Players and organizers scored a big win to conquer cancer at Woddbine Racetrack Saturday.
Scotiabank Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer faced off for a 7th year. In total players and their donors raised $2.6 million, bringing the 7 year total up over a staggering $16M.
The tournament provides critical funding for cancer research at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, one of the top five cancer research centres in the world. As one of the top ten single day athletic fundraisers in Canada, funds raised for The Princess Margaret contribute to areas such as immunotherapy, cancer stem cell, and genomics research, amongst many others.
This year’s event featured 150 teams of eight to 12 players each playing five games through the course of the day. This includes Road Hockey’s first ever all female division. Participants were entertained all day long with musical acts, celebrity appearances, interactive activities, kid’s games, food and beverages and interactive games.
Among the players were Newstalk 1010's The Rush co-hosts Ryan Doyle and Jay Michaels.
Top fundraising teams had the opportunity to draft a celebrity onto their team to either play or coach. Among the 50 personalities available to be selected included broadcaster Peter Mansbridge, Stanley Cup Champions Mark Napier and Tomas Kaberle, and Hockey Hall of Fame members Glenn Anderson, Adam Oates, Paul Henderson and Darryl Sittler.
Paul Alofs, President & CEO of The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, expressed his excitement about the event: “The overwhelming success of our 7th annual Scotiabank® Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer is a direct result of this passionate and selfless community of road hockey players, sponsors, donors and volunteers who support our mission to Conquer Cancer in our Lifetime.”
“At Scotiabank, investing in our communities has been a focus for over 185 years,” said John Doig, Chief Marketing Officer at Scotiabank. “We are proud to return as the title sponsor of Scotiabank Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, in support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, for the second year. Hockey matters to Scotiabank because it matters to Canadians and we know that this tournament will raise important funds to fight cancer. We invite everyone out to the Scotiabank Kids Zone, where young people will be able to practice their hockey skills and meet some of their favourite hockey heroes and mascots.”
The top individual fundraiser this year, who also happens to be the Division Head of Gynecologic Oncology at The Princess Margaret, was Dr. Marcus Bernardini who raised $55,607. The top fundraising team was Ovarian Blitzers who raised $110,123 while the Corporate Challenge Cup was won by Hatch Engineering who raised $226,366.
Hatch – once again – has won the Corporate Challenge Cup marking the 6th year in a row they achieved that feat. Hatch has now raised over $1.2M for Scotiabank Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, since 2012.
For more information or to donate to the event, visit teamuptoconquercancer.ca.
with files from The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation