The Portage Terriers' season has concluded after a tough first round matchup with the Winkler Flyers. Off the ice, the team was active all year in the community, with many players taking part in volunteer opportunities in the region. Grant Dardis was named the Community Spirit Award winner by the team at their awards night, and says it feels good to be recognized.
"It's a great honour to receive this award. I got to get out into the community and really see what it's like in a small town, being from the metro area down in Minnesota. It's a little different, it's kind of cool to see the different people. It's been neat to meet the kids too, so it's a great honour to receive this award."
The Terriers have been active in the community for many years, and President Dave Koroscil gave a couple of reasons why the board feels the work is important.
"One is we are a community organization, we're community owned. So, we get a lot of benefits from our community, we want to give back. One way of us giving back is by having the players get out there. And, I guess, from the player's perspective, it serves a couple of purposes. It gets them known in the community, they do a lot of work in schools, but they also do a lot besides the schools." Koroscil added, "They do a lot with kids. They're in the schools, they do 'I Love to Read Month', as we've seen throughout the winter, they're at certain places on the ice or playing floor hockey with them."
Cody Buhler, the Terrier's Marketing Director, added, this year's team was particularly receptive to opportunities for community work and volunteering.
Dardis represented the Terriers on several visits in the community, as well as weekly visits to Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) for their Big Play program. Laura Spelliscy, the Mentoring Coordinator with BBBS, said they've run Big Play for three years, and have had a consistent group of Terriers every season.
"The Terriers come every week, and they spend an hour playing floor hockey with these young guys, and it's fantastic. The boys look forward to it every week, and, if stories can be trusted, the Terriers look forward to it just as much as the boys do. But, they come, and the whole intent is to play floor hockey together, but through their time together, the Terriers are encouraging the boys. They're teaching them about playing together, sharing, and all those wonderful things and just speaking into their life. We have been so happy with the effort and the time that they have put in."
With next year's team already looking different due to several players graduating, opportunities for community activity should abound for new and returning players next season.