Hockey Canada is well aware of the contributions made by volunteers to the game of hockey. And it is for that reason that volunteers are honoured, as Hockey Canada hands out the hardware at its awards night as part of the Annual General Meeting.

Men and women from all regions of Canada are honoured for the time they put in to helping make hockey a great experience for everyone involved.

FEMALE HOCKEY BREAKTHROUGH AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS

Laurie Taylor-Boulton (Barrie, Ont.)

As women’s hockey has continued to grow, both in Canada and around the world, more and more women are being recognized for their efforts in getting the game to where it is today, whether it is as a player, coach or official. This year’s Female Breakthrough Award winner, Laurie Taylor-Bolton, has done all three.

A defenceman for the University of Toronto in the early 1990s, Laurie declined a scholarship offer from an NCAA school to stay north of the border and help the game thrive in its early years on the international stage. It was her knowledge of the game and tremendous skating ability that allowed her to smoothly make the transition from player to official once her competitive playing days were done, and she quickly proved her worth as an official, making her international debut as a linesman at the 1994 IIHF World Women’s Championship. She was a part of history when she was selected to work at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, the first Olympics to include women’s hockey.

While still serving as an active official, Laurie became head of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association’s officiating program, a position she still holds. She has spent more than 15 years as the OWHA’s referee-in-chief, spending countless hours supervising and mentoring young officials on the finer points of the game, helping OWHA officials receive numerous national and international assignments.

Laurie’s involvement in the officiating program has had a direct impact on the thousands of players who lace up their skates in the OWHA every season. She places an emphasis on calling the games so players can focus on their hockey, knowing penalties will be called, and ensures her officials maintain a very high standard of fair and safe play.

LIZ MACKINNON AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS
(spousal award of a Hockey Canada volunteer)

Jill Donovan (Saint John, N.B.)

HAL LEWIS AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS
(Hockey Canada staff person of the year)

Dean McIntosh (Calgary, Alta.)

A dedicated father, minor hockey coach and Hockey Canada employee, Dean McIntosh is the first person to twice be named winner of the Hal Lewis Award as Hockey Canada staff person of the year, having previously won the award in 2005. Now into his 12th year with Hockey Canada, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who strives to better the organization more so than Dean.

Hired in January 2000 as manager of coaching, Dean was promoted to senior manager in 2005, and to his current position as director of marketing services and events in October 2008. As director, Dean ensures that Hockey Canada’s national events run smoothly and works to deliver all contractual obligations to corporate partners at the highest level possible.

Away from Hockey Canada, the Shelburne, Ont., native spends virtually every weekend during the season behind the bench, coaching one of his three daughters – Samantha, Jazmin and Mandy. This interaction gives him a unique first-hand look at minor hockey, and makes him a valuable resource at Hockey Canada.

GORDON JUCKES AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS
(contribution to national development of amateur hockey in Canada)

Jean-François Mouton (Boucherville, Que.)

What do Claude Julien, Alain Vigneault and Guy Boucher have in common? All are currently head coaches in the NHL, but that’s not the only connection they share. They are four of the more than 500 coaches who have completed Hockey Quebec’s advanced level coaching clinic and learned from Jean-François Mouton, this year’s recipient of the Gordon Juckes Award for outstanding contributions to the development of amateur hockey in Canada.

A coaching course conductor for Hockey Quebec for almost 35 years, Jean-François has been a leader in developing coaches who have gone on to every level of the game, from minor hockey to Major Junior and professional leagues in North America and Europe. Few coaches have come out of La Belle Province who have not benefited from Jean-François’ expertise.

A member of Hockey Quebec’s coaching committee since 1981, some of Jean-François’ greatest contributions to the game have come in the last 10 years. In the early 2000s, he was one of the creators of Hockey Quebec’s technical skills DVDs, 50,000 of which have been handed out to coaches across the province this season, and his books on team play and body checking are mandatory in the National Coaching Certification Program in Quebec.

A physical education teacher by trade, Jean-François continues to travel across the province to talk about coaching, ethics and fair play in hockey. It has been estimated that his teachings reach more than 80,000 young hockey players every season, and that he had led more than 300 coaching clinics in his time with Hockey Quebec.

OFFICIATING AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS

Kevin Muench (Moose Jaw, Sask.)

For more than 30 years, Kevin Muench has dedicated himself to the game of hockey – not as a player or coach, but as one of the most respected officials in the game. As an official on the ice and supervisor and administrator off of it, Kevin has seen and done it all in the game, earning himself this year’s Hockey Canada Officiating Award.

Although his on-ice career at the high levels of Canadian hockey ended in the mid 1990s, Kevin has stayed very involved in the game, working with Hockey Canada, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association and the Western Hockey League to bring new ideas to the game and ensure the quality of the officiating keeps up with the quality of the on-ice product.

Kevin spent 13 seasons on the ice as a WHL referee, earning assignments to the National Junior A Championship, Canadian university championship and Memorial Cup as a Level VI official, and in 1992 reached the pinnacle of the officiating world when he worked the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France, the lone Canadian to receive the assignment.

Following his retirement as an active official, Kevin stayed involved with the WHL, supervising games for the league and helping develop its officiating program. He was rewarded for his hard work in 2001 when he was named the WHL’s director of officiating, a position he still holds today. Outside of his work for the WHL, Kevin has been heavily involved in Hockey Canada’s Officiating Program of Excellence and its officiating committee, bringing about changes to procedures, supervision and instruction at the national level.

HOCKEY CANADA ORDER OF MERIT (ATLANTIC) | PAST RECIPIENTS

Glenn Hurley (Rothesay, N.B.)

