Woodstock Sports Hall Of Fame has been honouring accomplishments since 1996
Kelly Paton was finalist for NCAA's Patty Kazmaier Award in 2010
By
Mark Schadenberg
The
Woodstock Sports Hall of Fame (or if you prefer wall of fame) will introduce
seven (7) new inductees on Saturday, Oct. 29, and at the same time formally
unveil the new format for sports recognition locally at the Woodstock District
Community Complex.
Since
Southwood Arenas at the WDCC opened its doors 20 years ago in 1996, a series of
plaques have been affixed to the wall to honour athletes, coaches and builders,
historic figures, and teams. These plaques have faded – not in importance – but
by the sun through the tall sky windows in the foyer.
Also,
the display filled its two curved wall of original placement and then pictures
were attached to the walls in the hallway by the secondary ice pad – the
walkway to the offices of figure skating and minor hockey.
The
new look will be two 42-inch kiosk-like screens in the foyer in front of a
collage of noteworthy sports pictures. It will be quite a sight and certainly
an important improvement. Stop by at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The
monitors will be a touch-screen style to learn more about sporting accomplishments
of the Woodstock area, but also feature an ability to promote local events such
as Cowapolooza, the art gallery, museum, library, and important public
meetings.
The
main reason to visit the Southwood Arenas complex Oct. 29, however, is to see
the induction ceremony for Kelly Paton and Branden Wilhelm in the individual
athlete categories. In historic (before 1970) the honourees will be two --
Herbert Clark and the Anderson family. The team to be honoured is the Woodstock
atom boys’ from 2004. The builder of sport is the late Alf Langdon. The
lifetime achievement recognition will be to the Oxford County Naval Veterans
Association.
Branden Wilhelm
Alf Langdon
Be sure to keep you October issue of What's On Woodstock magazine with details about the sports hall of fame.
Between
now and Oct. 29 I plan on expanding some of the biographies as were part of the
nomination process in my writings.
As
chair of the Woodstock Recreation Advisory Committee (WRAC) I have a vote on the
Woodstock Sports Hall Of Fame, and will initially present my compilation of the
career – so far – of Kelly Paton.
KELLY
PATON
There
is often a line of thinking that an athlete should wait five years from their
most significant accomplishment to be enshrined into any hall of fame.
For
Kelly Paton, it was the spring of 2010 when she was a finalist – one of three
finalists – in NCAA hockey for the famed Patty Kazmaier Award as the top
college women’s hockey player in the United States. Paton skated for the New
Hampshire Wildcats (2006-10) and led the team in scoring to be recognized as
among the top three in all of NCAA hockey that season.
In
the Hockey East division, she was co-player of the year in the conference. For
the Wildcats, she was team MVP, and completed 4 years with the scholarship with
62 goals and 162 points. Paton was a first-team All-Amercican
It’s
been six years, therefore, for Paton’s top accomplishment as a hockey player.
It
was likely due to her height (5’ 1”) that Kelly Paton never played on Canada’s
national team in the Olympics or world championships, but she did attend Hockey
Canada selection training camp as an U-22 player.
Her
parents Murray and Deb would want to remind you also about her stellar amateur
golf career and many minor soccer accomplishments as a youngster.
Earlier
this calendar year, it was announced Paton would be head coach of the Western
Mustangs women’s hockey team.
Many
terrific accomplishments for the 28-year-old from Woodstock (Born: April 16,
1988), who advanced from playing travel hockey with the boys in the Woodstock
Minor Hockey Association on an extremely talented squad, which included Jake
Muzzin. Progressing with the London Devilettes, including setting an
association record for points back in 2003 with 110 in 49 games.
A
few years later and also after New Hampshire, it was off to Switzerland as a
pro player in 2010-11 with the Zurich Lions, and then back to the U.S. and a
coaching (assistant) career beginning in Erie with Mercyhurst university.
Paton
has also been a conditioning coach within the Hockey Canada international
programs, and had coached at the competitive Devilettes program as well. She
was top female instructor at Total Package Hockey (TPH) in London.
When
the Western Mustangs won the CIS championship in 2014, Paton was a player
development coach (Dave Barrett was head coach). In 15-16, Paton was elevated
to associate coach -- obviously the ‘head coach in waiting’.
It
is noted that the Western Mustangs will host the 2018 CIS championships, so
recruiting and coaching will be paramount in Paton’s timetable.
Thérèse
Quigley, who herself recently announced her retirement from Western, said in a
release from the school’s athletic department, upon hiring the new head coach:
“Kelly is one of the top young coaches in the country and we’re excited to have
her join our program on a full-time basis. Having Kelly on staff full-time will
greatly enhance the experience of our student-athletes, and I know our senior
coaching staff is looking forward to working with her and serving as mentors on
a daily basis.”
Barrett,
who is a professor at the Ivey Business School, spoke glowingly about the new
head coach in the Western press release, saying: "I
am excited about the future of the women's hockey program at Western. Coach
Paton brings tremendous knowledge, energy and passion to her coaching
responsibilities. I firmly believe that the future of the program is in great
hands and that she will continue to cultivate our unique Mustang identity
built upon the foundational cultural beliefs established over the past few
years."
All coaches
are ‘students of the game’, but Paton is also quite a student, noted the
Mustangs team press release as Paton holds a Bachelor of Science degree from
the University of New Hampshire and a Masters of Science from Mercyhurst
University where she also served as a volunteer assistant coach for the women's
hockey team in 2011-12.
Paton will
gain more international experience this upcoming season as an assistant coach
with the CIS entry at the 2017 (Jan 29 – Feb 8) world university games in
Kazakhstan.
In a story in the London Free Press, Paton discussed earning
the head coaching role with Western Mustangs: “It’s a really great opportunity,
gender aside. But being a female in a female game is certainly more recognition
that females are capable of being head coaches across the league. We’re
certainly starting to see it more in the CIS but especially in the OUA. It’s
always been a goal of mine to be a full-time coach. The transition from a
player to a coach is a great opportunity for a player to transition into that
role. At the end of the day we’re trying to be mentors for student athletes to
set themselves up to be successful in the future.”
Paton
continued: “I’m excited about my development as
a coach and understanding that I am still young in my career and I still have a
lot of learning to do as well. But I’m also for the program itself. The last
two years we’ve done a good job of building the program into one of the top
national programs in the country. I hope to continue that trend and build a
pretty good culture within the team. I want to make sure that (the players)
enjoy their experience at Western.”
Photo is from Brantford sports hall and museum,
but Woodstock touch-screen monitor will be similar
Former look of Woodstock sports wall has been removed recently
to create new-look wall of collage photos along with two monitor / screens
LINKS:
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Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
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757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
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