 2 ton truck and put high stock racks on, nail the binder canvas around the outside of the racks and then add about 6 feet of loose straw. He would take the whole team to the hockey game. All snuggled into the straw. Some games were about a two hour drive on rough gravel roads and the outside temperature got as low as 40 below. ( no booze or groopys to keep these boys warm). Just the thought of running over those big defense men of Shady Nook or Winfield.

The Wolves were noted for their big defense men, 6 ft. 9 and 6 ft. 6 Petersons and the speed demons of 4 ft. nothing Scotty Tompson and his smaller brother Robert. Plus about 10 Nelson brothers and cousins, who were as mean as they were tricky and fast. There was never a league - phone calls were made and some games were organized in less than one hour.

The coach was always a volunteer, some one who was too old to play, too hurt to play or was told by his better half," if you loose any more teeth playing this year, you can milk your own cows" ( so, he became a coach). Coach Murray Peterson (as my mom told me - she told him - "you got a broken leg, you can’t play," so, he coached).

The night games were played under lights that were only 10 feet above the ice. They were powered by a generator that usually quit at least four times during a game. A player would shoot the puck over the lights and everyone would skate to where they thought the puck would come down.

Some of these players were just home from the war. Some played on at least 2 or 3 teams because there was never enough players in the community at that time. But you always played for your own community when the game was there.

Many a budding romance was the result of the games. Glen Nelson met his wife to be, Pearl, at a game. Glen said that there was no door on the dressing room and Pearl walked by and saw Glen in his long johns and was smitten. Pearl says, "Ya, right".

The games were rough and physical but sticks were never used as weapons as they are now. When the game was over lasting friendships were developed.

"Go, Wolves Go".

Picture ( Record #3 above)
The mighty Rainy Creek Wolves - taken in 1946. That is the year they won the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce trophy for the third year in a row. B.R. - Glen Nelson, Ronald Nelson, Roy Duncan, Ray Schmit, Vernon Nelson, Mike Peterson, Charley MacLoud, Roger Wyatt, Bud Zimmerman, Coach, Murray Peterson (coach). F.R. - Norman Thompson, Robert Nelson, Howard Nelson, Franky Thompson, Keith Wyatt,

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Hockey Rink at Carritt School
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

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Hockey Team from Carritt School
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society