On Tuesday night the T.G. Smith Centre was packed with local hockey fans rooting for their team to win, among those fans were Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk and Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens.
The Steinbach Pistons came out on top 4-2 against the Winkler Flyers to move on to round two.
Funk was extra excited about the win as he made a playful wager with Siemens.
“We were at meetings and so we're sitting around the table and I started shooting my mouth off- I'm a proud fan! So the mayor of Winkler and his team start rebutting back. It was actually fun banter. And then the next thing you know, we made a wager.”
The wager was that if the Pistons won, Siemens would wear Funk's jersey at his next council meeting, and if the Flyers won, Funk would wear Siemen's jersey at his next council meeting.
He was looking forward to the game, and the wager, so much so that he got Steinbach City Council to join in on the fun for game day.
“Council came on board with me and I got jerseys for them, so we wore jerseys at the council meeting,” he says. “As soon as the meeting was over, I booted off to the arena, a couple of them came with me, and we started watching the game. And it was just an incredible night.”
Funk was glad to hear the Pistons won, as his wife said he wouldn't look good in a Flyers jersey.
“The first thing Lori told me when I told her about our wager, she says, ‘no... you don't look good in orange, it's not your colour!’”
He says game day was awesome, and the MJHL has the ‘greatest fans in the world.’
“We have awesome fans, and they were supporting so much and cheering so hard. It was just such an electric atmosphere in that arena.”
Funk says the crowd’s energy was amazing.
"Like the fellow in front of me. He turns around after one of the goals, he says two numbers out to me. He says ‘185 over 155’ or something like that, and I'm like, ‘what is this?’ and he says, ‘That's my blood pressure right now!’”
He says it was a great memory when Hensrud got that shorthanded empty netter at the fourth goal.
“The fans, I mean, I think some of them were touching the ceiling. It was just incredible. I looked up after just to make sure the roof was still there.”
Funk notes it’s going to be sad to let go of the arena.
“I went home to Lori and I said, ‘oh, I'm going to miss that place’ because we do have a lot of memories in that old barn,” he says. “I grew up there, my son grew up there, and now many kids have grown up in that rink.”
Although it’s bittersweet, he is looking forward to making new memories in the new rink.
With files from Dave Anthony
Sun, May 19, 12:00 PM
Labour
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