Playing Hockey to Fight Cancer

 Wednesday February 12, for the second year in a row, various employees from the Ontario Power Authority, and other energy industry workers, took to the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens for a friendly game of hockey, with bragging rights and the OPA Cup on the line. The game was organized by hockey enthusiast Graham Smith as a fundraiser for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting the Princess Margaret Hospital. When asked why he organized the game, he stated that " Maple Leaf Gardens is a place with a lot of history and people are always excited to skate there. I think it is fun to socialize with colleagues outside of the office and to meet new people as well; it is a great team builder", though he concluded that really he just loves to play hockey. 

It was an intense high energy game right from the start with the Dark team, captained by Jim Glasspool, taking an early 1-0 lead, with an assist by none other than Murray Campbell from Communications. The Light team, captained by Rob Edwards, responded quickly with a goal of their own to tie the game. The Dark team scored again to take back the lead, but from that point forward, it was all Light team. Graham, who plays shinny twice a week and in the Downtown Toronto Men's League once a week, tried to keep his team in the game with a hat trick, but they fell just short and the final score was 8-5 for the Light team. 

The game was not without controversy though, Graham's third goal came after teammate Jim Glasspool fell in the corner. While most of the players were distracted by the fall, Graham scored into the empty net. Thankfully Glasspool wasn't hurt too badly and play was never stopped so, despite some calls for the goal not to count, it stood as a good goal and Graham brought his team to within two. Unfortunately it was too little too late and they couldn't get enough pucks behind goaltender Nick "Red Light" Dalziel. 

After the game, Graham stated that "there was a lot on the line and both teams gave it 110%. In tight games like this sometimes bounces go your way and sometime they don't." He seemed to think the Light team had an edge when he concluded that ultimately his team "came out of the gate hard but, I have to give credit to the Light team as their level of conditioning stood out later in the game and made the difference".  

Derek Roldan, who played for the Dark team, also praised his team's strong start, "you know, we came out strong and had some good pressure in the offensive zone early on with a great cycle game. We got into some trouble midway through the game, you know, and had to fight to stay with the other team. You know we weren't able to get enough pucks to the net and our defense stopped moving their feet, you know, which really hurt us". It wasn't all bad though as he concluded that "fortunately we have a great group here and I'm sure we'll rebound for next year". 

Following the game, both teams made their way to Mick E Fynn's for some drinks, laughs and the presentation of the OPA Cup. This is also where the raffle prizes were drawn; tickets had been on sale leading up to the game, $10 for one and $20 for three, with great prizes including donated tickets to the Toronto FC, the Raptors and the Marlies. Team Aline was able to raise $2,825 through raffle ticket sales and hockey player participation. A special thank you goes to Mayuran Srikantha who made a very generous donation, and it paid off as he took home a three course lunch provided by Amy Snook, tickets to the Toronto FC and a NEST thermostat.

As mentioned earlier, this game was first and foremost a fundraiser for Team Aline and the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a grueling 200 km bike ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls taking place from June 7-8, 2014. Team Aline was created in honour of Andrew Pride's mother who won her battle with cancer and consists of Graham Smith, Andrew Pride, Nik Schruder, Katherine Sparks and Amy Snook. While the hockey game may be over, their fundraising certainly is not; you can donate to their team at http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1513&team_id=64230.

I wish them luck in their training and fundraising for the event, and hope that June 7-8 bring warm weather, clear skies and open roads.