Comic's team serious about Native Stanley Cup

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Don Burnstick may be a funny guy, but his Redskins are no joke.

The popular entertainer's Redskins hockey team captured the Native Stanley Cup on their very first try, blanking the Beardy's Blackhawks 2-0 in the final game of the Battlefords Indian-Metis Friendship Centre All-Native Hockey Tournament.

The 40th annual tournament took place March 26 to 28 at the Civic Centre in North Battleford, with the final played before a crowd of 1,700-plus fans.

Kenny Thomas and Jerry Cunningham scored the only goals of the final, which was one of the toughest and most exciting matches of this year's tournament. Thomas' marker came just four minutes into the contest, and it held up until Cunningham was able to provide insurance early in the third.

The Redskins took home $12,000 for their victory, while Beardy's settled for an $8,000 payday. Third-place Poundmaker, which lost to Beardy's in the B-event final, received $5,000.

Both goalies in the final game played superbly, with Steve Wagner just barely outduelling Beardy's Adam Gardipy. Gardipy was injured early in the third period when a Beardy's player crashed through the crease and wiped him out in the process. But after a few tense minutes and a careful examination by the Blackhawks trainer, he declared himself fit to play.

The collision left Gardipy somewhat shaken, but it did give his team a five-minute power play. Unfortunately for them, however, Wagner and the Redskins defence remained rock solid.

"Steve Wagner is one of a kind," Redskins captain Robert Cardinal said. "And our defence all came together as one. We were down to five guys back there for the most part, because I was out for a while (after taking a skate to the jaw in the second period). But they really did the job."

Wagner was named the tournament's top goaltender, but surprisingly, he was the only one of the Redskins to make the tourney's all-star team. Rather than being a slight to the Redskins, however, that fact may have simply reflected the Redskins' exceptional team play. For indeed, except for Wagner, no one Redskin stood out above the rest.

"We wanted to put together a really good team-not necessarily a team full of stars, but one with good team chemistry," noted

Burnstick bankrolls the Redskins and also serves as their manager. "So we have team functions together to try to build chemistry, and we have some team rules. We wanted to show what Native teams can do when they set their mind to it."

Formed about three years ago by Burnstick and Cardinal, the Redskins are composed of players from all over Western Canada. Many have played pro or semi-pro. Cardinal, for instance, played three years in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Lebret Eagles, then toiled for a season in the United Hockey League with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Ice Hawks.

"It's basically guys we played junior with, and we've all kept in touch," he said. "When big tournaments like this come along, we call everybody and get the team together again."

The Redskins' existence as a team was in part the result of a conversation between Burnstick and his good friend, former NHL coach Ted Nolan. Both felt Native hockey players deserved more credit for their abilities. And both felt Native hockey players needed to take the game more seriously.

"Some Native teams when they go to a tournament, they drink and party it up and they're more interested in having a good time," Burnstick said. "But I wanted to put together a team that was serious about winning. So we go to big tournaments like this, and we've won a few."

"One of our goals when we started this team was to win North Battleford's Native Stanley Cup, added Cardinal. "Because it is one of the biggest Native tournaments in Canada. So we wanted to make sure we had all the boys together.

"We went for a couple of team meals together this weekend to try to gel and talk and joke, and then last night we basically tucked in early to make surewe had our rest. And it was good. I think it paid off."