City fetes young ice stars

Thus it was on April 14 that hundreds of children gathered at Victoria Hall for the springtime awards gala.

As tradition dictates, elected officials from the City, including Mayor Karin Marks and councillors Cynthia Lulham and Tom Thompson, were on hand serving the kids. There was laughter and boisterous celebrating, proud parents came with camcorders in hand, and many medals were presented.

"I think the kids like the informal part of the evening," said Sports and Recreation Director Mike Deegan. "It's not a sit-down dinner. I think they like to serve themselves.

"And it's not too long, so they don't have to be sitting around waiting for a three-hour period," he added. "It's usually over within an hour and twenty minutes. Just by the participation of the people who come out, it's clear that they really enjoy the evening. It's a really convivial atmosphere."

After a long season of hockey of seven or eight months for some of the kids, "it's fun to see it all culminate," said Stephen Robaire, a coordinator with the Sports and Recreation department. "They get very worked up. They let it all hang out."

"It's a recognition of their achievements and their efforts over the fall and winter season," added Deegan. "We had a fantastic year with our inter-city teams." According to Deegan, Westmount's success over the past season was demonstrated by the four victory banners the local teams were able to win, and which now hang proudly in the arena.

"We're proud of the kids, we're proud of their accomplishments and we definitely appreciate all the efforts that the coaches and the volunteers and parents make, as well as the children, because they make a commitment to getting the kids to the games.

"Without them, and with the support of all the coaches, we couldn't make all of this happen, so we're proud of their accomplishments."

And the winners...

Awards were presented to the following teams and individuals:

Most improved skating participants were Kate Frost & Jamie Dannenbaum, Catalina Sofia Sosa & Samantha Habbal, Olivia Flynn & Emma Hason, Veronica Fong & Andrea Fabris, Katya Hernandez & Alexandre Parent-Harvey in the beginner category; Carolina Repetto & Danielle Ben Shoshan, Sophie Harman-Heath & Rubina Fevens in the junior category; Marley Mintzberg & Charlotte Hings, Angelina Mazza & Elisabeth Beauchamp in the senior category, and Neos Dionisopoulos & Lingxin He for powerskating.

Girls indoor soccer sportsmanship awards went to Roxanne Pfund and Sophie Gagne-Landmann, with Pierre Faucher-Carmel and Maxime Piotte recognized in the boys category.

The Midget A Wings Award of Excellence was presented to Hayes Nulman and Geoffrey Matheson, while Stuart Bailey was recognized as the most improved player.

The EHL champion Midget B Predators were presented with their medals. This year's team consisted of Brendan Timmins, Eric Alexander, Conrado Hupe Vaz, Michael Abramson, Denis Smirnov, Benjamin Montreuil, Zachary Shiller, Jeffrey Silverstein, Joshua Adams, Max Cherney, Tim Feingold, Josh Koenekoop, Jesse Hornstein-Goldberg, Brett Wiseman, Jamie Tait, Nicolas Konow, Jamie Koenekoop, and coaches Simon Rodenchuk, Tristan Pungartnik, Daniel Cohen, and Alex Wagner.

The Midget B Predators Award of Excellence was presented to Michael Abramson, and most improved player was Conrado Hupe Vaz.

The Bantam house league regular season champions, The Flames, were presented with their medals. The team consists of Brandon Adelson, Simon Altman, Dylan Catellier, David Cummings, Jason Gershonovitch, Scott Harman, Michael Hopmeyer, Gregory Jay-Riendeau, Nicholas Melka, Olivier Morisset, Lorenzo Saroli, Joseph Therriault, Max Yatrou, Daniel Kraminer, Jared Grusczinsky, and coach Ed Imbeault.

The Bantam House League Hockey Sportsmanship Awards were awarded to Gregory Jay-Riendeau, Eric Bindman, Max Halickman, and Shane Spector, and most improved player was Brandon Adelson.

The Bantam A Wings were presented with the Canadian Hockey Enterprises, American Cup, Lake Placid Tournament championship trophy. The team consists of Yassine Benjelloun, Daniel Wiseman, Benjamin Elbaz, Chad Gurman, Ben Belec, Gabriel Chetrit, Alexander Lutfy, Nikola Papich, Reilly O’Connor, Stirling Mintz, Oliver Mayers, Alexandre Pfund, Anthony Salvo, Samuel Elkaim, Thomas Houlton, Aidan Meltzer, Michael Smith, and coaches Akexandre Gagnon and Blake Andrew.

