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Hello all Aardwolfs and Friends,
Time to punch a few keys and tell everyone what you already know, "we had a good year !".
Lets start with results. The Premier Team managed to finish 4th in the round robin part of the competition and third in the end of year knock out tourney. This is a significant improvement from
sixth last season and the team overall was much more competitive. The addition of some of our better A graders during the season saw Nathan, Mark, Dave, Andrew and Tim enjoy some Premier Action. We
also had Brent Kelly play several games which was a big asset.
In the A Grade competition Aardwolfs Thunder once again cleaned up, winning both the round robin and the knockout competition. Aardwolfs Lightning also came of age finishing 3rd in both
competitions.
Once again some able B graders stepped up to fill in and Dave, Ted and Joern enjoying games at a higher level. Special congratulations to Ted for improving so much that he was re-graded out of the B
Grade into the A during the year.
The B Grade started the season with a roar but lost their way halfway through the season with the loss of 3 of the better players in the team. However with the return of Hamish from injury, the
significant improvement by Craig and some excellent Captaining skills by Dave the Team finished the season on a much stronger note. The B Team finished 2nd equal with the rangers on points in
the round robin and lost the final of the knockout to the Dragons.
This year as a club we decided to participate in the South Island Maters Competition, and as we were setting up our team it was obvious that we had enough potential players for two teams, this gave
birth to the Ancient and Arthritic Aardwolfs. The competition started with our two teams playing each other and good fun was had by all. (see
the pictures here)
Over all the SNC had a good season this year with the B Grade attracting several new players and the A grade competition having a very even spread of skills with all teams close at the end of the
season. The Premier Grade had five teams and was of a high standard. As we get better at grading players and making sure they play at an appropriate level it will improve everyone's Ice Hockey
experience.
In 2005 we had another Southern Migration with people travelling from Auckland and Nelson to participate in it, it was also the starting point for Aaron returning to play after several years off.
We enjoyed our first Club games at the brilliant new complex in Dunedin. and all enjoyed the 4 day format, though, there were a few ragged looking faces
when we returned to Chch. Our thanks for the hospitality of all our Southern Hosts and Keith and Lyn for opening up their home for us.. As I write this I am starting to organise this years
Migration, more information on this in the not to distant future.
On the social side once again the Aardwolfs have enjoyed a bus trip, multiple parties and lots of other events, prize giving, Burnings and one or two events at my place.
Its these event that continue to make the Aardwolfs the club to belong to.
Facts and figures: (from the SNC website)
727 times the Aardwolfs turned up to play 73 games, they won 36, lost 31 and drew 6, getting 74 competition points. We sat 294 penalty minuets in the penalty bin. Our Goalies faced 1656 shots
and stopped all except 285 of them. We scored 277 goals from 186 assists.
Currently the Club has approximately 90 members and is financially healthy.
This year we were unable to fund Ice time to the same extent as last season, this is indicative of the more competitive regime for Pub Charity and Trust funding. Not only has there been a reduction
in the funds available for these organisations to hand out, more groups have been applying. On the positive side we have managed to fund our practice times and have increased our goalie gear
available to our members.
Our Club assets stand at approximately $14,000 with over $1000 in our insurance fund.
Once again there are several people who's efforts stood out, my thanks to Nat, Al, Matt, Scott, Dave, Glen and Kush. These are not all the people who have helped over the last year but they have
stepped up and made a real difference. Our Club would not be the same without them and their tremendous efforts.
Remember Please support our Sponsors
All in all another great season for the Aardwolfs..............
Cheers
Clive
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