Tanenbaum completes MLSE stake buy

Tanenbaum completes MLSE stake buy
DAVID SHOALTS
Globe and Mail Update
February 19, 2009 at 1:41 PM EST

TORONTO — Larry Tanenbaum is now officially the second-largest shareholder of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.


MLSE, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA and the Air Canada Centre, announced on Thursday that Tanenbaum completed his purchase of half of CTVglobemedia Inc.'s stake in the company. The deal was originally announced in December and is thought to have cost Tanenbaum, who is chairman of MLSE, about $90-million for CTVglobemedia Inc.'s shares, which amounted to 7.7 per cent of MLSE.

The sale, which raises Tanenbaum's share of MLSE to 20.5 per cent, became official on Thursday when the NHL, the NBA and the Major League Soccer all approved the transaction. MLSE also owns Toronto FC of the MLS.

"It's the same deal that was announced, it seems like, a lifetime ago," Dale Lastman, Tanenbaum's lawyer and a member of the MLSE board of directors, said. "It will be business as usual."

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board is the largest shareholder of MLSE with 58.4 per cent. Aside from Tanenbaum and CTVglobemedia Inc. (which owns The Globe and Mail), the other shareholder is the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which has 14 per cent.

While Tanenbaum's goal is to gain majority ownership of the company, and the sale gives him strategic access to more shares if the other investors want to sell, there is no indication the Teachers Pension Plan is ready to cash in its shares.

Based on the price of the transaction, the current value of MLSE is about $1.2-billion.

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New arena could bring hockey up to full power

New arena could bring hockey up to full power
The Hearn is Toronto's top site for long-awaited four-pad ice complex
February 27, 2009
Mary Ormsby
Sports Reporter

This may be hockey's biggest power play.

The decommissioned Hearn power plant is the city's top site to build a long-overdue, four-pad arena to anchor a planned sports complex on the eastern portlands, Toronto Mayor David Miller said yesterday.

"It's an extraordinary possibility," Miller said. "The Hearn is unused and it's a huge opportunity to put a sports node there to create a real centrepiece. It's massive and it's a way to re-use that really interesting building."

The mayor also said the estimated 10,000 GTA female hockey players, often squeezed out of affordable ice by boys' and men's leagues, will receive priority access to the arena, which could be ready by 2012 if the province agrees to turn the Unwin Ave. property over to the city.

"The whole reason to do this is for women and girls," said Miller, adding that boys and men would be accommodated, too. "There's a huge demand (by hockey players) and not nearly enough ice and that's why this is important to do and worth doing."

The Toronto Rock are one of several potential private partners recruited by the city who are keen to invest in and use a new arena.

"It would be a great thing for lacrosse in the area," said Rock president Brad Watters, whose National Lacrosse League team does not have a local practice facility.

However, before a shovel goes into the ground for a $34 million arena, the city must acquire the property from the province, since it's owned by Ontario Power Generation. OPG has given a long-term lease to Studios of America, so the city must first resolve that deal with the film company. "We've approached the province in a very preliminary way and there are a few challenges," the mayor said. "But I would think we would be able to get over those."

If the Hearn land can't be acquired, a second location is west of the old building and north of the shipping channel south of Lake Shore Blvd. and east of Cherry St. Testing is being done on the shipping site, with the worry that bedrock may be too deep or the area too contaminated by pollutants.

The arena was originally a Waterfront Toronto project which was given $20 million from the federal government in 2002. The city of Toronto will foot the balance. The project was delayed repeatedly, with the last estimated completion date set at 2010 – but it didn't get past the planning stage. The city stepped in last fall and offered to take over the project.

"It was intended, in the end, to be a city recreational facility so it makes sense for us to take the lead on building it,'' Miller said.

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GTHL's $520 fee plan draws mixed reviews

GTHL's $520 fee plan draws mixed reviews
February 28, 2009
Lois Kalchman
Special to the Star

The reaction ranged from outrage to acceptance as parents and club executives absorbed the news of the Greater Toronto Hockey League's new annual $520 "player registration fee" that replaces gate fees.

The fee, announced Thursday, requires parents to pay a maximum $520 for each child on rep teams. That would replace the $5 per game that parents, spectators and some 8,000 players are now charged to enter the rinks.


