Soldout Steel Blade classic opens Badgers pre-season
Upwards of 5,000 people will fill Meridian Centre for Brock-Guelph exhibition game
Head coach Marty Williamson and his coaching staff weren’t alone in evaluating the players battling for ice time with the Brock University men’s hockey team.
Also keeping on eye on the Badgers at the Steel Blade Classic Friday night at Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines will be the soldout crowd of more than 5,000.
With Brock putting two different rosters on the ice during the Ontario University Athletics pre-season, the annual exhibition game against the West Division rival Guelph Gryphons should go a long way to determining who belongs in the lineup.
“It’s a great exhibition game for us because there’s a ton of atmosphere where can really evaluate players,” said Williamson, back for a second season as the Badgers bench boss.
Williamson, who led Brock to the quarter-finals at the Canadian championships as interim head coach, expects the “competitive juices” will be flowing when the Badgers take the ice against the Gryphons Thursday night.
“You don’t walk out of the tunnel at the Steel Blade game to
5,000 fans cheering you on and not give it your all to win the game.
“We have a tough choice to make because we have a lot players on our roster, but can only dress 21 and they all want to be in this game.”
The idea for the Steel Blade Classic dates back 20 years ago when longtime Brock supporter Ed Werner wanted to recognize historical connections to the school’s history while promoting the men’s hockey team.
Toward that end, his family donated a sword patterned on an 1803 non-commissioned officer’s hanger. Such swords were carried by sergeants of the Upper Canada artillery units as well as the Royal Artillery during the War of 1812.
“It’s a real celebration of the school. I’m only one year into it and I was shocked how exciting this event was,” said Williamson, a former general manager and head coach of the Niagara IceDogs.
“I’ve stood on that bench many times when I was in the OHL and the energy and passion for the Steel Blade game is unbelievable. It’s the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard in that building.”
A game featuring a 7 p.m. start is only part of the fun for the homecoming event.
The excitement gets underway three hours earlier with a tailgate party in the parking lot of the university’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, which is located across the arena at 15 Artists’ Common.
For fans keeping score at home, the 5-3 loss to Guelph in last year’s game wasn’t a harbinger for the 2017-18 season. Nor was the Gryphons winning the regular season series three games to one.
While Guelph finished atop the West Division with a 21-6-1 record and Brock entered the post-season as the fifth seed after going 14-9-5 in league play, it was the Badgers who prevailed when the two teams renewed their rivalry in the playoffs.
They blanked Guelph 2-0 in the semifinals, winning both games in overtime, on their way to the national finals in Fredericton, N.B.