By Brad Peters Niagara Falls Review Updated 9 hours ago
Once again, the junior C RiverHawks are in the pink.
And this year, they're bringing some friends with them.
The team is hosting its annual Fight Cancer night Thursday night. Showing their dedication to the cause, the team will be wearing pink jerseys for the home game against the Dunnville Jr. Mudcats.
"We started this last year and raised more than $2,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society," said assistant coach and team marketing director Wes Wolfe. "This year, we mentioned the idea to the other teams (the Niagara Falls junior B Canucks and the bantam 'AAA' Rivermen) and they jumped on board."
With different levels of hockey being on board for the fundraiser, the cancer society stands to receive an even greater donation from city hockey fans.
"We are going to auction off the pink jerseys after the game to help raise money for research."
For the RiverHawks the Fight Cancer night is more than just public relations. Like so many, cancer has had a deep impact on Hawks present and past.
"Just last year, Jason Turcin, a fourth-year player for us, lost his father to cancer," said Wolfe. "This year we are having Maureen Gillies, the mother of a former player, Corey Gillies, do the ceremonial face off. She was just diagnosed with breast cancer."
Heading into the Fight Cancer game, the RiverHawks will need to muster up a little extra fight on the ice. As a result of dropping their last two games – a 4-3 loss to Glanbrook and a shutout 2-0 loss against New Hamburg, the Hawks find themselves in fourth place in the six-team East Division.
With a 2-2-1 record, the RiverHawks have already played and beaten Dunnville once and their only other regulation win came by defeating the fifth-place Caledonia Corvairs. In fact, the Hawks have yet to beat a team above them in the standings.
And although Wolfe says he's expecting a "tough, good game" from Dunnville Thursday night, he says no one on the team is pushing the panic button.
"We have a lot of new, young kids on our team. Kids who have never played for a coach like Rob (Hubbert) before," he said. "It's definitely a different approach to the coaching we've had in recent years.
"From a coaching perspective, it's been great to see."
After last week's home game meltdown against Glanbrook, and the head coach Hubbert's meltdown after the game, Wolfe said he was encouraged by the team's response to Hubbert's "get out of town if you're not going to play 60 minutes" challenge.
"It's fair to say the team wasn't expecting to be called out by Rob so publicly," said Wolfe. "But they responded really well. You'd think that our young team may not respond to that so well, but we had a great practice after that.
They get the chance Thursday night at the Gale Centre for their second meeting with the Dunnville Jr. Mudcats. The Fight Cancer game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.
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