Those were the days . . .

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The process of initiating rookies used to be a big part of junior hockey.
And the Kamloops Blazers weren’t an exception.
Zac Boyer, who will be honoured as a Blazer Legend tonight prior to tonight’s WHL game with the Portland Winter Hawks at Interior Savings Centre, remembers one such incident. It was something that was looked upon as good, clean fun at one time; it is something that wouldn’t be condoned today.
The incident Boyer remembered occurred while Tom Renney was the club’s head coach.
“We wouldn’t have tried this with (Ken Hitchcock),” Boyer said Thursday afternoon.
And then he told the story . . .
“One night we kidnapped all the young guys . . . all the rookies,” he related. “We tied them all up and put them in the back of someone’s truck. We had curfew. Tom was calling and there was no one home.”
Boyer’s eyes dance at the memory and he stops to chuckle.
“So we took all the rookies up to Tom’s house,” he said. “We had them bound and gagged and blindfolded. We put them on the front step of Tom’s house and rang the door bell. Then we were gone.”
Boyer laughs at the memory.
“All the rookies were . . . we would never have done that with Hitch,” he said.
Such are the stories that are told when former players get together; such are the stories that are part of a junior hockey franchise’s history.