PRMH Midget Rep Tournament Observations - Thank You

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1

This past weekend Prince Rupert Minor Hockey hosted a Midget Rep tournament, I witnessed three wonderful acts all centered around one extraordinary young man.

One player stood out immediately as I watched, his skating was slow and laboured, his turns were choppy and slow, when he didn’t have the puck he was very deliberate in his positioning going to an assigned spot. I asked about the player, #16 on the Fort St. James Stars and I was told he was autistic. This player took a regular shift regardless of the game situation, his teammates supported him, backed him and encouraged him.

  1. Middle of the third period of a tied game, he was still going out there with his line mates, his coach didn’t shorten the bench robbing him of shifts.

  2. Late in the game against Terrace, with the game well in hand for the Terrace team (I think the score was 10-2 at this time) the Terrace defense which had been stellar had a momentary “lapse” allowing #16 a scoring chance, which he capitalized beating the goalie. Pure JOY!!!

  3. In a tournament like this the opposition selects the game MVP for the other team, the Prince Rupert players selected #16 as the MVP for Ft. St. James. When he received his award it was the longest, loudest and most sincere applause I have ever heard at a game with many of the spectators rising to their feet, the applause continued so long he turned and acknowledged the spectators.

Congratulations to all involved.

Now for the bad, because there is yin and yang in everything. Fortunately it didn’t involve #16

In the game between Houston and Ft. St. James the Houston coach was kicked out of the game for official abuse, he yelled, challenged and swore at the ref all the way to the dressing room where he stood defiantly in the open doorway watching the rest of the game. As I watched this I wondered what kind of example and role model he was for his players. That became apparent in the Terrace vs Houston game, after the game when they announced the Terrace MVP there was stunned muttering from the Terrace people that wasn’t immediately understood. The Houston team had selected the back up goalie from Terrace as the game MVP. The only player that had not played during the game.

2

Thanks for sharing. Very classy young players on the Rupert team. Houston should be reported to BCMHA and reprimanded for being such jerks. Did the MVP selection stand?

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So sad that an “adult” would behave that way. Even sadder that he has obviously infected the kids on his team with his poor attitude. That man doesn’t deserve the title of coach. He should absolutely be disciplined for his actions, and the team should be talked to about thier MVP choice. Such horrible behavior.

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The MVP award for Terrace in their game against Houston was awarded to #5 Colin Bell, who I believe had five goals and was clearly the most deserving of the recognition.

I asked one of the Houston coaches why they chose the back up goalie and the response I got was “it was his idea” (pointing to someone I’m not sure about) with a shoulder shrug. Bizarre.