2009 Event Recap
Saturday March 28, 2009 was the 9th Red Wing Alumni Hockey Charity Hockey Game to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit held at Viking Arena in Hazel Park. UCP of Metro Detroit is a local non-profit advocacy organization representing the needs of all people with disabilities in the Metro Detroit area and their families.
Once again, the Michigan Sled Dogs Hockey team, thanks to Marc Henretta of USA Disabled Hockey, put on quite a show schooling a team of so-called able-bodied skaters in an exhibition. Thanks to Roger McCarville of “Disabilities Today” and Ryan Mitchell for handling the game announcements and the national anthem was sung beautifully by Kimberly VanBiesbrouck ….of “Menapause: The Musical”.
The Red Wing Alumni roster was stacked with ex-NHL players Shawn Burr, Pat Peake, John Ogrodnick and were joined by fan favorite and Hall of Famer Mickey Redmond who took the ceremonial faceoff against Puckster Tom Hillebrand. The puck was dropped by Karyn Jordan (whose family was a recent recipient of a United Cerebral Palsy QuickRamp for Kids).
The Pucksters held the score down for the first 10 minute until the Wings got a few cheap ones…ha ha.(Scoring wrap up)
However the Wings continued to score (almost at will) and ended up with an 10 to 7 final score...(It could have been 20 to 7 if they didn’t have mercy on us). The Puckster goalies (Jeff Carter and Dennis Berchulc) had to handle way too many shots.
A game highlight was midway through the second period as Mickey Redmond showed up in a specially-made Puckster jersey and played the final 15 minutes on our side, though it didn’t improve the score, it did wonders for our spirits. Mickey said “geez, I played 3 shifts and never got out of our own end” Our response was “welcome to our world, Mickey” Not a player who sat on that bench will ever forget those 15 minutes!
In all, it was a great evening. The auction and the afterglow went off without a glitch thanks to all the players who raised money, our many UCP staffers, especially Chaka Harris and Leslyn Angel, our volunteers, sponsors and board members.
Section 8 Editorial & Design, Walter Schram, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan were our major sponsors. Original Romano’s Pizza donated all the food. More importantly the game raised nearly $22,000 for UCP of Metro Detroit which brings our 9 year total for this event to roughly $160,000 so a big thank you to all who have participated and contributed. If you would like to contribute now just go to our Donate page.
ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE. United Cerebral Palsy of Metropolitan Detroit is a 501(C)(3) NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION ...38-1368516
