By Brittany Burke
October may be over the, but the efforts to raise awareness and money to fight cancer is still surging amongst the CCSU club hockey team.
The Blue Devils teamed up with UConn, Western Connecticut State University and CW Post during the two-day CT Governor’s Cup tournament to raise money for the Play for the Cure foundation. At the end of the four game tournament the teams managed to raise $500 to be donated to the cause.
“What we’re trying to do is just raise awareness for cancer, the ACHA as a league has done a great job at trying to raise awareness as well as fundraise for the league,” said hockey Head Coach Ben Adams.
In an attempt to raise money for Play for the Cure the Blue Devils decided to incorporate the game of chuck-a-puck. For $1 fans can purchase a hockey puck with a number on it. The goal of the game is to throw the puck over the glass and the closest puck to the middle of the rink wins the game and gets a free t-shirt.
The chuck-a-puck not only raised money in a fun way, but it also got the audience involved and added an extra level of entertainment to the CCSU games. The weekend of the CT Governor’s Cup was the first time chuck-a-puck had been done, but it wasn’t the last. The hockey team has decided to continue with chuck-a-puck throughout the rest of the season, and is planning on selling pucks at CCSU in an attempt to get the entire campus involved.
“Every home game they sell chuck-a-pucks. What that is every intermission a student can throw a puck on the ice and it costs one dollar and the closest to center ice wins a t-shirt. The proceeds goes to a cancer foundation…we’re also thinking about extending the chuck-a-puck sales to on campus for students who can’t make the games. But somebody in good spirit can throw their puck on the ice at the game that weekend,” said team treasurer Kevin Leaver.
The athletes were also getting in the spirit of awareness, as they skated out on the second night donning hot pink tape on their hockey sticks. While most of the Blue Devils opted for subtlety, some such as Zack Vidmosko took to the ice with a stick covered with pink.
“Obviously it’s a great cause. We don’t want to see any of that and we want to find a cure for it,” said Jon Knobloch. “I know they were doing the chuck-a-puck which is nice and I know all the donations were going to that. A bunch of guys were going with the pink sticks so we had the tape going around for the cause.”
The plan to raise money for cancer awareness is a league-wide goal in honor of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s 20th anniversary season.
“At the annual meeting this past year they asked every team to generate a donation of $250 which is a fairly reasonable request and they’re going to make one big check to the cancer fund,” said Adams. “Harrow [Sports] and some other corporate sponsors have gotten involved and are going to donate a large portion as well so it’s a nice cause. It teaches these players a different aspect of life and it’s good to see so many people get behind it.”
The ACHA has set a target donation of $42,000 by the end of the season to be presented to the American Cancer Society on behalf of Play for the Cure. CCSU is one of 421 ACHA men’s and women’s teams participating in the campaign across the nation.
The ongoing fundraiser for a cure brings the team and CCSU hockey community together by using a beloved game to try to put an end to a deadly disease.