When tragedy struck one of their own, the hockey community in Brampton came together.

Last December, Amy St. John, a 12-year-old goaltender for the U15 Brampton Canadettes, was seriously injured when she was struck and dragged by a school bus on her way to school.

Paramedics rushed her to Toronto Sick Kids Hospital, but she was transferred to St. Mike’s Hospital due to the extent of her injuries. Amy suffered a crushing injury to the back of her pelvis and significant nerve damage to her left leg, and needed reconstructive surgery.

When Tina Kelloway, vice-president of the Brampton Canadettes Girls Hockey Association (BCGHA), heard about Amy’s accident, she reached out to Amy’s mom, Joelle, right away to see how the association could support the St. John family.

“I was absolutely heartbroken and just thinking about it still makes me want to cry,” Kelloway says. “I’ve known Amy for years as she came up through our house league divisions and hockey was always a joy for her – she adored playing and she always has a smile on her face when she came to the rink.

“I can’t begin to imagine the trauma Amy was going through and what her family had to go through with her. It was such a horrendous event.”

Amy is the youngest of five children. With the accident, Joelle has been unable to work in order to care for her daughter.

With the significant financial strain to the family, as well as the extent of physiotherapy and care that Amy needed right after the accident and into the future, the Canadettes quickly came together to figure out a way to help.

“Another mom and I started the fundraising page, but asked the league to step in to help build awareness,” says Jill Hartling, the Canadettes team manager. “The girls were shocked and devastated for what happened to Amy and the team just wanted to jump on board and help her.”

Over the Christmas period, the team put together a gift basket with beauty products and arts and craft materials for Amy to help life her spirits.

“Amy was home at the time when we dropped that basket off and it was nice to talk with her and see how she was doing,” says Hartling. “The team rallied around the St. John family and they were always thinking of Amy this season.”

The league previously held a fundraiser in 2018 for another player who needed help after an accident and used that experience to build awareness for Amy and her family. Every spring, the BCGHA holds its annual Easter Tournament, which is one of the largest girls’ hockey tournaments in the world. This year, it included 380 teams.

Through that tournament, the Canadettes held a silent auction with various pieces of sports memorabilia, and shared Amy’s story to create awareness for donations.

“The majority of teams that participated in the tournament provided a donation or silent auction bids,” says Kelloway. “The vast support we and Amy received from the community was nice to see. We raised a lot of money for Amy’s recovery through the silent auction and donations.”

Donations came in from players, teams and anonymous donors across the Greater Toronto Area. Throughout the past few months, the league and the family has felt the power of the hockey community.

“This has shown just how amazing the hockey world is. The hockey community is incredible … how everyone comes together to rally to help others,” Kelloway says. “It is overwhelming how generous teams, players and families have been. You can see through the donations how supportive and encouraging everyone has been towards someone they may have never interacted with before. The generosity everyone has shown is incredible. After the last couple of years with the pandemic, this story shows the positive and caring side of community and that’s refreshing.”

While Amy has shown strength and determination in her recovery, her prognosis is still unknown. Kelloway and the BCGHA are hoping the funds raised will help the family in any way they need it.

In a written statement, Joelle shared how much everything has meant to her and the family: “As a mother going through one the hardest times, I am overwhelmed by the love and support of the Canadettes and how without hesitation, they rallied around my kids and I. When you have a child recovering from this type of accident, everything changes, and your child’s recovery must take priority. I am overwhelmed with gratitude.”

The fundraiser for Amy St. John is still ongoing and will remain open to donations.

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The hockey community is unlike any other. In times of need, hockey families across the country have proved time and time again that they are ready and willing to help their communities.

When record-breaking rainfall hit southwestern British Columbia in November, several local hockey associations came together to support communities that were impacted by devastating flooding and landslides. Here are a few ways these associations and teams worked to help.

Summerland Minor Hockey Association

The Princeton Posse may be a long-time rival of the Summerland Jets, but that rivalry was set aside to put community first after the destructive flooding. When Summerland’s U9 team hosted the Posse, players, parents and staff organized a food drive to send some essential items back with the Posse’s families. Along with the food drive, the team made goody bags for each Princeton player that included packs of Pokemon and hockey cards.

