Volunteer of the Year Award – Fort McMurray Minor Hockey

Volunteer of the year

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One recipient from each category will be chosen from nominated volunteers who are considered to have made an outstanding contribution in each category to FMMHA for the current season. The nominee may have participated in special events, general administration chores, support the Angel Hours or a variety of other roles. The recipient will have dedicated a significant amount of hours and leadership in growing minor hockey for our community.

Nomination Deadline

July 30, 2024

Eligibility Criteria

Nominee Must:

Volunteered for a minimum of 40 hours in the last Minor Hockey season
Must have followed all FMMHA governing directives with budget, fundraising and branding in their role.
Must have strived to improve our organization by emphasizing the philosophy to "create positive opportunities and experiences FOR ALL PLAYERS through innovative leadership and exceptional service.”

Selection Procedure

The Executive Board will vote on all nominations that meet the above criteria. The selection is based on the nomination details and alignment with FMMHA’s philosophy of volunteer contributions in two categories: Executive/Director/Chair and General Volunteer. This award celebrates volunteers who demonstrate exceptional leadership, dedication, and a positive impact on the organization and the broader community.

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Meet Our Award Recipients

2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20

2022-23

2 Awards were decided for the 2022-23 Season:

Volunteer of the Year - Executive/ Director
Volunteer of the Year - General

Nominations:

Ed & Kayla Gardiner
Kyle Borle
Michelle Carroll
Chelsea Francis-Barrow
Brian Hodgson

Volunteer of the Year - General - Chelsea Francis- Barrows

Chelsea has dedicated her entire career to the FMMHA, starting as a young player and growing through the ranks. Last season, while playing for the U18 Huskies, Chelsea also served as an assistant coach for both the Inclusion Royals and the U13 Huskies teams. Her commitment extends beyond her own aspirations; Chelsea is passionate about helping younger players achieve their dreams too.

"From her early days as a young player to her current roles as both a player and an assistant coach on two different teams, Chelsea has invested her heart into both the sport and the community. Her dedication surpasses personal achievements; Chelsea's passion for mentoring younger players epitomizes her true character, making her an invaluable asset to FMMHA and a beacon of hard work and dedication for our players." - Nomination form

Volunteer of the Year - Executive/ Director - Kyle Borle

Kyle has been an indispensable member of our team, serving as our Goalie Director for several years. With two goalies of his own, he intimately understands the significance of nurturing the development and dynamics of all our goalies and ensuring their proper placement within teams. At the start of each season, Kyle invests significant time and effort evaluating players, collaborating with directors, addressing concerns, and working closely with our partners to enhance our goalie program. His dedication doesn't stop there; Kyle also plays an active role as a manager for the Huskies and regularly attends the Female AGMs to contribute to the ongoing success of that program. Through his unwavering commitment and tireless efforts, both on and off the ice, Kyle plays a pivotal role in the advancement of our goalies and the overall prosperity of our organization.

"Kyle's dedication and support have been invaluable to our U11 Huskies girls' team this year. Having been part of the Huskies program for three years, I can confidently say that he and his wife Kim have exceeded all our expectations. Their positivity, organization, and approachability set a new standard for team management.

2021-22

With so many nominations that came in this season, the executive decided on 3 awards for this category:

Volunteer of the Year - Program Building
Volunteer of the Year - Executive/ Director
Volunteer of the Year - General

Volunteer of the Year - Program Building - MELANIE BELLOWS

Melanie is a team Manager and Assistant coach for the Inclusion Royals program and has been Instrumental in growing the program. From securing coaches, working with the visiting teams, planning off ice team events and organizing fundraising.

"Melanie enrolled her 2 sons in the Inclusion Royals program in our first year of the program. I can distinctly remember ushering her off the bench and away so she could have that “Hockey mom experience” - She helped wherever she could, Then the next year she was managing the team - teaching herself to skate to help when short coaches - now she is all around taking care of this team and a vital part of growing this AMAZING program." - Nomination form

Volunteer of the Year - Executive/ Director - KATHY LOCKEN

Kathy served as a division director for 3 years and spent Hours on many hockey operations activities. The 2021-22 post COVID season was particularly hard in her U13 division. With the amount of players and lack of Goaltenders, Kathy needed to get very creative to ensure every team always had a goalie for practices and games. Kathy spent many hours supporting the other division directors and doing many additional tasks for VP Operations.

