Cameron Hender, 9, a soft-spoken atom hockey player in Quesnel, is this year’s recipient of the Allan Stubbs Memorial Award.
“It meant a lot to me,” Hender said of his selection.
“He is a really good kid,” Cameron’s mother Laura Hender added with a proud smile.
The award commemorates Allan Stubbs, an Atom-aged hockey player from Quesnel who was killed in a car accident several years ago.
Also killed in the accident were his mother and sister.
Known for being a good student, Stubbs was also an excellent sportsman and leader on his team, the same qualities used by the selection committee in determining the recipient of the Allan Stubbs Memorial Award.
In choosing Hender, a straight-A’s student at Lakeview elementary school, the committee could not have selected a more deserving person.
In addition to being an exemplary student, Hender plays the game of hockey with a strong sportsmanship ethic having accumulated a measly two minutes in penalties last season, his first time ever to pay a visit to the penalty box.
With his quiet demeanor and sportsman-like approach to the game, it makes perfect sense Cameron’s favourite hockey player is Joe Sakic, former captain of the Colorado Avalanche and winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship.
Cameron, who gets to keep the trophy at home until next hockey season, was appreciative of the recognition.
“I thank my coaches for choosing me,” he said.
The Alan Stubbs Memorial Award is sponsored by the CEP Local 1115 (hourly employees of Cariboo Pulp and Paper) as his father was a union member at the time of Allan’s death.
One nominee is selected from each Atom house team by the coach of each team. The finalist is then choosen based on the previously stated criteria.
