BANTAM CANUCKS CHAMPIONS AT WINFIELD TOURNAMENT:

The Bantam Canucks won the Winfield MHA "Carve Up the Ice Tournament".  The Canucks beat the Kelowna Flyers in the Semi Final to go on to win the final game against Kamloops!!  Congratulations Canucks on a fantastic weekend of hockey:

Shown below: 
Back Row - Cabe McFadyen, Mitch MacDonald, Cole Stregger, Ryan Campbell, Justin Peleshytyk, Gurveer Pooni, Matt DiPasquale, Cameron Gibbs
Front Row - Colton Zarowny, Cameron White, Elijah Goulding, Kevin Machado
Goalies - Duncan Fiust, Derek Graham
Coaches - Pat Peterson, Darren Stregger, Denis DiPasquale
Missing due to injury - Jacob Peterson

RECREATIONAL HOCKEY SHOWCASE OF CHAMPIONS PLAYOFFS SET TO GO:

The full schedule for the 2011/12 Recreational Hockey Showcase of Champions Playoff Series have now been posted to the division home pages.  Teams are reminded that the first team on the schedule is the Home team and they are responsible for providing Score Keepers and Time Keepers for each game.  The Showcase of Champions Finals are set to go here at Memorial Arena on Sunday, March 4, 2012.  If last years event was any indication it will be an exciting month of hockey for our recreational teams. 

We wish each and every team the best of luck throughout the playoffs and look forward to crowning the champions in our Atom, Peewee, Bantam and Midget division in front of crowds of excited fans on March 4.  Let's show our KMHA spirit and cheer loud and proud as we watch our teams finish out the season with some very skilled and exciting hockey!!

RINGETTE TOURNAMENT TAKES OVER KELOWNA ARENAS:

KMHA players are reminded that the 2012 Kelowna Ringette Sweetheart Tournament takes place from Feb 10-12.  This event takes over all of the Arenas in Kelowna from Friday to late Sunday.

MIDGET TIER 4 JR. ROCKETS TAKE HOME THE GOLD FROM CHASE:

Congratulations to the Midget Tier 4 Jr. Rockets for its big win in the Chase Tier 3/4 tournament over the weekend.  For the second time in as many weeks, the team was victorious in championship games!  Defeating Chase 5-2, Whitehorse 4-2 and tying Prince George 4-4, the team advanced to the final game with Aldergrove.  It was a low scoring, fast paced game to the finish - but in the end the Kelowna Jr. Rockets team shut out the Aldergrove team by a score of 2-0.

A great effort with great results!

MIDGET BLACKHAWKS WIN ROSSLAND/TRAIL TOURNAMENT:

The boys had an amazing weekend of hockey set in the beautiful town of Rossland/Trail which culminated in winning the tournament over the home town favorites! The team fought hard for every game and beat Winfield 5-1, tied Rossland/Trail 4-4, beat Grand Forks 12-1, beat Beaver Valley in the semi's after finishing 1st during the round robin beating out Rossland/Trail in the 3rd tie breaker on penalty minutes (such good boys!!!) and finished it off with a very hard game against Rossland/Trail 10-6. All of the boys contributed to making this weekend very special. WAY TO GO HAWKS!!!! The coaches would like to thank the parents for their support this weekend and to let the players know that we are PROUD OF THEIR EFFORT!

PHOTO: left to right, front row : Dustin Pavey, Trevor Hamilton, Jake Imrich (broke his arm in game), Riley Hudson, Jackson Lowe, Duncan Graham, Coach Brad Imrich back row, Coach Anthony Gargaro, Alex Birnie, Scott Ware, Daniel Vereb, David Kuhn, Shawn Vereb, Hunter Nouwen, Michael Gargaro, Coach Lee Hamilton, Dylan Vicaretti.

KELOWNA JR. ROCKETS - WIN IT ALL IN GRAND FORKS:

Kelowna Midget Tier 4 Jr. Rockets went undefeated in the Grandforks Tier 4 tournament on the weekend.  After round robin play with Coeur d'Alene, Grandforks, Chase and Wenatchee, the Kelowna Tier 4 team rallied from a 2 all tie going into the third period to defeat Chase in a 5-2 victory in the final game of the tournament.  Despite a few injuries lightening the bench by the final game, the boys made a valiant effort to the finish!!

Well done Team!!

