Trainers have special memories
They were there during Oilers’ glory years
First to arrive and last to leave, the training staff spent more time in Rexall Place than any Oilers player, coach or manager.
Sure, the old barn is unofficially and appropriately known as The House That Gretzky Built, but trainers Ken Lowe, Lyle ( Sparky) Kulchisky and Barrie Stafford maintained its inner workings.
They were the mostly unseen glue that held this spectacular Oilers’ show together through the best of the glory years, when Wayne Gretzky and crew won Stanley Cups as if by divine rite, and the worst of the gory years, when it was half empty and the team cast but a shadow of its former greatness.
Other trainers came and went — Stewart Poirier, Daryl Duke, Chris Delorey and Juergen Merz among them — but the stalwarts remained a mostly successful chemistry experiment, blending Lowe’s explosive intensity, Kulchisky’s gruffness that hid a mushy heart, Stafford’s wit and quest for self-improvement.
Their work ethic and personalities left a sharp, enduring mark on the franchise.
They were abruptly and unjustly removed from the team staff in 2010, the Oilers’ perennial failure to reach the playoffs seemingly dropped at the feet of a training staff with a combined 84 years of devotion. But half a dozen years and zero playoff appearances later, Stafford is a key cog with the Oilers Entertainment Group, Lowe is coordinator of medical services, and all three come and go through the building as they should, when they want.
Two weeks ago, Stafford took a moment to stand on the home team’s bench, one last time.
“I stood on the bench where I stood for 25 years or something and I was very surprised at how emotional I was. When I started to think back, all those Cups, I mean, how lucky was I? Had the best seat in the house for 25 years or something. Stood on that same bench in that same place and watched the time tick down for a Stanley Cup championship team.”
He cherishes those Cups, the first time his nephew, Drew Stafford, played in the building, and the night that he and other members of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic champs were recognized at centre ice.
“My family was in the stands and i t was overwhelming, the emotion of that.”
The trio was seen as the best in the business, as evidenced by their conscription for Canada Cup, Olympic, World Cup and World Championship duties. Stafford acquired and dispensed equipment with a parsimonious hand, Kulchisky took care of the room and its denizens and mentored attendant Joey Moss, and Lowe patched the players back together, his younger brother, Kevin, perhaps most often, so they could play through breaks and sprains and separations.
Given his role, Lowe has the perfect Rexall Place souvenirs, one for each of his daughters Amanda and Melissa. They’re banners featuring a photo of himself on the ice with Ryan Smyth, who had just lost a mouthful of teeth after teammate Chris Pronger’s errant clearing attempt in the 2006 playoff series against San Jose.
Lowe, and many others, would also like to cart off the battered, old dressing room door, festooned with Oilers logos, each signifying a playoff game win. It’s apparently going to make the move to Rogers Place.
“All the memories. The fun, the laughter, the sadness, that’s what I’ ll remember,” he said.
Kulchisky has been back to the barn 20 times this season, saying hello and goodbye to visiting trainers and Northlands staff. Kulchisky teamed up with former Oilers captain Al Hamilton and Father Jim Holland to run Kids Inner City Development Society, which provides inner city children with sticks, helmets and skates that they can use on the McAuley Community League rink.
Kulchisky was an Oilers employee during the organization’s tenure in the World Hockey Association. He goes so far back that he remembers moving out of the old Edmonton Gardens and into what was then the Coliseum. And for him, the highlight of a career chock full is still easy to choose.
“One of my biggest memories in here is the night Gretz scored 50 in 39 and the lid came off the building. It was just something that you saw once and you’re never going to see it again, 50 goals in 39 games.
As close as those teams were, the training staff was just as tight, and the bond remains unbreakable. They were together most recently in March in Las Vegas, where they worked Gretzky’s fantasy hockey camp, tending to amateurs who paid $ 14,999 for the privilege of strapping them up with No. 99 and a solid collection of old pros.
They worked 12 hour days there too. First to arrive. Last to leave.