It reminded me of the concept of ‘pay for your own leaving present’ which I thought up as I stuffed another fiver into an envelope knowing I had put so much in to leaving presents over the years I’d never make it back when I finally left the company. I came up with the inspired idea that any time anyone leaves everyone should put cash not into the whip round envelope but into their own leaving fund. As the company gets ever closer to closing the Edinburgh operation and it looks like I will be one of the last men standing I wish I’d introduced it.

I was in two minds about asking friends to sponsor me for the Moonwalk. I dream that in years to come I’ll do something bigger and better to raise money for the deaf charity which is so close to our hearts but know that if I hadn’t had the sponsorship to motivate me I might never have made it to the start let alone the finish.  I was astonished by how generous everyone was and particularly by the random people who responded to my Just Giving plea, the first of whom was a boy (now no doubt old and balding man) I haven’t seen since I was 16.

The 10 year old was keen to participate in the Race for Life at the weekend and I dissuaded her as I didn’t want to be asking the same people for sponsorship so soon.  When I saw a photo of two of her friends beaming with pride holding their medals I felt very guilty but was relieved when she went to swim club and was given a medal of her own for a recent gala.  The 8 year old loves nothing more than taking things like that into ‘show and tell’, this week she has an embarrasment of riches. My Moonwalk medal, her father’s Caledonian Challenge medal and her sister’s Swim Club medal. Who would ever have thought that we could earn the moniker of the ‘fit family’?!

The fittest however is not the mother who walked 26.2 miles through the night, nor the father who walked 54 miles in some of the roughest terrain in the Scottish Highlands, not even the girls who spend every waking hour playing hockey or at swim club but the 1 (nearly 2) year old who entertains himself by doing push ups between his cot and bunk bed, free climbing up bookselves, vaulting the poles beneath the slide, bouncing on the trampoline and backflipping (still wearing hearing aids) into the enormous paddling pool. His energy knows no bounds and he is scared of nothing. Apart from sand. That is going to make our summer holiday on a remote beach in Islay an interesting experience.

For 18 months, the Casuarina Hockey Club House stood incomplete, mid build. After 2 days of work by hockey club members and Tweed Coast Church, plus volunteers from Tweed shire the building has received a miracle love boost towards completion.
Motivated to see this community facility finished, Jono (pastor of Tweed Coast Church) approached the club to offer the help of the many tradies in the church. In a coordinated effort the two groups rang around and visited local building supply businesses and trades, receiving tremendous support with donations of materials, labour and skills from local builders and trades people. This video was shot on the first BIG WORK DAY by the community on the Hockey Club. Mums and kids joined in to paint, sand and labour to contribute along with their dads, a great event to be apart of.
Video by David Smouha, for Casuarina Hockey Club and Tweed Coast Church.

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Every spring for the past six years the University of Iowa Men’s Hockey Club has hosted an affordable youth hockey camp in the Coral Ridge Mall Ice Arena.

I sat down with current Club President and UI junior, Dave Svac, to talk about the developing program and his experiences growing up playing the greatest game on ice.  Dave has been a big part of organizing the youth hockey camp for the past three years, and looks forward to another great session giving back to the community and mentoring young players.

Here is a preview of the full interview coming soon:

Dave Svac on UI Youth Hockey Camp-

-Full Transcript-

Madeleine: Welcome everyone to the studio my name is Madeleine Stroth here with “Just Pucking Around” at puckaround.wordpress.com sitting down with current UI Men’s Hockey Club President, Dave Svac.  Talking some youth hockey today.  Welcome to the studio Dave.

Dave: Thanks for having me.

Madeleine: Alright, so today we’re going to talk a little bit about just hockey clubs in general especially youth hockey.  Dave, did you ever have any experiences growing up with youth hockey?

Dave: Yeah you know I started playing when I was about two years old, got on ice. Dad taught me really young.  Went to my first hockey game when I was about three months old.  Dad took me, I was in Pittsburgh. My mom was scared to death holding me in the stands, you know, flying pucks everywhere.  Played growing up.  Played some floor hockey.  Learned the whole game. Dad had me ice skating all the way and when I was six I started playing club ice hockey and it’s just gone from there through Pittsburgh, into Chicago and now here at Iowa.