OUT OF THE POT AND INTO THE FIRE:

Kelowna Midget Tier 2 Goaltender Sam Bobyn thought he was just going to watch on Friday night as the Midget Tier 1 Fripp Warehousing Jr. Rockets faced the Notre Dame Argos in the feature game of the 33rd Annual Tim Horton's/Daily Courier Midget International Elite Tournament this past Friday evening.  As Sam sat in the stands with his Tier 2 teammates a series of events on the ice changed his view of the game.  Midget Tier 1 Goaltender, Brennan Claypoole was having a stellar game against the powerhouse Argos, he made an amazing stretch save and then found himself unable to move with an injury.  This forced the team's other goaltender Chris Turner into action.  Towards the end of the second period Chris was taken off his feet and landed hard on his back.  Chris battled thru to the end of the period clearly injured.  Between the second and third periods there was a  mad scramble to first get goaltender Sam Bobyn out of the stands and officially listed with the Midget Tier 1 team and then into the wet gear of Brennan Claypoole.  Sam led the Tier 1 Jr. Rockets out of the dressing room and got a 20 second warm up prior to being peppered with shots from the Argos.  In gear a size too big, wet and with little to no warm up Sam made some amazing saves in front of an extremely supportive crowd.  Sam defines the true spirit of our sport.  He was willing with no notice, no preparation and no gear to step up when he was needed and do his part to help out his Tier 1 counterparts when they desparately needed his services.  On behalf of everyone at Kelowna Minor Hockey Association we would like to say we are extremely proud of you Sam.  You are a true sport hero!!  Sam's selflessness was also acknowledged by his opponents at this matchup when the player who was awarded the Player of the Game award from the Argos, #9 Brody Jorgenson, proceeded to the Kelowna change room and gave Sam his MVP award!!

It is because of players of this character and level of respect for our game that hockey is such an amazing sport.  Congratulations Sam and Brody - true sport heros.



Photo courtesy of Shoot the Breeze Photography

ATOM DEVELOPMENT HURRICANS - TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS:
The Kelowna Atom Development Hurricanes won their second straight tournament this weekend in Enderby at the North OK “Shoot to Thrill” Tournament.  They won all three games in the round robin play.  The semi-final was played against the Vernon Venom with a final score of 8 – 0.  The Hurricanes then met the Vernon Wolfpack which kept the fans on the edge of their seats.  Hurricanes were down 0 -2 after the second period.  They came out with a quick goal in the third to close the gap.  The score remained the same until the 5:00 minute mark of the third period in which the Hurricanes scored a beauty to tie it up.  The game winner was then scored 14 seconds later.  The Hurricanes emerged as Tournament CHAMPIONS once again with a score of 3 -2.  Congratulations to ALL players and coaches!  Assistant Coach Shaun Tourigny summed it up beautifully as follows:

                                                First week of 2012, 10 Games, 9 wins, 1 loss.

                                                17 buckets of sweat, 300 wicked saves, 200 amazing passes!

                                                Two Gold Tournament Championships.

                                                17 kids jelling into 1 TEAM > PRICELESS.

Members of the team are as follows: Colby Mintram, Matthew Fulford, Jackson Van De Leest, Evan Worthing, Benn Krivoshen,  Cameron Dale, Kyler Tourigny, Jad Von Unruh, Justin Charlton, Remy Aquilon, Cameron Wilson, Riley Dobranski, Gauge Brown, Aiden Robson, Tanner Balkenhol, Cole Schwebius, Lucas Rachkowski.  Coached by Rod Charlton, Shaun Tourigny and Jeff Dale

33RD ANNUAL KELOWNA INTERNATIONAL ELITE MIDGET TOURNAMENT SET TO BEGIN:

Thanks to an amazing group of organizers the 33rd Annual Kelowna International Elite Midget Tournament starts tomorrow.  This tournament will feature some of the top Midget aged players from as far East as Ontario and into the United States.  Our own Fripp Warehousing Jr. Rockets will be battling for top spot in this elite tournament.  We ask that all KMHA players make every effort to attend the tournament and support our Kelowna team.  Players from Peewee and below are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a parent.  Tournament passes are available for all Bantam and Midget aged players and KMHA coaches at the KMHA office at Memorial Arena. 

For full tournament details please see the tournament website at www.kimmt.com

GO ROCKETS GO!!!!