The GTHL says the new fee, to come into effect next season, would help erase a $400,000 deficit.

"It will affect us big-time," said Carmen Cummings, president of the Scarborough Young Bruins AA.

"We have an under-21 AAA team where most of the players drive themselves to the rink," she said. "They pay their $5 and play. These kids go to school, work and most pay their own way with few parents as spectators. Now these same kids will have to come up with $520 at the beginning of the season which could easily be impossible. We'll lose them."

Cummings also expressed concern that the change would mean the GTHL wouldn't need to supply security for games.

"You could now have a hundred high school kids coming to watch rival clubs and who knows what will happen," she said.

Dan Fitzgerald will have three sons playing GTHL hockey next year.

"It's pretty steep," he said. "I will have to re-evaluate. It's hard economic times. People enjoy organized hockey but will have to balance out the needs. I went with my son last year and that was $360, so this will be a significant increase."

Mike James, president of the Mississauga Senators, has mixed feelings.

"It is the up-front sticker price that is scaring everyone," James said. "I feel for the families that have three or four children, but then there were also families who had only one parent go to a game because they couldn't afford it. Now they will all be able to go to the game without paying and to any other game at no cost."

Mississauga Jets general manager Val Neal is extremely upset.

"It's the wrong time for this," Neal said. "They should look inside first and then when they show us that they have saved ... Now they say we should cut back on our budgets."

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Ex-NHLer gets ring 55 years after the Cup

Goalie who played three games stunned to get package from Detroit
February 28, 2009
Ross Brewitt
Special to The Star

It's time for one of those feel-good anecdotes, the kind that doesn't come out of the cynical world of professional sport very often. It's about a goaltender named Dave Gatherum and how his mercurial hockey story finally came full circle.

Make no mistake, Dave Gatherum could play some goal. The mainstay of the Fort William Hurricanes in junior, he was the property of Detroit and after training camp went to Sherbrooke (Que.) in the QHL as third on the Wings' depth chart. Ahead of him were Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall. Any budding goalie would have been number three behind those two.

But in October 1953, with an injury to Sawchuk, coach Tommy Ivan called for Gatherum to join the Wings and installed him between the pipes for the next three games.

Gatherum began his NHL career with a 4-0 shutout of the Leafs. In Chicago, he kept the Hawks off the scoreboard until 21 seconds into the third in a game that ended in a 2-2 tie, establishing an NHL mark for scoreless time by a rookie in his debut, 100 minutes, 21 seconds, a 55-year-old record that still stands.

The next night in Detroit he had another shutout going but the Blackhawks scored with just seven seconds left in the third, a 2-1 Red Wing victory. Gatherum's stats for his entire NHL career reads three games, two wins, one tie, and a goals against average of 1.00.

The Wings went on to win the 1953-54 Stanley Cup with Gatherum's name engraved on it for posterity.

Fast forward to this month, and a small parcel is delivered to the Gatherum home in Thunder Bay. Inside is a striking, 64-diamond encrusted 2007-08 Red Wings Stanley Cup ring, the name "Gatherum" in raised gold on one side, the Stanley Cup on the other, and the Wings' logo perched above a large solitaire diamond on top.

The unheralded, unannounced ring puzzled the Gatherums until they read the letter inside.

"We are very pleased to be able to acknowledge your past Stanley Cup Championship by presenting you with a 2008 championship ring. We sincerely thank you for the pride you brought to the team, the city of Detroit, and the State of Michigan, and we congratulate you on your accomplishment.

Mike and Marian."

"It left us speechless," Gatherum admitted of the letter from Wings owner Mike Ilitch and his wife.

Ilitch had decided to give rings to every living Wing that won a Cup prior to their 1997 championship, the team's first title in decades.

All the players in Gatherum's day were without rings. They weren't the sought-after ID of pro sports champions until the mid-60s.

"I was moved," Gatherum said, "I had to say thank you to someone, so I called the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, and going through the switchboard, then a receptionist, I was put through to the executive offices. When I explained who I was, and why I was calling a man said, `Just hang on.' The next voice I heard said, `So, you received the ring?'

``When I asked who I was speaking to he said, `Mike Ilitch.' I could hardly believe it and when I told him I wanted to send a letter of thanks, he said, `Just hearing your voice, and knowing you're happy, Dave, is thanks enough.'"