Check out this article on the great work done by the Summerland U9 minor hockey team to help out their rivals from Princeton during these tough times 👏👏 https://t.co/JZ1Fbk323r

— BC Hockey (@BCHockey_Source) November 24, 2021

Greater Vernon Minor Hockey Association

After hosting the Merritt Centennials, the Vernon Junior Vipers’ U11 Development C team invited its opponents for a pizza dinner in a dressing room. Players from the Vipers helped to set up the dressing room before the game, hoping the small gesture would make the Centennials feel supported by other communities in B.C.

There was another act of kindness by the association when the Abbotsford Hawks, who were supposed to travel to Vernon for a tournament, had to cancel their travel plans due to the flooding. According to the GVMHA’s Facebook page, participants and spectators at the tournament worked together to raise $1,000 for the Hawks ahead of the holiday season.

Penticton Vees — British Columbia Hockey League

Following a weekend win in Trail, B.C., the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies travelled to Penticton for what was originally planned to be an overnight stay. However, with the historic storm, the team was stuck and unable to travel home.

With the unexpected extended stay, the Penticton Vees stepped up and gave the Grizzlies a dressing room and ice to practice on while they were in town.

"When the puck drops, we want to beat the other team, but we're partners and we wanted to make sure we made their stay as comfortable as possible," Vees president, head coach and general manager Fred Harbinson told CTV News.

The boys are headed home following a very extended weekend on the road due to highway conditions.

Thank you @cityofpenticton for everything, the citizens, the @PentictonVees, @pentictonresort and all the local area businesses.#Community #Okanagan pic.twitter.com/crTsC6vhd7

— Victoria Grizzlies (@BCHLGrizzlies) November 17, 2021

Squamish Minor Hockey Association

After the Squamish Eagles U13 A2 team had a game against Chilliwack cancelled due to the storm, the players decided to run a food drive instead. The team gathered outside a local grocery store to encourage shoppers to help fill a hockey net with food to support the Fraser Valley flood victims.

With support from the Cloverdale Community Kitchen for distribution, the Eagles raised $530 and gathered several boxes of food for those affected in Chilliwack.

Squamish hockey team supports flood victims in Chilliwack https://t.co/a0IrZRLHhl

— Surrey Now-Leader (@SurreyNowLeader) November 29, 2021

Mission Minor Hockey Association

When the Mission Stars heard about the historic flooding, the association organized a “Fill the Trailer“ event. From non-perishable food items to things like blankets, winter jackets, socks and toiletries, the Stars ran the event for four hours at a community centre all to give back to communities affected by the storms.

Mission hockey trying to Fill The Trailer https://t.co/qYwSiejQ9U

— Mission City Record (@MissionRecord) November 27, 2021

Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Association

The Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey U18 C1 team was preparing for a hockey tournament in Abbotsford when the flooding occurred. When the team saw the devastating impact in Abbotsford, it decided to donate $300 to the Abbotsford Disaster Relief Fund to support Abbotsford hockey families and others affected by the flooding.

We are SUPER proud of our U18 C1 team for presenting a certificate of donation, to the Abbotsford Flood Relief Fund, to their @abbotsfordminor opponents during their last game. We are one #hockeyfamily #rustlerpride #rustlerrespect
You can donate here: https://t.co/OGXpN2TNpF pic.twitter.com/Eu5ZbSJ2zj

— Ridge Meadows Hockey (@RustlersHockey) November 29, 2021

Cloverdale Minor Hockey Association

The Cloverdale Minor Hockey Association had previously planned a 50/50 draw for its U21 team in December. After the destructive storms in November, the association also wanted to use its fundraiser to support the flood relief efforts. Cloverdale announced that 25 per cent of the proceeds from its 50/50 draw would support victims of the flooding.

Our U21 50/50 has gone ONLINE!

Prize will be drawn on Dec 22nd @ 6PM

While our tournaments are important fundraisers for our Association, we also want to help the victims of the recent floods. So - 25% of the proceeds will be donated to flood relief! … https://t.co/0y1PmRjsc3 pic.twitter.com/OT7OJi6GfB

— Cloverdale MHA (@CloverdaleMHA) December 10, 2021

North Delta Minor Hockey Association

The North Delta Minor Hockey Association decided to organize an association-wide bottle drive to support the residents of Merritt, B.C., who were evacuated due to flooding. The idea was created and spearheaded by Tam Manery, who was inspired to run the drive when her son’s tournament in Merritt was cancelled.

Although the weather could have been better during the bottle drive, parents and players helped with picking up and sorting bottles. The association says there was a steady stream of bottles and generous cash donations, which will all go towards a great cause.

