EDITOR;
On behalf of the Oyen midgets, I would like to thank The Town of Vauxhall and the provincial host committee for the hospitality and efficiency they showed in hosting the Midget “D” provincials on March 24-27. It is easy to see everything through rose-coloured glasses when you are winning, but I want to express some of the things that made this weekend extraordinary.
First of all was the facility; it had everything that a “D” town should have. It wasn’t new but it had character, enough dressing rooms of sufficient size, good ice surface with good benches and boards, lots of seating for fans, and a good-sized lobby with a well-run booth. My favourite part of the arena was the atmosphere. When the puck hit the post, a body check was thrown against the boards or the fans started to cheer, it resonated throughout the whole building, making for extremely exciting games.
As many people are aware, midget hockey can get ugly at times. This was not the case in Vauxhall. We played teams with more sportsmanship than I had seen all year, namely Vauxhall, Mayerthorpe and Millet. (I can’t speak for Irma, Manning or Bow Island as we didn’t get to play them). A part of this would have to be contributed to the officials. They did a terrific job all weekend and the ref co-ordinator did a great job of picking the very best for the finals.
With great sportsmanship, facilities and officiating, you would think that is all you need, but there is one more item that makes for a successful tournament — people. I would like to extend a thank you to all the people on the host committee and the arena staff for helping us with all of our needs in a kindly manner, to the amazing cooks who fed us at the banquet, to the ladies looking after the Legion for providing a place for our boys to relax between games, even on Sunday, to whoever drew the Oyen Bees logo and the pharmacy downtown who displayed it (I would really like to get my hands on it), to our team’s official sponsor, Enchant Seed Cleaning, and to the staff at Nonna’s who provided us with a great meal.
Special appreciation goes to our runners, Vance and Wayne, who went out of their way to help the team and were really nice young men (you deserved the gold medal as well). Finally, a huge thank you to The Town of Vauxhall and its hockey team for their overwhelming support during the final game. It made us feel like we were playing at home.
Words cannot express our appreciation to everyone involved. You did your community proud!

KENT MEERS
Manager Oyen midgets