Last night was the Annual General Meeting for the Portage Terriers. There was a great turn out!
The meeting started off with presentations made to the Club from the Terriers alumni Grant Farncombe, John Hewitt and Colin Scarrett. The alumni was able to raise $9000 for the club as well as $2000 for PMHA through their fund raising efforts at this year’s RBC. President Trent Ward and Director John Ferg accepted the cheques on their behalf.
The Portage Ladies Auxiliary also made a presentation to President Trent Ward for $6000 for new jerseys.
Co-chair of the RBC Dave Patsack talked about the success of the RBC and presented the team with an additional $15,000. Even though not all the numbers are in for the RBC, Patsack seemed confident that they surpassed their goal of $100,000.
President Trent Ward thanked all the groups for their fund raising efforts and continued support.
Coach Blake Spiller was on hand to talk about the face of the Terriers going forward. There has been some movement, but details will not be revealed until the trades are finalized with the Commissioner. He also spoke of the graduating players who are going on to University this upcoming season.
Zach Waldvogel has committed to The University of Guelph
Matt Alexander has committed to Lakehead University
Jordyn Boyd has committed to The University of Manitoba
Eric De Long will not be returning to the coaching staff this season and taking his spot will be Ken Brooks. Spiller was still uncertain if Jim Tkachyk will be staying on as goalie coach.
Dale Deschouwer the teams Governor confirmed that the balanced schedule will continue for another 2 seasons. The league is also working together to make the MJHL more uniform throughout.
Treasurer Mark Killam went through a 5 page financial statement which saw the teams revenues increase from last year, but also saw an increase in expenditures with a season that was roughly 2 months longer than the last. Overall the team showed a deficit on the year of $34,660. Killam said the board will be meeting shortly to go over this season’s budget and they will be going through it line by line to see where they can cut spending.
Last to speak was President Trent Ward recapping the Terriers record breaking season of 53-3-4 regular season, sweeping the playoffs in 12 straight games with an overtime loss in the Western Canada Cup final, finishing up with a National Championship in front of our sold out arena. He thanked the RBC committee for all their work in putting on an amazing event that will be tough to follow and the countless volunteers that gave their time to make it so.
The meeting concluded with Director elections. This year saw 5 directors terms up for renewal, Dale Deschouwer, Trent Ward, Michael Jordan, Josh Black and John Ferg. There were 4 new nominees, Brad Sanderson, Donna Wettlaufer, Colin Scarrett and Ryan Simpson. John Ferg respectfully declined to run again. The voting members re-elected Dale Deschouwer, Trent Ward and Michael Jordan and elected new directors Ryan Simpson and Colin Scarrett. Josh Black and John Ferg as well as resigning director Ed Gray were thanked for their contribution to the Club.