On Wednesday, January 16, the biggest battle that Trent will ever see goes down at the Evinrude Center at 10:45pm, and history will be made.
The East Bank vs. West Bank hockey game is bound to be the largest event of the year. Tickets are now on sale for only $5 in the TCSA office, and will be sold up until the day of the game. The tickets will include your East Bank or West Bank T-Shirt, a Chartered Bus from campus to the game and your entrance into this extravagant showcase of hockey supremacy.
As a recap of last year’s game, East bank conquered the ice and won the game 4-2 against West bank, scoring the final game winning goal on an open net. The crowd was far larger than expected with almost 600 people there cheer on their team. The teams played their best and put on a spectacular show.
This year John West-Carvalho and Britt Evans took the reins and started planning the event in September, and are hoping to make the East vs. West bank hockey game a new Trent tradition. All the proceeds go to charity for the Youth Emergency Center in Peterborough so that we can give back to the Peterborough Community, as they believe it will have a bigger impact there. They chose to do hockey over other sports because hockey is a game that everyone loves, and everyone can participate in because people grew up with it. At the game they will also have raffles that the fans can participate in such as chuck-a-puck and 50/50 ticket.
As for the teams, this year there was a line up full of players waiting to sign up to play on the teams. Both rosters were filled within the first 20 minutes after the doors opened. As for who would be the team captains, they wanted to leave it up to the fans, and have them voted who they wanted to see as captain and alternative captains.
The results were:
For West Bank Captain – Drew Hampel
For West Bank First Alternative – Trevor Paul Harold Green
For East Bank Captain – Mike Mann
For East Bank First Alternate Captain – James Vallesi
East and West Bank Rosters can be found at the bottom of the article.
Throughout the week I was able to sit down with both the captains and the alternative captains from each team to learn about more about them and to see how they believe this epic battle on the banks will play out. First on the docket is Drew Hampel who was voted captain of the West bank team. He has been playing hockey for almost 17 years, and this is his second year playing as a defenseman for the West bank team. He started playing hockey at the age of 4 because it was a family thing, and want to play alongside his brother. He was very shocked when he found out he had been voted team captain, but was very happy to find that he is very well supported.
Second was the Alternative captain for the West Bank team, Trevor Green. He has been playing hockey since he was 7 years old, but did not begin playing net until he was 12. He began playing after his parents allowed him to stay up past curfew to watch the Dallas vs. Edmonton game and believed it was the coolest thing he had ever seen and wanted to start playing. He has played on the intramural and extramural Trent teams the previous year, and also played on the West bank time in the first ever East vs. West bank game. He really wanted to be captain but couldn’t be because he is goalie, but he was very honoured to be voted Alternative Captain by his peers.
Next up is Mike Mann, captain of the East bank team. Mike has been playing hockey as a center for nearly 15 year, but this is his first time playing on any of the Trent University teams. He is in his fourth year and decided to go out with a bang and play for the East bank team. He began playing hockey at a very young age after seeing his dad play, so he decided to carry on after his father. He was very excited to be voted captain and is hoping to do the fans proud.
Last but not least is the alternative captain for the East bank team, James Vallesi. For almost 13 years he has being playing hockey, but it didn’t start out that way. Originally he was a baseball player but all his friends played hockey and convinced him to join so they could hang out more. He began as a regular player in his first year of playing but later transitioned into a goalie figuring since he played base ball and is quick with a glove he would make a better goalie. He really wanted to be captain, and even won the voting to become captain, but since he is goalie, he cannot accept the role of captain, so he became Alternate captain instead.
Now that you know a little more about the players and watch this game can give to the community, we hope to see you all there! Come and support your team!
East Bank Roster:
Coaches
Brodi Robinson
Steven LeBrun
Meaghan Perrotta
Wyatt Short
Matt Patterson
Goalies
Devon Courneya
James Vallesi
Players
Danny Hyatt
Mike Mann
Greg Trotter
Jeffery Minico
David Lipsett
Jay Brault
Travis Brault
George Ripoll
Keegan Pearce
Ben Durocher
Jay Brault
Travis Brault
George Ripoll
Keegan Pearce
Ben Durocher
Matt Pfeffer
Cameron Page
Chris McVeety
Christine Zentai
Daniel Santos
West Bank Roster:
Coaches
Ashley Robinson
Joshua Bowes
Madison Riddolls
Nick Tupper
Goalies
Trevor Green
Jack N. Barry
Players:
Drew Hampel
Joey McClement
Brett Bishop
Sean Barber
Matt Harris
Daniel Mahony
Jacob Clark
Mitch Simmons
Ryan Crowley
Seamus McDougall
Nicholas Lidstone
Kyle Brooks
Josh Gomes
Rory Lepage
Joshua Buck