FINAL THOUGHTS FOR THE 2009 GCC

Well, there it is. A new slate of Captains gives us a new champion Captain and squad. Congratulations to Captain Dan Hawkins and his team on winning the 8th Annual Great Canadian Classic Hockey Tournament - perhaps the most dramatic Cup win in Great Canadian Classic history as well as the first Cup for the Ottawa franchise. And yes, for the record, we are aware that former Toronto Captain, Bud Kelly, won his 5th cup this year.

It seems to be taking longer to get this wrap up email out each year, but thanks for your patience, except for Ciupka who was probably wondering when the email would come out reminding everyone that he was now the winning Cup goalie two years in a row.

More seriously, thanks to everyone for making this year's GCC another fun day of playing hockey, hanging out, and miscellaneous adventure (the tailgate party waiting for the bus being one such adventure). Without the great spirit and love of the game as well as good times you all have, this would be a boring non-event.

Attached for your viewing pleasure are the stats from last Saturday. A huge thanks to the Stats Crew - Mike Doner and Matt Kindbom - for performing solid work in making this happen as a dynamic duo.

Thanks to all the players who donated swag - the names and companies are attached below (our apologies if we missed anyone). Thanks also to Jeff May and Scallywag's for providing the ideal post-GCC destination once again.

Although tentative now, please pencil in April 17 and 24, 2010 for the 9th Annual GCC, as it seems like we'll do this again. We'll hopefully confirm this in the fall sometime.

Thanks again from us - it was great seeing you on and off the ice, as per usual. The Convenors.

Britt, Cam
Lombard

Carsley, Doug
CGI

Dub, Paul
Dubwear

Flannagan, James
Ice Sports - Etobicoke

Mueller, Greg
AstraZeneca

Nowakowski, André
Miller Thomson

Sinclair, Adam
Barclays

Sinclair, Chuck
Sack, Mitchell

Watkin, Rick
Kubra

Hawkins, Dan
Scotiabank

May, Jeff
Scallywag's

Purvis, Jaime
Jov Funds

Burkom, Jack
Brookfield

2009 TEAM LISTS

OTTAWA

Ciupka, Mike (G)
Bowen, Ed
DeRuiter, Chris
Feehely, Jamie
Hawkins, Dan (C)
Ito, Shawn
Kelly, Chris
May, Jeff
Pettit, Andrew
Power, Pat
Roland, Petey
Scilipoti, Anthony
Seitz, Chris
Stott, Aubrey
Thomson, Scott
Wright, Coulter

TORONTO

Jong, Dave (G)
Amber, Dave
Barnard, Chris
Jones, Mike
Kennish, Ian
Larock, Dave
Larock, Gord
Mason, Dave
Miller, Brad
Moxon, James
Richards, Dave
Shulman, Jamie
Sinclair, Charlie (C)
Sinclair, Adam
Spidle, Geoff
Wilson, Darcy

MONTREAL

Kelly, Hayden (G)
Boriss, David
Carsley, Doug
Holy, Bill ©
De Pencier, Mark
Devine, Kevin
Ellingson, Elliot
Nowakowski, Andre
Cunningham, Mike
Foster, Martin
Gilday, Keith
Kay, Ian
Lee, Ryan
McIntosh, Ryan
McPherson, Matt
White, Pete

CALGARY

Vernon, Andrew (G)
Burkom, Jack
Chamberlain, Jiles
Armstrong, Mike ©
Davis, Tobin
Fraser, Brad
Kernaghan, Ed
Leschuk, Mike
McLean, Dennis
Montanino, Rob
Mueller, Greg
Nickel, Remi
O'Connor, Joe
Plaxton, Derek
Stevens, Jay
Weeks, Greg

VANCOUVER

Gupta, Vik (G)
Bowen, Guy
Britt, Cam
Brown, Matt
Carr, Mike
D'Iorio, Phil
Blyskis, Paul ©
Elliott, Jeff
Ferlejowski, Andrew
Foreman, Ken
Norris, Blair
Ryan, Steve
Schieman, Tony
Secnik, Will
Ward, Rich
Watkin, Rick

EDMONTON

Dellanno, Joe (G)
Anderson, Steve
Dub, Paul
Fortier, Dave
Holmberg, Matt
Iantorno, Rob
Keller, Sascha
List, Jamie
Machel, Craig
Munday, Rob
Potwin, Doug
Ryan, Clint
Purvis, Jaime ©
Styka, Chris
Toering, Dana
Walker, Chuck

Hopefully Andre's Last Message

The Rookie Captains have performed their first part of the task - drafting their squads. Next up, GCC day. If the Draft was any indication it should be a fun day, with a verbally competitive atmosphere (in the finest tradition of Captains past), and one Captain with ultimate bragging rights who will join the ranks of former champion Captains Doug Carsley, Bud Kelly, and Mahone Schieman.

Your Captains will be contacting you in the next little bit to plan the path to glory. In addition, they will also be asking some administrative questions about your attendance at the banquet, on the bus, and at Scallywag's. Please don't drink and drive from the rink - there will be a bus to take us to Scallywag's from the rink and we can leave our equipment in a locked room overnight. Quite frankly, the bus ride is always one of the key highlights.

A few points as reminders: During the day you are on your own for food and drink - keep fuelled accordingly as the day is a long one. Normal men's league rules apply, although any fighting gets you tossed from the tournament permanently. Don't heckle the Stats Crew. At the same time, don't be too friendly in supplying the Stats Crew with beverages, at least not before noon.

If anyone has swag that they can contribute for the Awards Table and Banquet, please let us know.

Other than that, we're looking forward to seeing you on the 18th. The Convenors.