Officiating Award – Ed Flood

This year marks 50 years since Ed Flood first pulled on the stripes, and his officiating journey has taken him from his hometown of Grand Falls-Windsor, around Newfoundland and Labrador and from coast to coast to coast across Canada.

Ed got his start as an official in his late teens, and has built an on-ice résumé that includes numerous provincial championships from U11 to senior hockey, and eight assignments to the Herder Memorial Trophy final, the pinnacle of senior hockey on the Rock.

He began his administration career in 2003, serving as referee-in-chief with the Corner Brook Minor Hockey Association for 13 years before taking over as RIC with Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador in 2017. He has also been a clinic instructor and supervisor since 2007, working with young officials in the province, and has served as secretary of the Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador Board of Directors since 2021.

Ed has brought his leadership and sense of fair play to the national level as well, working with a number of Hockey Canada Officiating Program task teams, focusing on program delivery.

Through his work with the Member, Ed has strived to ensure programs for all athletes and officials are given the attention they deserve and has aimed to bring officiating promotion, recruitment, retention and education to all corners of the province.

An educator by trade, his athletic passions extend away from the rink; Ed is a member of the Baseball Newfoundland & Labrador Hall of Fame as both a player and a builder – the first to earn both honours.

Order of Merit (Atlantic) – Murray Roberts

Murray Roberts and Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador, go hand in hand. A product of the Botwood Area Minor Hockey Association, Murray represented his hometown in the late 1970s.

Almost 20 years later, Murray got back into the game as a coach and Initiation director with the MHA, going on to serve as its president in the late 1990s. In 1999, he got involved at the provincial level, taking on the role of public relations officer for the Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador Board of Directors. He was elected as vice-president in 2000, a position he would hold for the next 19 years.

During that time, Murray was a leader in the area of risk management; he was instrumental in bringing in a provincial comprehensive screening process for all volunteers and led the charge in introducing the Safety Towards Others Program (STOP) across the province to protect players on the ice.

He also played a leading role in the implantation of mouthguards in minor hockey, and was a facilitator for the Speak Out! Program, which supported the awareness and prevention of bullying, abuse and harassment within the game.

Murray was honoured in 2020 with Life Membership to Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador, in recognition of his efforts to make the game safer and more enjoyable for all participants.

Order of Merit (Central) – Yve Sigouin

Yve Sigouin's involvement with minor hockey in Quebec began in the early 1990s. A proud resident of the City of Montreal East, he got started as a volunteer with the AHM de Montreal-Est, eventually serving as vice-president until 2000.

During his time with the association, Yve held several positions – he was a member of a parents’ committee, an assistant coach, member of the disciplinary committee, governor and advisor to the president, in addition to his role as VP.

He then took his experience to the regional level, serving as secretary, vice-president of player development and, finally, president of Hockey Bourassa.

In 2006, Yve moved to the provincial level when was elected vice-president of the Hockey Quebec Board of Directors, a position he held until 2018. During his time in the role, he sat on the ad hoc committee that studied the expansion of the LHMAAAQ executive and a new pyramidal development structure, as well as other provincial committees, including that of school hockey.

He spent four years as president of the Hockey Québec board from 2018-22. Under his presidency, he notably guided the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, initiated the addition of co-opted members to the board and sat on various Hockey Canada governance committees.

Still today, two years after his term as president ended, Yve remains an active member of the hockey community. In 2022, he completed his off-ice official training to become involved as a scorer in the Montreal region, and he serves as honorary president of Montreal-East’s national U15 tournament.