The Little Tournament That Could!

Imagine less than 30 days before an annual event, that’s taken months to organize and prepare for, a sudden need to change venues happens! For 5 consecutive years, the Kids Hockey Advancement Society has held its annual Fundraising Golf Tournament at the Inglewood Golf and Curling Club. With the devastating June floods affecting Inglewood, the staff diligently did all they could to restore the links to their previous pristine quality; but alas, the damage to the back 9 was incredible and Inglewood had to shut it down for the remainder of the 2013 season.

Thankfully, Chestermere’s Lakeside Golf Club graciously stepped in, with little notice, and provided us with their venue for the event. Now imagine, for 8 months, the Kids Hockey Advancement Society has advertised the tournament at a specific venue, on a specific date, starting at a specific time… not only are we dealing with a location change, but now we have a date and time change as well! With a great amount of appreciation, every golfer committed to the tournament, prior to the changes reaffirmed their participation; and it turned out to be a glorious day, although maybe a little windy for some!

The Kids Hockey Advancement Society is proud to announce that we raised $21, 925 for KidSport Calgary that day. Despite the fact we had 17% less golfers this year; we increased our sponsorship donations and gladly wrote a cheque for $20,000. At our Live Auction, Tuck the KidSport Bear was sponsored for the year by the great staff of Professional Skate for $1,400, and will sit comfortably in KidSport Calgary’s Corporate office. Through our 50/50 ticket sales, the cash winner generously donated the funds back to KidSport.

With a tremendous amount of esteemed gratitude, the Kids Hockey Advancement Society would like to thank the Following:

The Golfers: For staying committed and attending the event even with the last minute changes!

Event Sponsor: Tucker Hockey; Rex Tucker

Co-Event Sponsor: Tourmaline Oil; Mike Rose

Gold Friends of the Society Sponsor: Dundee Wealth; Chris Heaman

Silver Friends of the Society Sponsors: Shaganappi GM; Gary Sartorio and Western Securities; Sean O’Connor

Hole-in-One Sponsors: The Co Operators, Dundee Wealth and Scotia Inspire; Arfan Devji, Chris Heaman and Ed Evans as well as The Investor’s Group; Mark DeJong

Cart Sponsor: Westcor Creations; Corey Molengraaf

Golf Ball Sponsor: SeisWare International; Murray Brack

Beer Hole Sponsors: RARE Oilfield Services; Rob Allendorf and Rob Gryba as well as Optimus US Real Estate Fund; Arthur Wong

Arrive Safe Sponsor: Valentine Volvo; Paul Valentine

Gold Hole Sponsor: Telsec; Kris Van Grieken

Silver Hole Sponsor: B. Dean & Associates; Simone Mersereau

Lunch Sponsor: Spolumbo’s; Tony Spoletini

Tournament Donors:

Aspen Properties; Liz Davis

Bank of Montreal; Robert Hayes

David Burton

Calgary Flames; Peter Hanlon

Calgary Hockey Magazine; Rob Suggitt

Paul & Betty Cammack

CIBC; Clint Buckler

Dundee Wealth; Chris Heaman

GPS Central; George Valentine

Hockey North America; James Kelly

Investor’s Group; Mark DeJong

Keith Nicholson

Vinson Pang

Bradley Pederson

Pre Pak Meats; Jim Hepburn

Professional Skate; Josh Esler

Rob Pryde

Tim Hortons; Richel Manning

Tom Raptis

UFA Co-Operative Ltd.; Tammy Mitchell

Michael White

Tim Woolley

Live Auction Donors:

Hockey Canada; Bob Nicholson

KidSport; Mark Kosak

KHAS; Rex Tucker

Molson Coors Canada; Travis Rhine

Pre Pak Meats; Jim Hepburn

Real Canadian Superstore (Deerfoot Meadows); Rick Froese

Stuart Olson Dominion Construction; Cheryl Ballerini

Tucker Hockey; Rex Tucker

WestJet; Fraser Neek

Michael White

Graphics & Signage Sponsor:

Bissett Resources; Russ Brown & Michael Valenzuela

Titan Mapping; Mohammed Hassoun

Printing Services:

Calgary Instant Printing; Quinn Mach and Amy Chan

Photography:

KHAS Official Photographer; Murray Dejager

Master of Ceremonies:

Hamilton & Partners; Scott Coe – For the 6^th Consecutive year you stepped up for us Scotty! Your charm and wit definitely entertained a tired bunch of golfers at the banquet!

Honored Guests:

Former NHL Player & Flames Radio Personality; Mike Rogers – Thanks Mike for taking the time to answer a few questions and entertaining us as our Live Auctioneer!

KidSport Ambassadors; Val & Sydney Hokanson – Thanks Ladies for sharing your story with us. Female Hockey Players Rock!

Inglewood Staff:

Head Pro; Jeff McGregor – Thanks Jeff, it’s been a great 5 years!

Lakeside Staff:

Owner; John Wilson

Food & Beverage; Stephanie & Brett Beninger

Head Pro; Jay MacLeod

To all of the Golf Course Staff, Marshals, Pro Shop Staff, Kitchen Staff and Servers, you all deserve a huge round of applause for all of the hard work and dedication to the Society in helping us provide a great event for our participants.

Kids-Hockey.ca Website Coordinator:

Critical Mass; Andrzej Milosz

Event Day Volunteers:

Barb and Jim Hepburn, Ashley Chartrand, Matt Heseltine, Mark Kosak, Chelsey Molengraaf, Lisa Parham, Sandie Smith, Brie Stangeland, Rex and Marcela Tucker, Michael White, Christine Walker and Ron Wong

Without your generous donation of time, the Tournament would not have run well, nor have been such a success!

Thanks again everyone for donating your time, dollars and energy to our worthy cause. Without your generosity our tournament wouldn’t be as successful as it’s been over the past six years.

In addition to the money donated to KidSport, the Kids Hockey Advancement Society will also be working on a pilot project this year with a Minor Hockey Association in Calgary, providing much needed funds towards the skating and skill development of its minor players. Should the project be successful, the Society plans on branching out to other Associations in the future, creating a greater skill development foundation for the kids playing at the grassroots level of hockey.

Mark your calendars, because the Society is already looking forward to next year’s tournament, scheduled for September 15^th, 2014 at the Lakeside Golf Club in Chestermere. We plan on expanding our golfer capacity, increasing sponsorship and donating more funds; all the while having fun doing it!