^^^ Thanks everyone! pic.twitter.com/5I2FdehEt3

— North Delta Hockey (@ndminorhockey) November 29, 2021

Thank you to these hockey teams, and to everyone who stepped up to help their surrounding communities in a time of need. Your positive impacts in your communities have inspired us all to make a difference.

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Certain colours can hold special meanings and unite communities. For example, when Canadians think of red, we think about the pride of representing the Maple Leaf.

In Regina, Sask., the colour lavender is the talk of the town. That’s because Hockey Regina is running its Lavender Days campaign in association with the Canadian Cancer Society.

“Cancer touches so many, and it’s important to me to have the players remember that there’s bigger stuff than them,” says Joanne Eberle, the media and events manager with Hockey Regina. “The kids really take ownership of it.”

Now in its third year, about 170 teams in Regina participate in the fundraising drive to support Hockey Fights Cancer through November and December. Lavender tape is put on sticks, decals are placed on helmets and the two AAA teams in town wear lavender jerseys that are later auctioned off for the campaign. From Timbits U7 to U18, the players on each team decide how they want to raise money and give back to their community.

“They were pieing their coach, they were doing candy guess jars, they were doing all kinds of stuff,” Eberle says. “We have some teams that will shovel snow, they’ll donate their allowance, or they’ll do a read-a-thon or a walk-a-thon or exercise in some way. We really left it open to all the teams.”

Eight-year-old Aliya Hartney had her own creative idea to help raise money for Lavender Days.

“I did a video and I talked about cancer and why we help people because you want to help people to not lose their loved ones from cancer,” she says.

That sentiment hits close to home for Hartney as her grandmother died from brain cancer when her mother was only four years old. Her video helped to raise $1,505 for Lavender Days.

“I like helping people,” she says. “The more money we raise, the closer we can get to find a cure for cancer.”

The campaign takes on a deeper meaning when people in the hockey community have personal connections to cancer. Following the conclusion of a previous Lavender Days campaign, a player received a cancer diagnosis. Their team responded by bringing back lavender tape for their sticks to show support.

“It’s something that doesn’t just stick with them for the two months that we do it,” Eberle says. “It’s something that they carry through the whole season.”

For the special AAA Lavender Games, each home team chose someone associated with the team that had a cancer story for a ceremonial puck drop. The Regina Pat Canadians chose a 12-year-old hockey player who was battling cancer. The Regina Rebels chose their trainer’s two-year-old nephew, who was also fighting cancer.

“If there was a dry eye in that house, I’d be surprised,” Eberle says. “It was such a big impact, having this little guy come out there and drop the puck and knowing why he was there.”

Daren Haygarth has been a hockey coach for close to 20 years. The support for Lavender Days in his community has had a profound effect on him based on his family’s connection to cancer.

“My sister-in-law has gone through nine surgeries related to a breast cancer diagnosis and gone through chemo,” he says. “When my son tapes up his sticks and writes her name on them, all of those things tug at my heartstrings a lot.”

Last May, Haygarth began his own personal cancer journey. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful surgery in July 2020. Haygarth initially kept his diagnosis private, but over time he began to tell his friends in the hockey community.

“Of course, my family was super supportive, but you start to realize how supportive the hockey world is,” he says. “The support was just overwhelming.”

Haygarth is now cancer free, but the support he received from his community after his experience reinforced how many positives come from a fundraising campaign like Lavender Days.

“There’s no such thing as a tough time where other people won’t be there to help you through it. I think that’s what I’ve really come to appreciate about Lavender Days and the fundraising efforts that go with it. It’s just raising that kind of awareness that things are bigger than ourselves.”

His U13 AA team, the Regina Royals, is running 50/50 draws this month to support Lavender Days.

“I wasn’t surprised [when] one of our parents won the 50/50 and they just donated it all back,” he says. “Our goal is to raise over $1,000 this month, and we’re way beyond probably going to meet that goal.”

Huge congrats to our players on becoming the recipients of a philanthropic award in the Outstanding Youth Philanthropist category!
This is for their amazing contributions to Hockey Fights Cancer
Thanks Katelyn for accepting on behalf of our players.#hockeyreginafightscancer https://t.co/QVg8VUUudP

— Hockey Regina (@HockeyRegina) November 5, 2021

Although Hockey Regina couldn’t do as much fundraising last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has managed to raise over $26,000 in the past two years. Earlier this month, Hockey Regina’s youth players were the recipients of a philanthropic award for Outstanding Youth Philanthropist for their efforts with Lavender Days.

