By Erin Stewart
BELLEVILLE – The crowd had many laughs as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins alumni teams faced off to support the Belleville General Hospital Foundation on Friday at the Yardman Arena.
The teams didn’t always play by the rules. Sliding sticks and water bottles across the ice and playing the puck from the benches were regular occurrences and created a great deal of laughter.
The Scotiabank Legends of Hockey game marked the first time in history that Toronto Maple Leafs alumni and Boston Bruins alumni have played each other.
The puck dropped at 6:30 p.m. in front of a large crowd. Tickets cost $10, with the proceeds going to the BGH Foundation. A total of $70,000 was raised for the foundation from the game and related events through the weekend.
Jenn Barrett, the director of development for the foundation, said the money raised will be used for equipment for cancer care and new operating rooms being built at the hospital.
“It was a great event,” Barrett said. “Almost 3,000 fans came out to watch the game on Friday night. We had NHLers stay with us the whole weekend, lots of photographs and autographs signed, so I think it was well received by the community.”
She had high praise for the NHL players who participated in the event.
“What we really learned on the weekend is that they are true gentlemen and a fabulous addition to our event,” she said.
The roster of players from years gone by included Doug Gilmour, Mark Laforest, Tom Fergus and Kevin Maguire for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Al Iafrate, Bob Sweeney and Tim Sweeney for the Boston Bruins.
In the end, the Bruins alumni came out on top with an 8-5 win over Toronto.