By Caitlyn Golem, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
OWEN SOUND, ON. — The off season is not only a time for the Canadiens organization to sit back and enjoy the sun and train for the upcoming season, but a time for them to give back to their community. After pausing briefly to reflect on their season, the organization was preparing for hockey games to take place. On May 31st, the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation teamed up with the YM-YWHA and the National Bank to hold the fourth Hockey de rue. This is a street hockey tournament raisin awareness as well as funds for underprivileged kids in Montreal.
Their goal is for recreation facilities and resources to be accessible to everyone as they provide children with a healthier lifestyle and important lessons such as teamwork and fair play.
Everyone involved in the tournament had a great time and a large amount of funds were raised. The almost $250,000 raised brought the four year total to over $1 Million!
Another organization that the Canadiens are very close with is the Montreal Children’s Hospital. On May 21st, the Ball for the Children’s, was held. The event was sold-out and raised a record-setting $ 1,307,000.00! The children at the ball had hopes that money would be raised, but they had no idea what exactly they were in store for. The children at the hospital are almost entirely Habs fans and look up to the players greatly- P.K. Subban especially. That was why it was such a huge shock to the children when Subban made a surprise appearance. He made everyone’s night, but non as much as 11 year old, Gabriel Bellefleur’s.
Subban personally invited him to be his guest at a Canadiens’ home game where he will get to meet some of P.K’s teammates and visit the locker room post-game. Gabriel had struggled with Blackfan-Diamond Syndrome and his father, Eric, shared his thanks to Subban saying, “The look on Gabriel’s face when PK came onstage was something I will never forget. With 5 surgeries, more than 450 hospital visits, and having just completed his 141’st blood transfusion, Gabriel has been through a lot. When his idol offered him a chance to watch him play, meet some more of the players and visit the team after a game, it was a dream come true. Our family will be eternally grateful to the Foundation and to PK for this generous act of kindness.’’
The money raised at this year’s Ball for the Children’s will go to the Healthy Kids Fund to tend to the patient’s most urgent needs throughout the hospital.
This was certainly not the first or the last time PK will give back to his fans. He recognizes that their support is what makes him such a big star. He stopped and joined a game of street hockey and surprised a group of students pretending to be a security guard before revealing himself.
(Video via Aaron Fraser)