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POWNAL NOVICE A RECOGNIZED BY HOCKEY CANADA
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Charlottetown - For Cassidy Gordon, playing hockey means more than winning. And the seven-year-old defenceman and her Pownal Devils novice A teammates recently proved it after the squad earned one of 13 Hockey Canada packages loaded with hockey gear and $1,999 earmarked for player development.
"It means that we're a good sport and we pass the puck," said Cassidy, who's played hockey for two years. "Everybody has a chance to get a goal."
The gear included sticks and hockey bags with the Wayne Gretzky Foundation and Hockey Canada logos, Team Canada jerseys and skills development information for the coaches.
Last month, the squad was recognized by Hockey Canada, the Wayne Gretzky Foundation and the Canadian Hockey Foundation in the joint Future Team Canada program.
Now in its fourth year the strategy rewards 13 minor hockey teams across the country for things like sportsmanship, fair play, safety for players and coaches, skills development and community involvement. And Pownal showed that attachment to its area recently by donating three sets of new hockey equipment worth about $350 to an instructional hockey program in Stratford for kids from Grades 1-6.
That had meaning for Cassidy, too. "We felt really good because I was there before." Ian Dalton is manager of the Pownal squad. It is coached by head man Steve Gordon and assistant Doug Matheson. Jerry Gill is the trainer. Players are six to eight years old.
Dalton wrote an essay, with feedback from the Devils' players, about why the Pownal novices could be a future Team Canada for the application process which began in November. By late December he received the good news from Hockey Canada but had to keep it secret until Hockey Canada announced the winners Jan. 14.
"I got notification just Christmas week so it was a great Christmas present for the kids. I'm just delighted," said Dalton. "It enables us to get involved with some of the stuff we've done with the Stratford program." The money sent some Pownal novices to a private hockey instruction school in Charlottetown. Other plans include a hockey clinic for all Pownal novice A players in late March.
"And that's very important because basically the money that we're given is for future team development so that's how we're spending it," said Dalton. Liev Dalton is Ian's son. Like Cassidy, the seven-year-old forward has played hockey for two years. And like his teammate, Liev was pleased when Stratford received the new gear. "Happy. I just felt happy," said Liev.
Other Atlantic winners included the Grand Lake Panthers peewees in Minto, N.B., Bedford Blues midget female squad in Bedford. N.S. and the Shetshatshiu novice team in Shetshatshiu, N.L.
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IMPORTANT DATES
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