Spitfires have blossomed since Quenneville’s days
CHL alumni game on Saturday part of the festivities for Memorial Cup
Windsor native Joel Quenneville was there when the Windsor Spitfires jumped back into the Ontario Hockey League (then Ontario Hockey Association) in 1975-76.
The former NHL defenceman, NHL coach of the year and twotime Stanley Cup champion will return Saturday to participate in the Canadian Hockey League alumni game as part of the festivities around the 99th MasterCard Memorial Cup.
“I’ve never been to a Memorial Cup, ever,” said the 58-year-old Quenneville.
During his three seasons with the Spitfires, the Chicago Blackhawks head coach said there was no talk about a Memorial Cup.
“We started off and the enthusiasm was tremendous,” said Quenneville, who was part of that first team that won just 12 times in 66 games in 1975-76. “We took our lumps that first year.
“I remember an exhibition against Hamilton and there was like 500-and-something penalty minutes,” he added. “That’s how it started, but we had some good
CHL ALUMNI GAME ROSTERS
Team Red
Colby Armstrong, Bill Bowler, Jeff Brown, Mark Cadotte, Marc Cantin, Andrew Engelage, Adam Henrique, Connor O’Donnell, Ed Jovanovski, Rob Kwiet, Craig Mahon, Paul McFarland, Dale Mitchell, Greg Nemisz, Steve Ott, Matt Puempel, Mark Renaud, Justin Shugg, Ben Shutron, Cory Stillman, Todd Warriner and Harry Young. Coaches: Peter DeBoer and Joel Quenneville
Team White
Josh Bailey, Bob Boughner, Adam Graves, Taylor Hall, Zack Kassian, Michael Leighton, Matt Martin, Cal O’Reilly, Pat Peake, Dalton Prout, Kerby Rychel, Jeff Skinner, D.J. Smith, Steve Staios, Scott Timmins, Scott Walker, Adam Wallace, Mike Weber, Eric Wellwood and Ryan Wilson. Coaches: Tom Webster and Brad Smith.
progression, the second and third years, and did well.”
Through his time in the NHL, Quenneville has watched his former club become one of the cornerstone franchises of the OHL.
“You look at the list of guys that have gone on (to the NHL) and it’s impressive,” Quenneville said. “Since Bob (Boughner) and Warren (Rychel) took over (as owners), there’s been an explosion.
“They found the right mix and hopefully they can do it again and win another Memorial Cup,” he added.
Quenneville will coach with Peter DeBoer on Team Red in a game that will feature several members of Windsor’s Memorial Cup teams in 2009 and 2010.
“It started out we were going to do a Spitfire thing, but then we talked about this is a CHL event,” said Boughner, the Spitfires’ president. “We didn’t want to make it an Ontario Hockey League event or a Spitfire event, so there’s people from all over the country here and we wanted to keep it a CHL event.
“We tried to bring as many guys as possible from ’09 and ’10 team and bring the core back. A lot were invited, but could not come, but there still could be a couple of lastminute changes.”
Game time is 2 p.m. at the WFCU Centre. Parking is free and reserved tickets are $15 plus HST. Select players will also be available after the game for photos and autographs.