The Huron-Perth Lakers awarded their first organizational award, the John O’Keefe Memorial Award, to Dave Dykxhoorn at the Lakers Annual Banquet held April 11th in Brussels.
This award will now be presented annually to an individual in the Huron-Perth organization for outstanding volunteer work with Lakers teams and/or the Association. With the permission of the O’Keefe family, it was created to memorialize the late John O’Keefe by celebrating the type of contributions he made as a parent, trainer and manager. John approached his volunteer work with an open heart and an open mind - simply looking for ways to help. He was a strong believer in what the whole Lakers hockey experience provided for young players in terms of the pursuit of excellence in a competitive environment.
The 2008 winner is Dave Dykxhoorn of Goderich. Dave has been a parent volunteer for most of the twelve year history of the Lakers. He has served in various capacities on team staffs for which his sons Brandon and Brock have played. Dave was also a leader on the Executive for several years and was one of a group who transformed the Huron-Perth Lakers from a loose collection of individual teams into a real organization where uniformly high-caliber programs were offered to every age category from Atom to Midget. To this day, he still has the passion and belief that the players deserve to have a first-class experience while in a Lakers uniform and that many benefits will come to the player and to the organization by maintaining that standard.
The John O’Keefe Memorial Award is the first, and at this time, only annual award given out by the Association. As such, it symbolizes the importance of the volunteer contributions of many individuals every year.
The O'Keefe family (Shelley with Kailey, Riley, and Mackinley) along with award winner, Dave Dykxhoorn.
Article submitted by Neil McKeown