Eric Godard will be among other NHL pros, semi-pros, college, and top junior prospects for the seventh annual Pr0-Am Scholarship charity game. It will be held today at the Sunwave Center - faceoff at 7:00 PM.
Partial proceeds will support the Canadian Cancer Society’s Terry Fox Run, Salmon Arm Minor Hockey, and the Salmon Arm Hockey Scholarship fund.
Pittsburgh Head coach Dan Bylsma started his day with the Cup yesterday with a charter fishing trip with 20 other people on four boats. In the afternoon, Bylsma shared Lord Stanley with fans that showed up at the Grand Haven Municipal Marina for autographs and pictures. And to end the day, Bylsma enjoyed a private dinner for family and friends that featured the salmon they caught earlier in the day.
"My hockey life is here, and my hockey life is with a lot of these people," Bylsma said. "Part of winning it is sharing it with the people who helped you get there."
Yesterday was Chris Kunitz's day with Lord Stanley and the early part of the day was spent raising money for charity. Kunitz took the Cup to Regina's City Hall to share with everyone who came out.
Donations of five dollars or more raised nearly $4,000 dollars to benefit Regina's Allan Blair Cancer Centre. People giving a donation were able to get an autograph and pictures.
"It's nice to be back with the family right now, and meet the people in the city," he said. "But when we get out there and raise some money for charity... that's what it really means, to get the trophy on display for the public to see."
NEW DATE: August 16th - Mark Eaton (Smithfield, RI)
MONDAY, AUGUST 10th Chris Kunitz brings home the Stanley Cup to Regina for his hometown to share from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM at Regina's City Hall.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 11th
Fans in Grand Haven, MI will have an opportunity to meet Lord Stanley and Dan Bylsma at the Grand Haven Municipal Marina from 12:00 noon - 2:00 PM (between the marina office and the Chinook Pier shops).
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13th
Hal Gill will be hosting "Coffee with the Cup" in the Nashoba Regional HS gymnasium at 8:30 AM. Fans will be able to meet Gill and have their picture taken professionally with him and the Cup (you are also able to bring personal cameras to take your own pictures as well, but you will be able to purchase the professional photo after the event). Admission is $10 and will benefit the school's Community Competition Complex project.
This is just so MAF!! During his day with the Cup, Fleury took it on a boat on the St. Lawrence River to take a picture and it broke down in the middle of the water!! A man and his wife finally came by with their boat and helped him out (in exchange for a picture with Fleury and the Cup, of course!)!!
With the excitement of Sid's birthday bash with the Cup this past weekend, I overlooked a few of the players days with Lord Stanley and here's a brief rundown.
AUGUST 1 - Pascal Dupuis
AUGUST 3 - Mathieu Garon visited the Quebec Ronald McDonald House and had a private party at his home
NHL.com followed Sid around Friday and Saturday and had a really great "real-time" account of the events. They also have a bunch a really awesome videos of highlights over the last two days and I've posted links to all of them.
I also had a few readers that took part of in the festivities this past weekend who were kind enough to share their pictures and stories!! I'll be posting them soon (it was a busy weekend and I wasn't able to work on them), so check back!! I want to thank all of you who emailed me -- I appreciate it -- I really do!!
This is turning out to be some Cup / birthday bash and it's only just beginning!!!
In the picture to the right, Sid is getting off a Sea King helicoptor to hundreds of fans waiting for his arrival at the wharf in Halifax harbor! How cool is that?!!!!
“This is something that I felt was important,” he said. “There’s a lot of troops that aren’t here right now who are overseas ... but for the ones who are here I thought they would really get a kick out of it.”
“That’s what we get a kick out of us players is the sharing with everyone,” said Crosby, who is also making a private visit to a children’s hospital in Halifax.
I'll post more as I find it throughout the day today, so check back often!!!!! I found that NHL.com is along for the ride with Sid and are posting a "real-time" blog at NHL.com -- CLICK HERE to see it. And it seems as though Talbot is also along for this Crosby bash (holding on to the Prince of Wales trophy)!! I'm wondering how many other Penguin players will be in attendance for this.
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced the names of 38 invited players to attend the Russian Olympic summer camp August 29th - September 1st (19 from the NHL and 19 from the KHL). Among them are two of Pittsburgh finest, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar.
