Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to congratulate the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts Senior A hockey team. Last month the boys took home the Allen Cup, making them the national senior amateur men's hockey champs. This marked only the third time a team from Newfoundland and Labrador has won the cup since it began in 1908. Led by head coach Tom Coolen and team captain Mike Brent, the Cataracts beat out the Lacombe Generals in a 7:4 win. Congratulations to goalie Bryan Gillis, who stopped 30 of 34 shots.
Senior hockey started in Grand Falls in the 1920s, and the team was known as the Grand Falls All-Stars. In 1956, the All-Stars were renamed the Grand Falls Andcos. In 1991, the towns of Grand Falls and Windsor amalgamated, and the team became the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts.
Among the great players was one young man named Alex Faulkner, of Bishop's Falls. He was a member of the Andcos before he became the first Newfoundlander to play in the National Hockey League in 1961.
Congratulations, Cats.