“That’s really exciting for them,” Eberle says. “It’s a youth award, so it doesn’t have anything to do with the adults… it’s about the players and what they’ve done as a whole.

“This is a great way to show kids that your little efforts can turn into something big.”

The goal this year is to raise over $20,000 for Hockey Fights Cancer. Haygarth credits Eberle for leading the creation of positive social interaction between teams while raising money for a good cause.

“It takes somebody within the organization to spearhead these things and create that culture shift,” he says. “I think Joanne’s been a big catalyst here in Regina towards thinking a little differently about hockey and what being a hockey player means.”

For Eberle, the fact the entire community is rallying around a unified cause while decked out in lavender warms her heart.

“Being able to do this as a minor hockey association as a whole is really exciting,” she says. “It unites everybody. Hockey is competitive, but they [put] that aside and turn into one big team. I absolutely love that.”

Sometimes, decisions are made in life that are meant to be. Just like how the little voice in trainer Haley Patyna’s head told her not to forget her medical bag as she went to Cardel Rec South in Calgary on Oct. 7.

Or how trainers Shyin Dixon and Blair Olsen weren’t originally supposed to be at the rink that night, but they joined Patyna to assist her U21 team with baseline concussion testing.

“Looking back, it was kind of wild because it was supposed to be just me,” says Patyna, 24. “But luckily, it was all three of us.”

Ultimately those two decisions are a part of the reason why a life was saved that evening.

As the clock ticked past 10 p.m., only Patyna’s U21 team and a 55-plus recreational league remained at the rink. With their testing complete, the Calgary Buffalo Hockey Association trainers were socializing and catching up in the hallway.

“These two guys came out of the rink where [the recreational league was playing], and they said that they needed an AED [automated external defibrillator],” says Olsen, 23. “They said they had a guy on the ice that was having a heart attack.”

The three trainers sprung into action. Olsen went to grab the AED located at the arena while Patyna grabbed her medical bag. Patyna and Dixon were first on the ice to assist the player.

“He was very obviously in medical distress, really struggling to breathe,” says Dixon, 24.

With the AED in hand, Olsen joined her fellow trainers on the ice, and they began to set up the defibrillator on the player. Dixon began CPR when they noticed the man had stopped breathing and they couldn’t find a pulse.

The trainers’ interventions with the AED worked, and within a few minutes the man was fully conscious and speaking again.

“It wasn’t long at all, granted when we were out there it felt like eternity,” Patyna says. “It was maybe five minutes before he was fully aware, he knew where he was and he knew what had happened.”

As a part of their preparedness for every game, trainers have an action plan to assign who will do what role in an emergency. But the three trainers were not the only ones who played a key role in this situation. The recreational league team on the ice was actively helping in any way it could, from taking off the player’s equipment, calling 911 and providing towels and blankets.

“Even before the paramedics showed up, the team was donating all of their jerseys to help keep him warm on the ice,” Dixon says. “The team was a fantastic help during that, they were there for anything that we needed.”

“I hope those guys give themselves credit for it, too,” Olsen says. “They were quick to give us credit for it, but their effort was just as important.”

Team work makes a dream work or saves a life! All in a days work.
So proud of these CBHA trainers. pic.twitter.com/N1T8QCOjUY

— Pam Vega (@PamBradRuby) October 9, 2021

As the paramedics arrived and loaded the player onto the stretcher, he was chatting and joking with his teammates.

“It was definitely a relief to see him going off to the hospital in high spirits and in a good mood,” Patyna says.

Since the night of the emergency, the community reaction Dixon, Patyna and Olsen have experienced for saving a man’s life has been surreal.

“I did not expect it to blow up as much as it did,” Olsen says. “When we left the rink, we just were happy that it had a happy outcome.”

“To all of us, we just did what we were trained to do,” Patyna adds. “We don’t do it to expect a reward out of it. We do it because we love it.”

The incident has also re-confirmed the importance of having AEDs located in public areas.

“They’re very straightforward to use. They come with very detailed instructions,” Dixon says. “Even if it saves one life, it’s 100 per cent worth it every single time.”

“My dad was talking about getting one installed in their office after the whole situation,” Olsen adds.

This past weekend, the player returned to the rink to look for the trainers who saved his life. Olsen and Patyna were there, and they got to speak with him and his family in person to see how he was doing since the emergency.

