On Thursday, April 1st, the Radville Minor Hockey program held their windup at the Radville Recreation Centre. The amateur athletes and their parents gathered at 7:00 p.m. and the awards that had been earned throughout the hockey year were awarded.
The awards presented are done in conjunction with Esso Imperial Oil. Each year Esso makes available certificates of achievements and medals of achievements for most dedicated, most sportsmanlike and most improved. The goal of their hockey support program is not to necessarily award the best players but instead, it recognizes players who contribute to the game of hockey through dedication, effort and fair play. By rewarding these qualities, they hope to go beyond hockey, to build champions in life.
The first recipients of the evening were the Initiation players who each received a medal and an Esso Medal Certificate of Achievement.
The evening then continued with each of the other teams being recognized and the recipients of the Esso Medal of Achievements being called upon to accept their award.
Novice 1 the awards were presented to: Most Dedicated – Tyler Weber; Most Improved – Conor Henheffer, and Most Sportsmanlike – Reis Galarneau.
Novice 2 those recognized were: Most Dedicated – Hudson Schmidt; Most Improved – Kolton Love, and Most Sportsmanlike – Haley Labbie.
The Atom team had a very successful year and finished second in the league, losing in the league finals to Bengough. Awards were presented to: Most Dedicated – Kirsten Perras; Most Improved – Wyatt Hoimyr; and Most Sportsmanlike – Vanessa Cherpin.
The Pee Wee Team was next. Most Dedicated was presented to Rhett Labbie; Most Improved to Joshua Doll and Most Sportsmanlike to Austin Tiszauer. As well as the individual awards to this team they were also presented with the South East League Championship Banner for winning the Pee Wee Division this year.
Bantam awards went to: Most Dedicated – Ian Labbie; Most Improved – Willie Nyhus; and Most Sportsmanlike – Brendan Loewen.
At this time, the Labelle Memorial Award was presented by Coach Dave Bourassa to this year’s recipient, Drew Bourassa.
Continuing on with the team presentations the Midgets were next in line. Most Dedicated – Kyle Ashworth; Most Improved – Mervyn Pederson; and Most Sportsmanlike – Mitchell Ferguson. As well as the Esso Medals of Achievements the midgets have an additional award. That is the David Bolton Memorial Award and which was presented to Cole Wallin by Linda Bolton.
To finish off the player awards Matthew Bourassa was presented with the Trent Bouchard Memorial Award by coach Randy Bourassa.
Next it was time to recognize the coaches. Each year many individuals give of their time and knowledge to these young athletes, teaching them the skills of hockey and the importance of team and fair play. This year the Coaches of The Year went to Keith Fradette and Kurt Fiechter.
Another group of individuals who are a necessary and very important part of the Radville Minor Hockey program are the officials. These officials spend many hours at the rink to make the hockey program a success. In recognition of the time they spend and to show the appreciation of the players, each official was presented with a cheque and a gift from the Radville Minor Hockey Association.
This concluded the awards portion of the evening. At this time everyone was thanked for coming and coffee, juice and donuts were enjoyed.
Once again, the Radville Minor Hockey enjoyed a very successful year and gave the opportunity to many young athletes to follow their dreams.
