Like father, like son

STRATHCONA – Jason Michaud is just trying to create better people. Nikolas Michaud is just using the lessons his dad is teaching him.

Jason and Nikolas were named the 2022 the Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, two of the prestigious Hockey Alberta Awards presented by ATB. This marks the first time a father and son duo has received these awards.

“I’m honoured and humbled myself, but I’m super proud of (Nikolas),” said Jason. “I was blessed to have great coaches. I’ve always just wanted to model my craft to not only be a good hockey coach, but a coach of humans, to make kids better people.”

Tamara Dawson saw first-hand the positive influence the Michauds had on the team and in the community. She was one of the numerous people from the Strathcona area who nominated Jason and Nikolas.

“My son had been in hockey for a couple years before he had Jason as a coach,” said Dawson. “We really noticed a big difference with positive role modeling and encouraging the kids on sportsmanship, being a good person and working your hardest.”

Jason has now coached Dawson’s son for three years in the Strathcona Minor Hockey Association.

“It’s not always about winning, it’s about trying your best and developing the players as people first and then as players. He’s always done a really good job at that,” said Dawson.

Growing up playing hockey, Jason is now a teacher by trade. When his sons began playing hockey, he saw the chance to coach as an opportunity to join his love of the game and teaching skills.

“I’ve always said if I can have every single player sign up to play next year, that’s how I rate myself as a coach,” said Jason. “All 16 of my players last year are playing again this year. They’re all good people, doing wonderful things in the community. That’s the most important thing – kids who want to play hockey for life long and just be good people on and off the ice.”

The apples have not fallen far from the tree. Jason’s emphasis on the importance of being active in the community and giving back has been instilled into his sons, Ryan and Nikolas.

Jillian Michaud, Jason’s daughter and sister of Ryan and Nikolas, has a rare genetic disorder called Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS). The syndrome is a developmental disorder. Over the years, Ryan and Nikolas have hosted various events to raise funds and awareness for SMS. Most recently, they completed ‘Saves for SMS’.

“They had a garage sale and lemonade stand a couple years ago and it made $400 or $500,” said Jason. “With Saves for SMS, they were hoping to make $1,000. It was a modest goal.”

Saves for SMS was the brainchild of Ryan and Nikolas. Nikolas, a goaltender for the Tier 4 Strathcona Warriors ST505, wanted to use his goalie skills to raise awareness for SMS. In February, Ryan tallied each save that Nikolas made. Together, they collected pledges, sent weekly emails with statistics and posted videos to social media. After 83 saves, they raised over $25,000.

The money was donated to PRISMS (Parents and Researchers Interested in Smith-Magenis Syndrome), an organization that has helped the Michaud family with Jillian. Their hope is all the money goes to SMS research to improve the life of Jillian and children living with SMS.

“Our boys are blessed. They live with this so they are naturally innate with empathy, but to see it come out in the other boys … if you watch my daughter, there are other kids watching her, other boys in the association. This community is awesome. Strathcona Minor Hockey has embraced our family, has embraced this crazy life with our daughter,” said Jason.

To wrap up the month-long initiative, the Strathcona Warriors ST505 played the “Saves for SMS Celebration Game” at Saikers Acres – a well-known local outdoor rink for hosting charity events. With over 100 people in attendance, the game celebrated Jillian, Saves for SMS and continued to raise awareness.

“It was a really good experience for the kids and the parents to be a part of that and a part of the community,” said Dawson. “The kids really got to know Jillian and to know that being different is good and to be comfortable with it.”

Often talking about his sister, Nikolas makes her a part of his everyday life. So much so, Jillian became part of the team, calling them “her boys”.

“It felt great to have the team’s support,” said Nikolas. “The team did good with Jillian. Jillian had lots of friends on the team, they would hang out with her and give her hugs.”

Having a sibling with Smith-Magenis Syndrome comes with many challenges, but Nikolas is her biggest supporter.

“He is a good example of showing and embracing people who are different and working your hardest against all odds,” said Dawson of Nikolas. “It was just a really good feel-good community feeling and it’s really special to see Jason and Nikolas be such a positive influence on the players and the community.”

As part of the Hockey Alberta Awards program, award recipients receive $1,000 for their association. The Michauds couldn’t be more appreciative of their association.

“I’m blessed to coach these awesome kids and he’s blessed to have lifelong friends here,” said Jason. “They say it takes a village and Strathcona County, this association, has been a huge village for our family and we’re just blessed to be a part of it.”

Do you know someone who impacts your association or the game of hockey like Jason and Nikolas? Nominate them for a 2023 Hockey Alberta Award presented by ATB.

Nominations are being accepted until February 8.

Nominate >

Carla MacLeod is Alberta built.

The three-time Olympian began playing her minor hockey in Spruce Grove. As a teenager, she moved to Calgary to play for the Oval X-treme in the Western Women’s Hockey League before committing to the University of Wisconsin.

MacLeod made her first appearance on the international stage with Canada’s National Women’s Under 22 Team in 2002. The five-foot, four-inch defender cracked the National Women’s Team roster in 2005, where she participated in her first of four IIHF World Championships. The team struck gold at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy and again at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Following the 2010 Olympics, MacLeod retired from playing with two Olympic gold medals, one World Championship gold medal and three silver medals.

Over the course of her playing career – whether it was with the national team or the Oval X-treme - the road always led her back to home in Calgary.

