2001-2008 - Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame

2001 • MIKE MEZEI
2002 • TREVOR
McALPINE
Mike Mezei won the Canadian Junior Men’s Golf
Championship in Vancouver at the age of 19 as a
member of the Lethbridge Country Club. He also
finished near the top of two strong fields in 2000 at
the Alberta Junior Men’s Golf Championship and
the Alberta Men’s Amateur.
Following his victory at the Canadian Junior Men’s
Championship, Mike enrolled at the University
of Wyoming in Laramie and joined the golf team,
playing very well in the tough Mountain West
Conference. His best finish in his first year of NCAA
competition was sixth place at a tournament in
North Carolina.
Along with his prowess in golf Mike is also an outstanding student, posting a 4.0 grade point average
in his first semester while studying chemical engineering at Wyoming.
Trevor McAlpine carries on a tradition of great
Lethbridge judokans. His outstanding year included a gold medal at the Pan American Junior Judo
Championships in Mexico, and another gold medal at
the United States Open in Las Vegas.
Mike is very happy to be selected Sportsperson of
the Year and especially proud to be connected to the
Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame, where his grandfather Bert became an inductee in 1993.
Called “A Natural” by his coach Yosh Senda, the twenty-year-old McAlpine fights as a heavyweight and although he weighs two hundred fifty pounds he’s considered small by heavyweight standards. He often faces
opponents that out-weigh him by over fifty pounds, so
he relies on his technique and quickness to win.
Coach Senda puts Trevor in the same class with several past Lethbridge judokans who went on to represent Canada internationally. As McAlpine continues
to gain strength and experience, he has several goals
for the future. Among them is making the Canadian
Olympic Team and representing Canada at the 2004
Games in Athens, Greece.
2003 • Nicole Stratychuk
2004 • Jim Steacy
Returning from the World Junior Taekwondo
Championships in Puerto Rico last December with
three medals, one gold and two bronze, around
her neck, Nicole Stratychuk gave herself and coach
James Murphy an early 2002 Christmas present.
In the 2003-04 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)
season, Jim Steacy dominated the weight throw competition. He won the Canada West conference and
CIS national championships, setting records in both
events, earning him a slew of honours. Among them,
Steacy was awarded the 2004 University of Lethbridge
Pronghorns Male Athlete of the Year and the 2004 CIS
Field Athlete of the Year.
Already a national champion in middle-weight
sparring and patterns, Nicole claimed the World
Title in the women’s second-degree black belt patterns and added bronze medals in team sparring
and team power breaking, helping Team Canada to
gain the fourth-most medals out of 32 nations competing at the event.
Many patterns can be practised in Taekwondo and
Stratychuk was tied with her competitor in the final
after self and judge chosen patterns were completed.
In the tie-breaker to determine the winner, Nicole
came out on top after successfully completing one
of the most difficult and challenging patterns.
As a hammer thrower, Jim was the 2003 Junior Pan
American Games hammer throw event champion in
Bridgetown, Barbados setting the championship meet
record in the process. He also was the discus event
bronze medalist. With record setting throws, Jim won
gold medals at the Canadian National Junior Track
and Field Championships in 2003 in both the hammer
and discus events. These feats resulted in Jim being
selected for two prestigious provincial awards – 2003
Athletics Alberta Junior Male Athlete of the Year as
well as the 2003 Alberta Sport Recreation Parks and
Wildlife Foundation Junior Male Athlete of the Year.
The accolades Steacy has already racked up hardly
scratches the surface for this budding Olympian as
he sets his sights on competing in the hammer throw
event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
2006 • Jim Steacy
2005 • Brent Seabrook
Jim Steacy dominated the weight throw and shot put
events during the 2005 Canada West conference and
Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national competition season. Jim won both Championship titles, setting event records and earning himself many awards
– Canada West first team all-star, Canada West Field
Athlete of the Year, CIS first team All-Canadian, CIS
Field Athlete of the Year, and ending his indoor season being named the 2005 University of Lethbridge
Pronghorns Male Athlete of the Year.
19-year-old Brent Seabrook from Tsawwassen,
BC was recently named the Harry Ingarfield Most
Valuable Player of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and
captured the Mountview Dodge Top Defenceman
award as well.
Seabrook was also a member of the Canadian World
Junior Hockey Championship Team, which defeated Russia 6-1 in the final to claim the gold.
The Chicago Blackhawks first round draft pick in
2003 led the Hurricanes to the WHL playoffs for the
first time since 2002 and Seabrook was named to
the WHL East Conference 2nd All Star Team.
During the outdoor season in the hammer throw
event, Jim represented Canada at three National
Track and Field team competitions. He was named
captain of the FISU (World University Games) team
in Izmir, Turkey in July 2005, was the gold medalist at the Jeux De La Francophonie Games in Niger,
Africa in December 2005 and won a silver medal at
the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia
in March 2006.