Now, with a ring he claims is almost too big, and valuable, for everyday wear, Gatherum is still pondering his good fortune.

With that, there was a pause in our conversation. ``All I can tell you is Mike Ilitch didn't have to do this. But turning the ring over one day I noticed there was something engraved on the inside. FAMILY.

"It's one of the nicest things I've ever experienced, and all I know is, this ring will be in the Gatherum family. Forever!"

Ross Brewitt is an author of five sports books and a freelance columnist. In past lives, he worked for Hockey Night in Canada, Maple Leaf Sports Productions and the Buffalo Sabres.

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NHLPA takes a cautious look to economics

February 4, 2009
NHLPA takes a cautious look to economics
By Shi Davidi, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Paul Kelly thinks the National Hockey League should look to Canada first if the current economic downturn forces one of the existing 30 franchises to find a new home.

Speaking a day after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke of his league's bright outlook during a speech at the National Club, the head of the players' association took a much more cautious stance in his outlook for the future.

Kelly freely admitted Wednesday that some franchises in "blue-collar areas and the sun-belt areas" are "running into some tough times" and said the union is monitoring the situation in Phoenix, where the league has advanced the Coyotes funds and is helping the troubled ownership find "new investors, possibly new owners."

And while he expects the next NHL season to open with the same 30 teams this one ends with, he says moving teams north is the way to go if that changes.

"I actually believe that Toronto and the greater Southern Ontario area certainly can support a second team and that sooner (rather) than later we ought to have a second team here," Kelly said before attending the Conn Smythe Celebrities Dinner and Auction.

"If we reach the point where one of the existing franchises runs into real difficulties and they can't continue to exist in that location, than I think we need to look here first, to Canada.

"There are other opportunities. ... Most of those names are out there, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Houston, Winnipeg. We hope all 30 survive, but if they don't, I would be at the front of the line pushing for a Canadian franchise."

During the all-star break Kelly said he wouldn't be surprised if more than one team moved in the next five years. He sounded pessimistic about Phoenix's chances of making it.

"We hope they survive but it's a tough market when you're in the desert and most of your populous hasn't grown up on the sport, playing the sport," he said. "It's a really difficult area to make a go of it."

On Tuesday, Bettman said the Coyotes "will be fine."

Bettman also said the NHL's growth is expected to slow from 12 per cent in 2007-08 to five or six per cent this season, a number Kelly agreed with but clarified.

Kelly said that by factoring in the Canadian dollar's decline, actual growth will be just one per cent, a decline of six per cent on the raw dollar number plus five more on the worsened exchange.

He pegged expected overall league revenues somewhere between US$2.6-$2.61 billion, and pointed to concern over the remaining non-guaranteed revenue sources like playoff ticket sales and concessions as the reason for the union's increase in escrow payments from the players.

That is money deducted from players' salaries to ensure the league's total payroll doesn't exceed 56.7 per cent of the NHL's hockey-related revenue. If it does, money is taken from the escrow accounts to make up the difference.

Players are having 22.5 per cent of their paycheques lopped off to escrow.

"We looked at real numbers and we determined how much of the projected revenue is still at risk," said Kelly. "... We came in at 22.5 per cent, which we think is the right number for the players' association. I suspect that if you ask the league, they would probably have come in around 16 or 17 per cent. ...

"The players are building in some protection because if our escrow amount is short of what is necessary, it's very difficult for us to go back to players after the season is over to collect additional funds."

Meanwhile, Kelly also had little to say about Eric Lindros' resignation from the role of ombudsman on Tuesday. There have been persistent reports of friction between the two.

"Eric has decided to go off and do other things, we respect that, we wish him well," said Kelly. "We're in the business of looking forward rather than looking back. As far as we're concerned it's nothing that really requires any detailed comment."

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Fighting is on the way out: Former NHL ref.

Fighting is on the way out: Former NHL ref.
By Jim Kernaghan, THE CANADIAN PRESS

LONDON, Ont. - Former NHL referee-in-chief Bryan Lewis says fighting in hockey is on the way out.


Lewis was part of a Violence in Hockey Symposium staged Tuesday by the Middlesex-London Health Unit, a gathering of hockey officials, coaches, media members and a former professional player at the London Convention Centre.

