Forty-four firefighters from Kingsville and Lakeshore donned their jerseys and laced up their skates for a charity hockey game on Family Day at the Kingsville Arena.
The brainchild of Kingsville firefighter Aaron Dvernychuk, a goal of $10,000 was set for the event with all proceeds benefiting Erie Shores HealthCare. Dvernychuk had organized events like this before in his time out west and wanted to bring the same sense of philanthropy to the local area.
Erie Shores Health Foundation CEO Penny Bellhouse was on hand at the game and was thankful for the support from the firefighters and the community at large.
“Aaron reached out to us in December with a fantastic idea,” said Bellhouse. “We are thrilled that they’re holding this event to help out Erie Shores HealthCare.”
She added, “We have a million dollars of ‘must have’ upgrades this year. The game’s proceeds will help with our lab updates and our stations on wheels.”
The stands were full for the game, which began with the national anthem from local musician Phil Charrette, followed by a ceremonial puck drop, and saw Kingsville resident Les McDonald entertain the crowd as the Master of Ceremonies and with his trivia for the kids.
Dvernychuk wanted to make sure to give a shout-out to Ground Effects for their generous donation of $2,000, OG Pizza for donating the sharp looking jerseys for the players, and the many local businesses that donated prizes for the raffle table.
Kingsville goalie Brad Roughton was rock solid in net and is seen here about to pounce on a loose puck.
SUN photo by Paul Forman
Master of Ceremonies Les McDonald and Sparky made their way around the arena in search of youngsters to quiz.
SUN photo by Paul Forman
