Mike Sveinson, a former Rotarian provided a brief background on the Ice Dogs Hockey Club and the upcoming Dudley Hewitt Cup.
Mike was appointed President of the Ice Dogs in 2015. One of his players has adopted one of his favourite phrases “be a better person today than you were yesterday.”Mike's goal is to make the Ice Dogs an integral part of the community. He hopes that in return the community will support the team.
He wants the Ice Dogs players to become role models for young persons in the Dryden area.
Mike finds the role as President very rewarding, but like every volunteer, he knows he can’t do it forever.
In 2017, Sveinson convinced the Board of The Ice Dogs Corporation to apply to host the Dudley Hewitt Cup championship, and they were successful.
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The Dudley Hewitt Cup is a championship ice hockey trophy awarded to the Central Canadian Junior A Champion. The trophy is currently decided by round-robin tournament format, at the conclusion of the playoffs of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, and Superior International Junior Hockey League, to determine the Central Canadian representative to the Royal Bank Cup, which is the National championship
Hosting the tournament requires a large financial commitment. Through the support of team and community, The Ice Dogs organisation is well on their way to meeting its budget and hopes that ticket sales and incidental revenue will put them over the top.
In the past, the Ice Dogs have raised $10,000 for an Oncology unit at DRHC which reflects their support for the community of Dryden.
Ice Dogs is a non-profit corporation and run on a budget this year of about $ 400,000, of which about 1/3 comes from the gate which means it is important to get to the playoffs to get the extra income. Additional money comes from sponsorships and fundraising.