From the Desk of Bjorn Kinding, Headmaster                                   March 4, 2011

Greetings from the Staff of College Harrington du Canada,

The excitement and adrenaline level were high throughout the weekend as our Bantam AA , Bantam BB, and Midget BB teams participated in the play-offs. The teams all played hard with 100 percent effort and really rallied for a place in the final round.

After 4-4 at full time and a scoreless overtime, the fate of our Bantam AA was to be decided in a thriller shoot-out. As we all know, all thrillers do not end with a happy ending, and the 5-4 loss was tough for the boys. Being close makes no one happy, but being proud of your effort was a feeling everyone shared, a feeling that also was shared by the Bantam BB. They too put on a great performance, kept everyone on the edge of their seats, finished their game in a tie, but went on to draw the short straw in the overtime.

The third HCC team in action, last weekend, was the Midget BB. They won their first game 5-1, but were defeated in the second game. The Cobras from Laval turned out to be a little too much to handle.

Well, the play-offs are over for these three teams, but there is still plenty of hockey to be played. At HCC the season continues with daily practices and spring tournaments, until the end of May.

Meanwhile the Midget AA still has 4 games remaining on their regular season, before their play-offs begin around March 18^th.

College AAA has 5 regular season games still to play. They start their play-offs with a road game on March 25^th, with the return game at Centre of Excellence on the following day, at 6.00 pm. Please clear your schedule and make plans to attend the game! Let’s put the fans in the stands and make some noise for HCC!

Besides the play-offs, the spring also brings new structures to the training routines. Mr. Daoust, the HCC Hockey Director, has divided the players into four practice squads. These squads equal the core of the spring tournament teams, and practicing together with new teammates will allow our coaches to teach new skills and tactics. The students seem happy about this change in the routines and are excited about the new practice squads.

Now that we have entered the Month of March, the students are buzzing about the upcoming “Spring Break.”  The official countdown stands at 5 weeks.  During the last week, prior to the break, there will be exams on Monday-Thursday, so the first day off is Friday, April 8.  A good idea is to make travel plans now, so that the best fares may be secured.  For those that need transportation to the train station or airport, please email their travel plans to Mr. Haney a.s.a.p. (p.haney@harringtoncollege.ca)

Thursday, March 3^rd our grade 9 and 10 participated in a very interesting field trip. After studying and reading about the Holocaust for several weeks, three of our teachers, Dr. Samperi, Ms. Sargent, and Dr. Simon, arranged a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Montreal. After visiting the exhibits, the students were able to meet a Holocaust survivor, Mr. Paul Bard. They were able to hear his story and invited to ask him questions.  Mr. Bard, 90 years young, is from Romania and has lived in Canada since 1975.

Montreal Holocaust Museum

For these students it was truly an eye-opening experience that made long-lasting impressions in the hearts and minds. It surely put our daily challenges at the school and our play-off battles in a different perspective.

Please take note of our hockey schedule below.

Sincerely,

Bjorn