Forty years ago, when the Thompson Hawks all-star Tom Thumb A team and the Transcona Vikings faced off for the Tom Thumb provincial championship in a two-game, total-points series on Monday, April 12, Donald Munn, assistant general manager of the Manitoba division of Inco, was there to present the Viking with the trophy named in his honour, after they prevailed over Thompson by an aggregate score of 8-7, by way of a 5-5 tie in the morning and a 3-2 win that decided the championship at 7 p.m.

This April 4, one team will claim that trophy again, in the 40th anniversary year of the tournament.

Things have changed since then - they're known as atom players these days, not Tom Thumbs, and the tournament no longer serves as the provincial championship tournament for the age group, and the final is one game for all the marbles, on Easter proper, rather than the Monday. But the Munn Cup remains a Thompson tradition that many long-time residents still remember fondly.

Grant Kreuger, now the technical vocational vice-principal at R.D. Parker Collegiate, was not on the Hawks team that lost the championship to the Vikings in the Munn Cup's first year. But he was on the B team, which won the first game of the tournament against Churchill 8-1, with Kreuger scoring one of Thompson's goals.

"It is indeed my claim to fame," remembers Kreuger. "A pass from Kris Kjolberg, I think, went off the back boards and deflected right to me and before the goalie could make a move to cover the angle I simply pushed it over the line."

Twenty-five years later, Kreuger's son was also a part of the tournament.

"It's always been a part of our community and I look forward to it each year," said Kreuger.

It just might not always be on Easter in the future.

"There have been some conversations around moving the date of Munn Cup," explains TMHA president Bruce Bodie. "However, there has not been a serious proposal brought to the TMHA Board regarding this. Norman region had a concern regarding the date as several Norman teams complained about the late Easter date last year. Provincials for most teams is around the second weekend of March and some teams are not interested in bringing their teams to Thompson into April. I would suspect that this issue will resurface on an annual basis and some decision will have to be made in the future depending on how many teams want to attend this tournament."

Les Szeremley, Munn Cup director, says part of the objection to the Easter weekend stems from practical concerns.

"Apparently, most rinks remove their ice after provincials," he explained. "Last year, Flin Flon refused to come and were told by Norman that if they did not come here, the players and the coaches would not get travel permission the following season. All the other communities I spoke with would welcome a change. Some people in Thompson thinks the date needs to change, while others vehemently disagree."

Knowing that no decision will be mad by this year's committee, Szeremley says they have instead devoted their attention to making this year's Munn Cup one to remember.

"People are excited about the 40th and are eager to make it a great time for the kids," he said. "This year we're having a skills competition that we haven't had for awhile as well as the possibility of a pizza shootout at the end of each game played on day one. On the advice of the men's hockey team that has done the work for years, we are going to change the pancake breakfast to a hot dog lunch as they told us the breakfast was poorly attended and they felt not enough kids were able to come and mingle and meet, which is the point of Munn Cup. The skills competition will probably precede fun night on Friday and the kids will be able to hang out together then also."

There will also be a little something for the adults.

"The alumni game will be April 1 and plans are to have a beer garden again this year," said Szeremley. "There has been a lot of interest and there will likely be more players than we know what to do with, but we'll try to make it interesting. Of course, the adult social on Saturday night will be a popular thing as always. All are invited to join in on the skits."