If any Kimberley Dynamiter deserves an article about his hockey career, it is Earl Betker. I used to say hi to a pleasant man walking in uptown Kimberley, who always had a smile on his face, and finally realized that it was the old Kimberley Dynamiter Goal keeper Earl Betker.

I saw Earl play goal for two seasons before he hung 'em up. What a superb goalie he was.

With a style that would be classified as stand up by todays standard, Earl was quick as a cat with his goal pads, and had great ability to get his toe on labelled shots just before they would go in. His glove hand wasnt too shabby either.

Besides being a five time all star at the goalie position, Mr Bettker was a W.LH.L. Most Valuable Player on one occasion. I called up Seth Martin, star goalie for the Trail Smoke Eaters, and a man who played against Earl Betker many times. Seth said Earl never seemed to give up a big rebound off of his pads, and rarely ever gave up a bad goal. Seth Martin by the way won a world championship with Trail Smoke Eaters ,was a starter in goal for Canada in the 1964 Winter Olympics, and played a season in the NHL (1968) for the St Louis Blues, where his goal against average was just over 2.25.

He said to me recently that Earl Betker was just an outstanding goalie for the Kimberley Dynamiters.

Betker led the WIHL in least goals allowed in 1955., just edging out Seth Martin.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Earl Betker was born and raised in Yorkton Saskatchewan. Hockey in the winter and baseball in summer ( he was a centre fielder). The first stop in Junior Hockey was Prince Albert for a year. The next season 1948-49 found Earl strapping on his goal pads for the Moose Jaw Canucks, where he played for two seasons.

The Chicogo Black Hawks trained in Regina. Their general manager brought young Earl Betker in and signed him to a contract for 75 bucks. As Earl mentioned to me, "My feet didnt touch the ground for two days after signing that contract".

Kamloops was putting a Senior A team together in 1949, for a run at the hallowed Allan Cup, and they brought in the Mellor brothers, Red and Buzzie, and Earl to be their goalkeeper.

The team won the Savage Cup, but were bounced out of the Allan Cup playoffs. Mr. Betker received a pro offer from a team in London England (Streatham) Earl sailed out of New York City on the Queen Elizabeth. Quite a thrill for a prairie boy from Yorkton Saskatchewan.

He was named to the All star team in the British League with Streatham. Mr. Betker greatly enjoyed his time in Britain, where hockey players were looked upon with great admiration, almost like royalty in a sense, a far cry of how hockey players were viewed in Canada in the 1950s.

Kimberley born Les Lilley, a goal scoring machine, also played in Great Britain during that time. Earl returned to England for a second season, this time with his bride Shirley (a Saskatchewan girl). They sailed from Halifax, but not before Earl went to see his friend Bill Durnan, the ambidextrous goalie from the Montreal Canadians, who was playing in a baseball game in summertime Montreal. Durnan was a fabulous goalie for the Habs.

Earl had another stand out season in goal for Streatham, and returned to Yorkton for a summer job with Scott National.

GOODBYE ENGLAND HELLO KIMBERLEY BC

Lyle Butch Swaney drove out to Yorkton to see Earl Betker in the Summer of 53 , to offer him a job with Cominco (an office job scheduling maintenance) and a tryout with the Kimberley Dynamiters (who brought four goalies into camp for a looksee).

Earl came to training camp in the autumn of 1953 and made the Dynamiters. All told he played 12 seasons here in Kimberley, and was named to the WIHL All Star Team five times and was the first string starting goalie all the time he played for the Dynamiters until he retired in 1965 and handed the job over to Bobby Wardle.

Earl Betker played all 12 seasons without a goalie mask and never had one on for any of the practices. so that would be 18 seasons of hockey during his illustrious career with out any protection to his face (a brave man indeed).

One memorable playoff series with the Nelson Maple Leafs in 1955, Earl tore his groin badly and had to leave the ice for 15 minutes to get a shot of freezing. The call went out in the rink for another goalie, but Seth Martin and Reno Zanier had just left the Nelson rink to drive back to Trail to get ready for dayshift the next morning. Against doctor's advice, Earl went back in the nets and held Nelson scoreless all through the over time period, until Larsen scored with 12 seconds left in OT to give the Dynamiters the win on enemy ice.

Betker did not play again that season due to the injury. Earl had two of the toughest, meanest defensemen who ever played for the Dynamiters. Their names struck fear into the hearts of the opposing teams, Terrible Ted Lebodia and Gordon Andre. Better known as Andre and Lebodia. Both had 200 minutes in penalties one season. No one ventured into the front of Earl Betker for very long with his two bruising defencemen out there. They were not just tough, but excellent players as well.

As any goalie will tell you, if they can see the shot they can usually stop it . Earl was a classic stand up goaler, while his successor Bob Wardle was an acrobatic type of goalie. Danny Sully Sullivan was a combination of both Earl and Wardle. Sully played pro in Virginia and played here with the Cranbrook Royals.

As he told me once you gotta do what you gotta do to stop the puck - glove, blocker, stick, pad, toe whatever it takes to keep the rubber out of the net. Danny was quite the amazing goalie. He would have watched and studied Earl while growing up here in Kimberley, studying Betkers technique. May as well learn from the best, and Earl Betker was real good at the goalie position for the Kimberley Dynamiters.

PERSONAL BIO

Shirley and Earl Betker had their three children, James, Lynn, and Lori all born here in Kimberley BC . Sadly Shirley Betker passed away in 1988 (with cancer). Earl never remarried. He was telling me the other day it was a hectic schedule for the hockey players and their families. Work day shift for CM & S, go home to grab a quick bite of food then head to the Civic Centre for practice just about every week night , and then be playing one home game and one road game on the weekend. By the time Earl would get home the kids would be in bed.

Earl and Shirley's children are grown up now with kids of their own. James lives in Calgary, he has Zophiyah and Kyarah. Daughter Lynn also lives in Cowtown, she has Aaron, Jordan, Kyle, and Graham. Lori resides in Medicine Hat with Stephen, Jaimie and Aggie. All of the grandchildren are active in sports, taking after their Grampa Earl who recently turned 83 .

I hope the grandkids have the opportunity to read this story about their Grandad Earl Betker and what he meant to the Kimberley Dynamiter Hockey Club during his career, and the City of Kimberley for his contributions as a citizen here.

He is still in great health I may add. Not flopping on the ice saved him a lot of aches and pains later in life. Earl is still a great baseball fan . we had to cut our phone call short the other day because the World Series was on.

Will Earl Bettker go down as one of the All Time great Dynamiter goaltenders? Absolutely he will. Maybe even the best who ever played the position, but Jakie Nash would give him a run for his money for sure. Underneath Earl Betkers sunny disposition lies a fierce competitor on the ice between the goal pipes. Away from the rink you would never know that Earl even played a sport , he is just so amiable and a true gentleman.

Earl is a class act. When Bill (Steener) Steenson was ill up at the Pines, Earl got up to see him just about every day until he passed away on June 14th of this year. That tells you what kind of person Mr Betker is. Goalies and their Defensemen have always been a tight group . I'm sure Steener bailed Earl out in games with a great play or two. Earl spoke highly of Steeners shot blocking ability, which he got to see close up and personal on the Dynamiters. Tiger Bill used to go down to block Harry Smiths shots who played for Trail, no one in the WIHL did that except Bill.

Earl Betker is just one of many great hockey players who stayed in Kimberley BC after their careers with the Senior A Dynamiter Hockey Club. You could not find a nicer fellow than Earl Betker.