Congratulations to all Listowel Minor Hockey teams, on a successful hockey season.
Success is/can be measured in many, many ways - meeting new friends, bonding as a team, improving your skills over the year, your team’s improvement over the year – allowing less goals against, scoring more for, taking less penalties, learning how to play a system together, etc., winning a tournament, more team wins than losses, etc. creating relationships and memories that will last forever…
Hopefully you and your team feel they were successful in multiple ways, this past season.
The ultimate goal/s of any minor sports organization is to provide cost effective play, which allows children/young men & woman the opportunity to be part of team.
We need to provide a safe environment and allow young people to grow. And of course, allow them all to have FUN.
Through the course of the year, it may be a target to achieve, but it is next to impossible to have everyone happy all the time. Conflicts over best practices, ideals or opinions/interpretations on what is fair, are always going to be a reality. Please continue to ensure we all use the 24 Hour Rule, be the better person, be considerate and consider the consequences. Continue to talk things through and work together to eliminate issues.
We all did a great job minimizing issues this past year. Thank you.
Players, Coaches, Referees, Parents & Executive are all going to make mistakes throughout the season. Hopefully everyone learns from these mistakes, gains experience & knowledge and forge on to make the next situation/year better.
Please be mindful that coaching staffs are volunteers, executive members are volunteers, and even though paid for their services, referees are volunteering. If you have an opportunity, please take the time to thank them for their efforts.
I’d like to thank all the volunteers for their time and effort this past year. Without you, the game cannot go on.
We are a growing organization, numbers increasing each year, having the most teams this past season – 18 plus Tyke and Mite.
With an active executive group and a new arena coming next year, we feel our organization will sustain itself and perhaps continue to grow.
This being said, our organization/executive is open to suggestions and/or opportunities. If you have any ideas, feedback, think something should change, think something can be improved, etc. please let me or another executive member know.
If you are interested in joining the executive in any capacity, please let me know.
Lastly, congratulations to the Juvenile team – OMHA BB-B Champions. This is a great feat for a first year / returning to competition team. All year the players came out to play hockey, with contributions coming in many different ways. The team is especially proud to bring one last OMHA championship to the old Listowel Memorial Arena.
As a member of the team, I’d like to share a great hockey story, something that helps support/explain why Canadians are so engaged in their hockey, something that was not played out on the ice.
The Juveniles went to the Silver Stick tournament held in Mooretown, in early January. As part of the tournament set up, an Atom aged player is assigned to each team, as a “runner”. The runner hangs out with the team, goes to the booth to get players a drink or food, fills up the water bottles, etc., watches the game beside the bench, and wears one of the team’s extra jerseys.
Garry was the Listowel runner, a goalie for the Mooretown Atom Reps. Garry immediately hit it off with the guys. He liked being there, and our guys liked having him around. Before the 2nd game we presented him with a LMHA toque. Before the 3rd game he presented the team with a container of home-made cookies.
As disappointed as the players were for losing out in the semi-finals, Garry was part of the team.
As luck would have it, Listowel played Mooretown in the OMHA playoffs, we received an email from Garry’s parents, wondering if he could hang out with the team. The response was without a doubt “yes…as long as he brings some cookies.”
For the next series against South Kent the family made the 1 hour & 10 minute trek to Ridgetown. It was there we got to meet younger sister Ainslie – also a goalie for the Novice AE team, who was interested in wearing a Listowel jersey, and helping Garry cheer on the Cyclones.
The family made two 2 hour trips to Ayr, and a 2 hour & 20 minute trip to Listowel last Sunday for game 5, to be part of the championship. Garry and Ainsley are wearing the red jerseys, in the team picture.
The team would like to say a huge thank-you to Garry, and to Ainsley and youngest brother Drew. As important, thanks to the Bennett parents for their support and understanding toward something that meant so much to their son Garry, allowing him an experience that impacted us all.
Plans are already in the works for next year’s Silver Stick, when we can start this all over again.
Corey McKee
Listowel Minor Hockey
President
519-418-1230
[email protected]