1997 & 1998 Tier II Pee Wees
The WAHA CUP has been renamed in the Kohlman Cup in honor of WAHA Board member Don Kohlman. Mr. Kohlman was instrumental in the creation of the WAHA CUP in 2004 and has been actively involved in every WAHA CUP tournament.The WAHA CUP was conceived over a plate of pancakes at Lief’s restaurant in Eagle River in August 2003 by Don Kohlman and Bill McCoshen with Cale McCoshen looking on. Mr. Kohlman told McCoshen to “put something on paper and we will take it to the WAHA Board in December.” Dan Schachte, Mike McCoshen and Dan Johnson helped produce the first draft of what became the WAHA CUP. The original concept called for a Tier II all-star tournament at both the Pee Wee and Bantam levels. During the process it was discovered that Steve Billings had written a concept paper for a year-end all-star tournament a year earlier and Billings instantly volunteered to help with the WAHA CUP. The WAHA Board decided to move forward with the Pee Wee WAHA CUP in December 2003 with plans for the initial tournament in March 2004 “if we could find volunteers to make it happen in each WAHA region. The WAHA CUP would have never become a reality without the help of the following individuals:
- Region 1 Mike McCoshen and Steve Billings
Region 2 Dan Johnson, Don Kohlman and Gary Suter
Region 3 Neil Anderson and Kipp Karakas
Region 4 Bill McCoshen, Dan Schachte and Kim Schachte
Region 5 Rene Cranston, Gina Roadhouse, Cal Roadhouse and Tom Slocum
Region 6 Ian Hollaway, Kevin McCoshen, Jon Hailey and Leo Bronston
Mr.
Kohlman passed away in October of 2008 in his hometown of Fond du Lac
shortly after managing the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League Showcase
tournament. His many contributions to improve the game of hockey in
Wisconsin will not be forgotten.
The Kohlman Cup is limited
exclusively to Tier II Pee Wee Players. It will allow the top Pee
Wee age level players in Wisconsin to test themselves against the
best Tier II players in each WAHA region.
Any player from a
local Tier II Pee Wee organization is encouraged to tryout for the
Kohlman Cup.
More than 500 players have tried out for the
Cup in each of the first four years.
The top players in the
Kohlman Cup will be selected to Team Wisconsin. They will play in
the Northern Exposure AAA tournament July 23-25, 2010 in Duluth,
Minnesota.
The Kohlman Cup will be a great way to end the
winter season, and it will not conflict with the summer AAA
programs. The entire process will be over within 2 weeks of the
state tournament.
WAHA CUP Skills Competition Renamed
The WAHA CUP added a skills competition at the suggestion of Leo Bronston in 2006. Players compete in individual and team events. The skills competition has become one of the true highlights of the WAHA CUP tournament.The skills competition has been renamed the Jacob Trannel Skills Competition. In the inaugural WAHA CUP tournament in 2004 in Madison, Jacob Trannel was a member of the 1993 birth year Pee Wee Minor WAHA CUP championship team from Region 6. Jacob played on the Region 6 WAHA CUP team in 2004 and 2005. He was selected to play for Team Wisconsin in 2004 and 2005. Jacob Trannel passed away unexpectedly at the age of 15 in December 2008. He was a freshman at Onalaska High School and played varsity soccer and hockey. In his final varsity hockey game Jacob had a goal and an assist against University School of Milwaukee. He will be greatly missed by family, friends and the hockey community.