BC Hockey has named the six award winners for the Fred Heslop Minor Hockey Awards Week.
The Fred Heslop Minor Hockey Week Award winners are:
- Wesley Hart Burns Lake Minor Hockey Association
- Michelle Hillaby Nelson Minor Hockey Association
- Drew MacDonald Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association
- Jodi and Mike Mastrodonato Powell River Minor Hockey Association
- Terri Waller Nanaimo Clippers Junior A Hockey Club
A selection committee chose the winners from over 100 nominations based on the following criteria:
• Has made significant contributions to minor hockey
• Has enhanced hockey programs within their Association
• Has made remarkable achievements
• Has gone beyond expectations
• Demonstrated the compassionate character that Fred Heslop brought to the game through
his contributions to hockey
Each winner will be featured on the BC Hockey website starting today with a local resident, Wesley Hart.
“Burns Lake Minor Hockey Association found itself in a coaching crisis this season. We had several teams without a qualified head coach to run practices, etc,” says Burns Lake Minor Hockey officials “Wes Hart stepped up to the plate and coached/ran practices for four (4) teams which included IP 1/2, IP 3/4, Atom division and the Female division. He also volunteered his time to coach “Minor Hockey Skate” which consisted of the Atom & Female division, IP 1/2 & IP 3/4 and a special training time for goalies only.”
Not only that, but Hart was also an advocate to make sure the female hockey program within Burns Lake was taken care of as well.
“Wes made it his mission to further develop our Female division. Working closely with the parents of the Female division, he made sure that a change was made to our association’s policy to support Female dual rosters and Female development within our association. This was something that we were severely lacking and will make a huge impact in the years to come with the rapidly growing passion in our community for Female Hockey!”
It was said that Hart only had one child at the atom age level, yet could still be found running up to 11 practices a week. Burns Lake Minor Hockey says without this sort of dedication, the Association would have had to cancel numerous practices, games, and tournaments throughout the year.
Fred Heslop background information:
Fred Helsop’s involvement with BC Hockey spanned two decades, serving the membership on the Executive Committee from 1992 – 2006. The native of Trail BC served in many different roles including Officer at Large, Vice President, President and was chair of numerous committees. In 2007, BC Hockey awarded him the highest honor when he was presented with the Diamond Stick Award. Fred passed away in 2013, leaving a legacy behind him.