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Natives competitive in Junior ANEEPAWA NATIVES JR. A M.J.H.L. - 1989 - 90(Front) Kyle Jones, Steve Vasko, Scott Sidoryk, Ted Fleury, Troy Luhowy, Travis Laing,Sheldon Haggerty, Kerry Wasilka, Myles Cathcart.(Middle) Jeff Hume, Darryl Ardron, Bill White, Lionel Crowther, Derek Cathcart, Lawrence Cathcart, Brian Kerkowich, Ron White, Ben Pinette, Mike Angers, Kenny Pearson.(Back) BJ Birch, Cory Smith, Jim Millan, ChrisTurner, Kevin Luhowy, Scott Elder,Jason Story, Neil Gillies, Rusty Lawrence.Joe MacPheeThe Neepawa BannerThe demise of senior hockey in Neepawa in the early 1980s was replaced by interest in a junior hockey franchise leading to the formation of the Neepawa Natives Junior A team which joined the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in 1989.The organizers of the original franchise included Bill and Ron White, Lionel Crowther, and Laurence Cathcart. The team has gone through several ownership changes since its foundingand is currently operating on a community ownership format after several years of individual ownership and generous support from Gaynor Vivian.Neepawa is one of thesmallest communities in Canada operating a Junior A team and although they have usually been very competitive over the years they have not as yet managed to capture a MJHL title. The two seasons in which the Natives were most successful on the ice were under Coach Don McGillivray in 1994-95 when they finished in first place in Allard Division regular season and in the following year, 1995-96, when they were Allard Division playoff champions but lost to the St. James Canadians in the league finals.Several local players have played their minor hockey in Neepawa and gone on to junior and universityor professional careers including four- Shawn Byram, Mark Kolesar, Shane Hnidy and Tris-ton Grant- who have fulfilled the ultimate minor hockey player’s dream of making it to the NHL. Their accomplishments along with those of several other Neepawa Minor Hockey Association grads are on display plaques at the Yellowhead.The most successful Neepawa minor hockey grad to date has been de-fenseman Shane Hnidy who is currently with the Boston Bruins. He also has had NHL stops in Ottawa, Nashville, Atlanta and Anaheim, and made his NHL debut on October 5, 2000 for the Senators in Boston against the Bruins.Shane should alsobe recognized for his support to the Beautiful Plains Community Foundation in the form of the annual Shane Hnidy Charity Golf Tournament begun in 2002 and for his assistance to the Yellow-head Arena through the NHL Players Association Goals and Dreams funding program for minor hockey facilities.Shawn Byram played briefly for the New York Islanders in the 1990-91 season and the Chicago Black Hawks the next year; Mark Kolesar played several games with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1994-97; and Triston Grant got a call up to the Philadelphia Flyers for a eight gamestint in 2006-07 and was recently traded by the Flyers organizationto the Nashville Predators.Hnidy, Kolesar, and Grant also made brief appearances in the Neepawa Natives lineup before moving on to Major Junior and professional careers as well as all three put in at least a season with the Yellowhead Chiefs, the regional AAA Midget team. The Chiefs have also had many other local minor hockey grads appear in their uniform before going on tojunior, university, senior and professional careers.A strong minor hockey association has always been a key for producing hockey talent and Nee-pawa’s is no exception. Over the past 25 years Neepawa Minor Hockey has produced several provincial champions.Neepawa hosts major curling tournamentsJoe MacPheeThe Neepawa BannerThe final stage of the new Neepawa Curling Club facility was just, under construction at the Town’s centennial but as stated then it was and still is one of the finest rural curling rinks in Manitoba. However, even it has proven to be too small for the growth in size of provincial competitive curling championship tournaments despite the decline in curling participation as a recreational sport.Fortunately, the Yellowhead Arena had proven to be an ideal facility to handle such prestigious events and Neepawa was able to host both the women’s 2000 Scott Tournament of Hearts provincial championships and the men’s 2002 Safeway Select provincial championships under the leadership of chairman Bert Lowry and a large and dedicated group of volunteers. Both of these events were artistic, financial and competitive successes that, greatly enhanced the reputation of Neepawa for its community sporting spirit and organizational abilities.{/(’//as//f/ t/ze287 B Hamilton Street(next to Roxy Theatre]1 Af ~ I--
Newspaper Details
Neepawa Banner
Neepawa, Manitoba, CA
Fri, Jul 11, 2008
Page 38
Full Page
Clipped by
Stan M.
CA 16 Apr 2018
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