Hockey tournament raises $425K for Stollery Children's Hospital
More than 1,500 players and 82 hockey teams spent the long weekend competing in the 11th annual Stollery Family Day Classic.
While kids wanted the chance to hoist the Stollery Cup, they were also skating for a good cause.
Steve Serdachny, the tournament founder and chairperson of the event, said $425,000 was raised this year.
Before this weekend’s event, more than $3.2 million had been raised since the tournament’s inception, pushing them past the $3.6 million mark as of Monday.
“Kids have done an amazing job, and families have done an amazing job to support them to do this,” Serdachny said.
This year’s top earner was 13-year-old Riley Landsperg, raising more than $26,000 for the Stollery.
“I have a lot of help from my parents, knock on doors, you know just a lot of motivation knowing all those families need help,” he said.
The second top earner was 11-year-old Maxx George. His family has a personal connection to the Stollery.
“Our two sisters when they were younger got diseases and sadly passed away,” he explained to CTV News Edmonton. “So we always do the Stollery fundraisers and stuff and raise money for them.”
Maxx’s mom, Kim Geroge, said the Stollery provided their family with much-needed support while they were going through an incredibly painful time in their lives, and on two separate occasions as Maxx previously noted.
“Years later, we had another daughter who passed as well. She actually never made it into the Stollery, but the Stollery still reached out to us, nurses, doctors, just all different departments to see if they could help in any way possible and that was six years later.”
Maxx was able to raise $9,000 and credits those closest to him for being able to give back to the children’s hospital.
“It makes me feel lucky that all these family and friends donate to us,” he smiled.
“They’re so advanced, and any support we can do to keep that going and hopefully help all our children in the future,” Kim added.
“I don’t want to end up back there, but if we do for any reason I would certainly want the best care possible.”
More than 1,500 hockey players and 82 teams competed in the Stollery Family Day Classic over the long weekend.
While the classic is about celebrating health, according to Serdachny it’s also about teaching the kids to “think about others through the game of hockey.”
Adding that getting the kids to fundraise for the Stollery helps build their empathy and raise awareness of the important work the children's hospital does.
“Kind of directing them towards healthy living,” he said. “But also understanding that a lot of kids aren’t lucky enough to play hockey and other sports and activities."
“It’s incredible,” Kim added. “Like with Maxx’s team, you start a team at the beginning of the year with strangers and now everyone is just family, and you’re all supporting each other, raising money.”
“Everyone here is here for the same reason.”
For more information on the Family Day Classic or to apply to participate next year, click here.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Joe Scarpelli
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.