{"id":16824,"date":"2017-03-22T17:43:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T21:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16824"},"modified":"2017-03-29T16:16:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T20:16:19","slug":"peewee-tigers-play-on-for-coach-kyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/peewee-tigers-play-on-for-coach-kyle\/","title":{"rendered":"PeeWee Tigers play on for Coach Kyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte
\n<\/strong>
\nFor players, parents, and coaches alike, a packed house at the Aurora Community Centre last Tuesday was a polarizing sight for the Minor PeeWee AE Tigers.
\nA sea of black, white, and yellow not only came out to support the Tigers in their push towards the York-Simcoe league final, but to come together in solidarity with their brethren who had just lost a mentor.
\nKyle Hewitt, who served as an assistant coach with the team, passed away suddenly in early March.
\nA cornerstone of minor hockey in Aurora, the organization as a whole was rocked by the news, releasing a statement that the AMHA is \u201clesser in his loss.\u201d
\nHewitt\u2019s passing came just one day after the Tigers clinched a berth in the YSHL semifinals against the Newmarket Redmen, with just under two weeks passing between the news and the next home game.
\nWhen they finally returned to the Aurora Community Centre, they realized they were not to go through the process alone. Decked out in their Tigers jerseys, supporters were there to cheer on their hometown team.
\n\u201cThe energy level inside ACC#1 was powerful enough to make the coaches and players feel like they were at the other ACC (home to the Toronto Maple Leafs),\u201d said team trainer Jerome Gaspari. \u201cThe cheering, clapping, and spontaneous chants of \u201cA-U, A-U-R, A-U-R-O-R-A, T-I, T-I-G, T-I-G-E-R-S, GOOOO TIGERS\u201d felt unreal \u2013 almost as if the building\u2019s roof was ready to lift off. It was one of the largest crowds that ACC#1 has welcomed this season.\u201d
\nThe favour was returned to the packed house in the form of a fantastic hockey game, with Hewitt\u2019s son, Tyler, scoring to tie the game at one with only five minutes remaining. Though Newmarket eventually won the game 2 \u2013 1, the Tigers have since won two in a row to stake their claim in the YSHL championship series.
\nWhile the coaching staff wishes to extend a sincere thank you to the hockey community for their support over the last few weeks, the appreciation goes beyond the ice and bench and into the stands, as players\u2019 parents remember Hewitt for his commitment to their sons.
\n \u201cThe boys loved him, the boys respected him,\u201d said parent Larry Jacobs. \u201cKyle was a great role model. He made an impression on my son that will last a lifetime. Throughout the season the boys played hockey for Kyle as their coach, now they are playing hockey \u2018for Kyle.\u2019\u201d
\nRob McConkey, another parent on the team, said the boys were \u201cprivileged to spend time with a fine, fun-loving gentleman like Kyle, and I\u2019m sure they all know it.\u201d
\nWhile appreciated by parents and fellow coaching staff as a strong, positive reinforcement for the kids, Coach Kyle\u2019s players remember him as a \u201chappy\u201d, \u201cfunny\u201d, and \u201ccheerful\u201d guy.
\n“Kyle was a great coach,\u201d said Carter Gillies. \u201cHe was very funny. He helped me be the player that I am.”
\n\u201cHe made hockey fun for our team,\u201d added Lucas Gaspari.
\nAidan McCartney called Coach Kyle his \u201cfavourite coach ever,\u201d saying that he tied up his skates \u201cjust right.\u201d He also remembers Coach Kyle for his infectious humour.
\n\u201cHe always called me tomato face,\u201d said McCartney. \u201cBecause my face gets really red when I play hockey. If I had one early in the game, he said \u2018that\u2019s how I know you\u2019re working hard.\u2019\u201d
\nThe team continues its journey towards a championship this week against the Whitchurch-Stouffville Clippers.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sea of black, white, and yellow pays tribute to popular coach who died earlier this month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/2017-03-23-07.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4nm","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 06:14:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}