KELOWNA JR. ROCKETS - WIN IT ALL IN GRAND FORKS:

Kelowna Midget Tier 4 Jr. Rockets went undefeated in the Grandforks Tier 4 tournament on the weekend.  After round robin play with Coeur d'Alene, Grandforks, Chase and Wenatchee, the Kelowna Tier 4 team rallied from a 2 all tie going into the third period to defeat Chase in a 5-2 victory in the final game of the tournament.  Despite a few injuries lightening the bench by the final game, the boys made a valiant effort to the finish!!

Well done Team!!

OUT OF THE POT AND INTO THE FIRE:

Kelowna Midget Tier 2 Goaltender Sam Bobyn thought he was just going to watch on Friday night as the Midget Tier 1 Fripp Warehousing Jr. Rockets faced the Notre Dame Argos in the feature game of the 33rd Annual Tim Horton's/Daily Courier Midget International Elite Tournament this past Friday evening.  As Sam sat in the stands with his Tier 2 teammates a series of events on the ice changed his view of the game.  Midget Tier 1 Goaltender, Brennan Claypoole was having a stellar game against the powerhouse Argos, he made an amazing stretch save and then found himself unable to move with an injury.  This forced the team's other goaltender Chris Turner into action.  Towards the end of the second period Chris was taken off his feet and landed hard on his back.  Chris battled thru to the end of the period clearly injured.  Between the second and third periods there was a  mad scramble to first get goaltender Sam Bobyn out of the stands and officially listed with the Midget Tier 1 team and then into the wet gear of Brennan Claypoole.  Sam led the Tier 1 Jr. Rockets out of the dressing room and got a 20 second warm up prior to being peppered with shots from the Argos.  In gear a size too big, wet and with little to no warm up Sam made some amazing saves in front of an extremely supportive crowd.  Sam defines the true spirit of our sport.  He was willing with no notice, no preparation and no gear to step up when he was needed and do his part to help out his Tier 1 counterparts when they desparately needed his services.  On behalf of everyone at Kelowna Minor Hockey Association we would like to say we are extremely proud of you Sam.  You are a true sport hero!!  Sam's selflessness was also acknowledged by his opponents at this matchup when the player who was awarded the Player of the Game award from the Argos, #9 Brody Jorgenson, proceeded to the Kelowna change room and gave Sam his MVP award!!

It is because of players of this character and level of respect for our game that hockey is such an amazing sport.  Congratulations Sam and Brody - true sport heros.



Photo courtesy of Shoot the Breeze Photography

ATOM DEVELOPMENT HURRICANS - TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS:
The Kelowna Atom Development Hurricanes won their second straight tournament this weekend in Enderby at the North OK “Shoot to Thrill” Tournament.  They won all three games in the round robin play.  The semi-final was played against the Vernon Venom with a final score of 8 – 0.  The Hurricanes then met the Vernon Wolfpack which kept the fans on the edge of their seats.  Hurricanes were down 0 -2 after the second period.  They came out with a quick goal in the third to close the gap.  The score remained the same until the 5:00 minute mark of the third period in which the Hurricanes scored a beauty to tie it up.  The game winner was then scored 14 seconds later.  The Hurricanes emerged as Tournament CHAMPIONS once again with a score of 3 -2.  Congratulations to ALL players and coaches!  Assistant Coach Shaun Tourigny summed it up beautifully as follows:

                                                First week of 2012, 10 Games, 9 wins, 1 loss.

                                                17 buckets of sweat, 300 wicked saves, 200 amazing passes!

                                                Two Gold Tournament Championships.

                                                17 kids jelling into 1 TEAM > PRICELESS.

Members of the team are as follows: Colby Mintram, Matthew Fulford, Jackson Van De Leest, Evan Worthing, Benn Krivoshen,  Cameron Dale, Kyler Tourigny, Jad Von Unruh, Justin Charlton, Remy Aquilon, Cameron Wilson, Riley Dobranski, Gauge Brown, Aiden Robson, Tanner Balkenhol, Cole Schwebius, Lucas Rachkowski.  Coached by Rod Charlton, Shaun Tourigny and Jeff Dale

33RD ANNUAL KELOWNA INTERNATIONAL ELITE MIDGET TOURNAMENT SET TO BEGIN:

Thanks to an amazing group of organizers the 33rd Annual Kelowna International Elite Midget Tournament starts tomorrow.  This tournament will feature some of the top Midget aged players from as far East as Ontario and into the United States.  Our own Fripp Warehousing Jr. Rockets will be battling for top spot in this elite tournament.  We ask that all KMHA players make every effort to attend the tournament and support our Kelowna team.  Players from Peewee and below are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a parent.  Tournament passes are available for all Bantam and Midget aged players and KMHA coaches at the KMHA office at Memorial Arena. 

For full tournament details please see the tournament website at www.kimmt.com

GO ROCKETS GO!!!!

FOOD BANK HAT TRICK

Kelowna Minor Hockey Association once again showed our community spirit and support in a huge way!  Our 7th Annual "Fill the Net With Food" drive was an outstanding success.  The Kelowna Community Food Bank got a hat trick on us this past week:

800 pounds of oranges,  over 6000 pounds of non perishable food and a whopping $5355.00 in cash

The effort and enthusiasm towards this annual tradition was absolutely fabulous this year.  With the donations to this so very needed organization down across the City our association was inspired to make a difference and we did just that!!  Food bank volunteers made 3 trips to our office and left each time with a van load of food along with a truck load of oranges delivered personally by a member of our KMHA family and another SUV load delivered this past Friday. 