“That was really nice,” Olsen says. “It was good to see him in as good of a condition as he’s in now.”

Looking back, two things stand out to the trainers: how important it is to always be prepared and how powerful a community response can be in emergencies.

“That was really a team effort that night from everyone,” Olsen says. “If I were to ever go through this again, I would just remember that the people around me are my team, use them.”

“I was amazed at the sense of community that night,” Dixon adds. “It’s insane how people just come together to help one person.”

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As defensive partners growing up, Piper Hays and Hayley Palmer have great chemistry on the ice. That chemistry jumped to a new level when the two 18-year-olds began their coaching journeys five years ago.

After becoming friends as teammates, they decided to become on-ice assistants with the Vancouver Female Ice Hockey Association (VFIHA) when they were just 13. Since then, they have continuously played on the ice together and coached younger girls with the Vancouver Angels.

“I always liked working with children,” Palmer says. “I just thought it would be nice to have younger coaches and female coaches, especially for a group of young girls.”

“It’s just nice to give back,” Hays says. “I think [the girls] get an extra kick out of seeing someone who’s older and still playing doing the same thing that they’re doing. They get to kind of see what they can achieve.”

Both Hays and Palmer had few women as coaches in their hockey careers until they reached the Vancouver Angels U18 team. Although they had positive experiences with men coaching them growing up, they found having a woman behind the bench fostered an even stronger relationship.

“The dynamic is just very different. It’s a lot more comfortable, a lot more open,” Hays explains. “I think it’s easier to take criticisms from people who understand where you’ve come from.”

The growth of women in coaching roles is an important mandate for the VFIHA. When James Nedila became president of the association in 2014, he says there were very few women coaching.

“They were like unicorns, we just couldn’t find them,” Nedila says. “It was a big gap in our coaching where we are a female hockey association but the vast majority of [our coaches] were male.”

The association launched several initiatives to increase the number of women coaching, including mentorships and support for unexperienced coaches and encouraging graduating players to return to the game to coach. Their efforts paid off, and Nedila says people now routinely reach out their association to coach and volunteer.

The hockey community has also flourished with more women actively involved in hockey.

“The culture that we built in this association has definitely improved because of representation,” Nedila says. “It feels like a more inclusive place, it feels like a place where people can help out and see the impact of their efforts immediately.”

After two years as on-ice assistants, Hays and Palmer took a coaching course to become assistant coaches. Although they were the youngest and only girls in the room back then, they have both noticed an influx of women getting involved in hockey as coaches and volunteers.

“I think it’s just very important that more and more girls play, more and more people coach, because there’s so many people that you want to have represented,” Palmer says.

“The way things are going, it’s been pretty exponential growth,” Hays says. “I’m hoping for at least 50% female coaches [in hockey in the future], which I know seems like a pretty big, drastic number. But there’s a lot of untapped potential right now, and I think once we get this steam train going, I don’t think it’s going to stop for a while.”

The increase of women has also had a large impact on the young players, too.

“I have had girls tell me they want to coach when they’re older,” Palmer says. “It’s great because I think they definitely see it as more of a possibility when they see like me or Piper versus if they see like their dads or their parents coaching.”

The feedback from parents about Hays’ and Palmer’s coaching has been overwhelming positive from parents.

“Their attitude is infectious. It has an effect on everybody around them,” Nedila says. “It’s good to see that feedback reflected back at them to say you know what, you guys are really doing a great job.”

A new chapter in their coaching journeys began this fall with Hays and Palmer beginning university. Hays left Vancouver to attend the University of Toronto, but she already has started building connections in Ontario to continue coaching.

“It’s an interesting transition,” she says. “I think bringing that sort of experience into a new team is going to be pretty important just because I want to provide that sort of energy and stability that I had with my previous team. I know that a lot of places still don’t have that many female coaches, so I’m hoping I can be someone that [the players] can come to if they ever need anyone.”

With Palmer attending the University of British Columbia, she has continued coaching and playing with the Vancouver Angels, although this will be the first season without Hays by her side. She says several of the players she coached were overcome with joy when they saw her back at the rink to start the season.

“It really makes me feel like what I’m doing does affect other people and it does affect the girls that I’m helping,” Palmer says. “Having them remember me and having positive memories about me is really, really nice.”

