Meteors rally community spirit at Crystal Beach Supper Market ahead of new season

Even though the Fort Erie Meteors hadn’t won a championship in more than 40 years before they took home the Golden Horseshoe conference trophy last season, there is “unfinished business” that remains.

That’s according to Nik Passero, general manager and head coach of the team, referring to his squad defeating the Caledonia Corvairs in a dramatic seven-game finals before falling short in the Sutherland Cup, the top prize in Junior B hockey in Ontario.

The Meteors begin their 2024-25 regular season on September 14 at home against the Caledon Bombers. There will be a pre-game celebration from 12 to 3 p.m., a tailgate event at the Leisureplex.

The Meteors were established in 1957 and the last time they hoisted a championship trophy was in 1979 when they won the Niagara District Hockey League title.

They made it to the finals in 1991 but hadn’t had that type of success until they won the organization’s first Golden Horseshoe championship earlier this year.

Passero is a former player who is joined on the bench by his brother Anthony, associate head coach and also a former player.

The team’s league title is bittersweet for them, as well as for their sister Meaghan and mother Cheryl, who are also very involved with the team and off-ice responsibilities.

They can’t help but think of their father Tony who owned, coached and managed the team since the mid-1980s and was a member of the championship group from 1979.

“I think he’d be proud of us, knowing how hard we work,” said Nik in an interview with Fort Erie Radio.

During the late stretch of the 2023-24 regular season and their deep playoff run all the way to victory, home games at the Leisureplex averaged about 2,000 fans in the stands.

That’s why making an appearance at the final night of the Crystal Beach Supper Market on Thursday, talking to young fans and members of the community and showing them the Golden Horseshoe trophy, is important.

“These kids are rockstars,” said Passero, adding that returning players “got a taste in their mouth of what Fort Erie is like when we win.”

Tyson Zimmerman is a rookie defenceman, age 17, whose grandfather Lynn Zimmerman Sr., uncle Lynn Zimmerman Jr., and father Dale Zimmerman all laced up in the orange, black and white in their young hockey careers.

He is one of six Fort Erie kids on the roster currently.

“It’s great to play for the local team,” he said on Thursday.

Captain Rylan Masterson is about to enter his fourth season with the Meteors, surpassing the 100-game mark last season.

He also said there is more work to be done and that the team will “aim higher” when the season begins in a couple of weeks.

“We want the whole thing this year,” he said.

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