“Kathy Spent 2 years as our U11 Director and anyone who has had these conversations with me knows I am brutally honest in how much work these roles are - she took this on with Gusto and a big smile. Then she moved into U13 which has its own challenges and again Kathy Always goes the extra mile for the kids and our association” - JodyAnn McSkimming, VP Operations

Volunteer of the Year - General - Krista Power & Stewart Ross

This dynamic duo have had 3 kids through the association and have worn many hats from coach, manager, raffle director, fundraising coordinator, development sessions and the list goes on.

Stewart Ross Has been coaching in our organization since 2011 when his Son Emin was in Novice (Now U9) , every year since he has either volunteered or been Voluntold to coach as he is always one of our “go to” when we are short coaches. His passion for the game, his players and his team always shines through.

Krista Power has not only supported stew in his coaching but she too has picked up many hats , serving as our raffle director for multiple years, managing various teams and chasing 3 teams at times to pick up all the slack.

Their nomination form reads: ”Stew is a role model to all players and coaches with his love for the game and the kids. He is a personable, level headed, inclusive and motivating coach through hard work and fun. Stew and Krista are always encouraging team building opportunities for their teams. Anything that will help bond the kinds on and off the ice. Krista never hesitates to help and support her manager to make it happen. They are not in it for 3 kids - they are in it for all Kids''

Nominations:

Melanie Bellows ( Inclusion Royals)
Ed & Kayla Gardiner ( U11 and U13 Classic Chairs)
Stew & Krista Ross (All around involvement in FMMHA)
Kathy Locken ( U13 Director)
Renee Hantlemann (Managing multiple teams)
Kailee Kopetski (U15 Director)

2020-21

The 2020 - 2021 Volunteer of the year -

Executive/Director is Awarded to Shane Chapman!
General Volunteer is Awarded to Luana Donahue!

Volunteer of the year - General Volunteer

As a mom to four players in our association you can find Luana engaged in helping out in so many different roles from picking up tasks to help out their team managers to putting in numerous hours for evaluations on data entry. In the 2020-21 season, After completing the 20 required hours for her 4 children she continued on to cover for some no show shifts, Just to help. She then saw that her youngest child's team needed some help on the ice, so she learned how to skate, took the required certifications and stepped out on the ice. No job is too big or too small for this GEM who just keeps on giving to FMMHA.

“This woman got on the ice every ice time with no hockey experience let alone she barely knew how to skate, she has inspired us so much. She was an amazing coach on the ice with the kids and was such a great value to the team as a whole!” from nomination form

Volunteer of the year - Executive/Director

In Addition to being an active coach for FMMHA for many years. Shane is currently the Elite Division director, after serving 4 years as Goalie director for FMMHA, also the first Goalie director Shane really stepped up to the plate to develop a fair Goaltending evaluation process, a voice for Goalie parents to air their frustrations, and an experienced advisor to help division directors place goaltenders on correct teams after evaluations.

“A prime example of what Shane does for all our Kids and always goes above and beyond is when we had no Goaltender interested for our U11 female team. Shane signed out some gear from our equipment director, went to the U11 female practices with this gear and had kids try on gear - he was determined to help find a player interested in the position and he was a success. He is always bringing new ideas to the executive to grow goaltender development and really pushed for investment into our intro to Goalie programs that will align with the intro to hockey program” from nomination form

2019-20

The 2019 - 2020 Volunteer of the year is awarded to Paula Bolt!

Paula is currently the Treasurer of Special Events for FMMHA. She volunteered 2 years ago as the Minor Hockey Week Treasurer and participated in all special events. Paula’s contributions and leadership to each event morphed into the special events treasurer role. During the 2019-2020 season, Paula has been an inspiration showing us what it truly is to go above and beyond as a volunteer in our organization. She was recognized for the countless hours she puts in supporting the event Chairs to make them a success and the selflessness and teamwork it takes to run events in the organization.

“She is always willing to roll up her sleeves and help. I calculated that Paula covered more than 40 Hours of selling 50/50 tickets and at Least 20 more working tournament rooms when we could not get volunteers. In short she will do whatever it takes to make sure these events are covered.”

From her Nomination Form