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3 HOCKEY HERITAGE March 10, 2011 Geraldine Hardcastle was all smiles Monday night as she was honoured as the Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award winner. Photo by Ted Brown Hardcastle honoured for years of `sacrifice' By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer The busiest person in the Georgetown Minor Hockey Association took time out to recognize those closest to her Monday night who have put up with her many years of dedication to the sport in our community. Geraldine Hardcastle became just the second female recipient of the Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award in the 34 years it has been presented, joining her dad Jim Ford, the 1993 honouree, in that exclusive club. Her husband Martin, who has also served as a convenor for the Tri-County Minor Hockey Association, along with son Sean and daughter Amanda, were among the many family members in attendance at the Acton Legion for the 2011 event. "You don't get to stand up here tonight or at any other Hockey Heritage awards dinner without sacrifice," the 51-year-old children's daycare supervisor said. "There is many a night where I missed my own children's hockey games, baseball games, swimming lessons and wrestling tournaments because I had to do what I call, `My hockey.' However, I'd like to thank them for their unconditional support over the many years I've spent doing this." Hardcastle is rarely actually seen in an arena, yet the 1,800-player-strong GMHA heavily depends on her in the role of ice scheduler and registrar for the 150-or-so teams that can seemingly never be satisfied. That's about to change, however, thanks to the recent approval of two new ice surfaces at Georgetown's Mold-Masters SportsPlex, due to be ready for the 2013 season, and another in Acton for 2015. The Georgetown native is also a member of the Ice Queens, a group of ice schedulers in the 20-member TriCounty loop that gets together monthly for both hockey-related and social functions. "Although the ice schedulers don't physically compete in hockey games, there's still fierce competition between us. It's known as the quest for the red hat," she added. The red hat goes to the Tri-County scheduler who has the most number of OMHA champion teams each year. The GMHA isn't in the running for that title this year, but Hardcastle is looking forward to the 2011-12 campaign when the Raiders, along with their select and house league mates, celebrate the organization's 75th anniversary. "Reflecting on age, when you turn 30, you start to think you may be getting up there, and when you're 40, just a little bit, teeny bit, old. Fifty, a little bit old, but believe me, if you win the Hockey Heritage Award, you take a walk down the Mold-Masters crony hall of fame, you definitely feel old."