Selects Sports Tours

John, Travis and Joe,

I want to thank you for the unforgettable trip to Prague, Munich (and Paris!!!) for Tom, my father and me. We have already gone through hundreds of pictures many times over and laughed out loud while jogging our memories of good times on the trip.

The hockey was the highest level we have seen anywhere for 96s. The intensity and speed of each game provided Tom with another benchmark to take home of what it means to leave it all on the ice every time (and work off-ice on strength!!). Tom can recount virtually every play from the games against the Czechs, Finland, Sweden, Russia and the Wave. He exchanged contact info with some of the boys on those teams and now has new international friendships. He has become good friends with his teammates on ECS-Q (they are on Facebook with each other 24/7) as well as many of the boys on O and West Coast. I hope that these friendships last a lifetime.

The Opening Ceremony at the hotel, the OT win against Russia and all the other games, visiting Old Town in Prague, the bobsled run, touring Marienplatz in Munich, dinner and beer at Hofbrauhaus ("Provost!!!") will always be great memories for us -- not to mention the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower as unexpected prizes.

You should be proud of the organization that you have built at Selects Hockey. From the April days of monitoring the volcano to the time that we landed at Logan last week, your team was fantastic. From Gina, Kristen and Kristine (I know I've left someone out whose name starts with "K") to our chaperones for the boys, Krista and Alan, you have built a first-class organization.

The Dunleavys feel privileged to be a part of the Selects family.

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

Many thanks,

Patrick

Thank you for organizing such a wonderful excursion for the ’95 girls. Hil had a fabulous time and I think it was hard to value only one part of the experience – was it the hockey and being coached by Bobby Jo and Kristi - learning how to win with ease and learning how to win in adversity ; could have been visiting countries and towns never seen before; or the camaraderie of spending time with new friends and families. Hard to know but all together it made for a fabulous 10 days and memories for a lifetime.

Congratulations on another successful adventure.

All the best

Sam

Thanks for all you did for Blake these last past 11 days! He came home very excited with so much to share. He had the time of his life and an experience to treasure and cherish for his lifetime. Bob and I appreciate that you helped make all of this possible. We look forward to seeing you in Chicago for the next event and Blake is totally looking forward to seeing all his new friends again in Buffalo. It sounds like this same team is doing the tournament and camp. He was so pumped up about everything even though he was exhausted and it was so fun to hear all his stories. We look forward to watching Blake play for you in the upcoming tournament since we missed this one. Have a great week.

Thank you all for providing us with the opportunity to take a vacation of a lifetime! As a Mom to a senior I can't express enough the wonderful years hockey and U32 has provided for our Corey and our entire family. All trips involving this degree of planning, etc. are going to have learning curves, but all and all it was a huge success, thank you Dave, Sue, Linda, Amy and Howe Hockey folks for putting it all together moment by moment. Kudos to all of you who went right back into the routine of life at home, I took a much needed extra week. Yhank you all again and hope to see many of you at the Rotary game.

Well I hope you all getting caught up on your sleep and laundry. I just wanted to take the time to thank all those that made this trip happen. It starts with the support of the school, all of our sponsors, parents and kids organizing and participating in all the fundraising we did through the year. A lot of time and effor twent into planning and organizing this trip. I hope that U32 hockey can continue the tradition in the years to come. Thank you group leaders and coaches for keeping us all together on this trip!!! And we can't forget Jamie, Tina, and Gina from Howe Hockey for the countless hours of planning on their part to give us the best possible experience.

I hope as the weeks, months and perhaps years pass that everyone, especially the players, will be able to reflect and realize what a special time we all had even through the ups and downs. We did share many laughs together and that is what I am going to remember.

We would like to echo the thanks to all who worked so hard to make this trip happen. As parents who did not go on the trip, it was a little disconcerting to send our kid off to another continent without us, but we felt confident he would be safe and looked-after. We’d like to thank everyone who did go for keeping an eye on Brinton and making sure he behaved himself (hopefully most of the timeJ). He had a wonderful experience. Thank you!!

On behalf of the parents, siblings and players from Steveston Hockey Club’s 98 Sharks team, I would like to express our sincere thank you to you both for the work that went into preparing for our recent trip to Munich & Prague and all the help and assistance and great company while we were traveling. A big thank you to all those folks in the background who helped with group bookings, hotels etc as well – we didn’t really get exposure to them individually, but if you could pass on our thanks to them as well, that would be much appreciated.

The consensus from the parents and players, is that everyone enjoyed the sightseeing places we visited, the balance of hockey and social activities was perfect and a great time was had by all – and of course winning the 98 division was an added bonus (except for having to carry that huge trophy all the way back to Vancouver). Every details was taken care of from the bus/coach, our guide/ tournament coordinator Jitka, and as a result, and we could all simply relax and enjoy our time. When we had questions, they were answered in record time and everything ran without a hitch.

Please pass on our thanks to the organizers of the Czech Challenge Cup for a great tournament. Our boys enjoyed playing on that big ice surface and it seemed to really complement their style of play and I know all of them would go back again for more Czech hockey and hospitality.

We look forward to a continuing relationship with Howe Hockey and are excited about the prospect of exposing more of our young players to European Hockey and life enhancing experiences in future years.

Thanks for all the great work you and the team at Selects hockey did in preparing for this trip and then managing/coaching the boys!! It was a great experience for Tuck in many ways - - he learned a lot of new things about hockey, he got to meet some great new friends, he was able to see new/different parts of the world and learn how to be on his own a bit (plus, I was able to meet some great parents - - we had a blast). Truly, you and your team did a great job. We can't say thanks enough.

I would like to thank you for the life experience that these kids have been through. I believe that some of them have not realized yet what has just happened to them. Life will take care of it, they will soon realize as they grow up that traveling is not so easy and there is not always a schedule for transportation, meal, etc...The level of professionalism that the Selects have demonstrated in the preparation of this event and in the execution of the whole trip has to be congratulated.

I want to thank everyone Involved on this tour. This was our second time going and both times it has been spectacular both on and off the Ice.

I want to congratulate those who were drafted and I wish them good health and continued success in their growth as both players and young men.

I believe in life you are a product of who you associate yourself with; be It good friends, co workers etc and I think all of us are very fortunate to be a part of The Howe Hockey group and East Coast Selects famIiy. Only a select few get to do It and as a coach and a person who follows every aspect of the game of hockey, I can tell you that our boys are In great hands and are being taught how to play this game the right way and the lessons they learn will make life much easier for their coaches down the road.

I just wanted to shoot you a little note to let you know how much we enjoyed the ENTIRE trip to Munich and Prague...It was well organized and so much fun.

Malcolm had a blast and has been telling our entire family all about the trip and the things he saw...He also thought the hockey was amazing--he really enjoyed the boys.

So once again--Thanks for the opportunity to play and see some of the marvels of Eastern Europe...