BLOG UPDATE #12
Monday, November 23rd (12:00pm ET)
Day Ten – Tour makes final stop in Toronto, Canada…
On Sunday, Matt, Rob, and I (and Jonathan) had a lovely 4:00am wake-up call to catch a 6:30 flight home. Due to the fact that our travel schedule was insane, the early wake-up time didn’t faze us at all. (We are all asking for sleep for Christmas!) Anyway, we arrived safely in Toronto and were thrilled to finally see our wives and children. After traveling the world and seeing so many children, it really makes you miss your own kids and appreciate them even more than we already did.
While we spent the day getting caught up with our families, a large contingent of the NHLPA staff was preparing for the culminating celebration of the tour and the 10th anniversary of G & D at the Hockey Hall of Fame. The NHLPA staff takes pride in everything we do and it showed in the way the event was run. When the guests arrived at the Hall, they were treated to videos of children playing hockey, all thanks to equipment donations from the players. Hundreds of photos of smiling, happy children were scattered throughout the Hall. Every smile is a success story. Every kid should be able to play hockey and we are thrilled to be involved with a program that has helped so many kids in such a big way.
NHLPA staff, corporate sponsors, friends and family, and of course NHLPA Members were in attendance for the grand finale event. In addition, we were thrilled to have four players from the Bosnian program travel back to Toronto to join us at the celebration. Former NHLer and current broadcaster with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, Kevin Weekes served as master of ceremonies for the event and he did a stellar job. Weekes, who is from Toronto, has been heavily involved in charity work and has worked in conjunction with the NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund on several occasions. When I thanked him for taking the time to help us out, he quickly said, “No, thank you, this is an honour and I will always be there for Goals & Dreams and future hockey players...call me anytime.” What a class act.
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| Map courtesy of Google Maps |
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Day 1: November 13, Ornskoldsvik, Sweden Day 2: November 14, Helsinki, Finland Day 3: November 15, Moscow, Russia Day 4: November 16, Riga, Latvia Day 5: November 17, Prague, Czech Republic Day 6: November 18, Trnava, Slovakia Day 7: November 19, Sarajevo, Bosnia Day 8: November 20, Frankfurt, Germany Day 9: November 21, New York, U.S.A. Day 10: November 22, Toronto, Canada |
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The NHLPA Goals & Dreams fund, which is funded entirely by NHLPA Members, is the largest grassroots hockey program in the world The program was launched on November 19, 1999 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto Since its inception, NHLPA Goals & Dreams has donated more than $17 million to hundreds of grassroots hockey programs NHLPA Goals & Dreams has donated hockey equipment to programs in 22 countries including South Africa, Australia, Romania, India, Malaysia More than 40,000 children have benefited from the hockey equipment donations through Goals & Dreams More than 350 NHL players have been personally involved in NHLPA Goals & Dreams donations either in their hometown or playing cities |
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November 19, 2009 November 18, 2009 |
NHLPA.com November 13, 2009 November 13, 2009 |
NHLPA.com October 10, 2009 |