Steen Wallin is one of Chestermere’s youngest hometown heroes. The 12 year old hockey enthusiast was so inspired by the players in the 2014 Worlds Longest Hockey Game that he decided to organize one of his own to raise money for charity.
On Sunday May 11, Steen organized 140 kids from Chestermere Minor Hockey to play in their own version of the World’s Longest Hockey Game in an effort to support the big guys in their hockey marathon by playing almost eight hours on the ice.
“I thought it would be nice to get involved and help raise some more money to support the Hockey Marathon. I think it is very important to help out other kids who aren’t as fortunate or may need support from the Children’s Hospital,” said Steen.
With a plan in mind, Steen approached Alex Halat, the co-ordinator of the bigger event and shared his idea of helping out by organizing a mini marathon game for local kids to help raise funds and awareness for the 2014 Hockey Marathon.
Once the plans were finalized, Steen and a group of volunteers jumped into action collecting registrations, organizing teams and jerseys and obtaining prize donations.
On the morning of Mother’s Day at 8:00am the mini-marathon game began at the Chestermere Recreation Centre on the ice adjacent to where the official game was being played. 40 of Chestermere Minor Hockey tykes (5-6 yr. olds) players began by playing a 90 minute game. They were immediately followed by two hour games for Novice (7-8 yr. olds), then Atom (9-10 yr. olds) and finally the Peewees (11-12 yr. olds).
Each game was followed by a wildly popular ‘chuck-a-puck’ game to help raise funds. The games consisted of numbered pucks being sold to those in the crowd, who then got to chuck them onto the ice for a chance to win a prize. In the end, the 5 pucks closest to the 5 dots between the blue lines won one of the over $2,000 of donated prizes.
Steen said he came up with the idea after the 2012 Hockey Marathon, when he realized how he could get more kids involved in the game. “I felt I could get my two brothers and some of our friends involved so I organized a kids 2014 Worlds Longest Hockey Game,” he said, “I have collected prizes from many generous donors which [were used] in the Chuck-A-Puck Fundraiser after each game.”
Although the young man’s original fundraising goal was $1,500, he said he believed he could double that. At the end of the day, Steen presented Halat and some of the other players of the World’s Longest Hockey Game with a cheque for $5,280. The funds will be put toward the Hockey Marathon for Kids fundraising efforts for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, Alberta Southern Flood Relief and Samuel’s Ride.
When Steen learned that he had tripled his fundraising goal he exclaimed “I am so excited, this day and game has turned out awesome.”
On several occasions throughout the day, the players from the big game skated out onto the ice with the boys to pose for pictures and show their appreciation and support.
“Everyone had fun, we got to keep a souvenir jersey and we did it all for a great cause, I am very proud that we are helping out Alex and the Children’s Hospital with this donation,” said Steen.
