A Scarborough-based men's recreational hockey team that has remained mostly intact since the 1970s when its members skated under the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus banner has earned a berth in the North American Adult Safe Hockey League championships.

The North American championships take place in San Jose, California next spring.

The 40-and-over squad, which at one time included slain Toronto police officer and Scarborough native Bill Hancox, met an Oakville team recently in the adult league final after a solid regular season performance.

Despite being short-benched for the first game of the two-game Eastern Regional Championship series, Oakville was no match for the Scarborough Cancord Capital squad.

The Scarborough team Oakville 4-2 and 4-1 enroute to Canlan Ice A Division crown.

"Let's just say we're a pretty good team for 40-and-over," said John Lyon, who played with the team in its infancy and returned in 2004.

The first game saw just six skaters lace up for the winning home side, he said.

"We've done well in the past, but surprisingly enough we haven't won any championships (in recent memory)," said Lyon, a former North York Rangers Jr. A product, drafted by the Ontario Hockey League Windsor Spitfires in the early 1980s.

It's the team chemistry and the atmosphere in the dressing room, he said, that helped make this team a champion.

"There's no yelling or moaning if someone makes a bad play," he said. "They are all gentlemanly players."

The core of the team - many of whom began skating with and against each other within the Scarborough Hockey Association (SHA) and the former Metro Toronto Hockey League (MTHL) and continued on to Jr. A and Jr. B - goes back to 1981, explained founding member Rick Wagner.

Seven original members from the 1981 U of T Scarboroough team - 12 of whom had previously played in the SHA and MTHL - remain with the Cancord Capital squad.

"It's more about the enduring friendships and networks that have been created for over 25 years," said Wagner, than it is about winning championships.

"As with most teams, it's the post-game activities in the sanctuary of the dressing room that tend to be what we all look forward to most. And the stories never get old... just bigger and better."

Now that the regional championship is in the bag and Concord Capital is headed for California to face off against the top Canlan men's teams on the continent, the team is working on its fundraising game plan for the trip.

As a result of winning the title this year, the team earns $2,500 from the league to help absorb some of the travel cost.

A golf tournament fundraiser, an NFL Superbowl pool and a dinner-dance are a few of the ideas the team has come up with, according to Lyon, but nothing is finalized at this point.

Members of the Concord Capital team include Chris O'Brien, Rick Wagner, Jim Stoddart, Mark and Scott Porter, Randy Goudie, Doug Doucette, James Doma, Mark Gylys, Bruce Collict, Paul DeLaurentis, John Lyon, Alan Paul, Rick Wiebe.