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The Chisago Lakes Hockey Association celebrated the life and memory of Zac Bartz on February 8, 2018, by awarding the 4th annual ZacStrong award. The award is a tribute to Zac and his passion for life, the sport of hockey and the Chisago Lakes community. Each year, the coaches of CLHA nominate athletes during the season that demonstrate six of the virtues which Zac lived his life by - courage, strength, bravery, humility, faith and love.

At the close of every season, each coach nominates one athlete that has excelled throughout the season for their positive attitude, work ethic, and spirit with which they embrace hockey. These athletes for the 2017-2018 season included boys and girls from each team that embraced challenges, made great improvements through hard work, and deserve recognition for the encouragement and support they gave their teammates.

The overall winner of the ZacStrong award this year is Bantam B1 Adam Brown. After making the Bantam A team last year, Adam did not make the team this year. Most kids would have reacted poorly to that, but not Adam. He was a leader right from the beginning, being named captain and selflessly moving from forward to defense for the benefit of the team.    Adam's willingness to play whatever position the team needed, balance academics, arts and hockey; have fun during the game and practice; and remain positive in the face of disappointment are the reason why Adam is this year’s ZacStrong winner.

Zac’s sisters, Lexie and Jess Bartz, were on hand to award medals to the finalists on Thursday. Because Adam and fellow finalist Dukarai Shumacher had away games on Thursday, they were awarded their medals and the ZacStrong medallion at Saturday’s high school game. Carol Ann and Nathan Bartz, Zac’s parents, presented them with their awards. The Chisago Lakes Hockey Association would like to thank all of this years winners for their contributions to hockey and the Chisago Lakes community, and encourage all athletes to live the ZacStrong way!

Congratulations to the 2017-2018 ZacStrong finalists:
8U Girls - Mia Pego
B Mite - Xander Breitenbach
C Mite Gold - Dillon Maag
C Mite Green - Dylan Cuffel
10U B Girls - Evi Reedy
Squirt B1 - Matthew Phelps
Squirt B2 - Dukarai Shumacher
PeeWee A - Cullen Dorcas
PeeWee B2 - Andrew Swanson
Bantam A - Jacob Lerfald
Bantam B1 - Adam Brown

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