"I believe the screw is finally being turned," Lewis said in an interview.

"I think it's slowly being removed from the game."

The symposium, attended by 98 coaches, trainers and administrators, sought recommendations leading to a decrease in injuries resulting from gratuitous violence on the ice.

Panellist Bernie Pascall, a veteran sportscaster who did play-by-play for the Vancouver Canucks along with 12 world hockey championships and 12 Memorial Cups, conducted a far-reaching report on violence for the British Columbia government in 2000. Among his findings was evidence of parental and crowd influence, inconsistent officiating, and beneath it all, a 'culture' in hockey that celebrates aggressive behaviour as a manly pursuit.

Has he seen changes since his report and recommendations?

"A little, not much," Pascall said. "Young players aren't born to be violent, they're shown to be violent".

Pascall said hundreds of interviews with young hockey players led to frank commentary from the kids. Some dreaded the ride home with their fathers and the vocal criticism en route.

"There are those who embarrass the kids, steal their fun," Pascall said.

One of the B.C. initiatives designed to control parental outbursts at games is a "Parent Contract" which enables arena management to oust overly aggressive parents from games.

Dan Rose, a 33-year coaching veteran at all levels up to Junior B, felt the rules changes were beginning to tighten down instances of fighting.

"There's been a decline," the former St. Thomas Stars coach said, "because players have to show more discipline. You can't be facing power plays too much because they're so good nowadays. You can't just be a fighter, you have to play or I can't afford to put you on the ice."

Lewis said his two fears as a parent were a head check to his son or a check from behind.

He worked more than one thousand NHL games between 1970 and 1986 before becoming supervisor of officials and then director of officiating in 1989. He retired from the NHL in 2001 and currently is a councillor in the town of Halton Hills and director of officiating for the East Coast Hockey League.

He drew a laugh with a suggestion to end fights.

"If the game is scheduled to start at 7:30, the two fighters should come out at 7:15 and fight at centre ice, with the survivor getting to play," he said. "As it is, they get rewarded for fighting when they get sent off late in a 7-2 game. They get the hot water (showers) first while everyone else has to suffer through to the end."

The topic of hits to the head was prominent at the symposium. Ken Bocking, chief of staff at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital, spoke of a son who sustained two concussions via elbows to the head that ended his career. Bocking showed a graphic film clip of a monkey's brain upon impact.

The Ontario Hockey Association got involved but the NHL, Bocking said, "took it under consideration".

"It's immoral to hit another player with a head-check," Bocking said. "I can't fathom how we, as a society, put up with it. The dinosaurs are in charge but they won't always be."

Throughout the symposium, the NHL was fingered as the type of play most in the minors tend to emulate. Yet what one panellist termed "flagrant, wanton acts" went on all the time with scant punishment.

Lack of respect for opponents and officials had led to another problem besetting hockey in Canada, said George Black, president of Sports Officials Canada.

"Retaining officials is a critical issue," he said."Retention rates are startlingly low. It's an issue at all levels of hockey."

Three media members expressed frustration over being unable to express their views on hockey violence widely.

"Nobody wants to talk about problems in the game," said Bruce Dowbiggen of the Calgary Herald.

Organizers will sift through all the views to come up with recommendations. Most agreed with Pascall and Lewis - people are listening and things are changing. Some hope an upcoming NHL general managers' meeting will hear.

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NHL agents trying to figure out the economy

February 26, 2009
NHL agents trying to figure out the economy
By Chris Johnston, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Paul Kelly is finding out that there's no precise weather report for an economic storm.

The executive director of the NHL Players' Association still isn't sure exactly how much impact the crumbling economy will have on the league beyond next season.


Kelly presided over an annual meeting with certified player agents on Thursday and spent plenty of time addressing economic issues.

He figures the salary cap will be between $54 million and $57 million next season, but he can't say what will happen in 2010-11.

"It's like predicting the weather - you get about three or four days out and you can't do it reliably," said Kelly.

There seems to be little question that it's going to drop. The answer many in the business are looking for is by how much?


One of the primary roles that agents perform for clients is negotiating their contracts. With overall league revenues expected to decline, the pay cheques for players will decline right along with them.

Understandably, that's a cause for some general concern.

