Yeeaaahhh Jeff Mader & Sherman Barrington’s pic is in the paper!
J.P. Antonacci
BRANT NEWS
Sure-footed athletes and enthusiastic amateurs of all ages converged on the Steve Brown Sports Complex at Lions Park this weekend to raise money for The Lung Association by playing the game that put Brantford on the sporting map – hockey.
The sixth annual Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament drew 212 teams and umpteen players to Brantford, including a contingent of six colourfully-clad American teams.
“We love playing hockey, and it’s for a good cause,” said Mike Crandall of Rochester, New York, who returned for his fourth tournament. Crandall and his teammates were inspired to come to Brantford by American actor and director Kevin Smith, a past attendee and strong online booster of the event.
The Americans, who hail from across the northeastern United States, get together to play at several fundraising tournaments throughout the year.
“It’s a big, huge family, really,” Crandall said.
Each of the teams played several games and could partake in skills competitions and children’s activities, including a magic show, throughout the weekend.
But for many players, the highlight of the weekend was meeting Walter Gretzky himself, who unfailingly stopped to sign autographs and pose for pictures with awestruck fans.
Tournament organizer Sandy Lee worked with Gretzky at Bell Canada years ago, and organizes a golf tournament in honour of his wife Phyllis, who died of lung disease. When the Gretzky family asked Lee to take on the ball hockey tournament this year, she couldn’t refuse.
“They asked me, and I’d do anything for that family, so I immediately jumped right on it,” Lee said. “It’s been an amazing six-month journey.”
Funds raised from this year’s tournament support lung health research at McMaster University and The Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health.
The teams played through heavy rain on Friday, but enjoyed clear skies Saturday. The daylong sights and sounds of hockey being played at eight rinks simultaneously, with the excited players following hard upon each other to take their turn, left little doubt that even though numbers were slightly down from 2011′s record-breaking tally of 227 teams, the street hockey tournament is alive and well.
“Everybody’s having a wonderful time regardless of the rain. We’re a hockey town, and you take a look at all these people decked out in hockey gear, and they’re having a ball. That’s what it’s all about,” Lee said.
The players had fun channeling their inner Gretzky, but Brantford’s town crier David McKee reminded them what they were really playing for.
“You are here because you can breathe,” McKee said. “Today, you play to help the millions of Canadians for whom each breath is a challenge.”
via www.brantnews.com
