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
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.