Ripley Minor Hockey players, coaches receive awards

By: Liz Dadson April 12, 2015 1997

Ripley Minor Hockey players, coaches receive awards

Players, coaches, parents, volunteers and the parents' auxiliary with Ripley Minor Hockey, were honoured, appreciated, and recognized for their achievements, at the awards banquet held Saturday night at the Ripley Complex.

The following players received most-improved awards:

Novice Rep. - Jaden Meyer
Novice Local League (LL) - Owen Farrell
Atom Rep. - Dean White
Atom LL - Brandon Holland
Peewee Rep. - Slade Twolan
Peewee LL - Parker Nicholson
Bantam - Shayne McCarthy
Juvenile - Tommy Harris

Memorial awards were presented as follows:

The Joel Miller Bursary went to Kenny Harris. The award recognizes a third-year Midget player who is going on to post-secondary education and has shown dedication to the athletics of the game while maintaining academic excellence.

The Tara Chatham Memorial award went to Allison Pope. The award recognizes a female player who demonstrates sportsmanship, dedication and a real love for the game. Kate's coach commented that "she worked hard and was a positive player all year. She was chosen to give her speech at the Legion on a day that we had a game. She did her speech, then raced to make it to the game instead of just skipping the game."

The Mark Henry Family award went to Matt Grobowski. This award recognizes a player who contributes beyond his own team commitments. Matt regularly assisted the Atom Local League team's first-year goalie between the pipes during team practices, and enjoyed the chance of "paying it forward" to Ripley Minor Hockey.

The John Hawrylyshyn award went to Troy Snobelen, Julie Twolan, Bill Rutledge, Mark Vollmer and Kenny Thompson of the Peewee Rep. team. The award recognizes the coaching staff that exhibits outstanding dedication, commitment, sportsmanship and positive contributions to minor hockey. This team's final playoff game in Ripley against Lucknow was end-to-end action. The parking lot was full, and the arena was standing-room only. And the fans were thrilled as the Ripley Novices won in overtime.

The Steven Taylor award went to Hart McFarlan. This award goes to the most sportsmanlike Bantam player.

The crowd was reminded that the Ripley Minor Hockey Annual General Meeting will be held June 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ripley Arena. There are executive positions open. Also, a reminder that the hockey registration deadline is May 15.