We are so excited to share with you our two 2020 John R. Dale Memorial Youth Hockey Scholarship recipients, Allison Xu and Nolan Stafne!
Congratulations! They each received $400 towards the 2020-2021 Menomonie Youth Hockey Association’s Squirt program.
Allison Xu
Allison has been playing hockey since she was four. At age 11, she continues to develop and hone her skills and hopes to play on the Chippewa Falls/Menomonie Sabres girls co-op hockey team.
Allison’s interest in hockey sparked from watching her older brother play hockey, as Allison’s mother, Wei, would bring her to all his practices. One day the coach suggested Allison give hockey a shot and she has been in love with it ever since.
The family heard about the John R. Dale Scholarship through coach Brent Pember who had sent out a reminder to parents about applying for the scholarship.
“The Menomonie Youth Hockey Association is a really good organization,’ Wei said. “They provide a lot of opportunities for all the kids in the community, which is great.”
While Allison is used to scoring many goals playing center, this past season she spent most of her time getting to know more about playing defense and enjoyed getting a feel for a different part of the game.
“I love the game part about hockey,” Allison said. “I like to compete and skating is fun, too.”
Allison also plays soccer, but says she enjoys hockey more.
“I like hockey more than soccer because you can cover more area quicker and you can stick handle around people…sometimes in soccer you trip over your own feet when you run and I don’t like that.”
Wei also noted that she’s pleased Menomonie encourages girls to become involved with hockey, since traditionally it is known as a sport for boys.
Allison was able to catch the tail end of the Chippewa Falls/Menomonie team’s State Championship victory and was excited to watch #27 (Joey Schemenauer) score the winning goal. She was excited for the upcoming State tournament the first weekend in March where her team ended up winning the Squirt A State tournament!
Allison’s favorite NHL teams are the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Nolan Stafne
Nolan began skating and was introduced to hockey when he was four years old through the Menomonie Youth Hockey Program. Although he took a couple of years off to explore other hobbies, Nolan got back into hockey around the age of nine and is in his second consecutive year of the program.
His interest in hockey stems from his father having played hockey in his youth and watching his cousins play from a very young age.
“I really like the feeling of going out onto the ice,” Nolan said. “And my dad watches the NHL (National Hockey League) a lot, so I kinda always wanted to be like them.”
Nolan’s father Ryan said he had heard about the John R. Dale Scholarship through word of mouth and thought having Nolan apply for a scholarship would be a good fundamental skill to learn at an early age and good practice and preparation for applying for scholarships later in life.
“This was a good exercise for him, to apply for a scholarship whether he got it or not. We wanted to start teaching him the process for when he’s older and is applying for college scholarships,” Ryan said.
Nolan spends most of his time playing right defense. His team recently qualified for State and traveled to Sheboygan where they finished the Squirt B Tournament in 3rd place.
Nolan’s favorite NHL team is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nolan also enjoys playing football and hunting. He aspires to continue playing hockey throughout high school and eventually college.