“I’m really fortunate to have grown up in Alberta and be a product of the Alberta built model,” said MacLeod. “I think the main reason I’ve always tried to give back to Hockey Alberta, even when I was still playing, was understanding that you want that impact and that opportunity for the next generation and the next group coming up.… We see these women at the Olympics or at the World stage, but really the starting point is the provincial branch and that’s something I’ve never forgotten.”

Following her playing days, MacLeod took the step behind the bench, coaching at every level over the past decade.

Her coaching career started as an assistant coach at Mount Royal University. In 2012, MacLeod made her international coaching debut as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team at the World Championships. That season, MacLeod became an assistant coach with the Japanese Women’s National Team.

For three seasons, MacLeod travelled back and forth to Japan, while balancing her position at Mount Royal and a job in banking. During her tenure, Japan qualified for their first Olympic Games since hosting the tournament in 1998. In 2014, MacLeod made her third appearance at the Olympic Games, her first as a coach.

“English was very limited in that situation, so everything was translated,” said MacLeod. “A small example, you call a timeout in the game and instead of having 30 seconds, you have 15 because everything has to be translated. The impact of language is profound but having said that, it’s also the privilege of coaching internationally.”

Following the 2014 Olympics, MacLeod returned to Calgary as head coach of the U18 Prep Team at the Edge School. She also availed herself of coaching opportunities offered by Hockey Alberta, including assistant coach with Team Alberta at the National Women’s Under-18 Championships in 2015 before taking over as head coach in 2016.

“Short-term competition in general is very unique, I think it’s one of the greatest pieces of sport because everything is expedited and your preparation is so critical in short-term,” said MacLeod. “As a coach, you’re trying to make sure 30 of you are in the right state, that you’re ready to go and everyone is comfortable and confident – and everyone needs something a little different to get there.”

MacLeod returned as Alberta’s bench boss at the 2019 Canada Winter Games. Under her direction, Alberta won its third-ever gold medal, the first since 2011.

“It was just a privilege to coach that group. All we wanted to do as a staff was to ensure that those girls had the best experience possible at that level. That’s not a result-based goal, that’s a process-based goal, ultimately for us the result took care of it as well,” said MacLeod.

In 2021, MacLeod took the next step in her career – head coach of the University of Calgary Dinos.

Then, a year later, she was offered a new challenge ahead of the Women’s World Championships – head coach of Czechia’s National Women’s Team. In recent years, Czechia had built a strong foundation, but it was up to MacLeod to get them to the next level. After nearly upsetting the United States at the 2022 Olympics, all eyes were on them at the World Championships.

“Anyone who watched the World Championships or the Olympic Games could see that there was momentum within the Czech Women’s Team. We did a lot from a coaching perspective to get to know the players as people,” said MacLeod. “We wanted to maintain and build on that foundation that had been laid but we knew that if we wanted to take that next step and push for a medal in the ‘A’ pool, we’d have to do some things differently. That was part of the growing process and it’s part of the journey.”

MacLeod found the next step with Czechia. With the first female coach in federation history, Czechia won their first-ever medal when they claimed bronze at the World Championships.

Through MacLeod’s Alberta roots, she is delivering the same level of game to the world.

RED DEER – Hockey Alberta is proud to introduce a new initiative on Friday, November 4 – 11.4 Maltreatment Awareness Day.

Falling on November 4, the day coincides with Rule 11.4 in the Hockey Canada rulebook on Discrimination. The goal of the day is to educate and provide resources to make our game more inclusive. To help achieve this goal, Hockey Alberta is posting 11 times throughout the day on our social media platforms with informative pieces about the rule and the enhanced measures we are taking moving forward.

“All forms of discrimination are unacceptable in our game. Community is one of Hockey Alberta’s Values, and we know that a sense of belonging is important for our participants and stakeholders in our sport. We also know that establishing and maintaining that sense of community is hard work,” said Rob Litwinski, CEO of Hockey Alberta.

“Hockey Alberta has taken steps in dealing with maltreatment and discrimination with our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, along with the work undertaken in tracking and acting upon reported cases of Maltreatment. But there is still much work to do. Today is another step in that process for Hockey Alberta as we continue to educate and create awareness to remove discrimination and maltreatment from our game.”

Prior to the 2021-22 season, Section 11 - Maltreatment was implemented in the Hockey Canada rulebook. The rule encompasses five areas:

• 1 Unsportsmanlike Conduct
• 2 Disrespectful and Abusive Behaviour
• 3 Spitting
• 4 Discrimination, and
• 5 Physical Harassment of Officials.

Hockey Alberta, along with the rest of the provincial branches began tracking infractions, allegations, and complaints of 11.4 Discrimination. The data tracked can be found on the Hockey Alberta website’s Maltreatment, Bullying and Harassment page under the “2021-22 Statistics” tab.

New this season, a confidential reporting mechanism overseen by an Independent Third Party (ITP) has been established for the reporting of all complaints of abuse, discrimination, and harassment.

INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY COMPLAINT PROCESS

As an additional resource for 11.4 Maltreatment Awareness Day, Hockey Alberta’s Centre Ice Podcast interviewed Bryden Burrell, Manager of Minor Hockey, and Brett Kelly, Manager of Officiating, about the creation, implementation, and review of the Maltreatment rule and tracking process.

11.4 Maltreatment Awareness Day is a springboard to the ongoing work of Hockey Alberta and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Thanks to funding provided from Safe & Welcoming Sport Grant through the InMotion Network and Government of Alberta, Hockey Alberta has set a goal to get informative signage up in 30 arenas around the province by the end of November. The messaging will focus on educating parents, participants, coaches, and others about Maltreatment.

MALTREATMENT, BULLYING, & HARASSMENT INFORMATION