By Treena Mielke
Once again, The Bentley Generals have emerged the victorious winners of the Allan Cup.
This year the championship game ended in a 4-3 overtime thriller that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
Derek Dickau was one of those fans.
Dickau, a longtime Generals fan, pulled the team’s equipment trailer to Steinback, Manitoba, so he could watch the finals against South East Prairie Thunder first hand.
“It was thrilling,” he said. “A little town like Bentley winning the Allan Cup. That’s pretty awesome.”
The crowning moment for the Generals came with just over four minutes left in the first overtime period and Carter Rigby’s shot made it past the Prairie Thunder’s goalie.
Joan Dickau who watched the game on television at home marveled not only at the win, but at the similarities from an overtime championship game seven years ago.
“Same team, same town, same score,” she said.
Dickau said he personally knows a lot of the players and is very proud of the team.
“They are a talented bunch of boys,” he said.
Both Derek an his wife Joan are sad that the Generals are moving to Lacombe and will become the Lacombe Generals, but they do understand the economics of the situation.
“I totally understand and I support the decision, but I don’t like it,” said Joan Dickau, who has taken tickets at the door for the Generals games and is aware of the dwindling crowds.
The win gives Bentley its third Canadian senior men’s hockey title in the last eight years.
The Allan Cup, Canada’s National Senior Championship, is one of the oldest club-team hockey competitions in North America. The first championship game for the Allan Cup was held in 1996.