Bill Moores
Bill Moores has played and coached around the world in a career that spanned more than four decades. His playing career included the Edmonton Oil Kings in the late 1960s and the Alberta Golden Bears in the early 1970s, returning to the Golden Bears as assistant coach and head coach for 12 years. He spent a season as Coach-General Manager of the Regina Pats, and was assistant coach for the Japanese National Team in 2000 at the IIHF World Championship before starting his National Hockey League career in 1996 with the New York Rangers. From 2000-09, he was an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers, before joining the Canadian National Team at the 2010 Worlds. He returned to the Oilers in 2013, as Director of Coaching Development and Special Projects.
Jim Fleming
Jim Fleming’s playing career included three Edmonton city championships; three league titles and one national championship with University of Alberta; and nine years of senior hockey, representing Alberta in interprovincial competition three times. Jim coached minor hockey in Vermilion for 17 years and college hockey for two years; ran the Vermilion Hockey School; and taught power skating and wrote a book on power skating. He helped rewrite the Hockey Canada Skills Manual; served as course conductor for Hockey Alberta for more than 30 years; Sledge Hockey coach; chair of Player Development for Hockey Alberta; and was recognized as one of the 100 Builders of Minor Hockey in Alberta.
Gord Hira
Gord Hira was involved as a volunteer at various levels of hockey for more than three decades. He played minor hockey for the West Hillhurst Community Association in Calgary, and began coaching in Carstairs in 1983. He was a scout for the Olds Grizzlys for six years, winning a Centennial Cup title; Manager of Operations for Zone 6; Hockey Alberta’s Minor Council Chair for five years; member of the Aboriginal Committee for 10 years; Chair of the Hockey Alberta Boundary Project; and chair and co-founder in 2002 of Hockey Alberta’s Pond Hockey Committee. Gord received the Carstairs Minor Hockey Award (1999), the Hockey Alberta Meritorious Award (2002), the President’s Award (2006) and the Fred Denischuk Award (2009).
LeRoy Johnson
LeRoy Johnson spent more than three decades as an educator at Augustana (Camrose Lutheran College), including building a college hockey program. The Camrose Vikings entered the ACAC and in 1974-75 won the Alberta and Canadian college championships. Leroy founded the Viking Cup International Tournament in 1980, overseeing the tournament for nearly 20 years as part of an exchange with European Hockey Federations. LeRoy was a founding member of the Camrose Sport Development Society that established the Junior A Camrose Kodiaks. Recognition includes: Alberta Achievement Award, CFRN Sports Award of Excellence, Hockey Alberta Centennial Award and the University of Alberta Alumni Recognition Award.
Olds Grizzlies (1994)
The Olds Grizzlys were guaranteed a spot in the 1994 Centennial Cup as the hosts, but they qualified as more than just the hosts. The Grizzlys cruised to a first-place finish in the regular season (50-4-2), and then rolled through the playoffs to win their third-straight AJHL title. Olds then defeated Kelowna (4-2) to win the Doyle Cup and advance to the Centennial Cup. The Grizzlys swept through round-robin play, outscoring their opponents 31-6, but needed three straight goals to beat Weyburn 4-3 in the semi-finals to advance against the defending champions from Kelowna. Olds scored late in regulation time to send the final to overtime before Dave Kirkpatrick scored the Centennial Cup winning goal.
