From the Desk of Bjorn Kinding, Headmaster                                   April 1, 2011

Greetings from the Staff of College Harrington du Canada,

To all students, parents and staff of College Harrington du Canada, thank you very much for your great efforts at the HCC fundraiser “A Helping Hand for Japan!”  Students rallied together to make posters and donation jars, and actively collected donations in the arena.

Parents and staff united to prepare the finest baked goods for our huge bake sale.  Ms. Lisa Cote, Nic’s mother, even prepared an Icebergs Cake for the College AAA team to enjoy.

The evening began with a ceremony at center ice, where the mayors of Boisbriand, Oka, St-Eustache, and Rosemère, together with hockey league directors, honoured the Canadian and Japanese Flags. Proud flag bearers were four HCC students, Chris Mammas, Jake Malezis, Moto Hobara and Ayumu Saiki. As a part of the ceremony, the Japanese National Anthem was played, in respect for the victims of the Japanese people. Before dropping the puck for the play-offs home opener, Melina Mammas sang the Canadian National Anthem and got the crowd going.

After beating the first ranked team, Sorel, in the first game, the stage was set for an exciting game 2.  Still scoreless after two periods, Sorel’s goalie made life tough for the HCC forwards, and Justin Gardner in the HCC net, stopped everything that came his way.  At the end Sorel was the luckier, but the true winner this evening, was the Red Cross Japanese Relief Fund. In addition, all volunteering students learned a great life lesson, working together to reach a common goal, allowed incredible things to happen. Over $4000 dollars were raised.  So on behalf of the Red Cross, to all of you that purchased from the bake sale and made monetary donations, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

After the event, the team had to get some rest and prepare for a decisive game, the next day. After a strong third period, the teams were only one goal apart, going into the last five minutes. A sensation was in the air and Harrington was on the verge of eliminating the league champions. That last needed goal

Eric Hammerl

on the brink, just about to happen, close, but no cigar.  Sorel moved on to the semi-finals and HCC- back to preparing and improving. Something we pride ourselves of doing really well at HCC. Looking back at the journey the College AAA team took this year, one can be nothing but proud of the development these young student-athletes have gone through. Everyone is definitively one step closer to university hockey. A visual sign for this is that after the quarter-finals, HCC’s Eric Hammerl was honoured as the league’s “College AAA Player of the Week”.

The recent press release states “College Harrington du Canada Icebergs did an amazing job against the Sorel-Tracy Rebelles even if the team lost the series 2 games to 1 Friday night Eric scored 2 goals against the Rebelles and one of his goals was made in the third period to tie the game.”

Eric got an assist on Saturday’s game and got 1 goal and one assist in last game of the series Sunday night in Sorel.”  Congratulations to Eric.

Now the play-offs are over and the next big challenge for student’s, is next week’s exams.  Study hour and tutoring are available for all students, who require additional time or assistance to prepare. I would like to wish everyone “good luck” but instead I will remind all students not to depend on luck in their exams. As Edison expressed it “luck occurs when a good opportunity and good preparation meet.” Next week’s tests are good opportunities, so prepare well!

Finally a reminder from our Campus Director, Mr. Haney, asking that all students clean and sort through the items in their dorm rooms.  He suggests that students pack all winter items and take them home when they leave for the spring break.  All students will have a room inspection prior to leaving, to verify that their room has been successfully de-cluttered.  This will allow the cleaning crew to completely clean and sanitize all of the rooms during the break.

This weekend will be the first hockey-free weekend since the school year started in August. This must mean that spring is here. Enjoy it!

Sincerely,

Bjorn Kinding