The Estevan Strippers senior hockey team won silver at the 40th Annual Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament held in Santa Rosa, California last week.
This was the sixth time the Strippers have competed in the tournament with the first being 1988. The tournament is held in the Redwood Ice Arena and was started by Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoons. Since he passed away in 2000, his wife and son have continued with the tournament as it was very important to “Sparky”.
The tournament was held from July 10 to 19, with 68 teams participating. Each team played three games throughout the week which gave lots of time for sightseeing, golfing and touring wineries that are the major industry in the Sonoma Valley. The teams came from all over the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Canada was well represented with several teams from British Columbia, Alberta and the Strippers from Saskatchewan.
Many of the teams are pickup clubs that only meet each other when they get to Santa Rosa.
Although the tournament is very competitive, with gold, silver and bronze medals being handed out, the major focus is fellowship, as tailgate parties are held in the parking lot following each game.
Terry Harper showed up at the Stripper tent and was full of NHL stories. There is also a major barbecue for all the participating players and wives. It was at this event that the Strippers met former Estevan Bruin player Stan Gilbertson.
The Strippers consist of 15 players, three coaches and six wives, all of whom belong to the Stripper Hockey Club. They were put in the 60-and-over B Division which had four groups.
Their first game was against the Victoria Ol’ Pluckers. The Strippers gave up the first goal, but tied it up before the end of the period on a goal by Steve Irving. They found their legs in the second period scoring four goals, with another four coming in the third to win the game 9-1. Craig Sluser, Terry Rohatyn, Dale Fox and Doug Court scored second period goals while Irving completed his hat trick in the third with Rohatyn, Tim Bangsund and Don Dayman notching singles. Sluser had four assists to go with his goal.
The second game against the San Francisco Cyclones was much closer as the Strippers won 4-2 with an empty net goal. The Strippers led 2-0 after the first with both goals scored by Rohatyn. The second period ended 3-2 in favour of the Strippers as Rohatyn completed his hat trick. Bangsund assisted on all three of Rohatyn’s goals. Irving scored an empty netter to complete the scoring.
The win put the Strippers in the gold medal game against the Connecticut Olde Crabs who include players from the northeastern United States, Ontario and Quebec. The Strippers had the territorial edge, but could not finish as they missed no fewer than four breakaways.
The Strippers jumped into a quick 1-0 lead as Sluser scored on a breakaway only 20 seconds into the game. Connecticut tied it two minutes later on a power play, but the Strippers replied with a goal from Dayman to take a 2-1 lead after the first period.
The Olde Crabs tied it early in the second and took a 3-2 lead on another power play goal. The Strippers took four penalties to the Crabs two.
Connecticut got a two-goal lead with six minutes to play and then added an empty net goal to win 5-2. Murray Gleim was in net and played well in all three games.
The Strippers have donated over $130,000 to local groups and charities over the last 20 years with the most recent donation being $10,000 to the Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Their next action will be a tournament in Lethbridge, Alberta, in November with their annual tournament scheduled for April 6-10, 2016.
