At last week’s Annual
General Meeting, the MMHA Board of Directors was pleased to present its Eric
Ellison Memorial Coach of the Year Awards for Rep and House League, and its
President’s Award to deserving individuals from our association who have gone
above and beyond in their roles.
The Eric Ellison Memorial House League Coach of the Year Award
was presented to Rich Cameron, who has volunteered with our association for over 8 years. As his longtime trainer, Bill Kilburn noted, Rich has an innate ability to understand his player's strengths and needs. His players improve every season and feel good about playing on his team. Rick's enthusiasm and positivity is what helps make players love the game and want to return to his team year over year.
This year’s Eric Ellison Memorial Rep Coach of the Year is Kenny Jeans, who has volunteered with our association for over 7 years. Last year, he was the head coach of the U12A Blue Winterhawks. Kenny's team was a second entry in the A division and his team proved incredibly competitive, with Kenny coaching them to an OMHA Championship. This is the first time in our history a second entry team has won the OMHA's.
At the end of the evening, MMHA President Aaron Fernandes presented the
President’s Award, also known as the Volunteer of the Year award to Jeff Diggle. Aaron noted that Jeff has shown exemplary leadership over the past 13 years, holding multiple positions with the association, on teams and on the Board. He has acted as team trainer and manager, and has held the positions of Treasurer, Secretary, President and Past President. He has navigated our association through most difficult times during Covid, with the ever changing rules, regulations, schedules and such. The relationships he had built with the Town, the community, our member partners and within the organization, were instrumental in helping him ensure all of our players, rep and houseleague were able to stay on the ice during the pandemic, when many other associations were not able. Jeff's main focus through his tenure has been to always keep the sticks on the ice.
Congratulations to all!