The distance may have changed, but the friendship between Hays and Palmer remains just as close. Despite being in different provinces now, coaching is a special connection they will share for life.

“The entire time I’ve been coaching, my best friend and ‘D’ partner has been there the whole time,” Hays says. “And to be honest, without her I never would have gotten here.”

“We got to have the coaching bond, we got to have the hockey bond, the defence partner bond,” Palmer says. “I think coaching together really made our friendship even stronger.”

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Our game is back and so is the Hockey Canada Community program, presented by Scotiabank!

­Millions of Canadians in every corner of our country help make hockey more, and all of them have a story. The mentorship of a coach, the tireless efforts of a volunteer, the inspirational story of a teammate, the communities that have rallied together to support our game – we want to tell those stories!

The Hockey Canada Community launched in September 2020, with Hockey Canada and Scotiabank celebrating those who helped to change the narrative of hockey during a challenging and unprecedented season.

“The Hockey Canada Community, presented by Scotiabank, has done an incredible job of celebrating all the amazing individuals and communities that are helping make our game special from coast to coast to coast,” said Tom Renney, chief executive officer of Hockey Canada. “Hockey doesn’t happen if not for the people that dedicate their time and effort to making the game better, which is why Hockey Canada and Scotiabank are excited for another season to reward the individuals and highlight the work done to create positive hockey experiences in their communities.”

The program is made up of two foundational components – Community and Champion.

Community tells stories of giving back to or helping grow the game. It could be a hockey team coming together to lead a food bank drive, or one of our 13 Members creating opportunities for inclusivity – Community shines a light on teams, events or programs making a difference.

For more than a decade, @HockeyNS and its Black Youth Ice Hockey Program have been giving young players a unique opportunity to learn Canada’s game.@scotiahockey | #makehockeymore | #blackhistorymonth pic.twitter.com/qjN6bE4xU5

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) February 18, 2021

Do you have an idea for a Community story? Let us know at [email protected].

A Hockey Canada Champion can be a player, coach, official, parent, guardian, volunteer or any individual who has a passion for the game and has dedicated their time to bettering the hockey community, with a Member or their local hockey association.

They are someone who makes hockey more by:

• Leading by example, creating a safe, fun, inclusive environment and always providing a best-in-class experience.
• Continually giving back to the game by being MORE than a coach, MORE than a player, MORE than an official, or MORE than a volunteer or fan.
• Making a tangible and positive impact on the game of hockey and their community.
• Helping to positively change the narrative of hockey in Canada.
• Leaving a legacy or making change in their community.

A Hockey Canada Champion is nominated through the public or by a Hockey Canada Member using the online nomination form. One Champion is selected for each month of the hockey season from September to June, and receives a Hockey Canada jersey and Scotiabank prize pack, as well as a video feature produced about their involvement in the game.

Meet our newest Champion... Chantel Timmons!

The president of Bow Island Minor Hockey and a proud hockey mom, Chantel has given 20,000+ volunteer hours over the last 13 years to making sure the game thrives in her community.@scotiahockey | #makehockeymore | @HockeyAlberta pic.twitter.com/fUIISPEeFA

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) October 28, 2020

Let’s continue to celebrate and honour Canadians who make our game great by sharing a Community story or nominating a Hockey Canada Champion at HockeyCanada.ca/Community.

For more information on the Hockey Canada Community, presented by Scotiabank, please visit HockeyCanada.ca/Community, or follow along via social media onInstagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Hockey and community have always gone hand-in-hand for Wacey Rabbit. He remembers getting to the rink for one of his first practices was a family effort.

“My mom didn’t know how to put on my equipment, and I had a 6 a.m. practice, so we had to drive 20 minutes to my grandparents’ place,” Rabbit laughs. “So, I’m sitting there watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating my cereal while my grandparents are showing my mom how to put my equipment on.”

Those memories full of family and friends are the foundation on which Rabbit’s love for the game was built. The 34-year-old just finished his 15th season as a professional, the last three-and-a-half with the Jacksonville Icemen in the ECHL. But his experiences within the game didn’t always match his positive outlook. Rabbit remembers the first time he was exposed to racist and derogatory comments at the rink as a 10-year-old playing in his first major tournament away from the Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta.

“I remember talking to my parents and grandparents about it and my grandma said, ‘It’s not a reflection on you, it’s a reflection on them for what they’re saying. You be proud of who you are, and you be proud of where I come from.’ And I’ve taken those words with me everywhere I go,” Rabbit says.