The 2010 Olympics begin in 195 days and the following is a list of the dates for summer training camps for various countries taking part in the hockey competition:
July 20-24: German national team training (Fussen)
Aug. 4-8: Slovakia summer Olympic camp (Poprad)
Aug. 11-12: Finnish Olympic camp (Vierumaki)
Aug. 17-19: U.S. orientation camp (Woodridge, Ill.)
"We are excited to have a guy who's accomplished as much as Tony join our staff as an assistant coach," Penguins head Coach Dan Bylsma said. "In addition to his 13 years as an NHL player, he's also been a head coach and assistant coach for six years with the Avalanche, and all of that experience will make him a tremendous asset to the Penguins organization."
Granato was fired as the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche this past June along with other members of their coaching staff seemingly as an answer to the ailing organization.
There is a conflict between one of the Penguins pre-season home games and the G-20 Summit scheduled for September 24th - 25th. The game against the Columbus Blue Jackets which was originally scheduled for Friday, September 25th has now been moved to Tuesday, September 15th. It will be played at 7:30 p.m. at Mellon Arena.
Sergei Gonchar's day with the Cup wasn't unlike the player / person we know him to be - he likes his privacy, so it was pretty secretive. This was the one player so far who I was unable to get any information on prior to the actual day (there's not even any pictures on the HHOF webpage!)!! And part of the reason is probably because Gonchar and his family took the Cup with them to their home on Fisher Island (pictured left) which is an exclusive island three miles off-shore of Miami, Florida. It's so exclusive that there's limited access to it by way of ferry or plane which is why, I'm guessing, there are no photos.
His day began on the evening of Monday, July 27th with his family taking pictures with the Stanley Cup down at the beach. The celebration continued the next day with the Gonchar family taking Lord Stanley to Fisher Island Hotel and Resort where it was placed in the courtyard for everyone to view and for a $20 donation, they could get their photograph with the prestigious trophy. The proceeds went to the Miami Children's Hospital.
They ended the celebration with a private dinner which included 25 guests at Casa Tua complete with a limo-drive to the restaurant and karaoke later in the evening.
Janne Pesonen became a free agent last month after a single season with the Penguins organization. Pesonen decided to move on and sign with Ak Bars Kazan of the professional Russian league (KHL). He received an offer from the Penguins as well as many other NHL teams, but they were all for two-way contracts.
"He's not bitter. He's a class act. He would like to play in the NHL in the future if there is a one-way contract."
Starting this coming Monday, he will take part in the summer camp for Finland's Olympic team.
Yesterday, July 31st, was Talbot's day to show off the Stanley Cup to his hometown in St. Bruno.
“It’s my home town, I lived here all my life, my family still lives here, I played my minor hockey here at the Palais des Glaces, I got bursaries from the city when I was in Major Junior. So it was an obvious choice,” Talbot said. “It was the only place I could think of to bring the Cup.”
He's one of many of the players who took the opportunity to raise money for charity. For the past few weeks, tickets were sold at $5 each and 125 pulled in a drawing to choose those who would be lucky enough to get their picture taken with Talbot and the Cup. The proceeds went to the Children's Wish Foundation.
The day included a parade (with a few familiar faces joining Talbot and his family on a flat-bed truck - Kris Letang and Iceburgh). Letang generously helped Talbot lift the Stanley Cup over and over again due to his recovery from shoulder surgery a few weeks ago. There were lots of activities for the kids, a band, and it ended at the Parc du Village and the neighboring school yard at the Ecole de Montarville where Talbot addressed the crowd from on stage. Later that evening, Talbot hosted a private party for 350 of his family and closest friends.
A video of Talbot talking on stage is posted below (and, unfortunately for some, he's speaking French):
UPCOMING (and past) DATES WITH THE CUP: Thursday, July 30th -- Gilles Meloche (Rosemère) Saturday, August 1st - Pascal Dupuis (Boisbriand)
Rupp is a former member of the Erie Otters and will be hosting free sessions with youth players as well as signing autographs throughout the event.
The 8 and under and 9-12 sessions are full. Limited space is available for the 12 and over session from 1:30-2:15 p.m. Email michael@erieice.com to register.
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