MOOSE JAW WARRIORS: Fioretti Rewarded For Hard Work In Community

Sam Fioretti’s hard work in the community has earned him national recognition.

The former Moose Jaw Warriors captain was named the 2014 CHL Humanitarian of the Year on Saturday at the annual CHL Awards in London, Ontario.

“It’s a huge honour to win an award like this for the entire CHL,” said Fioretti over the phone from London on Sunday. “It’s not only for me, but it’s an award for my teammates, who also put a lot of time into the community and were always eager to give back.

The award caps off Fioretti’s four-year WHL career with all four seasons spent in Moose Jaw where he became a well-known face in the community for more than his hard work and skill on the ice.

Last season, Fioretti worked hard to continue many of the community programs that had been started in previous years, but also worked to create and spearhead two new initiatives. He worked with the Moose Jaw Police Service to go into schools to speak with students about bullying and then started the Warrior Workouts program aimed at teaching kids the correct ways to get active.

“I’ve got to say a big thank you to the community of Moose Jaw,” said Fioretti. “They embraced these two programs and made it very enjoyable to be a part of them.

“We’re role models as WHL players and it’s nice to give back to the community which gives so much to us.”

Fioretti is the second player in Warriors’ history to win the award, following in the footsteps of another former captain, Spencer Edwards, who won the award in 2011.

“Spencer was there my first year as the captain and just to see what he did within the community inspired me to try and do the same,” said Fioretti. “It’s a testament to the city of Moose Jaw and the Warriors organization that there’s been two winners in four years.

“It’s a place where you love to give back to the community and that’s what the award shows.”

Fioretti finishes his WHL career with three 20 goal seasons in four years. He scored 81 goals and 200 points in 269 career games with the tribe. He also added four goals and ten points in 14 playoff games during the Warriors’ run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2012.

He will be continuing his hockey career next year at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

“Warriors Workouts” saw the players go to all the elementary schools in the city where they spoke to the children about being active and eating properly.  Sam stressed the importance that today’s youth can be active simply by “kids being kids”, having fun and playing is a great way to get some exercise as well as meet new friends.  When speaking on nutrition, the players spoke to students about not worrying about counting calories, instead they spoke about eating “real foods” which would be a great source of energy.  After speaking the players would then split the students into groups and then do activities with them.  At the end of the session the children have completed close to 40 minutes of physical activity, which is the goal of their In-Motion programs. 

The second imitative that Sam was a driving force behind was the team’s new partnership with the Moose Jaw Police Service.  In his final season in the WHL Sam wanted to go to schools and speak out against bullying.  The two organizations went to city schools and spoke to a number of classes about bullying and how today generation is has the ability to prevent it.  Sam, along with other Warriors, shared personal stories which connected with the students.  Not only did this partnership allow the organizations to speak on bullying, but they also did presentations on drugs and alcohol awareness and online safety.

Fioretti, who is a strong advocate of education, also took part in the teams CIBC Read to Succeed program.  This saw players going to schools and reading to students, and then speaking to them about the importance of education.  They shared personal stories of keeping their studies up while playing in the Western Hockey League, and spoke about their goals of pursuing post-secondary education.