Santa and Bubba join Junior Hockey Junkies at Memorial Cup

Fans watching the Memorial Cup tournament may have seen Santa walking around the WFCU Centre with his buddy Bubba.

• Windsor buzzing as Spitfires head into Memorial Cup final

• Spitfires head straight to Memorial Cup final with win over Otters

Kim "Santa" Thomas and his pal Dave "Bubba" Gorsline are just two of the Junior Hockey Junkies, a group of hockey fanatics who follow the tournament wherever it goes.

"This is my 19th consecutive (Memorial Cup)," explainedThomas. "I started going in 1999 when the Calgary Hitmen were in it and we had such a great time there we booked for 2000 and it's just rolled on since then."

Each year the Canadian Hockey League, which organizes the tournament, sets aside 100 ticket packages for the groupof about 200 members, according to Thomas.

Gorsline said many of the junkies started as big time CFL fans making pilgrimages to the Grey Cupbut quickly realized they would get to take in even more gamesby heading to the hockey tournament.

"Now you've got a hockey game each night instead of a three or four day party and one football game," he said. "I got addicted."

The group came to Windsor a few days before the Memorial Cup kicked off and have already watched a Detroit Tigers game and toured Joe Louis Arena.

For the love of the game

"If you don't have fun at the Memorial Cup it's your own fault," said Thomas, adding he loves that junior hockey is more affordable than watching the professionals play.

"Here for $100-$150 you can get a good seat and these are our future NHL stars," he said. "We watch as they progress and now when we watch the NHL you say 'Oh I saw that guy in Rimouski or this guy in Brandon.'"

For Gorsline, it's all about the game and watching players learn.

"I think it's the love of hockey," he said."You can put me in a rink with Timbits players and I'll spend a whole Saturday morning. I won't know a person there, but I just love the game."