Ponoka’s Pete Hall was the lucky recipient of Ponoka Minor Hockey’s Dave Simanton Volunteer of the Year Award.
This is the second time Hall received the award in recent years after sharing it with Ron Klinger in 2016.
“It is a great honour to receive this award,” said Hall in an email. “Dave Simanton was a great guy who is fondly remembered by all that knew him.”
For Hall, this award really is about minor hockey and success as an organization.
“Working with young people in this environment is extremely rewarding and it has been my privilege to be involved for as long as I have,” he explained.
“Having mentors growing up here like Don Chase, Jerry Witvoet and Dwayne Rausch gave me a leg up as a young guy playing here, and it truly has been fun helping out the next generation.”
For him it’s the friendships made over the years that truly make volunteering with Ponoka Minor Hockey so rewarding. Plus the lifetime friendships that are made are important.
“It is way more about the life lessons than the games themselves,” said Hall.
His work this past year has been as the coordinator for the Lacoka female hockey program. He wanted to help ensure the work of Tom Fisher, Sharon Klinger and Laurie Jansen continued.
“We were able to ice teams at the peewee, bantam and midget level, with kids participating from a total of five towns,” said Hall.
“This season Ponoka Minor Hockey took over the sole administration of the program from Lacombe and we were fortunate to continue to grow. The girls hockey program is a true success story for our area, and across Canada.”
His biggest hope for Ponoka hockey athletes? To see them continue to play for years to come.