Although the Peterborough Petes are second last in the Eastern Conference standings, they are first in fundraising for cancer care.
On Saturday night (February 3), the Petes hosted the Niagara IceDogs at the Peterborough Memorial Centre for the 15th Annual Pink in the Rink game.
The campaign has raised a preliminary total of $49,103.26 — just dollars shy of the $50,000 goal — and has pushed the total funds raised during the history of the campaign to over $1 million. For this season’s campaign, all Petes players acted as ambassadors to help meet the $50,000 goal and push the grand total over $1 million.
“I’d like to thank the players for being ambassadors for this year’s campaign,” said Michael Oke, the Petes general manager and vice president of operations, in a media release. “We started this initiative 15 years ago with Petes staff such as Aaron Garfat, Cathy Webster, and Don Sharp. To be able to raise over one million dollars in just 15 years is an amazing accomplishment.”
Proceeds from this year’s Pink in the Rink campaign, which is in support of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Wheels of Hope program, were raised by the Petes players acting as campaign ambassadors, as well as the 2024 Game Jersey Auction, a silent auction, a bucket pass, Pink in the Rink T-shirt sales, and chuck-a-puck.
Over the past 15 years, the Petes have raised a grand total of $1,003,239.20.
“We hope to see this campaign continue to grow at the rate that it has today,” Oke said. “Wheels of Hope is a great program, and we’re extremely pleased that the funds from this year will be put to good use.”
Despite the campaign’s success, the Petes would ultimately fall to the IceDogs 5-4 in overtime.
Quinton Pagé led the way for the Petes with two goals. Carson Cameron also scored and added an assist, with Caden Taylor rounding out the scoring. Aiden Young, Tommy Purdeller, Cam Gauvreau, Nico Addy, Jonathan Melee, and Braydon McCallum all picked up an assist each.
Liam Sztuska stopped 42 out of 47 shots in the loss.
