First team to get hall of fame nod
Capers shocked hockey world with national championship 40 years ago
The unmistakeable refrains of an iconic Cape Breton song echoed incongruously through the walls of the dressing room at the University of Montreal arena some 40 years ago.
Carl (Bucky)Buchanan was overwhelmed when he heard the singing — and knew instantly the hockey team inside that he coached was about to do something very special.
The team was the 1978 University College of Cape Breton men’s hockey team. Their impromptu warbling — to this day, no one can quite recall just which song it was, though the smart money is on either Kenzie MacNeil’s “We Are An Island” or Leon Dubinsky’s “Rise Again” — came during the intermission of an ultra-intense overtime period of the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championship game against the Red Deer College Kings.
“I can remember a little pep talk, and telling them this is something, a lifetime opportunity and that you may never play for a national championship again,” Buchanan recalled.
At that point the former smoker left the dressing room with fellow coach Paul Hanna for a nicotine break that was interrupted by the anthem.
“I said to coach (Paul) Hanna ‘we won’t have any problems now.’ He said ‘what do you mean?’ and ‘I said geez they are high as a kite in there. Go in and close them down a bit.’”
Kevin MacRae, who would prove to be the eventual hero of that championship game with a shorthanded game-winner, credited Joey Andrea with the spontaneous blast of Cape Breton nationalism that quickly spread around the room.
It’s among the many memories from that memorable tournament that still comes to player’s minds 40 years later.
“Every time he sees me he gives me a hug and says ‘thank you,’” MacRae said of teammate Danny Batherson, who took an overtime penalty in the title game.
“He rarely took a penalty and I don’t even know what the penalty was in overtime — a phantom call or whatever — but Danny took a penalty. He was in the penalty box and he wouldn’t look. He didn’t want anybody to score when he was in the penalty box because that would have stuck forever.”
MacRae gave plenty of looks to his Red Deer opponents during the game and realized their defence liked to pass the puck back and forth to each other more often than they should.
“That’s what they did for the whole game. I said they are going to do that, so I just stuck the stick out, and went in on the breakaway and scored.”
MacRae put a forehand deke on the opposition goaltender for the 5-4 game winner because he couldn’t shoot thanks to a nasty elbow cut picked up in an earlier game.
It’s a moment he’ll never forget and a title none of his teammates will ever forget either.
“When you meet, as soon as you run into the guys, even if it has been 10 years, it’s instant chemistry.”
(This story originally appeared in the March 23, 2018 edition of the Cape Breton Post)