Father and son travelled from Newfoundland to watch the Allan Cup in Steinbach. Dean Brake (second from the left) and Evan Penton (third from left) with players from the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts team.

A father and son have made the 4,300 kilometre trip from Newfoundland to watch the Allan Cup in Steinbach.

Dean Brake says they arrived at the Winnipeg Airport Monday morning at 10:30 and have tickets to all 11 games this week, although they are cheering for their home team, the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts.

"We just love our local hockey team and it's a great past time," notes Brake. "We love the game and love our team. I think we have a good chance of [winning] it."

Brake's son Evan Penton notes he was raised as a hockey fan and, together with his dad, has been watching the Cataracts games all around the island for the past six to eight years and coming to Steinbach is the farthest they have ever traveled to support the team. 

"We took a week off last year to attend the Allan Cup in Clarenville, Newfoundland," says Penton. "This particular Cataracts team, we watched last week. They played against New Brunswick. So about every year we watch the Cataracts team at home and follow them on the road in Newfoundland."

This is their first time visiting Steinbach and they say their first impression is a beautiful community with friendly people. Penton adds traveling around with his dad and attending hockey games has been a good father-son bonding time. He notes they have talked and will be saving to attend next year's Allan Cup in New Brunswick.

"They're not going to give up," says Penton, referring to all six teams in the championship. "So far, from what we've seen, every team has been that way. They're willing to play as hard as they can, the full 60 minutes and they're not going to take anything for granted."

As for the team name, Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts; Grand Falls-Windsor is the city the team comes from, and the definition of the word 'cataracts', besides being a medical condition of the eye, is also 'a large waterfall' for which the city Grand Falls was named after. In 1768 John Cartwright followed the Exploits River to find a waterfall and named it Grand Falls, though the town would only be established 137 years later in 1905 to start Newfoundland's first pulp and paper mill.