The Ontario Minor Hockey Association is proud to announce the grand prize winner and finalists of the eleventh annual Essay Contest presented by Respect in Sport. This year's theme was 'I Love Hockey'. The contest was designed to engage players in an educational manner while encouraging them to express their thoughts on what life skills they learn from playing hockey.
Nearly 200 essays were submitted and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association in partnership with Respect in Sport want to thank everyone for their participation. Based on the quality, creativity and passion demonstrated in their submission, five finalists were selected with one of them emerging as our grand prize winner.
Elgin Ackroyd of Guelph Minor Hockey Association is this year’s winner, who wrote about how his hockey team is like a family and helps teaches him new skills. For being named winner, Elgin will receive a $1000 worth of hockey gear from Team Town Sports.
The Essay Contest video is part of the OMHA and Respect Group's #HockeyIsFun series, which showcases why kids love to play hockey in their own words. It's important to hear directly from the players on why #HockeyIsFun.
Anthony Celetti (West Niagara), Auston Dagg (Drayton), Christian Legault (Essa) and Logan Taillon (North Durham) were selected as the four finalists. For their tremendous writing abilities they will receive an OMHA prize pack. You can check out all of their entries below.
Logan Taillon (North Durham)
I love hockey because it’s so much fun! This year, I get to play for the North Durham Warriors, and it’s amazing. I’ve been dreaming about playing for the Warriors since I was in U5, and now I finally get to wear my own black and white jerseys.
Hockey is my favourite because I get to play with my friends. We play together as a team, and we cheer for each other when we make good plays. Playing on the ice is awesome I try to get better at skating, passing, and shooting. Plus, it’s so fast, and I like chasing the puck and trying to score!
I love when I skate down the ice really fast and hearing my teammates yell for the puck. Scoring a goal is so exciting, but I also love passing to my friends and seeing them score too. It’s all about having fun together.
I’ve learned how to be a good teammate, try my hardest, and have fun no matter what happens. I love hockey because it makes me happy every single time I play.