Hello Comet Families,
As all of you know, our board makes many decisions each year and deciding on our award recipients is one of the toughest. This year was no different from past years where the list of nominees was absolutely stellar. Each of the nominees has had a very positive influence on their teams and deserves our full recognition and appreciation.
We would like to thank our Coaches, Parents and Players for sending in their nominations.
Winner of Karina Misfeldt Memorial Award
Unfortunately, this award was not awarded due to no submissions received.
Winner of Lexi Gabruch Memorial Award – Jersey Stanford
Although we only got to play 3 games this year, Jersey is the type of player that exhibits sportsmanship and is a team leader. You can see this from her positive attitude toward her teammates, her coaches and the people that she competes against. She always
gives 110%, and that is more apparent this year than ever. When you only play 3 games, and then just practice (20+ times without games) and you still come to the rink and compete, that is a great trait to have.
You can see over the course of a season when a player puts in the effort, not only during practice or off ice functions, but on their own. This translates to their improvement. Lots of players put in extra work, or have other sports, and Jersey is no different. From the player that she was at the beginning vs the player she is now, you can tell there has been a ton of extra time put in for her improvement.
A great example of the type of role model that Jersey is this story from a practice this year. We were doing some one on one type drills and we were short a few defence. A player stepped up and said she would play defence. She was up against Jersey and I said, if you want to play defence, you gotta stop Jersey. If you don’t, I said jokingly, 10 pushups. Well, the forward (playing defence) stopped Jersey to avoid the pushups, and Jersey came to where I was, dropped and gave me 10. When asked why she did them, she responded with “I didn’t beat her” It is that type of attitude and response that makes Jersey a great role model, a leader, and valuable to any team that she is part of.
Jersey was also nominated by the Comets for the Evan Thomas Memorial SMHA Sportsperson of the Year Award & Scholarship - presented by Airline Hotels.
Congratulations Jersey!!
Winners of Comets JR Coach of the Year – Troy Kendry & Mark Hilbig
Troy Kendry
This hockey season was unlike any other and Coach Troy Kendry approached each challenge and hurtle with positivity. Troy’s goal was to continue to develop the girls in every way that he could, while maintaining their love of the sport. Troy’s upbeat and engaging approach made this difficult year the best it could possibly be. He put his heart and soul into mentoring the girls and it shone through his interactions with them both on and off the ice. Troy ensured that there was always emphasis that all voices counted in the decision making for the team. He conferred and asked for parent and player input consistently and valued everyone’s opinion and did his best to accommodate all interests.
Mark Hilbig
Mark’s enthusiasm, dedication and love for the game of hockey has not gone unnoticed! Mark did an amazing job keeping the girls engaged the entire season. Girls were notably excited to go to every hockey practice. Despite only playing 2 games (which they didn’t win), Mark ensured that hockey was still an incredibly fun and positive experience this year.
Mark always provided a wide selection of practice drills and games which emphasized different skills. He took full advantage of his great assistant coaches and also arranged for a power skating coach to complement the practices. Towards the end of the year, despite having only practices, the team voted to have extra practices as the girls have enjoyed them so much.
Congrats to both Troy and Mark!
Winner of Comets SR Coach of the Year – Robin Sawatzky
I would like to nominate Robin Sawatzky for Coach of the Year!
I have had the pleasure of knowing Robin for four years as a non-parent Head Coach. After last season, when Robin’s niece graduated, Robin indicated that she would be retiring from Coaching. Her career is demanding and without having a familial tie to the zone, this decision was understandable. The Comets approached Robin during the 2020-2021 evaluations seeking a Coach, and without hesitation Robin agreed to step up to Head Coach one of the U15B teams. Not only was this so kind of her to take on, it is most worth noting that she did so without knowing any of the girls or families! At all. She agreed to take this on because the girls needed a leader. This team of U15 players and parents have benefitted from her guidance, leadership and example.
Robin continuously demonstrates leadership, commitment and selflessness, which is why I feel she is deserving of this recognition. Robin has many years of playing experience as well as she has been an official for many years and a committed Coach to the Comets throughout many league changes and always adapts with a kindness and constructive approach. I am certain that her Coaching and volunteer experience is more extensive than just the years that I have had the privilege of knowing her.
Robin coached one of my daughters for 3 years and I Managed for her. I am proud to say that Robin and I became friends. She seems quiet at first but she is very funny! I asked Jade when you think of Coach Robin what would you tell someone, and she said the following:
“To someone who doesn’t know Coach Robin, I’d let them know that she will push you to do the things you doubt in yourself. She has the kindest of hearts and being on her team means you are forever her family. My favourite memories with Coach Robin has to be all of our game days. She has put a fire in my heart during games by believing I can go out on the ice and be amazing. Playing on Robin’s teams made me want to play my absolute best and I always wanted to make her proud on and off the ice"
Robin was also nominated by the Comets for the Al Anderson’s Source for Sports SMHA Coach of the Year.
Congratulations Robin!!
