Lethbridge Broncos 1982-83 championship team to be honoured by Hurricanes
The Lethbridge Hurricanes will celebrate the championship 1982-83 Lethbridge Broncos club in a special pre-game ceremony at Friday night's game.
It's been 40 years since Rich Sutter won the WHL Championship with the Lethbridge Broncos.
"40 years ago is a long time but it still feels like yesterday," said Sutter.
"It's not like you're reliving it all the time but there's things in your life you don't forgot about."
Sutter, alongside several other members of that winning team, will be in attendance at Friday's game.
The Hurricanes organization is planning to recognize the players and staff before puck drop.
The Hurricanes players will also wear special-edition Broncos jerseys with their own name bar as well as the name of the player who wore that number in 1983.
"It's a huge honour to represent those guys and have them back in the building," said co-captain Joe Arntsen.
"It's so special to win that championship. It's my fourth year in the league and I've come to realize how hard it is to do that."
Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio won a WHL Championship while coaching the Calgary Hitmen.
"WHL Championships are hard to come by and when you achieve one as an organization, you have to be proud of that," said Kisio.
"It's good to look back in history and see who's done that before us. I think it's a special night for us, to bring those guys in and honour them."
The 1982-83 Broncos, lead by head coach John Chapman, finished the regular season with a 38-31-3-0 record before earning the WHL title with series victories over the Winnipeg Warriors, Saskatoon Blades, Calgary Wranglers and Portland Winter Hawks.
The championship team had eight players who went on to play at least one game in the NHL, including Sutter, his twin brother Ron, Mark Tinordi, Troy Loney, Ken Wregget, Bob Rouse, Gerald Diduck and Darin Sceviour.
Sutter says the team has kept in touch over the years.
"It seems like when you win once, and you go as far as you did, you walk together the rest of your life."
The Broncos played in Lethbridge from 1974 to 1986 before returning to their original home of Swift Current, Sask.
"Winning a championship is hard," said Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt.
"Anytime you have that in your history as a franchise, although it's a different era of Lethbridge hockey, it still means something to us and we still want to honour it."
Following Friday's matchup, the game-worn jerseys will be auctioned off online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between duelling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.
National strategy must recognize caregivers as 'backbone' of society: centre
Canadians need help looking after family members who are aging, sick or have disabilities, and many caregivers are seniors who need help themselves, says a new report calling for a national strategy that recognizes the mental and financial toll of the job.
Lawyers for alleged Winnipeg serial killer point to opinion poll in bid to get jury tossed
The lawyers of an alleged serial killer in Winnipeg are questioning whether pre-trial publicity in the high-profile case may have influenced the jury’s decision-making ability, after a public poll commissioned by the defence found 81 per cent of respondents believe the accused is guilty.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
WATCH Moose strolls through Fredericton
A Fredericton woman is awe-struck after seeing a moose stroll down a city street on Tuesday.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.