This year, the Engineering Society sponsored a team in the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association. Bright and early on Saturday, March 8, 2014, 30 excited engineering students gathered at Albert McCormick Arena to show their support for our team. The game was evenly matched, with the Waterloo Engineering Society “Little Plummers” playing the Sunlife Financial Sharks. With personalized signs for every player lining the stands, and a lot of loud engineering spirit, the atmosphere in the rink was electric. It is hard to say who had the most fun: the players, the parents, or the engineering students in attendance. One thing is for sure though, this event was one to remember.
The game got off to a great start with the Plummers taking a quick lead over the Sharks. Awesome plays by the Plummers led to two more goals, with some amazing celebrations from the players similar to what one might expect from a professional NHL team. An exciting breakaway and slap shot by one of the Plummers was denied by the Shark’s goaltender, who stood his ground and shut down the rebound. A tripping call put the Plummers on the penalty kill, however the team stopped every advance by the Sharks. As the clock wound down, things really began to get exciting, with the Plummers scoring two more goals in the last few minutes of the third period. The final score was 5 – 0 in favour of the Plummers. Congratulations are due to both teams on a very hard fought game! Each player skated strong and every one of them has something to be proud of.
In the Spring 2013 term, the Engineering Society began researching into the process for sponsoring a minor sports team, and settled on the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association. Waterloo Minor Hockey provides four levels of play, ranging from house league (recreational) to AAA. The Engineering Society’s team is made up of sixteen players born in 2004, in the recreational Minor Atom Division. To sponsor a recreational team is $350 for the season, which helps pay for jerseys and other costs of running the team.
The goal of sponsoring a team was to help out the community, and show the Engineering Society’s support for giving back. By organizing a group to attend the game, the hope was to cheer like crazy and have the players feel like they are playing in the NHL. As a 9 year old, to have 30 people randomly show up to your game and cheer non-stop for you for is probably about as exciting as it gets. Everyone at the game was ecstatic, with many parents requesting that we attend every game for the rest of the season. Though the loudness may have been a bit overwhelming to the boys at times, it was easy to tell that they were enjoying every minute of it.
Having the Engineering Society logo on the back of the team’s jerseys, and seeing the excitement that the players have to go out and represent the Society on the ice, is worth much more than $350. This is an initiative that will last from year to year, and continue on as a tradition. There is massive potential to expand this to a larger scale in the coming years, with more events, more games to watch, more teams sponsored, and more kids who are able to have a great time and represent the Engineering Society. Whether this means attending more games, sponsoring different sports, sponsoring more teams, or expanding to have other societies on campus sponsor teams as well, this marks the beginning of a great tradition.
The team has one more regular season game, and is then into the playoffs. Keep an eye out on the Engineering Society mailing list and Facebook page for the team’s schedule, and whether or not the Engineering Society is organizing another group to attend a game.
Sponsoring a minor hockey team is only one initiative of many that benefits our community, both locally and nationally. As of late, there has been a fair amount of bad press related to engineering students in Canada. Thus, it is very important that we highlight all of the great things that engineering students do for the community. The Engineering Society competes annually in CANStruction, a community event where groups get together to build structures out of cans, that are then donated to the Waterloo Food Bank. As well, the Engineering Society hosts a number of education outreach events to teach engineering principles to children in the community. The Engineering Society also has a large presence at the uWaterloo Canada Day events in July, running all of the events for children, with a visit from the Tool for pictures.
Engineering a Difference is a program that connects engineering students with local non-profit organizations for volunteer opportunities. As well, a number of volunteers take part in Engineering Explorations to show off our engineering facilities to elementary school students. Outside of the community, the Engineering Society raises money each term for charity through a number of events. Since May 2013, we have raised over $4500 for Free the Children. We also run Bus Push for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which is coming up soon.
The opportunities do not end there. Sponsoring a hockey team was a new initiative this year, and one that will hopefully last as other initiatives have. If you ever have an idea of how the Engineering Society could better reach out and benefit the community, then do not hesitate to make a suggestion to the Engineering Society Executive. Let us all work together to maintain these great initiatives, and help to continue the strong positive image of engineering students in the Waterloo region and across Canada.
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