This is a statement in regards to a comment that I made about the Western Kings in an article summarizing the NL’ers who were drafted into the MHL this past weekend. The article is right here . Sorry Tyson Snow, I forgot you in this article. My bad.
First of all, I’d like to apologize to Mark Robinson, Dale Park , the Kings players and the entire Western Kings organization. Mark is a person who I have a lot of respect for as a player and coach – we have had many battles on the ice back in our playing days. Dale’s wife Jennifer and I worked together last year and I thought she did a great job managing our U16 Female HPP team. The Western Kings have a lot of good people involved with their organization and in hindsight I can see how my comments in the above article would be upsetting. It is not easy to field a team in a geographically-dispersed area such as Western, and the fact that these people can do that year after year is commendable.
The people of Western have always been good to me. I have spent many nights on the road in the West Coast Senior League, and was always treated with respect in Deer Lake and Corner Brook. People from Corner Brook and the Straits have always supported VHG’s female development program, and I had some pretty darn good soup in Twin Towns this past December when there for U13 AAA hockey. My comments in this article do not reflect some hidden dislike for the people and players from out that way.
I have promoted Western Kings players countless times on this web site and on our YouTube channel. In the above article, I sing Liam Dutcher’s praises just like – in the same article – I spoke highly of Spencer Caines and Reggie Pike. We had all 3 on our draft board with the Yarmouth Mariners (I personally called 2 of the 3). VHG has donated to Game Changers NL, a Corner Brook-based not for profit that helps kids in Western NL access community sports. VHG has also given scholarships to players from the western region to help them pursue hockey outside the province. I may have said that Western’s games were not an easy watch this past season, but I still watched, listened and promoted.
I would also like to apologize to the NL U18 Major Hockey League, and anyone else who is involved with hockey in this province that is trying to make players better here. I have spent a considerable amount of my life in trying to make players in this province better on and off the ice, while trying to inspire good; my comments made in the article above definitely do not reflect that, and I am accountable to my mistake. Hopefully you’ll give me a chance to redeem myself.
Cheers
AP