The Bantam A Wings Award of Excellence went to Reilly O’Connor, and most improved player was Samuel Elkaim.

In the Pee Wee category, medals were presented to house league champs the Seals, consisting of Carl Bindman, Alexandre Boulay, Charles Laframboise, Nicholas Laframboise, Zubin Lahijanian, Griffin Leahey, Julien Miller, Nicholas Millot, Oliver Mofford, Anne-Sophie Pinard, Harris Pompili, Michael Ralph, Luke Rorlick and coaches Peter Rorlick and Niels Garbe.

The Pee Wee Sportsmanship awards were presented to Reynald Ascencio, David Green, Michael Ralph and Jonathan Garfinkle. Most improved Pee Wee player was Cedric Marsan-Lafond.

The Pee Wee A Wings Award of Excellence was awarded to Nicolas Jonas, and the most improved player was Jacob Falutz.

In Atom, medals were presented to house league champs the Stars, consisting of Avery Adam, Zachary Clayman de Melo, Jeremy Friedman, Devan Kelly-Menard, Elijah Meltzer, Spencer Meltzer, Rafael Mihoub, Julia Miller, Julien Ritchie, Timothy Rylander, Zachary Shine, David Smith, Nicholas Wicha, Thomas Pineau-Valencienne and coaches Matt Billinghurst and Pamela Billinghurst.

Medals were also presented to the Canadiens, consisting of Remi Beland, Tristan De La Selle, Justin Frankel, Vincent Guan, Devin Kreuzer, Spencer Leahey, Jacob Lee-Howes, Duncan Lovell, Evan Norris, Stefan Robb, Fabrizio Rodin-Miron, Shelby Spector, Stephan Suntharam, David Therriault, Makalae Riley, Maxin Riley and coaches Alain Beland, Don Lovell and John Kreuzer.

The Atom House League Hockey Sportsmanship Awards went to Louis-François Charpentier, Avery Adam, Vincent Guan and Joshua Kreisman, while most improved player was Frédérique Bédard.

The EHL Championship Banner and medals were presented to the Atom A wings, consisting of Zachary Filion, Samuel Goldberg, Emmanuel Elie, David Rosenberg, Becket Osterland, Gregory Ward, Jeremy Epstein, Nadav Sarid, Jaclyn Lavy, Ryan Dimentberg, Jonah Goodman, Adrien Garneau, Alex Chenier, Jacob Meltzer, Matthew Loewen and coaches Dany Filion, Matthew Robins, Jean-Philippe Simard and George Civelek.

The Atom A Wings Award of Excellence was presented to David Rosenberg, and most improved player was Jeremy Epstein.

The St. Laurent tournament championship banner, the EHL regular season championship banner, the EHL post-season championship banner and medals were presented to the Atom B Predators, consisting of Laurent Joli-Coeur, Cedric Meyer, David Elbaz, Alexandre Jasmin, Zachary Rosen, Louis Rivest, Adam Leutner, Liam Ross, Matthew Millot, Ryan O’Toole, Andreas Dionisopoulos, Charles-Antoine Desgreniers, Matthew Filgiano, Eli Zuckerman and coaches Alain Elbaz and Denis Jasmin.

The Atom B Predators Award of Excellence went to Eli Zuckerman, and most improved player was Zachary Rosen.

In Novice, the medals went to house league champs Canadiens, consisting of Kian Akhavan, Evan Dimentberg, Eli Erdstein, Tristan Gamache, Judd Garfield, Beren Gezen, Andrew Goldberg, Justin Goldberg, Eric Namts, Luke O’Shea, Jordan Sager, Chase Sinclair, Adam Starr and coaches Bruce Garfield and Michael Starr.

The Novice Sportsmanship Awards went to Emily Sarid, Eric Namts, Bronte Viens and Elliot Grenier. Most improved player was Olaf Schoningh.

The Novice A Wings Award of Excellence went to Alexa Papanastasiou and most improved player was Tyler Grill.