All refund requests must be made in writing (email is acceptable) to the OWHA Treasurer (treasurer@goldenknightshockey.org). A refund of player registration fees based on the date of receipt of the written request (regardless if the player has been on the ice or not) will be made according to the following schedule:

Before November 1^st            -           80%

Before December 1^st            -           60%

Before January 1^st                 -           40%

No refunds will be issued after December. Prior to the date of the Ice Fundraiser draw, any unsold raffle tickets may be returned. Canteen buyout payments will be refunded.

The Midget B Team was seeded first after defeating NSG Braves (3 to 0), Cornwall Colts (5 to 1) and West Ferris Trappers (10 – 0).  The semi-final game was the battle of the Knights.  Led by two goal performance by Curtis Colley, two points by Carter Williams and a shutout by JJ Pristanski, the Golden Knights defeated the Nobleking Knights 5 to 0.

In the final game against the Char-Lan Rebels, the team led by Scott Benoit with four points, Corey Waddell-Harris and Will Lockhead with three points each and Kevin Martin’s shutout skated to a 4 to 0 victory.  In total the Knights outscored their out of town opponents 27 to 1 during the weekend tournament.

Pembroke Silver Sticks Tournament – December 2011 

The Midget Golden Knights team traveled to Pembroke for the Silver Sticks tournament a week after their Pittsburgh tournament victory.   There were 16 teams in four divisions.  In their division round robin games, the Knights defeated Arnprior Packers, Perth Wings and Manitoulin Panthers.  The round robin results seeded the Knights second overall for the playoffs.  The Knights defeated Nepean 5 to 1 in the quarter-finals and in the semi-final game played New Dundas to a 1 to 1 tie in regulation time.  Two minutes into 3 on 3 OT Conner Gavan-Coady scored on a pass from Captain Daniel Micucci to put the Knights into the finals against Cumberland. With a short bench due to injuries, the Knights lost in the finals 3 to 1.

J.J. Pristanski shared the trophy awarded to the best tournament goalie with Grads goalie Silva Vail.

 MyHockey Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Classic – November 2011

In late November, the Golden Knights Midget team travelled by coach to play in the MyHockey Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Classic.  In the four game round robin, the Knights beat a travelling team from Sault Ste Marie (Wolverines) 5 – 1, and two Pittsburgh teams: Predators 6 – 0 and the Rink Rats 5 – 0.  On Friday night, the boys and coaches attended the Senators vs Penguins game in the new Consol Energy Center.  In only his third game back, Sidney Crosby led the Pens over the Sens with 3 assists.

In the seven team tournament, only two teams advanced to the final game.  The Knights headed into the final round robin game vs. Pickering Panthers A team needing a tie or win to advance.  With a minute to go in the third, trailing 1 – 0, the Knights pulled the goalie and scored the tying goal.  Later that same day, the two undefeated teams, the Golden Knights and Pickering Panthers played a re-match for the championship.  Tied going into the 3^rd period, Evan Marinacci scored a goal with four minutes remaining and the Knights held on to win the Pittsburgh Thanksgiving Classic.

The Association will be going through a transition at the Executive level with a number of  people in critical roles stepping down. I believe that the Golden Knight’s success is not only in wins and losses but in how we have fought for and built this association over the past 5 years. We were determined to ensure we provided a fun, competitive, neighborhood experience where kids could play with their friends and school mates. We chose our coaches carefully to reflect these values.

That being said, each team has to recognize that there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on and we need help. A number of our volunteers on the Executive and in supporting roles are from teams whose kids will soon not be playing competitive hockey so we need to ask that parents on teams that are at the Atom, Pee Wee and Minor Bantam level next year consider investing some time in the Golden Knights. We know that the team experience, fundraising and planning for your own team is vital but we cannot ignore the association as well and each team has to recognize that it is part of something bigger.

As we look towards the next year please consider what commitment you can offer especially that you plan to remain part of the Golden Knights Community.

Mark Arnold, President

Volunteer Opportunities - Association Executive

President

VP, Ways and Means

Treasurer
949 Kingsmere Ave.
Ottawa, ON
K2A

The following people are members of the 2011-2012 Ottawa West Golden Knights Executive Committee.

