Local coach and mentor being inducted into City’s Awards of Excellence program
A local resident who has made a significant impact in hockey through his leadership as a coach and coach mentor is being inducted into the City of Spruce Grove’s Awards of Excellence program.
Barry Medori is being recognized in the Significant Achievement category for his successes as both a coaching mentor and coach at a wide variety of levels in ice hockey and para-ice hockey.
“It is a privilege to recognize Barry with an Award of Excellence,” said Mayor Jeff Acker. “He willingly shares his knowledge and passion about hockey with those who are interested in becoming better players, coaches, and mentors, and he has helped many coaches and athletes achieve success on national and international stages. We are extremely proud of Barry and are honoured to be able to recognize him in this way.”
Throughout his career, Barry has been involved in the sport at a local, national and international level, including as a volunteer, instructor, coach, assistant coach, and mentor.
Here at home, Barry was instrumental in starting the Parkland Hockey Academy where he taught for 37 years, and was also an administrator for 25 of those years at both Blueberry School and Woodhaven Middle School.
Barry also started and led a Hockey Canada skills academy with both Parkland School Division and Northern Gateway School Division from 2003-2015. This was one of the first such programs in Canada and at its peak was running three programs in Spruce Grove, Wabamun, and Onoway, with 250 student athletes from 23 schools.
He was part of the coaching team with both the Canadian Women’s National Team in 2007 when they won the World Championship, and the Canadian Paralympic Ice Hockey team when they won the World Championship in 2017.
Recently, Barry was named the recipient of Hockey Canada’s esteemed Gordon Juckes Award, which is presented to a person for their “outstanding contribution(s) to the development of amateur hockey in Canada at the national level.”
With his current role as a high performance coach mentor with Hockey Alberta, Barry has been instrumental in the development of many of Canada’s top aspiring coaches, providing leadership to both these coaches and their players.
Barry will be presented with his Award of Excellence during the Canada Day Ceremony at Jubilee Park on July 1. The ceremony will begin at noon, and community members are invited to attend.
The Spruce Grove Awards of Excellence program was established in 2003 as a way for the City to recognize outstanding community members who have made contributions in the areas of athletics, arts, education, the environment, innovation, community service or significant achievement. Past inductees include Nathan Dempsey (2021), Stephanie Labbé (2017), Darwin Park (2015), Lorna Kemp (2010), Allen Shenfield (2006) Judy Kesanko (2005) and Jennifer Heil (2005).