Program from Merritt's first full season in the league (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

CENTS CELEBRATE 50

Merritt Centennials persevere to half-century of BCHL hockey

Sep 21, 2022 | 5:07 PM

MERRITT B.C. — The longest continuously run franchise in the BCHL is not one of the big dogs. It’s not Vernon, Victoria or even Penticton. That honour belongs to the Merritt Centennials.

The latest edition of the Merritt Centennials are hard at work on the ice as they prepare to open a banner year for the team, their 50th in the league. While recent years have been tough on the ice for Merritt, the team has been persevering for much longer than that.

“The league back in the ’90s gave us an ultimatum that if we didn’t sell 400 or 500 season tickets and have an ownership group in place that they were going to revoke our franchise. Certainly the community stepped up, we sold those season tickets, and got a group together and kept it running. That is for sure; the community has stepped up every time,” said Brian Barrett, a former Owner, General Manager and Head Coach of the Cents.

The leagues ultimatum was met with vigor from the community who showed up in force to keep the Centennials in Merritt.

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“I have never seen another team that has made it 50 years like Merritt has. Not to say we haven’t had our ups and downs, we’ve had good years, we’ve had many bad years. But we always manage to hold it together with community support and people willing to donate their time we’ve managed to keep it 50 years,” said Rusty Brewer.

Brewer has been volunteering with the Centennials for more than 35 years. In that time he’s seen players graduate onto play in college, the NHL — or in once ase, even leave the game to become a doctor.

“The volunteers have made this team what it is, there is no two ways about that. We wouldn’t have made it. Great in the community; the kids gets involved,” added Brewer. “The value of a small community is that they get the know the players on a first name basis because they participate in so many community events. It’s become like a family.”

Every time the club needed a new ownership group to step up and save the franchise, the community would answer in turn, with the squad currently being one of the few community-owned teams in the league.

“As an organization we’ve come up with a bit of a slogan and that is, ‘Whatever it takes.’ This team has been doing whatever it takes for 49 years, may as well make it the slogan for our 50th,” said Head Coach and GM Curtis Toneff.

Chase Cooke grew up in Merritt, watching the team every Friday night. The newly-minted alternate captain is now the longest tenured player on the squad and has been sure to pass on the importance of community to his teammates.

“Fifty years, that is pretty impressive for the size of the town that Merritt is and everything that Merritt goes through with mills closing and mines opening. There has always been a team and there have always been fans in the stands,” said Cooke.

Both Rusty and Brian joked about not being around for the next 50 years of Cents hockey, but with the motto of ‘Whatever it takes,’ the league’s longest running franchise is preparing for one of its most important seasons of all.

“It’s a little bit about honouring them and a little bit about making sure this team sees the 52nd, 54th, 56th year — because we have to turn it around for us to be a stable organization in this league,” said Toneff.

“I just hope that I’m still alive when they win another Interior Division championship. I just want to be here to see that. I’ve sat in the same seat for 30 years. I want to see that, and I want to be sat in that seat when we win another Interior Division championship,” added Brewer.

On Friday night (Sept 23) when the season begins, eight members of the original team will return to Merritt in the first of a season-long program of events honouring the team’s storied past.