NTSSA – 40th Anniversary Wade Hamer Challenge Cup

2024 Wade Hamer Challenge Cup

Sir John Franklin reigns supreme again in Wade Hamer Challenge Cup

Falcons boys and girls teams successfully defend titles in 40th edition against St. Pat’s

James McCarthy

The Wade Hamer Challenge Cup was one for the record books as it celebrated its 40th anniversary, in case you drove past the Multiplex and wondered why the parking lot at the Multiplex was so full during a work day.

For Sir John Franklin High School, it would be an anniversary to remember.

The Falcons were far and away the better of the two teams at the Multiplex on Wednesday afternoon as the girls emerged 7-1 winners over the St. Pat’s Irish, while the boys game also ended in the same deficit amount, only the Falcons were on the right end of a 9-3 decision. The wins mean the Falcons retain both cups for the next 12 months. It’s back-to-back wins for the Falcon girls, while the Falcon boys extended their winning streak to four.

In the girls game, the Falcons struck early with Adrena McDonald scoring the opening goal on a coast-to-coast rush. From there, Sir John was all over the Irish in their own end, but were held back by some good defence on the part of St. Pat’s.

Sir John coach Mark Kilbride said there was no worry at all about the puck not going in the net courtesy of that sustained pressure. “We were always in control during that first part of the game,” he said. “They came out pretty hard to start the second period and we expected they would, but we played well in our own end.”

Getting out to a big lead early meant Kilbride was able to roll all five of his lines to ensure all of his players saw a decent amount of ice time, “We try to get everyone involved, so (running out of) gas wasn’t too much of a concern,” he said. “We rolled all five and that was good to see.”

The boys game, meanwhile, started out a lot closer than the girls game as both teams traded goals in the fist two minutes. But after that, it seemed Sir John got almost every bounce go their way as they exerted their authority by the midway point of the first period.

“We got the first goal pretty quickly and they got one back, but we played our positioning pretty solid and just got it going from there after that,” said Sir John captain Hayden Murray.

Murray is in Grade 12 and it was his final time suiting up in the game.

He said it was a nice run for him and the one thing he’ll miss most is the atmosphere.

“Lots of hype, lots of support from the school,” he said. “It’s great.”

The day began with Ter and Julaine Hamer, Wade Hamer’s parents, performing the ceremonial opening face-off before the start of the girls game. The Hamers came back to town to help celebrate the anniversary of the game and attended the pep rallies at each school to lend support and talk about their late son, who died in 1987.

Hamer was the impetus behind getting the game going in 1985 with the original title being the Colonel’s Challenge Cup thanks to sponsorship from the Jason family, who owned the original KFC franchise. Following Hamer’s death, it was renamed in his honour.

École St. Patrick High School were so blessed to have Ter and Julaine Hamer come and talk at our Wade Hamer Challenge Cup pep rally today.

Simply put, the story of Wade is one that inspires anyone that hears it.

What an amazing Wade Hamer alumni challenge game we had tonight at the Ed Jeske Arena!

We have four teams from St. Pats and four teams from Sir John battle it out in 2.5 hours of crazy three-on-three action. We had alumni all the way from the very first game in 1985 right up to last year‘s game in 2023.

In the end, congrats goes out to St. Pats White team that won the Championship over St. Pats Gold in the final (but really it was just great to see all the alumni from both schools back on the ice together).

St Pat’s White consisted of:

Heather Lafoy (Grad 97)

Derrick Sangris (Grad 99)

Nicholas Landry (Grad 05)

Curtis German (Grad 15)

Reece Head (Grad 18)

Two Yellowknife Schools Continuing Annual Hockey Tradition

By Connor Pitre

Two of Yellowknife’s schools are about to engage in a friendly competition that goes back decades.

On Wednesday, November 20^th,  the École St. Patrick High School and the École Sir John Franklin High School will be competing against each other in an afternoon of good-natured hockey known as the Wade Hammer Challenge Cup.

The day for both schools will begin as normal, with classes being held until the lunch break at noon. Then from, 1:00pm to 4:00pm, the rest of the day will be filled with a number of hockey games.