He may have got a later start in minor hockey than your average young Canadian, but with the amount of time Glenn Hurley has given back to the game over the past 35 years, he’s more than made up for it. Glenn first laced up his skates in competitive hockey in Peewee at the age of nine, and played through Junior A before ending his playing career in 1977.

But it didn’t take Glenn long to return to the ice, this time as an official. He attended his first officiating clinic shortly after his final game as a player, and was immediately hooked. That first clinic started a 20-year career as an on-ice official, which included receiving his Level VI certification in 1988 – the highest level possible for a Canadian official – and working at the 1992 Allan Cup, Canada’s National Senior Hockey Championship, in Saint John.

In 1997, when his on-ice career came to an end, Glenn stayed involved in the game, taking over as referee-in-chief of Hockey New Brunswick, a post he held until the end of the 2009-10 season. During that time he oversaw the officiating at 11 Atlantic Challenge Cups as well as the 2002 Air Canada Cup, Canada’s National Midget Hockey Championship, where a 14-year-old Sidney Crosby dazzled crowds in Bathurst, New Brunswick.

Although he no longer holds the position of referee-in-chief, Glenn has continued to be involved with minor hockey, both in his home province and across the country. He currently sits on Hockey Canada’s Officiating Support Committee, helping shape the game from the officials’ perspective, and works with Hockey New Brunswick as a branch supervisor, helping develop young officials.

HOCKEY CANADA ORDER OF MERIT (CENTRAL) | PAST RECIPIENTS

Réal Cyr (Montreal-Nord, Que.)

Over the course of a career that has spanned more than 50 years, there isn’t much Réal Cyr hasn’t done. He’s been a player, a coach and an administrator. He’s helped organize games and tournaments from the lowest levels of minor hockey to the international game. And along the way he has become one of the most respected men in Quebec hockey.

When his competitive playing career ended at the age of 20 in the mid 1960s, Réal stepped behind the bench for the first time, coaching a Bantam team in the suburbs of Montreal. What was supposed to be a temporary position turned into an eight-year journey – Réal coached until the early 70s, winning four provincial championships and starting a long and prosperous relationship with Hockey Quebec, and later the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.

A young coach who always wanted to learn more about the game, Réal took part in the first provincial coaching clinic in Quebec, and in 1974 traveled to Winnipeg to participate in the CAHA’s first national coaching clinic. When Hockey Quebec was founded in 1976, Réal helped build the organization’s coaching program, which is still in place today, 35 years later. But coaching would be only a small part of Réal’s life in hockey.

Réal spent more than 30 years as a sport coordinator with the City of Saint-Leonard, and worked in a number of positions at the regional and provincial level with Hockey Bourassa and Hockey Montreal, two of Hockey Quebec’s 15 regional associations. It was through these positions that Réal had his hand in a number of decisions that shaped minor hockey in Quebec as we know it today.

HOCKEY CANADA ORDER OF MERIT (WEST) | PAST RECIPIENTS

Lorne Wilm (Central Butte, Sask.)

Like so many of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who give their time to hockey every season, Lorne Wilm’s love of the game started as a player. From the first Lorne stepped on the ice as a five-year-old in Central Butte, Saskatchewan, he was hooked. The game has given him so much over the years, and he has given right back – to his community, his province and his country.

Lorne grew up as so many Canadian children do, moving up through the ranks of minor hockey, learning and enjoying the game thanks to the Central Butte Minor Hockey Association. When he was 15 he got the call to join the town’s senior hockey team, the Flyers, and spent the next 15 years patrolling the team’s blue line, doing what so many in the town of 350 loved to do – playing hockey.

But it was off the ice Lorne was beginning to make his mark as well. For 24 seasons, from 1978 to 2001, Lorne served his community as a board member with the Central Butte Minor Hockey Association, ensuring young players in the town received the same opportunities he did.

In 1994, Lorne took a position on the Saskatchewan Hockey Association board of directors, serving as director of Zone 3. He then spent three years as chairman of senior hockey and adult recreation with the SHA, overseeing those divisions and working with Hockey Canada’s Senior Council. He served as chair of Senior Council from 2004 to 2007, taking a seat on the Hockey Canada board of directors, having a say on national matters.

OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS

Terry Engen (Eckville, Alta.)

For Terry Engen, the concept is simple – every Canadian should have the opportunity to play minor hockey, and costs should be kept low to ensure that is the case. Despite the fact Engen has no children of his own, he has spent more than 25 years volunteering his time to causes just like that in minor hockey in his community, his province and his country, and he is this year’s winner of the Hockey Canada Outstanding Volunteer Award.

A fifth-generation farmer from Eckville, a town of just over 900 people 35 minutes outside of Red Deer, Alberta, Engen has spent a quarter of a century as a director on the Eckville arena board, helping to make minor hockey accessible to as many local children as possible.

But that isn’t all of what Engen has done in the game. Throughout his time involved in Eckville minor hockey, he has served as chairman of the arena operating committee, director of the local community centre, governor of the North Central Minor Hockey League and referee assignor. He also spent time as the director of officials in Hockey Alberta’s Zone 4, which led to him becoming director of Zone 4, starting a close relationship with Hockey Alberta that is now in its 13th year.

After two seasons as zone director Engen spent two seasons as vice-president of operations and two more as vice-president of development, allowing him the opportunity to work closely with minor hockey associations across the province and help shape the way players are taught the game. In 2005 he was elected president of Hockey Alberta, which also gave him a seat on the Hockey Canada Board of Directors, giving him an inside look at the national workings of amateur hockey for the first time and an opportunity to bring his own ideas to the national game. Today, Engen serves as chair of Hockey Alberta’s Junior Council, overseeing the province’s Junior B and Junior C leagues.

CHAIR'S AWARD | PAST RECIPIENTS
(an individual who has influenced the chairman of the board in a positive way)

Al Lymer (Edmonton, Alta.)