Madeleine: Going now, transitioning to, the University of Iowa Club hockey team hosts a youth camp.  Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dave: Yeah, we’ve actually, this year will be our sixth year running it.  It’s just a local camp we do Saturday and Sunday over at the mall in Coralville [IA].  We usually get somewhere between sixty and eighty kids.  It’s just something we’ve started because we want to give back to the community and keep growing hockey in the Iowa area.  Coming from Chicago where there are sixty rinks within an hour of me, and coming to Iowa where there’s only fifteen rinks total, it’s not as big of a sport here in Iowa.  You’ve got great wrestling and football and all of that, but it’s our way to give back to the community and keep growing hockey and keep growing the Iowa hockey name so that one day we do hopefully become and NCAA team.  The kids that volunteer and us that run it really look at it and go, there have been so many people in our lives that have given to us, that we want to give back to all of them.

Madeleine: So what’s your role within this hockey program?

Dave: So for the camp I basically take on, last year it was myself and the general manager, we were the main administrators setting everything up, ordering jerseys and all that aspect, but I also like to take on the role of leading one of the groups.  I usually try and take on the five to eight year old group, which is our younger one.  It’s fun to organize everything, but I actually want to be interacting with the kids.  So I’m usually doing a lot of that.  That way I can still pull myself away if there’s other people who can take care of stuff for me if there is something going wrong admin.  Lot of planning, but at the same time I get to work with the kids which is awesome.

Madeleine: What do you think, you mentioned a little, but what do you think this program does for these kids?

Dave: I think it really, it gives them an experience to interact with us.  This will be my third youth camp coming up this spring, and from kids I’ve met freshman year, still coming out to games, and I see them there, they’ve got their jerseys on and they’re all excited after the game giving us high fives and asking for autographs, and in there eyes we’re professional athletes. There is no other hockey in the Iowa City area.  They follow us, you know, we’re Hawkeyes just like the football team, this is the big thing, and I think for them we’re teaching them some skills and working with them, but at the same time, this is there experience of getting to be with us and interacting.  Which, I remember, somebody would show up and you thought it was the best thing in the world. It’s good to see all the same kids come back.  I stay in touch with a couple of the parents, especially of the kids I met freshman year, and they’ll send me pictures of their son playing hockey or I’ll see them on facebook, and it’s just a great thing and it really makes you feel that you’re doing something that matters.

Madeleine: So this is a relatively new program, where do you see the future of it going?

Dave: I’ll obviously be here this year and next year.  Hopefully someone takes it over and keeps growing it.  When I came in I said, let’s make it as good as we can.  So I’d love to keep seeing it grow.  The more we can work with the University and the more we keep going and striving I think it’s going to be good, and we’ll just keep growing.  We’ve grown from I think fifty kids my freshman year, to sixty last year, and I’ve already gotten about fifteen e-mails this year and I haven’t even set it up for the official date. There’s a lot of interest, so it should be good, so we’re going to keep growing and see what we can do.

Madeleine: Well thank you for coming in Dave, it’s been great.

Dave: Yeah, no problem at all thanks for having me.

The thing is, he’s also the coach of two of the higher men’s teams which means that we all train together.
Yup, we’re training with men.
Men who run faster than us, who hit further and quicker than us, dive, and tackle harder.
Oh and their two goalies, CHARGE at us.

His favourite term – Snowballing, which basically means… girls, find a male partner for the next activity.
I can only remember 3 of their names, out of like 20 tonight.

It’s making us girls have to work a billion times harder at training. It’s going to do wonders for our team.
Fitness here I come.

TEAM EFFORT BEATS DUTCHMEN

The Guelph Hurricanes proved that old adage last night in Kitchener…”Play as a team. Win as a team.” Already missing 2 of their top defensemen Cayle Creen(out for the season-knee injury) and Zach Dion (suspension) the Canes lost Daniel Cotroneo when he left the game in the 1st period. The Canes eventhough they were outshooting the Dutchmen fell behind 2-0 before a Wade Pfeffer(2) point shot found the net to cut the lead in half.

In the break Coach MacEachern and his associates reminded the team of the game plan and how important this game was. They responded by scoring the next 4 goals. The line of Mike Iacocca, Martin Kudla and Jake Weidner continued to shine offensively. Iaccoca(18), Weidner(8) and Kudla(17 – empty net) all scored. Canes leading scoreer Tyson Theaker added his 18th while Blair Goss, Cam Jude, Iacocca, Kudla, Connor Ste. Marie and Nic MacEachern(2) contributed assists.

After backing up Brandon Foote on the Storm’s northern trip Drew Pegrum returned to shut down the Dutchmen after the 1st period to record the win. Pegrum made his best save of the night late in the 3rd with the score 3-2 and the Dutchmen pressing. Theaker scored right after that to put the game away. In all he stopped 26 shots many of the difficult variety.

Final Score Guelph 5, Kitchener 2

The Hurricanes last home game of the regular season is Thursday, February 25 at the Sleeman Centre when the Cambridge WinterHawks are the visitors. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

The Play-offs will either Wednesday(Waterloo) or Thursday(Brantford) depending on the final standings.

