A minor hockey player and multi-sport athlete for the Springbank Phoenix received a helping hand in funding his post-secondary education, thanks to the Springbank Minor Hockey Association and the Chase Hudye Memorial Fund.
Cole Madeiros, the captain of the Springbank Rockies Midget 1 hockey team, was the recipient of this year’s $2,500 Chase Hudye Memorial Scholarship, as well as the $700 Kyle Stewart Scholarship. Both awards were presented to him at the team’s end-of-season banquet, April 13.
“When my coach said my name, I was really speechless and happy,” said the 17-year-old centre. “Not only did I not know about that scholarship at first, but just to hear my name and receive a scholarship of that magnitude [and what it means] for the Springbank hockey community – I was honoured to receive it.”
The Chase Hudye Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to one graduating player with the Springbank Minor Hockey Association. Hudye was a former Springbank hockey player and Springbank Community High School student who was killed in a motor vehicle collision on Highway 8 in 2012.
Madeiros captained the Rockies to a 12th-place finish in Hockey Calgary’s Midget 1 league in 2018-19.
Brad Saville, team head coach, said Madeiros was an obvious choice for team captain last season, due to his dedication to the team and his positive mindset.
“He was at most practices and games.… He was always keen to motivate the team and play his best in every game,” Saville said.
“With teenagers, you never know what you’re going to get, but he always had a good attitude, which is important when you have a team full of 16-year-olds.”
Madeiros, who had never been a captain before, said he took the leadership role to heart.
“I made sure to be the best captain I could be, so, obviously, [I tried to demonstrate] leadership, perseverance and always telling my team to keep our heads high,” he said. “We didn’t do as well as we expected to do, but, throughout the season, I always told them that things will work out – that we’d go out and have our best game.”
The 2018-19 season started off poorly for the Rockies, Madeiros said, as the team finished second-last during the seeding round.
But performances picked up during the mid-point of the season, he added, when the team competed at the Esso Minor Hockey Week (EMHW). Springbank made a run to the gold-medal game of the annual tournament before bowing out with a 4-0 loss against the Calgary Northwest Warriors.
“We went to the finals and, unfortunately, finished second to a top team,” Madeiros said.
EMHW is the largest minor hockey tournament of the year in Calgary and area. According to tournament organizers, more than 12,000 players on 655 teams played in the week-long competition in 2019.
“To make that finals run after being second-last in the league was huge for our team,” Madeiros said.
“We obviously played the rest of the season with a lot of grit.”
Along with hockey, Madeiros also plays high-school basketball and soccer for the Springbank Phoenix and will suit up as the Phoenix’s goalkeeper for the 2019 Rocky View Sports Association soccer season, which kicks off April 30.
With graduation just a few months away, he said his newly-acquired scholarship money will go toward tuition at Brock University, where he plans to study sports management next year.
“It opens up so many doors. Management, being an agent – apart from the sport itself, anything that has to do with the behind-the-scenes [aspects of sport],” he said. “That is something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, because I’ve grown up playing team sports, and if I can have a profession in sports, I’ll be a happy man.”
Madeiros said he intends to continue playing recreational hockey and basketball when he moves to Ontario.