President: Mark Arnold                                       president@goldenknightshockey.org
VP of Coaching: Chris Scott                               vp-coaching@goldenknightshockey.org
VP Ice & Tournaments: Patrick Quinlan             vp-ice@goldenknightshockey.org
General Manager: Rob Scrivens                        gm@goldenknightshockey.org
Registrar: Rob Vandenberg                                registrar@goldenknightshockey.org
Treasurer: Ted Soldaat                                       treasurer@goldenknightshockey.org
VP Ways & Means: Jeff Westeinde                   vp-ways_means@goldenknightshockey.org
“B” League Representative: Ted Soldaat           b_league_rep@goldenknightshockey.org
Secretary: Sue MacPherson                                secretary@goldenknightshockey.org
VP Risk & Safety: Ryan Rowat                            vp-risk_safety@goldenknightshockey.org
Past President: Norm Sharpe                              past_president@goldenknightshockey.org
Director/Past Treasurer: Bob Scaini

At the same time, the GK Association recognizes that there has to be a balance struck as too many tournaments can impact on school, other family commitments and can be cost prohibitive. In fact, cost can be a factor in parents not choosing the competitive hockey experience. Other consideration for the OWGK Association to consider in justifying the need to impose limits to the number of tournaments is that excessive tournament commitments play a factor in scheduling regular season games as well as being able to provide practice ice.

Most tournaments need to be booked in the summer given the limited supply and coaches do not have the opportunity to poll the parents or players as tryouts have not begun. The GK Association’s policy on this is that each team can book up to 5 tournaments on their own but any more need to be brought to the attention on the Executive and specifically the V.P of Coaching and the Treasurer. The GK Association will advance the funds to commit to 5 tournaments but we face a significant cash flow issue beyond that. As well the policy for out of town tournaments is that there should be no more than 3 tournaments outside of the ODMHA district.

The Association will only advance up to $3000 per team prior to carding to pay for tournament commitments.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS EXECUTIVE  2012 – 2013

Hi There,

I first of all want to congratulate the teams that competed in the 2011 Bell Capital Cup. The results are really impressive and I think it speaks to the renewed strength of the Association and the dedication of the coaches and managers. This year we fielded 4 teams; Minor and Major Atom and Minor and Major PW. All 4 teams played in the competitive A group. 3 of the 4 teams made it to the semi finals in their respective divisions with the Minor PW team coached by Rob Vandenberg playing in the championship game only to lose in overtime. The Major PW team did not make it to the playoff round yet won 2 and lost one game and the only loss was to the eventual champions.

As well I want to express tremendous gratitude on behalf of the Association to Jared Carden who ran the BAS rink on behalf of the GK and as always did a stellar job. It was so well organized and run and as an Association we benefit from all of Jared’ hard work. He not only puts in countless hours on this but also coaches our Minor Midget team plus works full time as well.

It promises to be an exciting finish to the season and for the first time in I don’t know how long, all 8 teams are really competing for a playoff spot with many of the teams comfortably in playoff positions.

All the best for January and February and the play-offs.

Mark Arnold

President, Ottawa West Golden Knights

Competitive Hockey demands a balance between fair playing, ice time and competitiveness. To meet these demands, the following fair play/ice policy is presented for this the Ottawa West Golden Knights Association.
It is the intention of the Golden Knights Association to promote fair and equitable ice and play for all players within the Golden Knights Association. The Golden Knights Association supports the principles of Fair Play as set by Hockey Canada. As such, the members of the the Golden Knights Association pledge to observe the following principles of fair ice and play and commit to:

• Being reasonable when scheduling games and practices, remembering that young athletes have other interests and obligations;
• Teaching athletes to play fairly and to respect the rules, officials, opponents and teammates;
• ensure that all athletes receive equal instruction, discipline, support and appropriate, fair and equitable play and ice time;
• Treating athletes with respect and will remember that children play to have fun and must be encouraged to have confidence in themselves;
• Making sure that equipment and facilities are safe and match the athlete’s ages and ability;
• Remembering that children need a coach they can respect and that coaching staff will be generous with praise and with setting a good example;
• Ensuring that coaching staff will posses appropriate training, credentials and that there will be opportunities for the continuous development within the coaching ranks.

The basic assumption for all players and teams is that there will be fair and equitable allocation of ice time. A key concept is that coaches are expected to teach tactical and situational aspects of the game to every player. Throughout the course of the season, the coach is expected to allow all players a reasonable opportunity to use these skills in a game situation. At the Bantam and Midget levels, this approach will allow a coach, over the course of a season, to establish specialty teams, both for competitive reasons as well as to allow players to play to their strengths. Coaches may also choose to use certain players in key situations or during the last few minutes of a close game to give the team its best chance to win. This could result in some players finishing games with more ice time than others, but only on a limited basis.

The Golden Knights Fair Play/Ice policy sets out to recognize that although players’ ice times may not be equal in each and every game that every effort will be made to ensure that ice time allocation is fair and equitable over the course of the entire season.

The Ottawa West Golden Knights Association believes in fair ice time not in equal ice time for all players. This means that all players will not get the same amount of ice in each game, or play at all times during a game. Recognizing that this is Competitive hockey, we allow our coaches a certain amount of latitude in icing players, particularly at critical times in a game. Coaches are asked to use discretion sound judgement when exercising this latitude, providing all players an opportunity to develop in all parts of the game.