“I’m a very proud First Nations man. I come from the Blood Tribe, I’m Blackfoot. For me to say those things and recognize those things, I hope that the next generation is proud that they can chase their dreams whether it’s on reserve or off reserve, whether it’s in academics, sports, whatever it is, whatever their passion is, that they believe in themselves to go and chase that.”

Rabbit is trying to support at least some of the dreams of Indigenous youth, by creating the WR20 Power Skill Hockey Camp and touring it around Alberta. (He has plans to take his camps to First Nations throughout the country when it is safe to do so.)

When the Provincial Women’s Hockey League season shut down in mid-December, Steve Dempsey, head coach of the Central York Junior Panthers, needed ways to keep his players engaged.

He started with Zoom workouts. Wanting another weekly meeting, he began inviting guest speakers, such as U SPORTS coaches, onto the calls. He connected with other PWHL coaches to compare notes. That’s how he learned Melody Davidson had been doing sessions with teams across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic changed everyone’s schedules.

Davidson is a summer-sport advisor with Own the Podium, but spent most of the previous 26 years in various roles – including head coach, general manager and scout – with Canada’s National Women’s Team. On a Zoom call at the end of March, she spoke to the Panthers about training, team culture and bringing out the best in your teammates.

At the end, she mentioned how she declined Dempsey’s offer to be paid; instead, she asked the players to pay it forward in their community.

When Dempsey followed up with his players a few weeks later, he learned of their good deeds, including:

• donating no-longer-needed clothes and hockey equipment;
• picking up garbage at parks and on hiking trails;
• running errands for older family members, and for neighbours who tested positive for COVID-19;
• volunteering for groups dedicated to empowering young girls;
• helping neighbours clean their property;
• being a mentor to younger women’s hockey players; and
• going on walks with a blind gentleman whose guide dog recently passed away.

Having been a caregiver to both his parents, Dempsey was touched by his players’ efforts to help others. In reality, he never needed to check up on them. His players were giving back all along.

For Dempsey, it brought to mind John Wooden, the legendary coach who led the UCLA men’s basketball team to 10 national championships but never judged his success in titles.

“[Wooden believed] when all the accolades are gone, the reporters aren't around and the TV cameras aren't on them, that's when you see the true character of people,” says Dempsey. “So to see that my players were doing these things without any fanfare before Mel even asked, I thought it was really special.”

“We want to not only give back to the community but also inspire others to give back and be role models,” says Alexa Giantsopoulos, a Panthers forward. Giantsopoulos had already helped with She Shoots, She Saves, a Central York Girls Hockey Association (CYGHA) campaign to raise funds to buy automated external defibrillators, and made skills videos for younger players. In July, she’ll run a safety campaign for her local fire and emergency services, and next season she’ll be a volunteer coach for the U11 Panthers team.

“Coach Steve always says that he wants good people who happen to play hockey,” she says. “I think he nailed it with this group. There’s tremendous character. We want to leave our mark with the Central York Panthers. We want to inspire others to go above and beyond. It’s important to us to help people and do things that aren't asked of us so that we can be role models for younger players.”

Dempsey started a book club with his leadership team, with Legacy, about the New Zealand All Blacks, being the focus. “We talked about what we could use from it to build a better team culture and a better hockey experience, and to be able to bring out good life skills. We're trying to use sport as a vehicle for them to be stronger female voices in the community and to be leaders.”

In March, the Junior Panthers were a driving force in She Shoots, She Saves, creating skills videos and trick shot videos to generate excitement for the fundraiser.

Earlier this year, Dempsey, who is also the coach mentor for CYGHA, heard how younger players were having a tough time mentally because social-distancing restrictions prevented them from hanging out with their friends. “My players came up with an idea on their own to make these kids feel connected among one another.” They created a weekly video skills series. The videos also encourage players to challenge each other with trick shots. “It was something our players took on not necessarily to make them better hockey players, but just to make them better with their mental health.”

The Panthers will continue to give back. It’s the legacy they want to write for themselves.

“We want the kids that come through this program to always be a positive impact on the community,” says Dempsey. “As much as the pandemic has been a tough situation for everybody, we’ve had more time to give back. It’s allowed us to entrench that pay-it-forward mentality into our culture that hopefully will continue forever.”

The hockey community is known for its propensity to rise to the occasion, to pull up its proverbial socks and do what needs to be done. From players, to parents, to volunteers, to fans … the notion of giving back and getting involved is engrained in the game.

