GRAD NIGHT: A TRIBUTE
TO THE SOLDIERS IN BLUE AND WHITE, AN EMOTIONAL EVENING THAT INVOKED
MANY, MANY MIXED EMOTIONS
Friday, February 2, 2001,
prior to the Waxers final regular season home game of the 2000-01 campaign, the
club held a very special ceremony befitting very special young people, the
eight graduating Waxers.
The very special and emotional
tribute was a tasteful and classy presentation honouring the eight graduating Waxers and
gave the Waxer fans and observers a chance to pay tribute to the young men
(some who we've watched mature from "much younger men").
After
the game their was a private gathering and the ownership group presented
the grads with a very special memento, a personalized and not inexpensive
Esquire time piece.
These special nights evoke emotions that are
multi-faceted. On the one hand there isn't a soul who isn't proud of these
young men. Then reality hits home, very hard, that some of these young men
won't be around. Whenever friends have to say goodbye they are the most
difficult of moments, at least it is that way for myself.
To dwell on the foreboding sadness of the
friends who will be leaving is however a very selfish state of mind. Life must
go on and these young men hopefully have many things yet to experience and
contributions to make to society.
When a grown-up child leaves the parental home,
the parent's wish them well and often think about them, even though they may be
adults and quite capable of living their own lives. In a peculiar sort of way
similar thoughts arise in the case of "our boys".
But let us not despair but rejoice, rejoice in
the fact that we've had the good fortune of having such good people around us,
some longer than others.
Finally, there's this one small matter of the
"second season", something tells me that the playoff road ahead may
just be a lengthy and successful one, certainly we've got the talent, work
ethic and character to achieve much.
That off my chest, let's return to the primary
matter and that's the celebration that took place on Friday. Andy Herrington,
long-time voice of the Waxers, put his vocal cords to good use and led the
audience through the tribute. Don Lantz represented the Waxers and presented
each of the Waxers with a memento of their time in the blue and white.
Below is the full text of the tribute as
presented by Andy. (Note that the individual player sections are split into
separate pages to assist in organizing the material here).
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Markham Waxers Senior
Graduation Players Appreciation Night.
The game tonight marks the final home regular season contest for EIGHT players from the Markham Waxers roster. Tonight is a
celebration of our Seniors: those players who are playing in their final season of Tier 2 Junior A hockey. This year the Waxers are
carrying eight players who qualify in that category.
The graduation Seniors are defensemen Jimmy Ball, Andy Schofield
and Alex Stoyan, forwards Robert Burrows, Adam Doucette and Kevin Tompkins, and goaltenders Dan Leclair and Rick
Marnon.
Jimmy Ball, Alex Stoyan, Robert Burrows and Kevin Tompkins
share the distinction of having played their entire Junior careers for the Markham
Waxers!
The Waxers would like to take this time to show our appreciation to
these eight players who have given so much to the Blue and White.
The Markham Waxers would like to thank Dan, Andy, Adam, Rick, Robert, Alex, Jimmy and Kevin for their efforts and commitment to the organization. We are very proud of the players and the young men that these individuals have become and would like to wish them the best of luck in their future
endeavors.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Senior Graduation Players from the 2000-2001 Markham Waxers Junior A Hockey Club:
- Dan Leclair
- Andy Schofield
- Adam Doucette
- Rick Marnon
- Robert Burrows
- Alex Stoyan
- Jimmy Ball and
- Kevin Tompkins!
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