Congratulations to all of our players, parents, coaches and volunteers on a job well done.  The winners of "The Day with the Rockets" were the Atom House Whalers.  This team of young players and there families donated a huge pile of food along with a cash donation of $1570.00!!  The Atom Whalers team coached by Jesse Keller, Kurt Slauson, Kevin Trottier and Managed by Di Santos are:  Jakob Morgan, Jaxson Santos, Connor Richards, Jesse Keller, Jacob Wong, Wade Arbo, Kayle Trottier, Aidan Sivucha-Hughes, Gavin Lawlor, Maxim Gagne, Owen Slauson, McCallum Frame, Cole Watts, Callum Hymers, Param Johal, Brendon Ducharme, Kyle Brandel, Kaden Zarowny and Samuel Herbert.  A very special thank you to the Kelowna Rockets organization for offering us this incentive program to inspire our players to do great things for the Food Bank.

For the first time since the inception of our "Fill the Net with Food Drive" we have a draw prize which was chosen from all of the teams that brought food for the food bank this year.  A special thank you to KMHA Coach, Mr. Brent Gilchrist, for agreeing to offer up his expertise, experience and amazing stories to our players.  Brent won the Stanley Cup with the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings.  Rumor has it he has a pretty amazing ring to show for it!!  The draw winners will receive a full ice practice with Coach Brent!!  This promises to be fast, fun, and full of great skills and drills (apparently a ring sighting might be in the cards as well).  The winners of this great prize are the Peewee House Bruins!!!  Congratulations to Coach Keating and all of his team on an amazing donation to the food drive!!

Shown below making the cheque presentation to the Kelowna Community Food Bank's, Lenetta Parry, are the Kelowna Whalers along with KMHA President, Leonie Popoff and KMHA Director of Hockey Operations, Corrinne Reid.

PEEWEE MAPLE LEAFS MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR A KELOWNA FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS:

The Kelowna Peewee Maple Leafs displayed their true off ice character last weekend by raising money to help sponsor a deserving family this Christmas.  After their Sunday morning game, the Leafs met at the Dease Road bottle depot and spent the day collecting and sorting bottles from around the Glenmore Area raising almost $600.00 to help make Christmas special for this family.  In conjunction with the Kelowna Community Resources Organization (a local non-profit agency that administers the "Sponsor-A-Family" at Christmas program) the boys purchased some much needed items such as winter coats, snow pants, gloves, grocery gift cards, etc.  One of the Leafs Mom's also purchased some additional items which will help make this a Christmas to remember for this family.  The Leaf's parents and coaching staff are extremely proud of this selfless act of kindness displayed by these outstanding your men.  Well done boys!!

Shown below are the Leaf's players prior to practice where they gathered to help wrap the gifts for the family:

SECOND TOURNAMENT WIN OF THE SEASON:

The Peewee Blackhawks won their second tournament this year in 100 Mile House and did so with hard work! The weekend was capped by Mitchell Pelletier and Taylor Piche each scoring a hat trick in the championship game and stellar goaltending all weekend by Brad Hamilton. All of the players should be congratulated on their second tournament win in one year and commended for their diligence and focus to team play.

Back Row: Spencer Birnie, Simon Plante, Jared Paull, Mitchell Pelletier, Francois Jolicoeur, Brandon Willis, Damon Printup. Front row: Mason Glowacki, Joel Diemert, Taylor Piche, Jaden Rose, Jordan Trembley, Spencer Klassen, Kyle Davidson and Brad Hamilton. Coaches Lee Hamilton, Jeff Klassen and Kevin Birnie

SPITFIRES - TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS:

The Kelowna Spitfires  swooped in and opened fire at the Merritt Atom House Tournament on December 9-11, 2011!  An endless supply of strategically placed pucks at the back of their opponents net, led to their gold medal finish!  Remaining undefeated all weekend- winning 8 to 3 against Penticton, 8 to 3 against Chilliwack, 10 to 2 against Kamloops and then defeating 100 Mile House 6 to 3 for the championship! Kelowna Spitfire's hard work and excellent team effort paid off- well done team!
 Back Row (left to right) 
 Joshua Flood, Connor Laing, Jaden Lohn, Ethan Dalgarno, Carter Courtney, Isaak Bueckert, Joshua Habuza
 Front row (left to right)
 Goalie- Blake Badger, Joey Patton, Matteus Reis, Thomas Dirks, Lukas Bannerholt, Moira Roadhouse, Kale Rempel, Logan Marshall
Grant Badger (assistant coach), Otto Lohn (assistant coach), and Kim Dobranski (head coach)


 

PEEWEE TIER 4 JR. ROCKETS - HOME TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS:

The Kelowna Pee Wee Tier 4 Jr Rockets went undefeated in their home Tournament this past weekend outscoring their opponents 34-7. The Jr Rockets started off their round robin with a  7-1 win over Grand Forks, then 12-2 win over Penticton, and lastly beating Langley 5-3.  They battled their way to a  3-1 victory in their semi-final game against Clearwater. In their championship game, the Revelstoke Bruins were no match for the unstoppable Jr Rockets and net minder Mackenzie Schaupmeyer and the Bruins walked away with a 7-0 victory.  The Kelowna Pee Wee Tier 4 team membersa are Jaiden Saunders, Mackenzie Schaupmeyer,  Tyson Ducharme-Pullen, Sheaden Anjo, Nicolas Banmen, Luigi Russo, Keith Markewich, Brett Lesowski, Bobby Kennedy , Jonathan Barton, Jordan Stocker, Eric Wambacher, Blake Nouwen, Kyle Simons, Matthew Howald, Quinn Stewart, Brett Selby, and Kyle Trerice. Head Coach: Rob Selby, Assistant Coaches: Chris Anjo, and Shaun Lesowski, and Manager: Dayna Selby.