Here are the details:

February 6th, 2010

Vancouver, BC

650 West Georgia Street (Main Branch)

12pm – 4pm

February 7th, 2010

Burnaby, BC

4567 Lougheed Highway (Brentwood Town Centre Branch)

10am – 2pm

More info here: http://scotiahockeyclub.scotiabank.com/liveit/celebration-hockey

What was Good about Guelph’s game last night:

Hurricanes penalty killing unit only allowed one goal in 8 chances, including killing off 2 5 on 3’s.

What the Hurricanes could have done Better:

1. Come out hitting… cleanly. When a youngster attending his first Hurricanes game asked me about 5 minutes into the first period if they were allowed to hit in this league. That is not good. In previous games, the Hurricanes created chances by not giving their opponents an opportunity to make the play before being introduced to the boards.

2. Stay out of the penalty box! Guelph accumulated 24 penalty minutes on 8 infractions. Compared that to Kitchener’s 4 minutes on 2 penalties. There are not many teams that you are going to beat if you are going to play shorthanded for approximately 1/3 of the game.

What was the Best part of the game for Guelph:

Hurricanes goalie Chris McDougall deflects a shot wide

Solid play by Hurricanes goaltender, Chris McDougall. McDougall stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced and helped keep his team in the game. At least, 2 of the goals that did get by him were via deflections, where he didn’t have a chance.

Scoring: Guelph 1-0-1 = 2, Kitchener 1-1-2 = 4

Shots: Guelph 7-6-12= 24, Kitchener 11-13-7=31

The Hurricanes next game is this afternoon, in Kitchener at the Kitchener Auditorium Annex. Game time is 2:30 pm.

Guelph’s next home game at The Sleeman Centre is next Saturday Oct. 24th against the Listowel Cyclones. Game time 7:30 pm.

tsaxon@guelphmercury.com

ELMIRA — The Guelph Hurricane’s Dan Mohle wanted his final year of junior hockey to be a big one. So far he’s living up to his own expectations.

The 20-year-old Guelph native currently sits fifth in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League scoring and third in the Midwestern Conference, with 12 goals and 12 assists in 13 games this season.

He is already two thirds of the way to equalling his total of 36 points in 50 games last season.

click here to read the rest of the article: http://news.guelphmercury.com/Sports/article/546614

For more information on how these two teams stack up click here: http://gojhl.stats.pointstreak.com/pregamenotes.html?gameid=1078975

New Guelph Hurricanes Head Coach Jim McEachern

Former Elmira Sugar Kings assistant coach, MacEachern is no stranger to Guelph Hockey.

Before he took on the role with the Sugar Kings in 2008 he was an assistant coach with both the University of Guelph Gryphons Women’s Hockey Team and the Guelph Dominators.

When Cambridge comes to town, it is always a battle and this game should be no different.

Guelph looks to rebound from a pair of losses to the Stratford Cullitons and Elmira Sugar Kings, last week.

Cambridge led by their two leading scorers # 9 Anthony Colizza and # 22 Cody Hall, have one win and one OT loss in their first two games.

Also, Guelph showed off their new logo and uniforms last week.

Tonights game is at 7:30 pm at the Sleeman Centre. http://www.thesleemancentre.com

Tickets Prices: Adult $8.00, Students $6.00, Children $2.00

Also fans are invited to join the online fan club on facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Guelph-ON/Guelph-Hurricanes/112633724527?ref=mf

Full-back Suresh Ghumman will be leading the team while Nazia Kazim will be her deputy.

The Women’s Asia Cup will be held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) from December 13 to 21 and the team will leave for the event on December 10.

The team was announced by chief selector Hasan Sardar after conducting the trials with members of the selection committee Khalid Bashir, Farhat Khan and Rana Muhammad Shafique.

The selected team will continue their training till the departure to the Malaysian capital.

Squad: Rizwana Yasmeen, Imrana Khan (goal-keepers) Suresh Ghumman (Captain), Nazia Kazim (Vice Captain), Zaibun-Nisa (full-backs). Muneezia Irum, Zakia Nawaz, Shahida Ghulam, Asma Ashraf, Nain Tara, Mumtaz Malik (half-backs) Hina Kanwal, Nazia Rehmat, Muqqadus Akbar, Gulshan Tahira, Ayesha Bashir, Bushra Nazir, Samman Islam (forwards). Officials: Parveen Gill (manager), Akhlaq Ahmed, Chand Parveen (coaches), Fiza Nooreem (physio), Rahat Khan (Umpire).

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