Robbie Forbes still had aspirations of playing pro hockey when he attended the Corner Brook Royals training camp for the 1985-86 Newfoundland and Labrador Senior Hockey League season so he wasn’t really sure if he was going to stick it out.
Thirty years later he’s thankful he stayed and so are the thousands of die-hard hockey fans who had the pleasure of celebrating a momentous occasion in Canadian hockey history when the Royals won the Allan Cup in 1986, marking the first time a team from this province had won Canada’s symbol of senior hockey supremacy from coast to coast.
The gifted sniper, a Halifax native who was 23 years old when he hoisted the Allan Cup, decided to stay after he had a lengthy discussion with Corner Brook Hockey Association executive members, the late Cliff Gorman and Paul Althouse.
He was impressed with how Mr. Gorman assured him the focus for the season was winning the Allan Cup. The franchise was still licking its wounds from a heartbreaking loss in a seven-game series against the Thunder Bay Twins on home ice the previous year so the goal was set in stone that this would be the year for the Royals.
“It always stuck with me how committed they were to winning an Allan Cup. This single focus on a national championship for Corner Brook and that’s always stuck with me,” Forbes, who is 53 now and lives in Oakville with his wife Paulette and three boys, told The Western Star in a telephone interview earlier this week.
He didn’t need much time around his teammates — a blend of imports and locals — to know management had assembled a great group of skilled players to go for it all that season so he was on board for the ride.
In a season where he won the scoring race by 20 points, it proved to be a great learning experience that shaped his life beyond the tiny confines of Humber Gardens or the dressing room where the bond between the players grew with each practice, game and cold beer away from the rink.
“Making sure there is a defined goal,” he said of the valuable lesson learned. “Making sure everybody is pulling in the same direction and everyone knew what the expectation was.
“These guys were really serious and wanted to win a national championship,” he added. “It’s so funny because years later it basically became the highlight of my hockey career to win that national championship.”
Forbes worked for Tim Hortons as senior director of regional marketing and national promotions for 18 years before opening his own sports consulting company called Forbes Sports Marketing. He negotiates sponsorship contracts for the National Hockey League and Canadian Football League to name a few, with Tim Hortons still his biggest client.
But work will be the furthest thing on his mind this weekend when he joins his teammates for a 30th reunion celebration in Corner Brook. While he’s been able to keep in touch with the boys over the years through social media, catching up with the boys on how life has been for them since they last spoke is certainly something he’s looking forward to with a smile on his face.
“You never get tired of having those discussions and reliving it all,” he said.
The players, coaches and executive members from the 1986 Allan Cup team will relive the glory days when they gather for a team social tonight 7 p.m. at the Corner Brook Civic Centre and Saturday night the guys will attend a Corner Brook Royals fundraiser dinner at Greenwood Inn & Suites where fans will get a chance to say hello and help raise some money for the current edition of the Royals.
Robbie Forbes still had aspirations of playing pro hockey when he attended the Corner Brook Royals training camp for the 1985-86 Newfoundland and Labrador Senior Hockey League season so he wasn’t really sure if he was going to stick it out.
Thirty years later he’s thankful he stayed and so are the thousands of die-hard hockey fans who had the pleasure of celebrating a momentous occasion in Canadian hockey history when the Royals won the Allan Cup in 1986, marking the first time a team from this province had won Canada’s symbol of senior hockey supremacy from coast to coast.
The gifted sniper, a Halifax native who was 23 years old when he hoisted the Allan Cup, decided to stay after he had a lengthy discussion with Corner Brook Hockey Association executive members, the late Cliff Gorman and Paul Althouse.
He was impressed with how Mr. Gorman assured him the focus for the season was winning the Allan Cup. The franchise was still licking its wounds from a heartbreaking loss in a seven-game series against the Thunder Bay Twins on home ice the previous year so the goal was set in stone that this would be the year for the Royals.
“It always stuck with me how committed they were to winning an Allan Cup. This single focus on a national championship for Corner Brook and that’s always stuck with me,” Forbes, who is 53 now and lives in Oakville with his wife Paulette and three boys, told The Western Star in a telephone interview earlier this week.
He didn’t need much time around his teammates — a blend of imports and locals — to know management had assembled a great group of skilled players to go for it all that season so he was on board for the ride.
In a season where he won the scoring race by 20 points, it proved to be a great learning experience that shaped his life beyond the tiny confines of Humber Gardens or the dressing room where the bond between the players grew with each practice, game and cold beer away from the rink.
“Making sure there is a defined goal,” he said of the valuable lesson learned. “Making sure everybody is pulling in the same direction and everyone knew what the expectation was.
“These guys were really serious and wanted to win a national championship,” he added. “It’s so funny because years later it basically became the highlight of my hockey career to win that national championship.”
Forbes worked for Tim Hortons as senior director of regional marketing and national promotions for 18 years before opening his own sports consulting company called Forbes Sports Marketing. He negotiates sponsorship contracts for the National Hockey League and Canadian Football League to name a few, with Tim Hortons still his biggest client.
But work will be the furthest thing on his mind this weekend when he joins his teammates for a 30th reunion celebration in Corner Brook. While he’s been able to keep in touch with the boys over the years through social media, catching up with the boys on how life has been for them since they last spoke is certainly something he’s looking forward to with a smile on his face.
“You never get tired of having those discussions and reliving it all,” he said.
The players, coaches and executive members from the 1986 Allan Cup team will relive the glory days when they gather for a team social tonight 7 p.m. at the Corner Brook Civic Centre and Saturday night the guys will attend a Corner Brook Royals fundraiser dinner at Greenwood Inn & Suites where fans will get a chance to say hello and help raise some money for the current edition of the Royals.