"There was a lot of time spent on where the economy is and how the economy will affect escrow and the (salary) cap," said J.P. Barry of CAA Sports.

"Obviously, it was a cautious message: 'We don't know what's going to happen, but if certain things happen this is where it could go."'

Added Pat Morris of Newport Sports: "You can't help go through a meeting like that (without discussing the economy), it's talked about everywhere in the world in any business."

One thing the union will monitor closely is what mechanisms teams use to stay under the cap. Some might start burying NHL players in the minors; others could elect to buy more guys out.

Even with a poor economy, many agents remain optimistic that they'll be able to get their big clients signed to lucrative deals when the free agency opens on July 1.

"The UFA market and the general economy have never really been in sync," said Barry. "Certain teams need to win.

"I think the real top players in the league will always benefit from unrestricted free agency."

If anyone suffers, it might be the mid-range player.

There's also speculation that many NHL teams will shy away from the long-term deals they were handing out like candy after the lockout. However, Kelly believes there will also be a limit to that.

"What we're hearing is that, yes, there are some teams in particular that are pushing for shorter-term contracts," he said. "Longer-term deals are not going to go away.

"If you've got a star player, if you've got an Alexander Ovechkin, you don't want to sign him to a two-year deal.

"You want him on the roster just as long as you can keep him on the roster."

The NHLPA also took time during the meeting to inform agents of issues relating to internal organization, international play and the collective bargaining agreement.

And, with the trade deadline looming next Wednesday, there was plenty of talk between sessions about what might happen in the coming days.

One player looking to find an NHL home is Sean Avery. He needs to be on a team's roster by March 4 in order to be eligible for the playoffs.

Morris is Avery's agent and believes his client is ready to play at the highest level again.

A key reason for that is the time Avery spent away from the game earlier this year.

"I think an absence tells you what the game means to you," said Morris. "He had to get his personal life straightened out, which I think he's done.

"He's shown going to the American league and playing hard and interacting with teammates, coaches, trainers and fans in a real refreshing way from what he used to do - I think that shows what hockey means to him."

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Big league dreams, big league odds

Big league dreams, big league odds
The good, the bad and the ugly about minor hockey in Manitoba
By PAUL FRIESEN, SUN MEDIA

It's easily the most controversial issue on the Winnipeg sports scene.

Ask a parent, coach or ref what's wrong with minor hockey, and you'll get an earful that'll last 30 minutes.

We're stretching it to three full days, with an in-depth look at the grassroots of Canada's game.

Today, we drop the puck and Just Let 'Em Play.


They're all over television every Christmas during the World Junior Hockey Championships, becoming national heroes in the time it takes to score a shootout goal. Or three.

They're winning Stanley Cups, bringing the famous trophy home for day-long parties in Winnipeg, Winkler and St. Andrews.

They're pulling NHL jerseys over faces barely old enough to shave, signing million-dollar contracts, being hailed, even, as the saviour of a storied Original Six franchise.

Has there been a more glorious time for Manitobans in hockey?

From former World Junior shootout hero Jonathan Toews, now captain of the Chicago Blackhawks, to Detroit Red Wings prospect Darren Helm, who wins Stanley Cups as fast as he skates -- it took him just seven regular season games to get his first.

From NHL regulars like Travis Zajac, who's having a devil of a time in New Jersey, to Ranger Nigel Dawes, enjoying a full bite of the Big Apple.

Cam Barker in Chicago, Ian White of the Leafs, Calgary's Dustin Boyd, Andrew Murray in Columbus, Edmonton's Dustin Penner -- all everyday players in the NHL.

Another crop of nine were drafted last summer, led by first-round picks Colin Wilson and Chet Pickard. The next ones, apparently.

To a minor hockey mom and dad on the same trail, attempting to follow the fancy footwork of Toews and Dawes in St. Vital, or Zajac in St. James, it's all so deliciously tantalizing.

And terribly unlikely.

"A real high percentage of parents have unrealistic expectations of their kids," Billy Keane, a longtime local coach and organizer told the Sun. "You better just make sure you're creating good citizens. And don't be overly concerned with your nest egg. 'Cause little Johnny's probably not going to be a pro."

