The Avonlea Arrows Hockey Club held their annual windup banquet and NHL playoff draft in the Avonlea Community Hall on Saturday, April 17th with 135 people in attendance for the supper.
The Arrows, who play in the Highway Hockey league, were defending league champs in 2009-2010 but lost out to Raymore in the league semi finals this year. It was a tough series, going to game 5 in the best of 5 playoff but the Arrows had lost 3 of their top forwards due to injuries and didn’t have the offence needed to get past Raymore.
Coach/manager Rob Sillers spoke at the banquet, introducing the players and talked about looking forward to next season and regaining the league championship. He also presented the player awards; James Ardelan, leading scorer; Sean Miller, top defenceman; Sean Miller, the Heart and Hustle trophy and Justin Mrazek, the most valuable player award. The weekend before, at the Highway Hockey League awards night, Justin also received the league MVP trophy and first team allstar. This is the second straight year that Justin has won both these league awards. Mrazek, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in round 8, #230 overall in the 2004 NHL entry draft, played his junior in Estevan and 4 years of NCAA college hockey in New York State. Luckily for the Arrows he opted for a career as a professional engineer in Regina while still playing some hockey for recreation.
Jaret Nelson then spoke on behalf of the players and thanked Robbie for his time and dedication to the team. Jaret also thanked the volunteers, the fans and the sponsors that are all very necessary for a successful high performing team.
The NHL playoff draft took place after the banquet with auctioneer, Roy Rutledge, auctioning off 186 players. The bidding was very loud and boisterous with lots of competition to get the better players. You can follow the draft results on the internet. The website is statsupdate @pickuphockey.com. The pool name is Arrows and the password is 2010.
The evening then finished off with a large crowd in attendance at the cabaret. The Arrows would like to thank every one who supported the evening as it is a major fund raiser for the team.
