In late November the city of Yorkton will once again play host to another big event, as Yorkton’s Big Brothers Big Sisters program is set to host a charity hockey game between a team of Montreal Canadiens alumni and a team of Yorkton residents with all proceeds going to the Big Brother Big Sisters charity.
Irma Van De Bon-Nicol from Yorkton’s Big Brothers Big Sisters said that the organization felt that bringing the Montreal Canadien Alumni Tour to Yorkton was a good fit for both the charity, as well as the community. “With the Montreal Canadien Alumni Hockey Tour, we thought it was something that would be great for Yorkton,” mentioned Van De Bon-Nicol. “We thought it would be great to have some past NHLers come visit us and it was a great opportunity for our organization to get involved and to raise some funds for some further mentoring in Yorkton and area.”
Van De Bon-Nicol also told Yorkton This Week that the main purpose for the night is to raise funds for the program, but the second biggest reason is to promote Big Brothers Big Sisters to the public and to hopefully recruit more mentors for their program. “The number of children needing a mentor continues to grow here, and we have to be creative when it comes to raising the funds that are needed to support mentoring,” offered Van De Bon-Nicol, continuing, “Also, we thought it was a really good opportunity to let people know that Big Brothers, Big Sisters exists here and if they want to get involved there is always a child waiting to be matched up.”
This is not the first time that Big Brothers Big Sisters have brought former professional athletes to town in order to raise money and awareness. In previous years Van De Bon-Nicol said that the organization would bring in CFL stars like ‘Pinball’ Michael Clemons and that the city has always welcomed their celebrity guests warmly. “In the past we had successfully hosted an even with ‘Pinball’ Michael Clemons, so we decided to go a little bit bigger this year and bring in the Montreal Canadiens because of how successful their events throughout Canada earlier this year have been.”
Players that will be representing the Montreal Canadiens alumni include: forwards Stephane Richer, Jocelyn Lemieux, Chris Nilan, Jesse Belanger, Gilles Thibaudeau and John Chabot, defencemen Rick Green and Gilbert Delorme and goaltenders Richard Sevigny and Steve Penney.
In addition, the Canadiens alumni team will be joined by locals Jeb Malcolm and Craig Mehling and coached by five-time Stanley Cup champion and Hockey Hall of Fame member Guy Lafleur, while the local team will be made up of Yorkton Terrier head coach Trent Cassan, Melville Millionaire head coach Jamie Fiesel, Robby Bear, Jean DeCorby, Tyler Esquivel, Scott Fitzsimmons, Dolan Lemond, Roy Personius, Andrew Sedley, Rob Shopland, Garry Simon, Tony Hallett, Taylor Lang, Kelly Burback, Ben Walchuk, Cody Bowtell, Darren Wilson and Lee Poncelet and coached by Don Chesney and Dylan Ostertag.
The game is scheduled to be played at the Farrell Agencies Arena on Thursday, November 26 at 7:00p.m. with a VIP Party taking place immediately following the completion of the game.
VIP tickets are still available at the cost of 75 dollars and will allow the buyer a spot at the VIP Party and player meet-and-greet. Regular tickets are also still available at 20 dollars each. All tickets are available at the Gallagher Centre.
