A local hockey player is being celebrated for his accomplishments off the ice. Owen Misener, 11, was selected as the winner of the ninth annual Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) essay contest for his essay answering the question “I love to play hockey because …”
“I thought that it would be a really cool project to do, because I haven’t really done anything like that before. It was just to try something new,” Owen said.
Owen described the lengthy process writing about why he loves to play hockey.
“I worked on it for a while. I ran some ideas past my teacher. I would work on it after I got home from practice with new ideas and stuff. I would constantly be thinking about it, and then add to it,” he said.
His essay, which he also presented in video form, can be found on YouTube and the OMHA website (www.omha.net).
“Hockey makes me feel happy and confident in myself when I make a good pass or help my teammates score a goal. I feel proud of myself and my team. I’ve learned that we are better together than any one of us are on our own,” he stated in the video.
“It has helped me learn the importance of following through on a commitment by showing up for myself and my team. I will always follow through on my commitments because I know it not only affects me but my teammates as well,” he added.
At first Owen didn’t believe that he had won.
“My mom got the email while I was at school, when I got home from school, she came dancing up the stairs. And she told me, and at first I didn’t believe her. I was like, ‘No, you’re joking,’ because it had been a couple months. And then she showed me the email and I didn’t have any words,” he explained.
At just 11 years of age, Owen thinks about hockey in many different ways, his mom Katie Misener said.
“[He has] really holistic thinking about it in terms of friends and sportsmanship and teamwork and relationships, not just the technical side of the sport. It was cool that he came up with all of those ideas himself, so we were really proud to see that,” she said.
For his efforts, Owen won $1,000 worth of hockey equipment and will be invited to the OMHA AGM at the Hockey Hall of Fame in June.