 GOLDEN KNIGHTS EXECUTIVE  2012 – 2013

Hi There,

I first of all want to congratulate the teams that competed in the 2011 Bell Capital Cup. The results are really impressive and I think it speaks to the renewed strength of the Association and the dedication of the coaches and managers. This year we fielded 4 teams; Minor and Major Atom and Minor and Major PW. All 4 teams played in the competitive A group. 3 of the 4 teams made it to the semi finals in their respective divisions with the Minor PW team coached by Rob Vandenberg playing in the championship game only to lose in overtime. The Major PW team did not make it to the playoff round yet won 2 and lost one game and the only loss was to the eventual champions.

As well I want to express tremendous gratitude on behalf of the Association to Jared Carden who ran the BAS rink on behalf of the GK and as always did a stellar job. It was so well organized and run and as an Association we benefit from all of Jared’ hard work. He not only puts in countless hours on this but also coaches our Minor Midget team plus works full time as well.

It promises to be an exciting finish to the season and for the first time in I don’t know how long, all 8 teams are really competing for a playoff spot with many of the teams comfortably in playoff positions.

We are going to be going through a transition at the Executive level with at least 4 people stepping down. I believe that the success that I have spoken of is not only in wins and losses but in how we have fought for and built this association over the past 5 years. We were determined to ensure we provided a fun, competitive, neighborhood experience where kids could play with their friends and school mates. We chose our coaches carefully to reflect these values.

That being said each team has to recognize that there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on and we need help. A number of our volunteers on the Executive and in supporting roles are from teams whose kids will soon not be playing competitive hockey so we need to ask that parents on teams that are at the Atom, PW and Minor Bantam level next year consider investing some time in the Golden Knights. We know that the team experience and fundraising and planning for your own team is vital but we cannot ignore the association as well and each team has to recognize that it is part of something bigger.

As we look towards the next year please consider what commitment you can offer especially that you plan to remain part of the Golden Knights Community.

All the best for January and February and the play-offs.

Mark Arnold

President, Ottawa West Golden Knights

Whether you’ve played for the 67’s, the Sting, the Golden Knights, or House League, we’d like to invite you to try out for the Ottawa West Golden Knights Major Midget B team (schedule and sign-up sheet are on the website).

For those players that are planning on trying out at AAA/AA levels, we’d encourage you to contact us should your plans change in the upcoming weeks.

As we prepare for the tryouts and the upcoming season, the primary goals for our team will be:

1.  To have fun;

2.  To strike a balance between hockey, school and social commitments; and

3.  To ice the most competitive team possible.

Here are some highlights that we’re working on in order to achieve these goals.

HAVING FUN

 1.   As much as possible, player selection will be based on both attitude and skill.  We’re looking for players that can and genuinely want to play.

2.  In November, we will be travelling by executive coach to Pittsburgh for a tournament.   During that weekend, we will attend the Senators vs. Penguins game at the CONSOL Energy Centre, the NHL’s newest and best arena.

3.  In January, together as a team during NHL All-Star Weekend, we will be visiting the NHL Fun Fair at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

4.  We plan to continue to use our third jersey and will have special socks to match this season.

HOCKEY/LIFE BALANCE

1.  As much as possible, we will avoid scheduling practices late on Friday or Saturday nights.

2.  Players are encouraged to participate in other school sports and extracurricular activities.

3.  League and practice schedules are less demanding than AAA/AA, which means more free time away from the rink.

4.  Home games are typically played at Barbara Ann Scott Arena.

5.  Furthest travel for away games will be Navan and Cavanagh Arenas.

COMPETITVE TEAM

1.  We plan to enter five tournaments, two in the Ottawa region, and three on the road.

2.  Practices will focus on individual skill development and game like situations.

3.  All West End eligible players have received this letter in an effort to maximize the selection pool at tryouts.

4.  We, as coaches, will be actively monitoring the AAA/AA tryouts to ensure that all eligible players are aware of  their options.  In addition to me, the coaching staff will consist of Sven Baltare and John Turriff.  Both Sven and John have played Jr. B hockey for Ottawa West and they bring a wealth of hockey knowledge to our team.  As younger, non-parent coaches, players will benefit from their mentoring and expertise.

Please contact me directly should you have any questions about this year’s team or the tryouts.  This will be your last, or second last year in minor hockey.  The coaches, trainers and manager of the Knights Major Midget team are striving to make it a memorable one!

Yours,

Bill Pristanski
Head Coach,  Knights Major Midget Team
pristanski@sympatico.ca
613-722-2007