High school hockey’s best get their due

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2012 (4892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Famer Ed Belfour would be pleased that the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association hockey awards given in his name to the best male and female players in Manitoba were handed out by his old Carman Collegiate principal Frank McKinnon on May 14.

Liam Bilton of the city and provincial champions St. Paul’s Crusaders received the male award while high-scoring Jessica Kaminsky of Fort Richmond Collegiate was the first winner of the new female Belfour Award. Bilton, a league and provincial all-star, was the Crusaders’ leading scorer  and the MVP in the city championship. He plans to play NCAA hockey in the future. Kaminsky, the MVP of the all-star game, will attend Union College in the fall.

Winnipeg Free Press sportswriter Ashley Prest was on hand at the awards but wasn’t carrying her notebook. She came to watch her daughter, Beverley Lunney of the Garden City Fighting Gophers, receive one of two $1,000 scholarships presented by the Winnipeg Jets Alumni and Friends to a male and female player demonstrating on-ice, school and community leadership skills. Her father Doug Lunney, a former sportswriter and junior hockey goaltender and a current Winnipeg Sun columnist, also was in attendance.

Tieler Fenning Cox of the provincial AA champion Neepawa Tigers was the male winner. Former Jets Jordy Douglas, whose son Scott was the captain of the Kelvin High School team this past season, and Mike Ford made the presentations.

The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame sponsors two $1,000 awards. The Sami Jo Small Award for an outstanding female player was presented to Kelvin captain Devyn McFadyen, who was the team’s top scorer and hardest-working player. The Ken (Friar) Nicolson Award, named in memory of the broadcaster who was a strong supporter of high school hockey, went to Marc-Andre Simard of Ecole/College Gabrielle-Roy in Iles-des-Chenes. He was the Cavaliers’ assistant captain and an all-star. Simard also received an Alexander Josephson Memorial Scholarship that is given in the name of a St.John’s-Ravenscourt player killed in a traffic accident in 2005.

Taylor Morriseau of Dakota Collegiate was the female Josephson winner. The $2,000 scholarships go to players proceeding to post-secondary education who combined strong leadership with high scholastic standing. St. Mary’s Academy captain Megan Porath received the $500 D’Arcy Bain/Fred Stevenson Scholarship.

If there is one thing the award winners have in common it must be time management. They are all good students and involved with their schools and communities. Lunney volunteers at Winnipeg Harvest and Siloam Mission, Cox plays five other sports, McFayden coached at the junior high level and volunteered with CancerCare, Simard is active with Folklorama and Meals on Wheels, Porath serves on the athletic council and the campus ministry group, Morriseau is an accomplished pianist and a 94% student, Kaminsky also carries a 90% average, and Bilton is involved in the school retreat and three other sports.

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Since 2006, the program Basketball for Inner City Kids, has distributed more than 2,000 basketballs to kids in Winnipeg’s inner city. The basketballs went to graduating Grade 6 students at Dufferin, Fort Rouge, John M. King, King Edward, Machray, Mulvey, Norquay, Pinkham, Sister McNamara, Strathcona, Victoria-Albert and Wellington elementary schools.

For the past four years, basketballs also were given to kids playing in the Carl Ridd Memorial Basketball League at Rossbrook House. We can imagine how pleased Carl would be to know that is happening. Nets have also been placed on many hoops at inner city playgrounds. For as little as a $10 donation you can help buy a basketball and net and you will be entered in a draw on June 15 for some basketball-related prizes. The program volunteers are also looking for people who can help out in a variety of activities. For more information visit basketballsforinnercitykids.com or email basketballs@mts.net.

Siloam Mission is holding a basketball skills competition on May 26 at St. John’s-Ravenscourt.

The entry fee is $20 and participants will compete in a three-point shootout and a point guard skills contest. For another five bucks, individuals will get a shot at the grand prize of $100 plus half of the grand prize entry fees. Siloam wants you to test your basketball skills by helping Winnipeg’s less fortunate.

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Murray Allen, Brian Coughlin and Mike Gottfred have been appointed new directors of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame Inc. Allen is a retired Winnipeg police officer who is a past-president of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League as well as a former coach.

Coughlin, the vice-president of business development for Cardinal Finance, played in the SJHL, the WHL and at the University of Manitoba. Gottfred, the head professional at Kingswood Golf Club, is a statistician at Winnipeg Jets games and has been active in hockey in communities where he has been the golf pro.

Retired referee and long-time board member Don Kuryk is the new vice-president replacing the late Jerry Kruk. Gary Cribbs will continue to serve as president. John Jameson, whose expertise has been very valuable in the development of the HOF’s web site, has been appointed as an associate director.

In addition to its major exhibit in the MTS Centre, the Hockey HOF has added a display of its memorabilia on the second floor of the MTS Iceplex… Hockey Winnipeg has appointed Monte Miller as its new executive director replacing the late Dianne Woods. Don McIntosh remains as president for 2012-13.