This Championship game recap is being presented for those who were unable to be in attendance at Braemar arena September 22nd for the Final of the 2015 North American Cup of Rink Bandy. Brite Air Bandyts Manager Steve 'Great One' Arundel gives us his firsthand account...

I was fortunate enough to have a seat on the players bench of the Brite Air Bandyts; a team that had only been together for a few days yet somehow banded together, playing for their bandy team first and performing at an elite level to capture the 2015 Championship trophy. 

There seems to be something very unique about thae original west ice rink at Braemar Arena in Edina. For me, personally, it started in 1968, some 47 years ago when my Minneapolis Washburn high school hockey team was involved in a high intensity non-conference game with rival Edina. The game ended in controversy with Edina winning 3-2 on a breakaway goal scored by future NHL'er Bobby Krieger. The Washburn faithful all saw him catch a pass while at least 5 feet offside, an infraction missed by the officials. In the handshake line after the game, one of our rough and tumble defenseman cold cocked an Edina player with a punch to the face, and then fell on him pummeling him with an endless barrage until being dragged off by team mates. Hundreds in the crowd of over 4,000 came pouring over the boards wanting our Washburn blood spilled on that ice sheet. We "circled the wagons" at center ice and waited for 30 police officers to escort us to our dressing room and later to escort us to our team bus and finally on to the Crosstown Highway for the trip east back to south Minneapolis.

That rink also was "home ice" for my college hockey games at Gustavus College in the 1970s. In 1983 Braemar was the training site for the U.S. National Bandy Team that would go to Sweden in October and become the first US Bandy team to ever win a game on foreign soil... There just seems to be something special about that rink!!!  

The Championship game for the 35th annual North American Cup of Rink Bandy was held September 22nd at Braemar West Arena between the St. Croix Tigers and the Brite Air Bandyts. These final two teams of combatants were decided the night before when the Bandyts outlasted The Diamond Lakers in the last game of the round robin competition to advance.  The Tigers had already advanced to the final with convincing victories in their 3 pool play games. 

The Bandyts title hopes were dealt a serious blow before the contest even began, as first round draft pick Mike Carman was unable to attend the final.  Winning the Championship would be a tall order now, for the Bandyts were taking on the tournament favorite Tigers, without one of the top players in the game. 

I arrived at the Braemar Arena complex expecting to be headed to one of the newer rinks but was pleasantly surprised to find the pre-game warm ups taking place on the original west ice sheet.  That historic arena has seen so many interesting stories unfold on that rink.

As the warm ups continued I noticed the Tigers with their full complement of players: Jack Hillen, John Arundel, Dave Martinson, Wyatt Wenzel, Brett Stoplestad, Archie Skalbeck, Eric Kyllonen, Mac Williams and of course Chris 'Haldo' Halden. Equally daunting was seeing Gavin "The Monster" Ancheta in the nets for the Tigers. We clearly had not figured him out at all thus far in the tournament. This would be a real challenge. 
 
The game started and the pace was furious, back and forth, up and down the ice. Reminiscent of an Ali - Frazier heavyweight title bout. 30 to 40 second shifts was all we could squeeze out of the players as they were going full out the entire shift. The Bandyts struck first, a 1-0 lead that would not hold up.  

The next three goals were scored by the Tigers with Hillen, Martinson and Arundel dominating the game with their offensive talents. My Bandyts managed one more tally before the half, closing the gap to 2-3. Our goalie, Derek Melander, had stiffened up in the nets, and victory was now within our reach!  

The second half started with a roar as the Bandyts stormed back with two more goals to go ahead 4-3. Doing the damage for the Bandyts was USA Bandy veteran BJ Bayers. He had been frustrated for the first three games of the Cup unable to find the back of the net. But tonight would be his night for everything that had gone against him earlier in the tournament was now going FOR him. Mikael Sandberg had also found his skating legs from 10 years ago, and was flying up the ice with the ball, cracking off solid shots trying to get the ball past 

 "The Monster", their enormous goalkeeper. Three members of this summer's US Rink Bandy Champions, Flying Sparrows, were also moving with a renewed conviction and steely resolve. Jesse Perron, Lucas Whelan and Greg Olson were in the groove at both ends of the ice.  Joe Welch was chasing down any and all Tigers players who that thought they could get past him. Dave Plaunt and Ian Wolff were solidly anchoring an increasingly impenetrable defensive force.

This was a game where both teams were scoring in threes.  After the Bandyts scored the opening goal, the Tigers scored three in a row followed the Bandyts three goals.  The tide turned again and the Tigers notched three more to quickly go back in front by a 6-4 margin. The determination on the Bandyts bench increased exponentially, and an improbable comeback was underway. 6-5, then 6-6 and finally 7-6 for the Bandyts with 3 minutes left in the game. The Bandyts had inexplicably scored three more unanswered goals to carve out the tiniest of leads going down the stretch. BJ had the magic going strong and the rock solid "D" of the Bandyts would not waver.  Final score was Bandyts 7,  Tigers 6.




An absolutely fantastic display of indoor bandy had just taken place. It was clean game, expertly refereed by Tim Roth and Kevin Bowen, and an epic effort by both teams. A bitter defeat I am sure for the St. Croix Tigers, but an extremely unexpected and satisfying victory for the Brite Air Bandyts.  Congratulations to all who had a hand in putting on this great show of athleticism, talent, heart, and sportsmanship. 

A game like this makes it easy to get out of your comfortable chair and make the trek to the rink, no matter where it might be - especially when it is that original sheet of ice at the Braemar Arena.

North American Cup of Rink Bandy Tournament Director, Chris Middlebrook, presents trophy to Brite Air Bandyts Manager, Steve "Great One" Arundel