“It’s super important for us [to be involved] because we try to instill good morals for our son, Liam,” says hockey dad Justen McGillis of Angus, Ont. “To get him to understand at an early age that helping others and doing nice things and getting out there and being active in the community is a good thing,”

Now, Justen and Liam are not just pulling up their socks but leveraging the hockey community to collect socks in the name of giving back to the homeless.

Liam, 6, alongside his friend Fynn, 7, led an initiative in November to collect as many pairs of socks as they could. They procured a local sports shop to collect at and were able to solicit donations. They lost count, but guess they collected between 750 and 1,000 socks, enough for six very full garbage bags to donate to Toques from the Heart.

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The notion of warming hearts and heads was started by Toques from the Heart founders, Matthew Milne, Casey Rogan and Matt Carter, three McMaster University students who make toques from old hockey socks. For each one purchased, one is given to someone experiencing homelessness.

On the same day Liam and Fynn collected their donated socks in late November, they took to the streets in Hamilton to distribute 170 of the hockey-sock toques to the homeless. Justen McGillis was proud of the look in Liam’s eyes when he handed a toque to someone in need, understanding the impact of his involvement. “Our hopes were that in the future he can look back and realize the impact of what he’s doing. I’m not sure he fully grasps it right now.”

McGillis first connected with Toques from the Heart on Instagram and was instantly attracted to what it stood for and how he and his young son could get involved.

The ever-Canadian idea of a toque made from a hockey sock came about as one may expect. “I was just messing around after practice one day and I put a sock on my head. My mom, who is an avid sewer, said ‘Oh, I’ll turn that into a toque for you.’ I wore it around, wore it to school and that idea stuck with me,” says Milne.

He talked about wracking his brain for a greater purpose for the homemade headwear. So he brought it up to Rogan. “We talked about [doing] something to help gain experience and also help people in the same process,” Rogan says.

Community support and sustainability are driving the operation for the trio. “[Socks] sit in your basement until eventually your parents throw them in the trash, and we’ve been able to take those and not only repurpose them into something new, but then support someone in need,” says Carter, “so the community is our biggest factor, and continuing to buy toques and donate socks and basically get the word out is how we’re going to be able to help as many people as possible.”

In order to get the word out, the group has leaned into influencer campaigns with a grassroots approach, sending promotional toques to Instagram accounts of minor hockey players shooting pucks in their basement or their backyard.

Parents jumping on board as a huge driver of the initiative didn’t come as a surprise to Rogan. He says that growing up, he “saw the community aspect of it, going out to practices in the morning, all the parents being connected like my dad; he was a coach on a team, so he was very involved.”

McGillis knows there’s no other driver, no other community, that has the same impact as hockey. “It’s got that family atmosphere right, my son’s six, going on seven, and I was the head coach for his Timbits team, so what I get from hockey from day one is just the family, friends – we actually have really good friends that we kept in contact with from the original team. It’s just the family atmosphere and how everybody rallies together when someone’s in need. For us, it’s just has a really warm, family feeling to it, which is what draws us to hockey.”

The McGillises have also since recruited two-time Olympic gold medallist Haley Irwin to get on board with the cause. Liam sold Irwin a couple toques after they shared the ice one day.

Irwin knows that when minor hockey players get involved in their community, the impact they can have is significant not only on themselves as they grow, but on the causes they collectively stand behind.

“They have ability to unite their community by bringing people together to give back, raise awareness, spread joy, and be leaders,” she says. “The impact is positive and can last for years to come!”

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Carter played hockey since before he could walk, he says, but developing the toques has “reintroduced the entire hockey community to me again but in a different light now; I’m working with the kids that are between the ages of eight and 15 where I used to play.”

Milne echoes those sentiments: “Hockey is honestly my favourite sport, such a positive community-building experience and just so much fun to play.”

Next steps for Toques from the Heart is expanding Canada-wide.

As for the McGillises? “We’re going to continue collecting socks over the year for next season, our hopes is to every year give them a hand prior to Christmas with donations and selling toques,” Justen says. “Getting the word out to help people realize what it is because it’s truly a great cause.”

Tip of the toque to you, Liam. Using these unique times away from the rink to rally around the greater good of the community. Leadership, selflessness, and empathy are the makings of a great teammate.

For more information on Toques from the Heart, visit toquesfromtheheart.ca .