The Education Program of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs is a success story in the BC Hockey League. While the 2007-2008 season is a rebuilding year on the ice for the Bulldogs, their Education Program continues to set the standard for excellence in the league.
For the past few years local Port Alberni Principal Tom McEvay and a group of key people have built a strong foundation for how a junior hockey education program should function. The Bulldogs education program consists of college, online, high school and upgrading opportunities for their players as well as preparation for the all important US SAT exams. The program includes assistance for the players in putting together college/university marketing packages, communication with colleges and universities and help with the myriad of details and rules of both the US NCAA and the Canadian CIS intercollegiate athletic systems. Finally McEvay and his team provide any other support and advice they can for the Bulldog players.
The validity of any program is of course in the reality of what it does on a daily basis and the results of those efforts. This season every player on the Bulldogs team is taking some form of schooling. Seven players, Evan Michalchuk, Isaac Smeltzer, Daniel Moriarty, Devin Braden, Nick Sandor, Marcello Ranallo, and Harrison May, have courses at North Island College. With the cooperation of NIC, Michalchuk and Smeltzer are finishing their courses by distance since being traded recently. Lee Patzer, Chris Moulson and newcomer Mark Morikawa are doing courses by distance through other colleges. The Bulldogs have never had more than one or two high school aged players but this year?s young team has seven in Adam Hout, Josh Pineiro, James Kerr, Shane Malone, Zack Mazo, Kevin Ross and newly added Evan Witt. Kevin Genoe was another high school aged player who transferred to a high school in Prince George when released a few weeks ago. Adam Baldassarre, Sawyer Eichel, Mandeep Nijjar, Jordan Principalli, Matt Frydrysek, May, Braden, Sandor and the injured Chad Plouffe are all doing college prep courses at the Vast Education Centre. Recently acquired players Elliot Raibl, David Aime and Ben Payne are looking at opportunities for next semester.
The Bulldog players have tremendous support at all of the schools listed above. North Island College counselor Jeff Leese goes out of his way to ensure that the players have what they need and regular communication is maintained. John McDonald is the counselor at Alberni District Secondary who works with the Bulldog players and he stays on top of all of their needs. At Vast the players doing English prep work are supported by advisor Des Reddick while the Math group work with advisor Lauren Oliver. All the schools report a group of players who are respectful, hard working and in many cases highly academic.
Nowhere is the academic ability of the players more evident than in the results of the SAT exams. The SAT is a rigorous exam that is required for entrance to US colleges and universities. Bulldog players receive weekly SAT prep sessions with local teachers James Messenger or Erik Waldriff. The results of the recent October and November exams showed several players scoring incredibly high. Captain Moriarty pulled off the highest score in Bulldogs history with an overall 2100 out of 2400 while younger players such as Kerr and Ross also have very high scores. The SAT can be written multiple times and with the support given here all players have improved their scores this year which has usually been the case when players come to Port Alberni. Eight players wrote the exam on December 1 and are waiting for results.
The Alberni Valley Bulldogs have had considerable success over the short history of the organization in having players move on to post secondary education and hockey. The new ownership group lead by President Andy Oakes and head coach and GM Alan Kerr have affirmed this as one of the primary goals of the organization. Players such as Moriarty, Kerr, Michalchuk, Smeltzer and Ranallo are all getting closer to decisions on their future educational choices while many schools are inquiry about Bulldog players. Chris Moulson is already committed to Cornell University for the 2009-10 season and newcomer Evan Witt is scheduled to go to Michigan Tech that same year. Former Bulldog players Maury Edwards (Massachusetts-Lowell), Jordan Kremyr (Providence), Harry Zolnierczyk (Brown), Tyler Ruel (Wayne State) and Stephen Pattison (Brock) are in their rookie seasons at their respective schools. Veteran Bradyn Melrose is spending the first semester at Wisconsin-Superior before transferring to the University of Windsor. Well over 20 Bulldog alumni are currently attending post secondary schools.
Another aspect of the Bulldogs education program is the opportunity for players to volunteer in local schools. This component is of course a win/win scenario with the players gaining tremendous experiences and skills and the schools and their students benefitting greatly from the players efforts and the excellent role models. The Bulldogs in Schools program is sponsored financially by the Bulldogs Booster Club as are all aspects of the Bulldogs? education program. Funds for these initiatives come from home game 50/50 and jacket draw revenues so don?t forget to support these efforts.
On ice results will vary from year to year as an organization goes th
