Firefighters extinguish RCMP in first Battle of the Badges

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Strathmore Fire Department beat their crosstown service colleagues the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 9-5 in the inaugural Battle of the Badges charity hockey game on Feb. 10 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
The game was designed to help the services connect with the community and saw lots of humour as well as some good hockey.
“Guys really stepped up and played the game of their lives, it was good to see on both sides,” said Strathmore Fire Chief and head coach Trent West. “It was a lot of fun and that’s what we want. We want to demonstrate to the community and to the people who came out that we work and play really well together.”
Fire trucks, RCMP vehicles and ambulances greeted guests as they arrived at the game. The stands were packed from one end of the gold ice to the other. The two teams didn’t disappoint and were well matched in the first period with nearly identical shots but Team Fire held a 2-1 edge.
Team Fire continued to press in the second period and scored three more goals but the RCMP responded with some great end-to-end rushes that kept the boys in blue within two goals.
The second period also saw a bit of comedy when one member of Team RCMP appeared to be injured. There was concern he was actually hurt, until two members of Team Fire dragged him by his feet to the bench as he did snow angel motions with his arms to the laughter of the crowd.
“Some of us weren’t party to the fact that there was some fun happening and were a little concerned as it started, but then we found out it was part of planned thing,” said West with a laugh.
A couple of attempts at the wave were made which did well on the gold ice’s stands but struggled to make it around the rink. Overall the crowd was very engaged in the more casual hockey game.
There was a hardest shot competition in the second intermission and Team RCMP defenceman David Hilton hammered a 127 km/hr slapshot, leaving his fellow competitors searching for a bit more power. Hilton only won the competition by three km/hr.
Despite Team RCMP taking the hardest shot, Team Fire didn’t let up in the third period and put four more in the net. The teams did play relatively strong defense but did let a couple breaks go. Fire goalie Kyle Lomon and RCMP goalie Randy Romkey were both the last line of the defense for their respective clubs with Romkey missing the last 10 minutes due to a nagging groin injury.
Romkey has been an RCMP constable for seven and a half years and joined the force largely because of his father and a desire to give back to the community. According to Romkey, the game was fun and a great chance for the members of the community to see the RCMP or firefighters in a different light.
“That was one of the reasons we wanted to do this. We wanted to let the community know that police officers like to have fun too,” said Romkey. “Oftentimes our interactions aren’t always positive. We thought this would be a positive thing and it turned out that way.”
The event asked for donations as an entrance fee and the money raised was sent to two local charities: the Hub, formerly known as the Strathmore Youth Centre, and the Wheatland County Food Bank.
“We really wanted to thank the community for coming out and supporting us,” said Romkey. “We had a full house tonight and we want to give a big shout out to the fans.”