A high school teacher from Lacombe is the Edmonton Oilers' pick for this year's Future Goals Most Valuable Teacher program.
Lee Porath teaches Grades 10 to 12 at École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School.
"The Future Goals is about how you incorporate hockey into your classes," explained Porath. "In Business Studies, we look into publicity versus advertising. We talk about Connor McDavid, we talk about when Ovi scores his 895th goal, what coffee he carries into the arena will become a big deal and everybody will go get that kind of coffee. In Science, we talk about different things, like how does it work to freeze the ice. All the nerdy things."
Porath is up against teachers from around the NHL, all vying for votes to win a trip to the 2026 NHL All-Star Game.
She was nominated by Cosmetology teacher Darcie Davis.
To cast your vote for Porath, go to nhl.com/mvt and select her photo. You can vote once per day, every day until 11:59 p.m. ET on April 1, 2025. The winning teacher will be announced in April.
"It's supposed to be for 18 plus, but because I teach high school, some of my students are 18 plus," remarked Porath. "Some of them that saw it, they were super stoked about it...A lot of the boys are in playoffs right now, so it's really nice to talk about their playoffs at the same time."
Porath says she is a huge hockey fan and is super excited to be involved in the contest.
"It's just really neat," she said. "I work with a lot of amazing teachers at Lacombe Composite, so just to be recognized as one of the really good teachers, I work with a lot of really great teachers, and so I feel like we're all a good team."
Porath has been a teacher for 19 years.
Outside of the classroom, she manages the school's Drama Club and collaborates on community projects.
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