It's been more than 100 years since John Thomas Bradley first created the Bradley Cup in a challenge between his hometown Navan hockey team and a team from Vars. Navan won the game 1-0 in overtime and so started a tradition that has carried on through the decades and created a century of memories.

Bradley Cup old-timers Basil McFadden (left) and Bob Burns prepare to drop the ceremonial first puck before the start of the alumni game at the Navan Memorial Arena on March 30 FRED SHERWIN PHOTO

Bob Burns played in goal when Navan won the Cup in 1948 and 1952. He also played for Sarsfield in 1953 while the second Navan Arena was being built and the Navan players were farmed out to the other teams for one season.

"It was pretty competitive back then. We had quite a few scraps,� recalled Burns before going behind the bench to coach one of the alumni teams at this year's Bradley Cup tournament in Navan over the weekend. "It was good fun and if you won you got to be a hero for a couple of hours.�

Back in the day, the after-party was just as big a deal as the actual game, especially for the Navan boys. Cumberland was a dry municipality, so the watering hole of choice was the Sarsfield Hotel.

"We used to like playing Sunday afternoons in Sarsfield because it was the only place you could get a drink,� says Burns.

Garret Lowe coached a series of Navan teams through the '60s and into the '70s. He recalls the games were all highly competitive especially when they played their local rivals from Cumberland.

" It wasn't just the guys who got into it," recalls Lowe. "I remember one game, one of our players got into a dust-up with another guy and he was losing pretty bad when his wife jumped over the boards, grabbed her husband's stick and chased the other guy down the ice with it.�

There were no such shenanigans at this year's tournament, but the action was still pretty intense as six teams from Orléans, Navan, Cumberland, Vars, Sarsfield and Embrun vied for the old trophy.

In the end, it was the boys from Orléans who successfully defended their title, beating Sarsfield 2-1 in a shootout with Mike De Lisio scoring both the game-tying goal and the shootout winner.

One of the most memorable moments of this year's tournament was when honourary chair Liam Burke � who is visiting from Navan, Ireland � got to suit up for one of the alumni teams using borrowed equipment and got to play several shifts.

"Oh, it was a real treat,� said Burke, who used to play hockey in his native Ireland eight years ago. "When I decided to come over I wanted to participate in everything, so to actually play in the Bradley Cup was terrific.�

This year's tournament managed to raise over $8,000 for the Hannah Billings Fund, created in honour of Hannah Billings who passed away in 2007 at the age of 10 after battling cancer.

(L to r) Yannick Laflamme, Max Pilon, Randy Peters, Blaine Hoshizaki and Will Boyer (centre with cup) celebrate after winning this years Bradley Cup. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)