A men’s hockey team that draws from Leduc County has been working hard to battle Alzheimer’s. And maybe they’ve also been working hard to play hockey with some of their NHL idols.
The Leduc Old Blades hockey team has been diligently raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Pro-Am Face-off. The charity event asks participants to raise funds to battle the insidious disease but offers an excellent reward: a hockey game full of NHL alumni, and the chance for fundraisers to play a hockey game with those famous names.
Old Blades player Jay Cole and others organized a pub night and silent auction Mar. 4 at the Canadian Brewhouse to add to their already considerable funds raised.
He said the auction went very well and raised over $4,500 in only a couple of hours.
“Our teams goal is to clear $25,000 at least this year, however it is going quite well so far so we are hoping we can get closer to $35,000 in total,” he said in an email.
The Pro-Am Face-off will be held the weekend of April 28 to 30 in Edmonton’s Terwillegar Rec Centre. The NHL alumni game doesn’t have set rosters. Rather, the rosters will be based on who raises the most money for Alzheimer’s.
“The higher dollars the team raises, the higher we get to draft on April 28 evening where you get to select your NHL alumni to play on your team for the weekend,” stated Cole.
“This year’s NHL alumni are Denis Savard, Bryan Trottier, Curtis Joseph, Dave Lumley, Craig MacTavish, Kelly Buchburger, and many more. Last year through this tournament, the Alzheimer’s Society of Alberta/NWT was able to raise over 1 million dollars for Alzheimer’s research.”
The Old Blades are accepting donations for their campaign. Visit the Pro-Am website for the tournament information (http://www.alzheimersfaceoff.ca/), then click “donate/support a player or team”, then scroll to “Leduc Old Blades” in the team search.
To see a slideshow of the charity auction, go online and visit this address at Black Press TV:http://blackpress.tv/video.php?id=20996