Paul Krestanowich Winnipeg, MB Paul was born in Winnipeg and currently resides in River Heights, the same area he spent his childhood. He is married to Cory, and together they have four children; Adam (12), Madeline (10), Aaron (8) and Colin (6). Paul's involvement in our great game spans over five decades, and he has participated and contributed in almost every way. He has been a player, official, coach, administrator and hockey dad, and has many accomplishments both at the elite and grassroots levels. He played his minor hockey out of River Heights CC and Sir John Franklin CC from 1976 - 1987. Paul also played for the Charleswood Hawks of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League (MMJHL) from 1989 1991. Paul was a certified Hockey Manitoba official from 1983 - 2004 and his list of accomplishments and experiences are very impressive: • • • • • • • • Referee-in-Chief, Assiniboine Park Hockey Association (APHA), 1987 - 1991 Hockey MB referee supervisor, 1991 - 2001 Western Hockey League referee/linesman, 1991 - 1997 MJHL/MMJHL/CIS referee/linesman, 1991 - 2003 Level 6 Official, 1995 - 2004 IIHF referee (worked multiple Team Canada tours), 1995 - 1998 Refereed gold medal game at 1997 World University Games in Chonju, Korea IHL & AHL referee/linesman 1996 - 2004 Paul has also found time to be a certified hockey coach from 1987 - present, and has coached minor hockey at all levels from Initiation to AA to high school hockey over the years. After a brief break, Paul again became heavily involved with coaching again when his four children started playing hockey. On top of all this, Paul has been a key administrator at the River Heights/Corydon Community Club for a number of years. He spent five years as Convener from 2008 - 2012, and continues to look after the budgeting, sponsorship and other paperwork for the community club hockey program. He has been the House League Hockey Tournament Chair from 2008 - present, Vice President of Ops/tryouts in APHA from 2011 - 2014, and was recently elected as the President of APHA (term 2014 - 2016). Paul played a very important role in creating the Corydon CC Timbits manual (modeled after Calgary) and implementing Long Term Player Development (LTPD) principles within the Initiation hockey program in 2010. All Initiation teams within APHA adopted the LTPD program in 2012, and Paul has been a driving force behind the focus on skill development and respect for everyone in the game. Paul's father was a long time board member at the River Heights Community Club when he was a child, and he always said, "those that give back to their community club will benefit them personally more than they can ever know." Paul, along with his siblings, would spend countless hours out at the club while his father attended meetings, ran the winter carnival, etc. Paul and his wife feel they can never do enough to help out their community centre and everything it provides to his family and the neighborhood. It's this commitment and dedication to the game, along with his willingness to help out in any way possible that certainly makes him an outstanding recipient of the Canadian Tire Hero of Play Award.