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Jeff Cruickshank Randy May Hap May Don Robertson Glen May Rob Swenson Dave May Lindsay Stillwell Steve Tomicki Chris Flerlage Doug Collins Dan Retel Jack Zellweger Jack Bates Ron Fontaine Dave Fontaine Terry Betcher Ken Seidel Billy Frame Bill Bates

Cowboys +

Cowboys 1990
Cowboys 1990
Ten years in - already Oldtimers!

It's really just a matter of time... Sooner or later, the ole legs tire, the mind gets slower and the knees get weaker. You reach a point where it's clear there is only one thing left to do: start a new team!

With some players entering into their seventies and a few more not far behind, that's exactly what the Cowboys did. Spring boarding off the World Cup Tournament, we kept the over 65 team together and invited a few of the other aging teams from the Oldtimers League to create a new division of very experienced players.

As a result we have been able to maintain three levels of Cowboys Hockey - The Young Cowboys of the RIHL, The Old Boys in the ROTHC over 53 division and Cowboys Plus playing the over 60 division.

This marks a significant chapter in our history and extends the hockey career of a number of guys who might otherwise have gone out to pasture - which might have been expected after 44 seasons of Cowboy Hockey.

Original 4
Cowboys of 1979
Hap May, Glen May, Doug Collins, Dave Fontaine
Remarkably, four of the Cowboy Plus players were playing in the very first game of the Cowboys back in 1979!

There a number of other teams out there that may have been around as long or longer, but I don't think any of them have players still playing since day one. How the Cowboys have maintained such remarkable longevity is attributed to many things and perhaps it is not so much a commitment to the game as it is the stronghold of community that surrounds the team.

It is not necessarily difficult to make the team, but it does take a certain measure of character. There was a time when was said you had to marry into the team to play for the Cowboys. That was not true, but with the original team consisting of 5 brothers a few cousins and only 3 players not somehow related, you can see how it might have seemed that way. But the truth is, when you do become a Cowboy it is like being part of a family. The expression is, "once a Cowboy, always a Cowboy". It becomes a lifestyle, and these old boys are determined to play hockey as long as their body allows and they will remain Cowboys forever.

Duncan May
Cowboy Daddy
"The Cowboy Daddy"
Father of the Team

Read more about Dunc here:
"In Two Words"