Hockey Fights Cancer

Press Release:

Capitals to Participate in Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Month
Team will take part in cancer awareness and education initiatives
Thursday, 10.07.2010 / 1:39 PM / News Washington Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals are teaming up with the National Hockey League this October to educate the hockey community about cancer. Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Month is a league-wide initiative founded by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association that brings the hockey community together to fight cancer, a disease that has affected so many individuals in the hockey family and beyond.

This year the Capitals are partnering with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The mission of LLS is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services. The Caps are encouraging fans to text HFC to 90999 to make a $5 donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and help find a cure for cancer. Fans can also donate specifically to the National Capital Area Chapter at http://www.lls.org/capsfans.

Caps players, team personnel and front office staff will actively participate in the initiative. All players’ helmets will feature a Hockey Fights Cancer decal throughout the month of October. Coaches and select owners and team personnel will participate in the cause by sporting commemorative Hockey Fights Cancer ties. Forward Matt Bradley is featured in a PSA with leukemia survivor and Caps fan Tori Callihan that will run during Capitals home games in October and be featured on WashingtonCaps.com.

Taking place on Oct. 23 during the game against the Atlanta Thrashers, Hockey Fights Cancer Night highlights the Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness Month schedule. That evening 30 Caps fans who have battled, beaten, helped treat or been personally touched by leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease or myeloma will be honored in an on-ice ceremony prior to the game. Participants will wear red T-shirts with the Caps logo on the front, the Hockey Fights Cancer logo on the back and the LLS logo on the sleeve. Players Bradley, Mike Knuble and Tyler Sloan, whose mothers have all battled cancer, will take part in the ceremony. Mike Green (Green’s Gang) and Alex Ovechkin (Ovi’s Crazy 8’s) are donating their seats to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s National Capital Area Chapter for the game on Oct. 23. Attendees sitting in these sections will be blood cancer survivors and patients and will be included in the on-ice ceremony.

During Hockey Fights Cancer Night the Caps will host a jersey auction at the community relations table located at section 104 in Verizon Center benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s National Capital Area Chapter. These autographed home jerseys will be worn by players during warmups and will feature Hockey Fights Cancer patches on the front with the players’ names and numbers stitched in grey on the back. The red and grey jerseys are the same colors as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s logo. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s National Capital Area Chapter will also have an informational table on the main concourse located at section 111 at the Caps games on Oct. 11, 13, 19 and 23.

The NHL provided each team with a $10,000 charitable grant to be donated to a cancer organization of its choice. The Capitals are donating this money to the Movember Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit orangization that runs the men’s health initiative, Movember. The money raised during the Movember campaign initially goes to the Movember Foundation and is then split evenly and donated to the foundation’s two beneficiary partners – the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Caps player Jason Chimera and former Caps Ivan Labre have recorded PSAs for Movember that will be featured on WashingtonCaps.com.

Fans can help join the fight by logging onto shop.nhl.com or visiting the team store to purchase commemorative Hockey Fights Cancer items including men’s ties, ladies jackets, t-shirts, caps, NHL Dream Capsules and Best of the Decade: Reflections of Hockey’s Past Ten Years photo books.

Hockey Fights Cancer is a joint charitable initiative founded in December 1998 by the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association. It is supported by players, NHL member clubs, NHL alumni, the NHL Officials’ Association, professional hockey athletic trainers and equipment managers, corporate marketing partners, broadcast partners and fans throughout North America. The goal of Hockey Fights Cancer is to raise money and awareness for national and local organizations involved in cancer care and research. To date, Hockey Fights Cancer has raised more than $11 million. Hockey Fights Cancer is a component of The Biggest Assist Happens Off The Ice, the National Hockey League’s and National Hockey League Players’ Association’s social responsibility program that builds on hockey’s long-standing tradition of addressing important social issues in North America and around the world.

About The National Capital Area Chapter

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has 58 U.S. chapters, and the National Capital Area Chapter is one of the highest revenue-generating chapters in the nation. The National Capital Area Chapter serves Washington, D.C.; the Maryland counties of Prince George and Montgomery; and the Virginia Counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria and Prince William. More than 2,500 patients and families are served by the chapter each year.