As the only player from the 1994 Centennial Cup-winning Olds Grizzlys team still directly connected to the club, Jeramie Heistad wanted to bring the powerful feelings of accomplishment and brotherhood that were revived on June 7 when that team was in
As the only player from the 1994 Centennial Cup-winning Olds Grizzlys team still directly connected to the club, Jeramie Heistad wanted to bring the powerful feelings of accomplishment and brotherhood that were revived on June 7 when that team was inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame back to the current generation of Grizzly skaters.
"I want the guys to experience the same thing. It's one of those ones that it's a great honour and I'm blessed to be part of that team," he said. "When you play sports and you're on a team, you always have that connection. But when you win, there's just a different connection.
"If I can bring just the stuff that I've learned over the years and how great that feels and I can pass that on to the guys now, what it means to win, hopefully that's what I can move forward."
Heistad, who currently serves as an assistant coach for the team, was one of 14 members of the 1994 squad who attended the induction ceremony in Edmonton.
He said it was an incredible honour to have the 1994 team named to the hall of fame at the same time as other Alberta hockey legends.
"It was almost one of those surreal things because you go to an event like this and the other inductees (have) 40 to 60 years experience in hockey and just what they've done internationally, and to be held in the same breath or regard as those individuals, it really hit home."
The Grizzlys won the Centennial Cup, the national junior A title at that time, with a dramatic overtime win in the championship game following a season where they boasted a record of 50 wins, four losses and two ties.
It was the third season in a row where the squad had captured the Alberta Junior Hockey League championship, a feat only one other team has accomplished.
Despite the great honour that team was bestowed with earlier this month, Heistad said he and his teammates had no idea they would one day be immortalized in the provincial hall of fame.
"Because at the time you go through it and you're like, we're just a good team, right. And 20 years later that legacy is still there and no other team since our group has been able to string that success together," he said.
While he had seen a handful of his former teammates at a Grizzlys alumni hockey game and dinner in April commemorating the 1994 victory, Heistad said being surrounded by 13 of his fellow alumni was a trip down memory lane where everyone was able to pick up right where they had left off.
"Anybody who is part of a team, time passes and that and if you're successful you walk into a room and you see that person and instantly you go back to being an 18- year-old or 17-year-old. You remember the silly stories and all the good, the highs, the lows, everything. Everything comes back. It was one of those special times where we got to share some funny stories and reconnect."
He added the night was also made special by the presence of some of the team's longtime fans and through a speech from the 1994 team's head coach, Chris Stewart.
"His take-home message was it was a special group of guys. We were able to come together and do something special," Heistad said. "From that point moving forward, guys have continued that lineage of success."
Kevin Watson, who covered the Grizzlys for a Red Deer radio station from 1991 to 1997, was the person who nominated the 1994 team for hall of fame induction.
He said he felt the 20th anniversary of the team's 1994 Centennial Cup win was the perfect time to have the team honoured.
"I've seen other teams go in that are 40 or 50 years later," he said. "I thought 20 years had a nice ring to it. I just thought hopefully most of the guys could come still and most of them would still be around so I thought the timing was right."
Watson said he can still remember how the team's momentum just kept building and building in the early 1990s as Stewart and then-general manager Bob Clark built the team.
That momentum, he added, had caused a frenzy in the Olds community by the time the Grizzlys hosted and won the cup in 1994.
"The rink was full pretty much any time there was a home game and especially in the playoffs it was a rockin' old barn. It was just a ton of fun to be there and be a little bit of a part of it to cover it and tell our listeners around Central Alberta how good this team was."
Having attended the induction ceremony, Watson said the team was excited and thankful for his efforts to nominate them for the honour.
"They were very appreciative," he said. "One guy came from Vegas and he thanked me profusely before and after the event and two of the guys came from Slovakia as well."
Victoria Hofferd, an assistant for marketing services with Hockey Alberta, said a display honouring the 1994 Grizzlys, including equipment, jerseys and memorabilia from that team, will be set up once a painting project at the hall of fame is completed in early July.
Members of the 1994 team will receive family passes so they can visit the display.
That display will stay standing until the next round of inductions next June, she added, but the hall will have a permanent installation for the team including a photograph and a description of the team's accomplishments on the hall's "inductees wall."
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