The girls will be playing first at 1:00, with the boys playing at 3:00. Each game will have two 20 minute breaks, and the ice will be cleaned after each period. If the games end in a tie, then it will go into a 10 minute overtime. If the game remains tied, it will be decided by a five player shootout.

This beloved hockey tradition was first started in 1985. It started as the Colonel’s Challenge Cup, as one of the main sponsors of the event, the Jason family, owned the local KFC. From its very beginning, it was designed to be just a friendly competition between the two schools. This idea came from a St Pat’s student named Wade Hammer, who was troubled by the harsh language exchanged between the student and teacher players of a particularly rough game in the Rec League.

After expressing his disappointment with both teams, Hammer put much work into creating a new match between schools that would be in better spirits. He looked for sponsors, got a team together, and discussed the idea with the student council members of both schools. The next year, the Colonel’s Cup was officially launched!

For the first 11 years of the Challenge, teachers and girls would play one period each, while the boys would play two. Eventually, the teachers decided to back out to give the girls more time to play, and that format has remained to this day.

Sadly, Wade Hammer died in 1987 after an industrial accident. To honour his memory, the event was renamed to the Wade Hammer Challenge Cup.

This event has since grown into one of the largest single-day sporting events in the NWT, and continues to foster friendship and good sportsmanship between the two schools.

Alumni game being added to Wade Hamer Challenge Cup festivities

Former players from Sir John Franklin and St. Pat’s High Schools to play 3-on-3 games in pond hockey-style format on eve of big day

James McCarthy

The Wade Hamer Challenge Cup hockey games between Sir John Franklin and St. Pat’s High Schools don’t need much in terms of hype. You already know both schools will be gearing up for what is arguably the biggest school sports event in Yellowknife each year.

This year, though, marks the 40th anniversary of the meeting between the city’s two high schools and to help celebrate that, there’s a bit of a blast from the past being offered up.

A 3-on-3 alumni game will take centre stage at the Multiplex on the evening of Nov. 19, the day before the big day. It’s a chance for those who have played in games past to hit the ice once more and try yet again to win pride for their respective alma maters.

Rob Hart, who played in the Challenge Cup himself when he was a student at St. Pat’s and who’s now one of the coaches, is heading things up for the game and he said it was one of the ideas that came up during discussions between both schools on how to help celebrate the 40th edition.

“The game has always been a great way to bring both schools together and we thought it would be cool to have some of the past players get back on the ice and do it again, all in fun, of course,” he said.

Everything will happen under pond hockey rules with teams of three being drawn up and the ice surface at the Ed Jeske Olympic Rink being divided in half for two games to happen at one time. Instead of full-size nets being used, there will be little wooden nets that have been built by the Kimberlite Technical and Career Centre at St. Pat’s. There will be a round-robin, followed by a playoff round to determine the winner.

“All people need to do is bring skates, a stick, a helmet and we’ll draw for teams,” said Hart. “The games will be about 10 to 15 minutes long and we’ll be getting out all the old jerseys.”

Peter Curran, who’s looking after most of the game’s details at Sir John Franklin, said having an alumni game brings back a flood of memories.

“I remember we did a display here at the school for the 35th anniversary game and we had such a positive response to that,” he said. “I had people stopping in the halls to look and telling me that their father or son or daughter played in it, so having something like (the alumni game) just brings more of a positive vibe to it all.”

The no-goalie rule irked Curran a bit as he was once a constable of the corded cottage for Sir John Franklin in the early days of the game.

“I’m a firm member of the goalies’ union and I sort of feigned my disappointment at not having goalies,” he said.

Both Hart and Curran have had their own children play in the game over the years and Hart said watching them play, and remembering his own experiences, makes him realize just how invested he is in the event.

“I’ve watched all three of my kids and when you sit back and watch them and see them get into it, you realize how big it is,” he said. “I know I’ll be hoarse by the time it’s all done and happy with the great plays and down with each bounce that goes against us.”

Curran said he’s just happy that the game has been around this long and hopes it will continue to be around.

“There aren’t many things in this town that have been around for 40 years,” he said. “It’ll be a good tune-up for the big day and I know a lot of people will love to come out and play.”