Seeing pink in the rink
Grand Oaks Ice Arena in Howell will be packed with pink again this fall. On Oct. 6, the Howell JV team will take on Brighton Prep in a “Pack the Rink with Pink” game to raise money for St. Joe’s Cancer Center Patient Supportive Care. Along with the game, there will be a 50/50 raffle, bake sale, and a silent auction to help the two teams in their one goal. The game begins at 3:30 p.m.
MiHockey attended the fundraising game last year; the article posted on Oct. 7, 2011 is below.
By Michael Caples –
“I want to be a hockey mom.”
It was quite the reaction from 28-year-old Krista Kolodge, who was experiencing her first hockey game — especially considering it was only a Bantam A game between the Livingston Lightning and Lakeland Hawks.
However, for Kolodge and the hundreds of other people at Grand Oaks Ice Arena in Howell for the Oct. 1 game, it meant a whole lot more.
The Livingston Lightning ’98s hosted their second annual ‘Shoot for the Cure’ game — starting off Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a game that doubled as a fundraising event. Kolodge, diagnosed with breast cancer in May and recently completing chemotherapy, was invited to conduct a ceremonial puck drop alongside 9-year-old Rory Shadduck, a two-time cancer survivor. The Lightning players donned pink jerseys with names on their backs of loved ones who have battled cancer. Both teams also wore ribbons safety-pinned to their jerseys for more friends and families that have experienced the disease.
A silent auction, bake sale, and 50/50 raffle also took place during the two-hour event, which ultimately led to the Lightning collecting over $3,000 to help St. Joseph Mercy Health System and assist cancer patients with utility bills, gas, groceries, prescriptions and day-to-day living expenses.
Event organizer Sandra Mitter, a cancer survivor and wife of Lightning head coach Tom Mitter Sr., told Michigan Hockey before the event that her team had held fundraisers to support their own costs, but that the players and families decided it was time to help others instead.
“It was a perfect day,” said Sandra Mitter, organizer of the event and wife of Lightning head coach David Mitter Sr. “We are extremely grateful for the success of the event, especially in these difficult economic times. Everyone was so willing to give, as well as participate. The out-pour of support took my breath away. Our players had the opportunity to learn, grow, and be proud of their accomplishments as well as pay it forward.”
For Jim Shadduck, it was another opportunity to see his son Rory have some fun.
“My son Rory was honored to be a part of a puck-dropping ceremony,” Shadduck said. “He’s a 9-year-old two-time cancer survivor of Hodgskins Lymphoma, in remission now for six months, seven months just about, we’re just very blessed to be where we are today.
“It’s just a great feeling when he gets this type of an invitation. Anything to put a smile on a child’s face is a great thing.”
The Lightning’s head coach said that hockey has been something that helped his own family through battles with cancer, and that it is only fitting to use hockey to raise money at their local rink.
Hockey is huge with that … hockey is a family,” David Mitter Sr. said. “We spend a lot of time at the rink together. Every kid in there has somebody battling cancer. We had a 9-year-old do a puck drop with a 28-year-old single mom just through radiation, so it brings awareness to the kids of really what cancer is about.”
Mitter Sr. said he was proud of how his team has embraced the fundraiser.
“It’s good to see, because they’re realizing how much … one kid had 14 ribbons on the back of his jersey, for friends and family. It shows the impact of it. I told them, I’d love to have a team where nobody could come with a name or a ribbon, but every kid had one.”