By Lyonel Doherty, Times Chronicle

Al and his bananas.

We’ll get to that later, but first, Old Timers’ hockey legend Al Brandt from Osoyoos may have shed a tear (despite his tough persona) upon seeing the memorial that his buddies erected in the dressing room in the Oliver Arena last Friday. 

His revered jersey hung from his hook in the exact place where he used to put his hockey gear on every Friday morning. A framed photo of him rested below the jersey, and at the base of that were four semi-green bananas.

Okay, what’s up with the bananas? 

Well, Al used to comment about his age, saying he was so old that he never bought green bananas because he never knew if he’d live long enough to eat them when they got ripe. 

Sadly, he won’t have to worry about that anymore since he passed away on April 18 this year. No doubt leaving some heavy hearts behind. He was 87.

Although Al may have been a legend in his own mind (laugh out loud), he was certainly a legend in everyone else’s in Old Timers’ hockey.

Friend and fellow player John Burns from Osoyoos said Al was their patriarch on the ice. He noted that Al would have been the oldest player in the Wine Capital hockey tournament in Oliver this year.

“The other thing he would do was stop to pick up a newspaper on his way home just to see if he was in it,” Burns chuckled.

Burns said Al played a lot of hockey when he lived in the Lower Mainland before moving to Osoyoos. 

“I was at the beginning of my Old Timers career when Al was near the end.”

Another player piped up, saying that Al was “literally on the ice.”

Burns clarified: “If he would fall, everything stopped, and everyone would go over and help him up.”

Yet another player interjected: “But what you’ve got to remember is when he fell, first thing he said was to tell (John) Nunes to “stay the hell away from me.” 

Nunes operates Nunes-Pottinger Funeral Service in Oliver.

“The guys would bug John that every time Al would fall, John came over with his tape measure,” Burns laughed.

Fellow players would also rib Al about being a sensitive person in the dressing room. “We used to always ask him to give us some sensitivity training.”

Al was a bit old school, Burns recalled, but he had a heart of gold.

“If you were a friend, you were a friend for life. If you were an enemy, you were probably an enemy for life. But he had more friends than he had enemies, for sure.”

A player in the background quipped that Al left school when he was 15, “but we think he got kicked out of school and told never to come back.” 

But Burns replied: “I don’t think it was 15, I think it was a little bit earlier than that.”

Being the youngest in the family,  Al was determined to prove himself by working as an underage driver for a trucking company. Little did the company know that he was only 14 when he began driving the Hope/Princeton Highway.

Al eventually went on to start his own hauling company, and according to Burns, he transported the beams used to support the Oliver Arena.

“He was bigger than life.”

Nobody will sit in his spot in their dressing room because it’s too sacred, Burns added.

While Al taught some good lessons to the team, his fellow players taught him some things too, such as how to swear in Portuguese.

His daughter Wendy was beside herself during last Friday’s memorial. 

“It (hockey) was his passion, and he’s here with us today, for sure.”

She admitted there are some big shoes to fill now that her dad is gone.

“He was a tough guy, he had a tough shell, but inside he was such a softie and made many friends everywhere he went.”

She recalled that Al had such big hands that sometimes people would initially back away when he offered a handshake. People got lost in those hands, but they were safe and warm.

Wendy said hockey was one of the last activities he did before he became sick.

“He finally got some new skates, which is something he hadn’t bought for years.”

Wendy recalled that her dad always looked in The Province newspaper and said, “I’m not in the obituaries yet.”

Well, it finally happened, and while that brought great sadness, it also brought great love for the memories he left behind.