The truth is as cold and hard as an outdoor sheet of ice in January: your boy's odds of making it to the NHL are minuscule. Heck, he doesn't even stand a good chance of reaching major junior (see box).

The numbers don't lie.

Some 9,000 kids are playing minor boys hockey in Winnipeg in any given season. Since the year 2000, an average of four players per year from Winnipeg have been drafted by NHL teams. The numbers from rural Manitoba are similar.

How many of those actually end up playing in The Show?

Of the 31 Manitobans drafted from 2000 to 2003 -- they've had at least five years to make it -- just seven have spent any significant time (50 games or more) in the NHL. A full 15 players, or nearly half of those drafted in that time, still haven't played a single NHL game.

For every Toews, there is an Owen Fussey, an early-round 2001 pick who played four games. For every Barker, a Phil Cole, Geoff Waugh or Lance Monych, all of whom have yet to see a big-league game cheque.

If that's not scientific enough, a study of 30,000 players in Ontario concluded the odds of a Canadian player forging a significant NHL career, complete with a pension, are one in 5,000 -- and that's in a good year.

There are others who beat even longer odds by taking the circuitous route, undrafted players who make it as free agents, like tough guys Riley Cote (Philadelphia) and Colton Orr (Rangers).

But you can count them on one set of knuckles.

Whether you land punches or score goals, players sometimes have to be patient to get noticed here.

"We're a bit off the beaten path," former NHLer Carey Wilson, who operates local skills camps, said. "They don't get the same exposure. It's not that they're not good enough, they're just not always given the same opportunity."

When it comes to the NHL draft, Manitoba is holding its own with Saskatchewan these days (which hasn't always been the case), producing 13 prospects compared to our western neighbour's 14 over the last two years.

The cream of this province's recent crop should only help get people's attention.

"You can't knock the results," Peter Woods, executive director of Hockey Manitoba, said. "Dustin Boyd, Jonathan Toews, Cam Barker, Nigel Dawes, Travis Zajac -- kids that have come through the minor hockey system in the last few years. Those are outstanding numbers, kids that have gone on to become household names in the NHL."

You might say they've won the lottery.

Against similar odds, too.

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

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STUNTED GROWTH

Registration Totals, Hockey Manitoba

2008-09 2007-08 2006-07

Boys 18,130 19,003 18,924

Girls 3,908 3,958 3,842

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LONG, HARD ROAD TO THE SHOW

WINNIPEG MINOR, 2007-08

- Number of boys: 9,000 (approx.)

- Number of boys at the AAA level: 280

- Number drafted by WHL teams: 22

- Number drafted by NHL teams: six

- Average yearly number drafted by NHL teams, since 2000: four

- Average yearly number to play significant NHL games: one

MANITOBA

- Average yearly number of boys: 19,000 (approx.)

- Average yearly number drafted since 2000: eight

- Most drafted in one year: 11 (2002 & 2003)

- Total drafted since 2000: 72

- Number of those playing regularly in the NHL this season: 11

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NHL players raising money for Right To Play

NHL players raising money for Right To Play
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - They're doing it in honour of their parents, deceased friends and former hockey coaches. But above all, NHL players are choosing to give back in support of the international humanitarian organization Right To Play.

February 27, 2009

Alex Ovechkin, Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton and Daniel Alfredsson are among a group of 28 NHL players who will make donations to the charity based on the numbers of minutes they play in one of their games this weekend.

Each will make their donation on behalf of a role model.

Chara travelled to Mozambique last summer and saw first-hand some of the work that Right To Play is doing with children in that country.

"I was inspired by their commitment and extremely impressed by the ability of just a few coaches to create such happiness and amazing learning opportunities for literally hundreds of children," he said. "My father was a mentor for me and that is why I am honouring him with my donation.

"I know it is for an outstanding cause."

Chara is one of the organization's biggest supporters. He wore a yellow tuque featuring Right To Play's logo during the skills competition at the all-star game in Montreal and donated money he earned for winning the hardest shot competition.

In all, players from 25 different NHL teams will make donations this weekend. That list includes Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators, Robyn Regehr of the Calgary Flames, Ethan Moreau of the Edmonton Oilers, Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens, Dominic Moore of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks.

Right To Play runs sport and play programs in 23 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America. The organization reaches 600,000 children every week through its various programs.

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