BRIGHTON – Through his time with the Xaverian hockey program, senior Joe DiMartino is used to working with a group of student-athletes to fundraise for a very good trigger.
But Sunday afternoon, DiMartino performed a component in one thing that’s by no means been carried out, with a corporation that continues to ascertain itself as a pioneer within the title of combating most cancers.
Some of the perfect girls and boys hockey gamers in New England placed on a present at Warrior Ice Arena, enjoying within the inaugural A Shot For Life Classic after spending the final 9 months fundraising for most cancers analysis at Mass General Hospital. The boys lit up the scoreboard with Team Cure topping Team Hope 15-7, and the women adopted with Team Hope outlasting Team Cure, 7-3.
The variety of objectives pale compared to the greater than $100,000 raised main as much as the video games, although, setting a brand new report for ASFL in any of their inaugural talent-based occasions.
“This whole event, everything with A Shot For Life means so much,” DiMartino mentioned. “Just being able to make a difference in the lives of others, it means so much to us (at Xaverian).”
“It’s really just a testament to I would say hockey culture,” added Loomis Chaffee senior Hamilton Doster, who raised over $7,100 on her personal to mark probably the most of any particular person for this occasion. “How passionate everybody is not only about hockey, but about other things in their life. So being able to use hockey kind of as a way to facilitate fundraising for such a great cause is really awesome.”
With the tempo of enlargement ASFL has set during the last a number of years, it’s solely becoming that its third and closing inaugural occasion of the college 12 months produces sufficient cash to unofficially contest with all different talent-based fundraisers it has orchestrated – not simply the brand new ones. ASFL simply launched soccer and soccer within the months earlier than hockey made its debut, including to baseball, softball, lacrosse and the intensive basketball model this all began from.
Founder and CEO Mike Slonina mentioned the aim of ASFL is to yearly increase over $1 million.
“We’re really moving fast here,” Slonina mentioned. “There is zero doubt in my mind that these events will be nationwide, there will be people surviving because of us, we will be raising $50 million, and every year we do this is further proof that this system works. … For anyone reading this that wants to know whether to get involved or not, A Shot For Life is the winning course. We are going to make a huge impact nationwide, even worldwide as we continue to grow, and to email me and be a part of that.”
For Slonina, it’s extra than simply contributing towards most cancers analysis.
“If you take a step back and look at it from a macro sense, we’ve essentially revolutionized the way athletes are interacting with their sport in Massachusetts – it’s every sport that’s doing this now,” he mentioned. “I think the long-term ramifications of that is that all of these kids will grow into adults that now care about the world beyond their sport. And I think that’s an important side effect of what we’re doing here.”
At least 5 totally different gamers scored a number of objectives within the boys recreation, which touched 22 mixed scores. That included Jack Brandt, who received to group up with fellow scorer Coleman Jenkins as former teammates at Tabor Academy.
Brandt, now a participant for the Madison Capitols junior hockey group in Wisconsin, raved over the ASFL expertise.
“It was awesome I think to just be a part of something a lot bigger than yourself,” he mentioned. “All of us having, in some way, been affected by cancer. Just be able to come together and just have fun, it was really fun. I had a good time.”
Mikey Marchese (Governor’s Academy), Reid Malatesta (Phillips Academy), Jake McManus (Belmont Hill), Calvin Beard (St. Mark’s) and Sean Connolly (Berkshire School) have been others that stood out within the motion.
The ladies recreation proved rather more defense-oriented, although had loads of firepower to ship a 10-goal recreation. Kayla McGaffigan of Tabor Academy led the win with two objectives, reverse two objectives from Austin Prep’s McKenzie Cerrato.
Source: www.bostonherald.com