Windspeaker Sports Briefs - March

Coaches honoured
A pair of youth hockey coaches are the recipients of provincial awards.

Winnipeg’s William Hudson and Kali Leary of Norway House Cree Nation are the 2011 winners of the Manitoba Aboriginal Coaching Awards. They were announced as the winners in early February.

The Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council annually recognizes a pair of coaches, one male and one female, with the awards.

Hudson coached the Norquay Knights’ atom team, comprised of nine-year-olds, in the Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association (WMHA). The Knights competed in the association’s North End Hockey Program.

Though the Knights featured numerous individuals who had never played hockey before, Hudson coached them to a fourth-place finish in their league.

When he’s not coaching hockey, Hudson is also a youth worker at Winnipeg’s Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.

Leary coached her nephew’s peewee team, which also participated in the WMHA. Besides being a coach with the team, Leary, who has a Masters degree in Biomedical Technology, also served as the club’s trainer.

Leary, who works for CancerCare Manitoba, was also an assistant coach for the Manitoba girls’ entry that competed at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships in 2011. That tournament was staged this past May in Saskatoon.

Denny returns to school
Chad Denny’s hockey season could still end on an upbeat note. Denny, a Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia’s Eskasoni First Nation, is a rookie with the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. He’s currently on the disabled list as he broke his wrist in late January.

Denny, a 24-year-old defenceman, is hoping the Varsity Reds enjoy a lengthy playoff run. And if he’s healthy he’s hoping to play in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) tournament, which UNB will host.

The national tournament is scheduled for March 22 to March 25.

The Varsity Reds are the defending CIS champions. And they’ve also won three national titles in the past five years.

Denny had spent the past four seasons playing for various minor professional teams.

He was originally also hoping to play in the minors this season. But then he opted to go to school instead and enrolled at UNB. But Denny, who was selected by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft, had to wait until this past November to join the Varsity Reds’ roster.

That’s because since he had played in the pro ranks last season—with the Utah Grizzlies of the East Coast Hockey League—he had to wait until November before he was eligible to play in the Canadian university ranks.

Denny only appeared in eight games with the Varsity Reds before breaking his wrist. He had one assist in those matches.

The Varsity Reds had a successful regular season. They posted a 20-5-3 record and finished atop the standings in their eight-team league, which is called Atlantic University Sport.

UNB earned an opening-round playoff bye. And the team was scheduled to begin a best-of-five semi-final series against the University of Prince Edward Island on Feb. 24.

Besides Utah, Denny also played for the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators. And he played portions of two seasons with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves.

Scoring leader
Byron Katapaytuk is enjoying his finest junior hockey season. The 20-year-old Cree from Ontario’s Moose Factory is a member of the Fort Frances Lakers. The club competes in the Superior International Junior A Hockey League (SIJHL).

The seven-team league features four squads from northern Ontario, two from Minnesota and one from Wisconsin. With just two games remaining in the Lakers’ regular season schedule, Katapaytuk was leading the SIJHL in scoring with 80 points (30 goals and 50 assists) in 50 games.

Katapaytuk, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound forward, is in his third season with the Lakers. And he’s steadily improved his productivity since joining the squad. Katapaytuk had 34 points in 43 games during his rookie season in Fort Frances. And he averaged more than a point per outing during his sophomore season; he had 56 points, including 20 goals, in 54 matches.

Katapaytuk’s scoring prowess is also one of the main reasons why the Lakers have enjoyed another successful campaign.

During its first 54 games Fort Frances posted a 35-12-7 record, good for 77 points. The Lakers were in second place in the league standings, behind only the defending SIJHL champion Wisconsin Wilderness, who had 95 points.

Katapaytuk and his teammates had also finished second in the SIJHL standings after regular season action last season. But they were upset in their semi-final series by the Dryden Ice Dogs.