A piece of Morden hockey history back at home

A piece of history has returned to Morden thanks to former resident David Rabinovitch. The Tip Top Trophy was given to General Manager of the Morden Bombers Mark Thiessen and his brother Andy recently, by the son of Milton Rabinovitch who had a clothing business, later named Tip Top Clothing, in Morden dating back to the 1920's.  

In a written statement, Rabinovitch described the circumstances in which the trophy was awarded to the Morden Blackhawks team.  

"As inscribed, it was presented to the Morden Hockey Club for winning the Southern Manitoba Championship. This may have been in1939." 

He recalled how he found the piece of history. 

"In 1997, my father sold the building on Stephen Street in Morden where he had operated Rabinovitch Bros. Clothing and Footwear since 1927. The trophy surfaced when we were cleaning out 70 years of accumulation in the apartment over the store."  

Thiessen recalls his own history with Tip Top Clothing, which closed in the late 1990s. He had a chance to walk down memory lane with Rabinovitch. 

"I got my grad tuxedo in that store, and actually, Andy, my brother said the same thing. He graduated five years earlier than I did. I remember Ramsey Monaghan was the guy who ran the store, and David talked about Ramsey as kind of his second father. So, they're really close friends to the family. He would always go into the store once in a while and Ramsey would be in there. So, that's kind of what I remember of that store on Main Street here in Morden." 

Thiessen was thrilled to accept the trophy on behalf of the Morden Bombers.  

"As far as I know, Morden has always had a hockey team. I don't go back way, way back into the 30s or anything like that. So, when he brought this trophy to us to see that there was a team in the 30s, I thought that was kind of incredible actually. And to see the picture he had along with the trophy, it was just quite historic how it evolved."  

Thiessen did the math calculating he has been involved in Morden Hockey for approximately 50 years as a player, coach and now GM for the now Morden Bombers. 

He plans to preserve the history.

"It was a great conversation talking about the stuff he knew from way back when and what his dad had told him about this trophy and so on. So, we graciously took it and I said we're going to have a trophy case somewhere in the arena at some point. So, we're going to put this trophy in there.  It's from the 30s, it's an old, old trophy and it's really awesome, actually. And the shape that it's in, considering how old it is, is very nice."  

1935-36 Morden Blackhawks Team picture

He shared some of the team's reactions to the newly found treasure.  

"When I showed it to some of our other executive members, some knew some of the names from before and yeah, like the Crams and Sandercocks. These names in this area are very prevalent. So, it has lots and lots of history with all that."  

Rabinovitch shared his hopes for the gift given back to the community in which he grew up. 

"It was great to connect with Andy and Mark Thiessen. I'm confident the Tip Top Trophy will have a good steward, and I hope it inspires the players on the Morden Bombers today."