Winner of Comets Volunteer of the Year – Daphne Kemp
Daphne is currently managing the Comet Fury U13B and has been team manager for the Comets for the past 5 years. The nomination is for her work this year, however her volunteerism and dedication over the past five years is admirable and much appreciated by the players, coaches and parents. She truly goes beyond the call of duty.
Her ability to multitask is something that comes natural to her. When Daphne was appointed to manage the team, she had all paperwork (health forms, fair play coach conduct form, parent meeting agenda), ideas for fundraising, and social events tentatively planned for the girls. As a coach, knowing that I had someone to keep me organized on the administration side allowed me to focus my attention on developing our young athletes into a hockey team. Always has an encouraging word for players and coaches and always a positive fan in the stands. Daphne helped organize our team Covid reps and supported them through the changing restrictions throughout the season.
All communication from Daphne was upbeat and genuinely positive, which was infectious with the parents. This is reassuring for a coach, knowing that parents are buying into the program and wanting to be at the rink to watch their kids improve and perform.
Giving back to the community is something that our group agreed to commit to this season. Coaches and parents decided to give back by participating in community minded activities. The Fury was involved in building a Christmas basket for a family (organized by the Comet Executive – thank you for that!). The team also created and sent Christmas cards for patients in the hospital who were unable to be at home during the holidays. These activities were introduced and led by Daphne on behalf of the Fury. The team benefited from this activity as well as the Comets Organization’s image and reputation were enhanced by these two activities.
Daphne is a perfect candidate and very deserving of this award. Congratulations Daphne!
Crestline Coach SMHA Volunteer of the Year Award Nominee – Sean Schroeder
The Comets would like to put forward Sean Schroeder for the Volunteer of the Year Award. Sean has been a member of the Comets board for the past 7 years. In addition to providing 24/7 tech support to our entire board, Sean has single handly developed the most valuable evaluation spreadsheets and attends every single evaluation session. He works alongside each and every age group coordinator to ensure that their spreadsheets and rankings are correct and flow properly into the next skate. Unknown to many, Sean is essential to the Comets evaluation process. Externally, (meaning in-front of our membership where one is open to all forms of negativity but few accolades), Sean updates the Website, and is often the first in the line of fire when that news rebounds back to the board. It takes thick skin and sometimes emotional fortitude to receive those initial blasts. Sean handles them with an empathetic hand and often challenges our board to think about things from multiple angles and find responsible, just and fair resolutions to disputes.
Please help us Congratulate the Comets Nomination for the Crestline Coach SMHA Volunteer of the Year Award – Sean Schroeder.
SMHA Executive of the Year Award Nominee – Jodie Wagner (WINNER)
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The Comets would like to nominate Jodie Wagner for the SMHA Executive of the Year Award.
Jodie is currently the longest serving member of our Comets Executive at over 10 years. Jodie has held various positions on our board and is never afraid to dabble in any aspect. She has been the treasurer at one time and most recently the promotions coordinator. This year has been upside down, irregular, and challenging, but this is where Jodie has truly shined.
From the very start of evaluations, to today, Jodie has taken on added responsibilities and performed them above a standard of excellence that could ever have been expected of a volunteer. None of these added responsibilities took away from her performing her promotions duties including running the Comets 50/50 during registration and evaluations.
Jodie has been instrumental in developing our current evaluations manual that outlines all our processes. During our “Covid evaluations” Jodie was again instrumental in developing a new “Covid evaluations Manual”. She was dedicated to ensuring that all the Covid guidelines were adhered to, but also ensuring the most equitable evaluation process for our athletes. Jodie was present at over 95% of all evaluation sessions and was used as a constant source of support for our coordinators, executive and all other volunteers.
During this challenging year is when Jodie took on, possibly, the most important role of all. Jodie volunteered to be the Comets Covid Coordinator. This was a crucial role that needed to be filled by someone who was going to be respectful, responsible, and diligent. There was no doubt amongst our executive, that this was Jodie. In her role as Covid Coordinator she has been diligent in communicating with teams as restrictions changed sometimes daily. She ensured everyone understood the guidelines and adhered to them. She believed what she was doing was imperative to keeping hockey going where others were shutting down. She was not wrong. When situations arose amongst teams with Covid positive team members, she acted with speed and integrity to help support our teams as they navigated through these difficult situations. Subsequently, we have received several positive reviews of Jodie’s handling of their situations.
In addition to volunteering with our executive, Jodie also volunteers extensively with Huskies Volleyball. While navigating the Covid environment in one sport is challenging enough, Jodie has taken it upon herself to support the Huskies as a volunteer board member and coach as well.
Jodie has often added team manager to her list of volunteer positions, sometimes for more than one team. Her duties to our executive have never suffered and no one could say we weren’t treated as a priority.
It is for the above stated reasons that the Comets Executive nominates Jodie Wagner for the SMHA Executive of the year.
Please help us Congratulate the Comets Nomination for the SMHA Executive of the Year Award – Jodie Wagner.