{"id":39043,"date":"2026-10-08T15:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=39043"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:06:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T19:06:50","slug":"aurora-sports-hall-of-fames-class-of-2026-amha-president-joe-bentolila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-sports-hall-of-fames-class-of-2026-amha-president-joe-bentolila\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Sports Hall of Fame\u2019s Class of 2026: AMHA President Joe Bentolila"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After enjoying an Alaskan cruise and copious amounts of King Crab last week, Joe Bentolila is the picture of relaxation at our booth at Wicked Eats on a radiant October afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting back to work and resuming his daily commute to Toronto is a whole other matter for the long-time Aurora resident as he battled Monday afternoon northbound traffic to get to our interview site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy brother Aron and I run a printing company at Dufferin and Steeles. We\u2019ve been in business together for over 40 years. We\u2019ve been extremely successful, even though the printing business is experiencing some challenges. I\u2019ve been grateful for a patient brother who respected my passion for hockey and giving kids a great experience on the ice. I put in forty hours of hockey admin work per week during the day\u2014often at work \u2013 so my brother was relieved that I\u2019d start getting some work done after I retired as President of the AMHA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The personable Bentolila, who spent equal amounts of time at our booth bonding with owner Robert Stewart regarding their mutual love of the Chicago Blackhawks and responding to interview questions, paused between bites of boneless chicken wings and scrumptious meatballs and reflected fondly on his quarter-century of service to the Aurora Minor Hockey Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sports organization saw its highest per season levels of registration under Bentolila\u2019s leadership\u2014peaking at over 1,500 players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most important part was the kids having fun. \u2018Fun\u2019 was the word I wanted to hear from prospective coaches during their interviews with me. We also put in place some key elements to retain players. Coaches who were fair; tryout processes that included the use of a panel of impartial evaluators; kids that deserved to play rep hockey were selected. By the same token, house league was for house league players. I wanted to see the kids playing hockey with smiles and rosy cheeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the kids with a smile and rosy cheeks that Bentolila provided an opportunity to play rep hockey turned out to be an NHL superstar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amiable retired AMHA President recalled receiving a phone call request for a tryout with the Tigers from Newmarket parent Dave McDavid whose six-year-old son was not be permitted by the local association to play up at the next level of rep hockey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mentioned to Dave to \u2018Let me look at your son on the ice.\u2019 When they got to the ACC, six-year-old Connor shook my hand and said, \u2018Thank you for giving me a chance, Mr. Bentolila.\u2019 He goes on the ice with the six-year-olds and I mentioned to Dave that, \u2018He\u2019s got it.\u2019 We moved him up to the seven-year-olds and then the eight-year-olds and he was the best player on the ice. I mentioned that we could move him up with the nine-year-olds\u2014that it would push him. I\u2019ve still got his registration card with his signature\u2014it\u2019s one of my favorite hockey collectibles. So, the story that circulates about me is that I gave Connor McDavid his first opportunity to play rep hockey. He still visits Aurora and does his summer skates at the ACC with Leon Draisaitl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bentolila also reflected on McDavid\u2019s gift to him at his AMHA retirement party held in the ACC auditorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConnor sent me one of his framed signed jerseys and a personal note thanking me for giving him his start in rep hockey. It\u2019s a great keepsake, as was receiving the key to the Town from Mayor Mrakas. To be in the same company of Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues and Barclay Goodrow of the Tampa Bay Lightning who were Stanley Cup champions and received the key to the Town was an incredible feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same kind of incredible feeling was experienced by Bentolila when he received the phone call from the ASHoF nomination committee confirming that he would be a 2026 inductee into the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 35-year resident of Aurora described the best part of his upcoming enshrinement: \u201cI\u2019m so humbled by this\u2014by this recognition. I did stuff for children, not for accolades. It\u2019s extremely rewarding and I\u2019m grateful to the Hall of Fame for seeing the pathways I created for kids to have fun playing hockey. It\u2019s great to be included with such a great class of inductees this year\u2014a runner, two hockey players, and a local hockey team, but for me, as an inductee and Builder, I built sporting opportunities for children. I love the fact that we as a Board looked after children playing a sport they loved and we tried to keep it as inexpensive for their parents as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bentolila described his continued connection with the AMHA even though he\u2019s been retired as President for three years: \u201cWhen they ask for help, I like being the first one to be called. My old line for them is \u2018Joe don\u2019t say no.\u2019 I still enjoy feeling the spirit of being a volunteer and once you\u2019re involved, it\u2019s hard to get away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One place that Bentolila did get away to\u2014with Andrea, his wife of 35 years\u2014was Alaska and he described their recent cruise to \u201cThe Last Frontier State\u201d: \u201cWhen you go to Alaska, you have to have the Alaskan King Crab. We shared two pounds of it. Incredible. Seeing whales popping in and out of the water. The glaciers\u2014the mountains\u2014the scenery is spectacular. My wife even enjoyed a specialty drink which was an Alaskan King Crab leg in a Bloody Mary. I also took a picture of the ugliest fish that I\u2019ve ever seen\u2014the Monkfish\u2014which is what they eat in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monkfish likely won\u2019t be on the menu when Aurora\u2019s Hometown Minor Hockey Hero Joe Bentolila is enshrined at ASHoF\u2019s Induction Ceremony on Thursday, November 5 at the Royal Venetian Mansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After enjoying an Alaskan cruise and copious amounts of King Crab last week, Joe Bentolila is the picture of relaxation at our booth at Wicked Eats on a radiant October afternoon. Getting back to work and resuming his daily commute to Toronto is a whole other matter for the long-time Aurora resident as he battled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3,5,24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-headline_news","category-news","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a9J","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-15 16:57:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-08-01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043","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=39043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39045,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043\/revisions\/39045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}