Scoring against cancer

Teaming up for breast cancer fund raiser

MORRISBURG –  Damon Jarvis, 14, expected a little good natured ribbing when he came out to practice with his South Dundas Bantam B House league team a few months ago with pink tape wrapped around his hockey stick.

What he got instead was a very successful team fund raiser, Saturday, January 30, at the Morrisburg Arena, which raised $1,057 to help in the on-going fight against breast cancer.

“When we originally asked Damon about the pink tape,” said team co-manager Steve Martineau, “he told us that a close member of his family was battling breast cancer, and taping his hockey stick pink was his way of showing her his support.”

The more Damon’s team mates,  his coaches Leo Lafortune and Tom Hodgson and team managers Martineau and Cindy Brown thought about it, the more it “seemed to be a great idea to do something for Damon’s cause.”

Planning for a special event around the South Dundas Bantams’ January 30 exhibition  hockey game against the Orleans Fury Bantam A house team  began. Soon the whole project “took on a life of its own,” said Cindy Brown. “We started to get support everywhere.”

When the Morrisburg team told  manager Jim Keekie and coach Rene Rushford of the Orleans Fury team what the South Dundas players were planning, they immediately threw their team’s support behind the cause.

“We were all ready to get behind this effort,” said Tyler MacDonald, captain of the Fury, just before the exhibition game.

Team parents put together a bake sale for the game with delicious treats also coming from several ladies at The Hartford. The Orleans players donated items for the silent auction held at the arena, as did a number of local individuals and businesses. Door prizes and a 50/50 draw were organized.

“We got 110 per cent support from everyone,” Cindy Brown said.

However, it was the young players for both South Dundas and Orleans, who took a  visible,  symbolic stand against breast cancer.

Every player wore a pink breast cancer ribbon on the back of his helmet, and on the back of his skates. Many players taped their hockey sticks pink, and several had large breast cancer ribbons fastened to their hockey pants.

Even South Dundas coach Leo Lafortune arrived for the game looking “very posh for the cause”   sporting a suit, a pink tie and a big fur coat.

“The amount of money we raised was literally double what we had hoped for,” Martineau said. “All our baked goods sold out, the auction went very well, and the winner of our 50/50 draw donated some of his winnings back to the cause.”

The Saturday exhibition game was an exciting one, with a final score of 4-3 in favour of South Dundas.

The $1,057 raised was presented to Winchester District Memorial Hospital to help defray the costs of the hospital’s new mammography equipment.