Here's a pretty funny story I have heard many times over the years. I thought with the Vipers back in the Royal Bank Cup, I would dig up this story and post it.
Lakers Owner Locked In Team's Dressing Room During Centennial Cup:
During the 1991 championship game in Sudbury, the general manager and owner of the Vernon Lakers was locked in his team's dressing room from the first intermission until after the final buzzer.Lakers GM Mel Lis ran to his team's dressing room during the intermission in the championship game in Sudbury to answer a call of nature."I was in there using the can," Lis explains, "and when I tried to get out, the door was locked. Our trainer had locked it with a padlock on the outside."Lis banged on the door and screamed at the top of his lungs, but his noise went unheard. The crowd in the arena had created a din that virtually silenced Lis's pleas for help.But a strange thing happened while he was imprisoned. The Lakers, who were down by a goal after the first period, rallied to score two unanswered goals in the second.When the padlock was unlocked during the second intermission, Lis was rescued.But he decided to stay put."The guys were down a goal when I went in there and got locked in, so I decided not to change things. They were doing better when I was out of the picture."So Lis stayed in the dressing room during the third period, only to emerge at the end of the game for the Lakers' celebration of their 8-4 win over the host Sudbury Cubs. It was their second straight Centennial Cup with coach Ed Johnstone, a former NHLer with the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings.The year before, the Lakers had beaten the heavily favored New Westminster Royals in overtime in front of a home crowd."The second win was nice, but the first was by far the best," says Lis, whose team made four straight trips to the championship from 1989 to 1992. "TSN broadcast the game [live] across Canada and somebody said it was the best junior game ever on TV."
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