SPORTS FLASHBACK 1971: Steinbach Collegiate Institute stars shine with Portage Terriers

A pair of Steinbach Collegiate Institute (SCI) teammates who were instrumental in their school’s provincial high school hockey championship victory earlier this year caught the eye of Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) scouts, and Ralph Krentz and Randy Penner have been reunited with the Portage Terriers this season.

Krentz and Penner have been piling up the points with the Terriers early in the 1971-72 MJHL season and last week Krentz was named “Terrier of the Week.”

Profiled in the Terrier’s program 17-year-old defenceman Krentz is called one of the brightest additions to the team this season.

“His hard-working style and slick puck-handling has not only delighted fans, but also pleased Terriers Coach Ron McEachern,” the profile reads.

The program article goes on to say that while Krentz is a top student, he still finds time to get in all the extra practice time possible. He works out regularly by himself during the day, whenever he is free of classes and the ice at Portage Arena is available.

Apparently Krentz has been disturbed by his lack of goals compared to what he considered many splendid scoring chances.

According to the November 26 program, Ralph is not as interested in getting a university degree as he is in playing professional hockey. Perhaps his thinking will change, as he has displayed the ability to improve his hockey skills while still doing well in school.

Ralph’s points are really adding up since he was recently reunited with his former SCI teammate, Randy Penner. In their first two games together, Penner scored three goals and added three assists, and Ralph picked up a goal and three assists.

Penner and Krentz played over 50 games together last season with the provincial champion SCI hockey team.

The Terriers program suggested that Ralph had stayed in shape during the summer working with his father in building construction. Roy and Lena Krentz have become avid Portage hockey fans ever since Ralph’s father was instrumental in the construction of the Steinbach Arena and was asked to participate in the opening ceremonies in 1967. Ralph’s parents and his two younger, hockey playing brothers have been attending most Terriers home games and several of the games Portage has played in Winnipeg.

It was expected that Ralph’s tenacious checking and penalty-killing ability, which complimented his stickhandling, would improve his scoring points total as the season wore on.

The writer of the program article proved to be prophetic, for by the end of the season Ralph had notched 18 goals and added 30 assists in 48 games, and was named Portage Terriers most valuable player for the season.

Randy Penner moved on to the Brandon Wheat Kings midway through the 1971-71 season, after scoring 17 goals and adding 17 assists in 23 games with the Terriers.

At the beginning of the 1972-73 season, Krentz and Penner switched teams, with Ralph going to Brandon and Randy returning to Portage la Prairie, where he amassed 86 points in 48 games, scoring 46 goals, and assisting on 40 others, while spending 107 minutes in the penalty box.

In two seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Krentz scored 28 goals and assisted on 56 more, while serving just 18 minutes in penalties. He was drafted in the 11th round of the 1974 NHL amateur draft by the New York Rangers.

Both Ralph Krentz and Randy Penner returned home to play for the Steinbach Huskies in the Central Amateur Senior Hockey League for the 1977-78 season.