When Derek Cranfield was growing up in Chilliwack, he played a pivotal part on the provincial hockey championship team in his first year of midget hockey.
Earlier this month, the president of 麻豆社国产Minor Hockey returned to his hometown to be inducted along with his teammates into the Chilliwack Sports Hall of Fame.
The induction was a case of better late than never, as he had hoped that the move would come in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the team鈥檚 championship season.
鈥淚 had actually applied last year to have our team included,鈥� Cranfield told The 麻豆社国产.
However, last year, the hall of fame chose to instead honour a military team from the 1950s, but this time around, it recognized the city鈥檚 former provincial midget champions.
The official ceremony took place in a museum in Chilliwack on Nov. 14, followed by a public ceremony at that night鈥檚 BCHL Chilliwack Chiefs game.
During the 1993-94 season, Cranfield split the goaltending duties with an older teammate at first, but as Chilliwack鈥檚 midget rep team got into the playoffs and advanced to the provincials, he took over between the pipes.
鈥淚 ran the table for the provincials,鈥� he said.
For Cranfield, it was his first season at the midget level and several of his teammates were also first years, but the team built chemistry easily because they knew each other well.
鈥淲e鈥檇 all played together for a couple of years鈥� the bulk of us,鈥� he said.
On the hall of fame鈥檚 website, Cranfield recalls the whole period of the team鈥檚 run through the provincials.
At the time, the city鈥檚 midget teams were always considered strong but a player or two away from true contention. It was when they added a star offensive player from Port Hardy that Chilliwack became the team to beat in Midget AAA. According to Cranfield, the team could adapt to match their opponents, whether it meant playing a finesse game or switching to a tougher style.
The team finished with a 13-4-1 regular season record, and after a playoff run, they met Cowichan in the final, which they won handily 7-1.
鈥淚 would never say it was anti-climactic, but we took it to them and ran away with it in the end,鈥� Cranfield said in an account on the hall鈥檚 website.听
鈥淲e had pretty much the whole third period where we knew we were in total control.鈥�
To this day, that 1993-94 team is the only Chilliwack team to win a provincial midget AAA title.
These days, Cranfield still laces up for some men鈥檚 league hockey, but most of his efforts for the sport are as part of the minor hockey executive. Cranfield looks to the way the sport has grown in his hometown with hockey academy programs for player development as an example of where hockey in this community can go.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of what we鈥檙e trying to bring to Squamish,鈥� he explained.听
