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Bentley School winter classic sees students against teachers

The Bentley school staged their second Winter Classic hockey game on December 12 at the local arena.
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The referee at the Bentley School Winter Classic hockey game was Grade 3 student Cooper Moore who was dwarfed by others on the ice.

The Bentley school staged their second Winter Classic hockey game on December 12 at the local arena.

During the game, junior and senior students faced off against teachers and staff at the local arena. All were sporting Bentley Canucks jerseys.

There was a lot of thought and preparation for the event.

There was a raffle table with numerous donated items, a silent auction item of a Paul Postma No.4 Winnipeg Jets signed jersey, and a 50/50 draw. There were many students and volunteers manning tables and acting as Santa's helpers and passing out candy canes to the spectators. A student Santa from Grade 9 with elf helpers even made circuits around the arena.

O’ Canada was sung by Kelsey Vig with the Canada flag being held by a skater.

The volunteer linesmen were two graduates of the school - Carson Schneider and Nathan Dennehy.

The referee was Grade 3 student Cooper Moore who was impressive with his great skill and speed and dedication to the game. Although he was dwarfed by everyone else on the ice he still had control of the game most of the time. He was back and forth and up and down the entire ice surface faster and more times than anyone else.

The announcer was very professional. In fact, he is almost a professional. Kris Lindberg now announces for the Bentley Generals games, some Blackfalds junior games and some Sylvan Lake minor hockey games, and was in the booth for the Sylvan Lake Kraft Hockeyville NHL game between Calgary and Phoenix on September 24, 2014.

What a bunch of good sports!

At times it was hard to tell the students from the teachers because some of the students are just as tall or taller and are better hockey players than the adults.

The first period was regular hockey. From a spectator’s untrained point of view it was hard to tell who was who because of all the hockey gear and helmets with face masks on everybody.

The second period consisted of skills competitions for the fastest skater, and toboggan races with one rider and two pullers per team, and a shoot out.

It was all in good fun and the score didn’t matter and it appeared that goalies were exchanged for the third period.

Courtney MacMillian and Scott Maetche, teachers at the school, organized the event.

More than $1,200 was raised from the event. It went towards the purchase of gift cards that were given to families in the Families-in-Need program at the school so they could purchase what they needed. A little gift bag for each was also included.

As long as support is good the event will continue, a representative from the school says.