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News Release - 2009 - HA Award Winners

2009 Hockey Alberta Award Recipients

Life Member

Bob Clark, a native of Carstairs, AB, has a passion for the game of hockey. He has served the hockey communities of this Province for over 4 decades. Among many impressive roles in his career, Bob commissioned a study, in cooperation with Hockey Alberta, on the state of hockey in the Province. Recommendations from this report led to the development of coaching and refereeing clinics across Western Canada. He was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1974.  He held the position of General Manager of the Olds Grizzlys Junior A Hockey Club from 1987 to 1995, capturing the AJHL Championship in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the National Centennial Cup in 1994.  Bob, in many ways, is the face of Junior “A” hockey in Alberta.  Bob served as Chairman of the Board for the Alberta Junior Hockey League and was the Junior A Chairperson for the Hockey Alberta Board of Directors.  Most recently, Bob serves as a Board Director for the Hockey Alberta Foundation and coaches midget hockey in Carstairs. Bob was awarded one of the one hundred Hockey Alberta Centennial Awards in 2007.  Very few people exist in hockey with Bob’s qualities. He truly defines honesty, integrity and passion for the game.

Minor Hockey Association Executive of the Year

For the past 5 years, Les Wilson has been a member of the Cold Lake Minor Hockey Board serving as the President for 3 years. His countless hours of dedication to the minor hockey association and to the development of the sport of hockey in Cold Lake are second to none.  He has worked with local companies to provide funding for coach development programs and education.  He will continue to support the executive of Cold Lake MHA as the Past President and in a new role as Development Coordinator.  With Hockey Alberta, Wilson has sat on the Hockey Alberta Provincial Categorization Committee and held the Zone 2 Clinic Coordinator position for the past two years.  Next season he will move into the Manager of Development position in Zone 2.

Minor Hockey Association of the Year

Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association continues to make an outstanding contribution to its community as well as Hockey Alberta. Recently, they successfully implemented a comprehensive and innovative program to restructure and revitalize minor hockey in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. They are also innovative in responding to the specific needs and challenges of the region through the introduction of novel ideas and partnerships.

Hockey Alberta Meritorious Award

Jamie Marouelli has been involved in hockey for over 17 years.  She started out coaching with Lamont Minor Hockey in 1992 coaching at various levels, including the past 7 years coaching at the midget level.  In 2003, Marouelli became involved with Hockey Alberta volunteering as the Zone 2 Registrar where she is still involved today.  Marouelli has also received her Hockey Canada Safety Program qualification and has been involved as a trainer with various Team Alberta programs including the 2007-2008 Alberta Winter Games where she was the trainer for the Northeast Zone female team and in 2008 as a trainer for the U16 Female Provincial Camp.  Most recently she was a trainer at the 2009 Team Alberta Challenge for the Northeast Penguins.

R.G. (Bob) Olynyk has had an eventful and colorful hockey career to date.  “Bobby O”, is a Maple Leaf Athletic Club and Edmonton Minor Hockey Association life member, as well as a Hockey Alberta Centennial Award recipient who has been involved in various capacities of coaching and administration for the past 42 years.  Bobby has been the driving force in establishing the Alberta Midget Hockey League as the premier midget league in Canada since its inception in 1984.  He also has been instrumental in establishing the AMHL Scholarship Fund. Bobby O’s passion for hockey is evident in everything he does for the sport. 

Lil Fulton is no stranger to hard work and dedication.  She became a member of Girls Hockey Calgary when her kids started playing a number of years ago.  Fulton created and ran the very successful and popular “April Ice” tournament for 10 years with teams of all ages coming from all parts of the country.  She served as the Registrar and President of the Southern Alberta Women’s Hockey Association and in 2009 she was a huge part in the success of the Senior Female Western Shield held in Calgary.  In 2005, Fulton joined the Hockey Alberta team as the Senior Female South Representative and currently holds this position while managing her daughter’s senior female team.

The Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association is the oldest minor hockey association in Calgary.  It first formed in 1943 where the likes of Peter Lougheed played with the Buffalo’s Association on the Juvenile team. By 1967, the association was home to 10 teams which included 4 bantam, 4 midget and 2 junior teams where they sit currently. The Association’s midget AAA team has represented Alberta at the Pacific Regional Championships and has gone to the Telus Cup 7 years out of the 25 years this event has taken place.  They have won Pacific Regionals more than any other midget team in the province.  In the 2008 and 2009 seasons, they represented the Pacific Region at the Telus Cup and took home the silver medal in 2009.

Hockey Alberta Development Award

Bob Bartlett has been a constant volunteer for Hockey Alberta for over 20 years.  He currently is a key NCCP course conductor in Southern Alberta and has been for many years.  Bartlett is an Alberta Cup mentor coach, on ice instructor for all grassroots programs, a coach and evaluator at all levels of the Team Alberta male and female programs.  He is a field evaluator and exam marker for the NCCP High Performance I Level.  In 1998, he was inducted into the Lethbridge Hall of Fame and inducted into the North Dakota Hall of Fame in 2003.  Bartlett was the General Manager of the Lethbridge Hurricanes from 1990-1995 and is a member of the U of L Pronghorns Alumni, currently acting as a director on the Hockey Alberta Foundation Board.

For over 12 years, Penny Leshenko has been involved in hockey.  She is currently the trainer for the Grant MacEwan Griffins Hockey team.  She was the Director of Operations for Zone 5 in the Alberta Winter Games from 2000-2006. Leshenko has also held the position of U16 Provincial Coordinator for the U16 Female Programs.  She was involved in developing the Policy and an Operations Manual for the female hockey program.  As well, she was the 1999 Canada Winter Games Director of Operations placed on the Team Alberta Mission staff.

For the past 28 years, Duncan MacDougall has dedicated his time to hockey in Alberta.  He has been an active North Zone Executive Member since 1981.  There is an award named after him that is presented annually in the North Zone to anyone who provides outstanding service and commitment to the North Zone Referees’ Committee.  MacDougall has been a registered official in Alberta since 1978 and has been the North Zone rep on the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association since 1985.  While in these positions he has worked with the development of minor hockey officials in Edmonton at the grassroots level and many have gone on to higher levels, up to and including International assignments.  He has been and is still active as a supervisor and an instructor.

Dave Ganley Award (Officiating)

Todd Swerda has dedicated the past 28 years to officiating hockey around the province. He has been a level 4L official since 1990 with highlights including calling games at the WHL, national junior and Olympic levels. In 2002, Todd received Hockey Alberta’s Most Deserving Official Award and in 2003 he received the Atco Gas Alberta Officiating Recognition Award. Swerda has been a member of the North Central Zone Referees’ Committee since 1988 and has also fulfilled numerous roles on the Executive Committee for the past 19 years.  

Marcel Pigeau has been a registered official for the past 30 years refereeing all levels of minor hockey as well as working as a linesman in Senior, Junior B, and Junior A leagues. Pigeau has served on Grande Prairies Referee Executive for the past 25 years. Marcel has been an extremely important part of the Peace Zone Executive for the past 23 years, always willing to lend a hand wherever help is needed.

Ernie Boruk Award (Officiating)

Karen Kost started her officiating career in Calgary 30 years ago refereeing men’s and women’s hockey at all levels. Some of Karen’s career highlights include officiating at the Esso National Championships, CIS National Championships, World Championships, European Championships and Olympic training camp in 1996. Currently, Kost is the North Zone Female Referees Program Coordinator, Hockey Alberta Female Referees Program Coordinator, Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League Referee Coordinator and a National Supervisor for Hockey Canada.