Dear Editor,

This past weekend the Oswego State Men’s ACHA Division One hockey team hosted their first annual “Pink the Rink” weekend as a benefit for the Upstate Cancer Center in Syracuse.  The team welcomed SUNY Cortland to the Campus Center on Friday and hosted Binghamton University on Sunday.

We are proud to announce that we raised a total of $1,200 for the Cancer Center through admissions, jersey raffles and Chuck-A-Puck contests.

The planning for this fundraiser began in July when the captains and club officers decided that they wanted to do a fundraiser to give back to the community. It was suggested that we host the “Pink the Rink” event during Friends and Family Weekend because we were playing two home league games. The pink hockey jerseys were designed by former player Chris Cavanaugh (’12).  Hockey Tron produced the jerseys and socks and the plans were put in place for this very successful fundraiser.

We could not have accomplished this successful weekend without help from many people and groups. We would like to thank Hockey Tron for their generous pricing of our pink apparel, Pittsford High School for loaning us their pink Chuck-A-Pucks, the Ice Effects Figure Skating Team for their help during the Chuck-A-Puck contests, Oswego State’s Team Mini, the Campus Center maintenance staff for their help, the SUNY Cortland and Binghamton University ACHA hockey teams and their fans for their support, Brittany Hoffmann and Adam Rupczyk from WTOP for their promotions of our weekend and our family and friends. We had a huge turnout for the games and we appreciate it.

We would also like to thank our two special guests who dropped the pink ceremonial pucks at our games: Debbie Allen a breast cancer survivor from Fulton, N.Y. and Will Schrader, a 4 year old cancer survivor from Ilion, N.Y.  Your courage is our inspiration.

Plans are already underway for next year’s event, which we hope will raise more money to help fight this disease.

Real men do wear pink.

The players and coaches of the Oswego State Men’s ACHA Division One hockey team

Sincerely,

Jay Peacock

Head Coach of Oswego State Men’s ACHA Division One hockey team