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Red Deer Sr. AA Rustlers fold prior to seventh NCHL season

They hope to return to action in the 2025-26 NCHL season
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(Photo by Red Deer Senior AA Rustlers/ Facebook)

The Red Deer Rustlers senior AA hockey team abruptly folded before the 2024-25 North Central Hockey League season.

With less than two weeks to go before the season opener, the organization cited financial support reasons as well as losing core players to the sudden end of the team.

"Playing senior hockey – a major component of that is sponsorship. With Innisfail being a new team in the league, we play out of Penhold, so some of our sponsorships are in that Innisfail area, so it dipped into our funds a little bit," said President of the Rustlers Jonny Li.

"Recruiting was a big issue as well. A lot of players come from the Calgary area who have ties and roots to Red Deer but Innisfail is a little bit closer... Other than that, everyone's a little bit tight on money, and it's been a bit difficult, too, with the Blackfalds Bulldogs being a major part of central Alberta now. A lot of companies are sponsoring them."

The Rustlers first joined the NCHL before the 2018-19 season but have a long history dating back to 1967 when they joined the Alberta Junior Hockey League to play Junior A hockey. They went on to play 19 seasons in the league where they won two Centennial Cup championships in 1971 and 1980.

At the beginning of the spring this year, the Innisfail Eagles joined the NCHL after leaving the senior AAA Chinook Hockey League. The long-time franchise made an effort to remain a senior AAA team but couldn't find a league to join. Without the opportunity presented by the NCHL, the Eagles would have had to shutter the team.

Li explained that the Eagles joining the NCHL was a contributing factor to the Rustlers' folding but not the only reason.

"When another town or city is 10 minutes away they have a long-lasting tradition, history, and many people who have played there before. It makes it a little bit more difficult," he said.

"With playing senior hockey, guys accept jobs in different roles in different cities and towns... It is a working man's league, so when a job or family calls, you attend to that first before hockey.

"It's an unfortunate decision, but if you're not going to put the proper product on the ice, it's not fair to the other teams in the league if you can't compete. It's better to cut ties earlier than halfway through the season."

The Rustlers had been one of the top teams in the NCHL over the last few years. 

Two years ago they lost in the Vanberg Cup Finals and last year fell in the semifinals after an 11-5 campaign that saw them win the President's Trophy.

"In the six years, we've been competitive every single year. For a new team to come into the league and have the success that we did it only progressed from there," Li said.

"We represented the logo, the name, and the brand at a top-notch level. That's the reason why if we can't put a quality team on the ice we don't really want to tarnish the name as well."

The expectation is to try and get the team back up and running for the 2025-26 season in the NCHL. 

The league posted a statement on its website regarding the team's decision to fold saying it was unexpected.

"The Red Deer Rustlers dropped a bomb on the NCHL on [Sept. 17] when they informed the league executive of their unexpected plans to fold prior to the season's opener in 2 weeks. There had been some rumblings that the Rustlers had some problems, yet there was no indication at the league's fall meeting back on September 8th," they wrote.

"The main reasons given for their sudden demise were due to financial support and the loss of their core players. The letter goes on to state that they would plan to apply to re-enter the league next season. 

"Other than dropping the Rustler's games, there will be no changes to the schedule. The teams will now play a 16-game regular season with the top 8 teams qualifiying for the playoffs."