Steacy won gold at the Canadian National Track and
Field Championships and broke the Canadian Senior
hammer throw event record at the prestigious IAAF
Telestra-A-Grand Prix Meet in Brisbane Australia. In
honour of his remarkable year in sport, Jim was chosen
to receive the Athletics Alberta Senior Male Athlete
of the Year as well as the Athletics Canada Eric C.
Coy Memorial Trophy dedicated to the outstanding
Canadian Athlete of the Year in the Throwing Events.
2007 • ashley patzer
Ashley Patzer followed a stellar freshman season with
the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns Women’s
rugby team, delivering dominant performances, leading her team to their first Canada West title and being
named Canada West All-Star and MVP.
During the Canada West championships, she recorded 21 total points and in a must-win game against seven-time defending champions, University of Alberta,
she accounted for the only points scored in a 3-0 victory, which marked the first-ever conference loss for
the Pandas.
At the CIS Tournament, where the Horns finished
with the bronze medal, Ashley was named the CIS
player of the year, an All-Canadian and tournament
All-Star, while finishing second in tournament scoring with 31 points and leading the tournament in
tries with 5. The Lethbridge native looks to have a
bright future in women’s rugby. Already seeing time
in the national program, Patzer was a member of the
FISU Championships team last summer and of the senior sevens team this spring. She also captained the
National U19 Women’s team to victory over England
in March.
2007 • Jim Steacy
Jim Steacy returned from a season away from university competition and did not miss a beat. He
remained undefeated in the weight throw versus
Canadian competition, winning Canada West university conference gold and breaking his own record in the weight throw event, while also claiming
gold in the shot put event. He was named a Canada
West first team all-star as well as being awarded
Canada West Field Athlete of the Year and Canada
West Student-Athlete-Community Service award
for combined excellence in athletics, academics
and community involvement.
At the CIS national meet, he once again broke his
own record en route to his fourth national gold in
the weight throw event, and also claimed his second
CIS shot put title. For the third time he was named
CIS Field Athlete of the Year and raised his number of first team All-Canadian awards to six. For his
efforts, Jim was selected University of Lethbridge
Pronghorns Male Athlete of the Year.
Away from the University, Steacy also made his
mark. He is the Canadian record holder in the hammer throw event and three-time Senior National
champion. Internationally, Jim represented Canada
on a number of occasions, claiming a gold medal
at the Pan American Games in 2007. Jim was
named to the Americas team and competed at the
IAAF World Cup in Athletics where he placed 6th
against the best in the world. He was selected for
the Athletics Canada Eric C. Coy Memorial Trophy
dedicated to the outstanding Canadian Athlete of
the Year in the Throwing Events.
Ashley was recently named 2007 U of L Pronghorns
Athlete of the Year.
2008 • foster rink
The prairies have long been known for excellence in
the sport of curling and this year a Lethbridge senior
women’s rink stood beside curling icons Pat Ryan
and Kevin Martin of Alberta and Jennifer Jones of
Manitoba as 2008 world champions in their respective divisions.
The front end of Shirley Kohuch and Chris Wilson
joined fellow Lethbridge resident Shirley McPherson
and Calgarian Diane Foster in travelling to Vierumaki,
Finland for the World Senior Curling Championships
held March 8-16, 2008. They came away with the trip
of a lifetime when they defeated Scotland 10-2 in the
final to cap an undefeated run to the world title.
2008 • zach boychuk
Zach Boychuk, a native of Airdrie, AB, was drafted
in the fifth round, 88th overall by the Lethbridge
Hurricanes in the 2004 WHL Bantam draft. In
2005-2006, he received the Carl Trentini Memorial
award as Hurricanes Rookie of the Year. Zack was a
member of Team WHL at the ADT Canada-Russia
Challenge twice (2006 & 2007) and played for
Canada’s 2006 U18 Junior World Cup team, helping them win the gold medal.
Boychuk was also part of the gold medal winning U20 team at the 2008 World Junior Hockey
Championships. As well, Zach participated in the
2008 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects
Game in Edmonton, where he finished second in
the Fastest Skater competition and was named the
Team White Player of the Game. He was recently
named the CHL Player of the Week for the April
22nd period and has been ranked 8th in the NHL
Central Scouting Final Rankings for the 2008 NHL
Entry Draft.
The ladies earned their first European visit by taking
the 2007 Canadian Senior Women’s crown in Trois
Rivieres, Quebec. Against all provinces and territories the talented team of Wilson at lead, Kohuch
2nd, McPherson 3rd and Foster throwing skip stones,
bested a strong field.
The four-year partnership for the Lethbridge ladies,
initiated by Shirley McPherson, has truly been a successful one and has brought pride and honor not only
to their busy curling club on 6th Avenue but to the
city of Lethbridge and southern Alberta as well.
Photo Courtesy of The Galt Museum & Archives
1961 Lethbridge and District Exhibition Rodeo